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A bit of background–the area where I host has some pretty draconian parking restrictions. No overnight street parking, so if you have an overnight guest you have to “call in” the car after 8pm, you can only do this a maximum of three nights per month for free before you have to pay $7 a night, and there’s a maximum of 10 nights per month per plate, unless you call for an “extended pass” which you can only do when village hall is open, but only for a minimum of three nights, but you can only have 30 days total per year; there’s also no parking 8am-10am so if you have a guest you have to call in the car again for the morning, but only between 6am-8am that morning, etc. etc. If you thought that was hard to follow, that’s because it is! It’s a giant PITA. So, essentially, hosting guests with a car is occasionally a bit of a challenge.
I handle all of this for my guests, because I wouldn’t dream of making them try to navigate it.
That all said, I had guests check in today to visit their children. As usual, I offered to set up their parking permit. Well, apparently they’ve already been here earlier this month for more than three days, because the parking permit people are charging me $7 a night for their plate.
Their children also must be aware of the parking difficulties here, as it’s very much a constant source of irritation in this town.
Is there some nice way to tell them this? It’ll only be $14 for the weekend, which I guess I’m ok with “eating” (though it’s obviously sub-optimal) but I kind of want them to know that I’ve paid it, should they choose to reimburse me.
No clue, but do you mean to say you just eat $7 per night per reservation? I would find that to be unacceptable! I hope yo pass it on to the guest in their nightly rate.
In the four+ years we’ve done this, I’ve never had a guest who had already used up the free parking prior to their stay with us. Usually they have rental cars, or if they drive to visit often, the visits have been in a different month, etc. They obviously already visited their children three other days in September, which is why the “pay to park” is kicking in.
Just something I’ve never needed to address before! And probably won’t need to again, but want to make sure they know, in the event that they don’t choose to reimburse me, that I’ve done them this favor. Parking is definitely not figured in the rate…because 99.999% of the time it costs me nothing.
For sure what kona said. Why worry about being nice about paying for parking - do you really think they aren’t aware of the parking requirements?
They sure didn’t stay with you earlier in the month so why would you foot the bill at this point? I think they gamed you in visiting their kids without paying for parking and you lost out. I would be surprised if they reimbursed you because you didn’t disclose it up front.
I’m just looking for a nice way to word it in a message. That’s all. The parents are probably clueless to the whole parking thing. I won’t assume everyone is trying to take us for a ride.
It’s ok, I’ll figure it out. I was just looking for some wordsmithing help.
Hi, you may not have realized from your previous stay that you’ve reached your free parking limit and have incurred a fee of $14.00. I’ll put this through the resolution center for payment. Thanks.
Exactly what Kona says!!! No way I would eat it. If they’re good guests otherwise they might visit in the future; are you going to continue to eat it? You could also state that you’ve never had this happen before, hence not mentioning it in the listing. Additionally, I find that guests (and people in general) appreciate it when you are honest and not a doormat.
I’m not sure if I’m missing something here, but I’m seeing things a bit differently to the other posters here. If you advertise free parking (do you? I wasn’t sure) then I think you need to eat it, unless there’s something in the listing about the weird parking regulations.
I think this you can’t change the terms for this stay. You need to change your listing to cover future occurrences. Add it to your expenses as a tax deduction.
I concur with you, and would not advertise free parking: this is essentially not you providing the free parking, but the city with a registration for 3 days a month: a lot of administration hard to follow for guests.
