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We have a similar situation. We live in a semi-rural area at a 4-way intersection with a house on each corner. It’s actually quite pleasant. We have 2 driveways which can fit up to 2 cars parked tantum. There are the 2 of us and sometimes 2 guests. There is never a parking issue. But last night, one guest took up too much space in one driveway, and to avoid moving the cars around in the moment, I just asked the other guest to park in the street to avoid asking him at 7am to move is his so I could leave. He left last night about an hour after checking in claiming “it wasn’t a good fit.” Here’s a link to our listing. Now he is sending theatening messages that we lied to him and we “gave his parking space away.”
I say all this because we do check the box that we do have parking, but with the rarely used public street parking, there is never an issue parking, unless someone arrives on a Wednesday night when we have a family dinner and there are 6 cars arked outside. I can’t “guarantee” we’ll always have parking anymore than I can “guarantee” we’ll have clean air to breath. It’s just there.
I’d say check to darn box. If you have free, unlimited, rarely used parking on your street, as far as I am concerned you have parking.
I love Kristen’s post, from reading it, you were stuck in waiting for her for hours and then she wanted a butler to carry her bags to her room all for €31 per night.
I put down free street parking, old neighbours next door and across the road with no cars so guests can park there, most guests use the light rail system as it’s 5 minutes away
I don’t see, “Free parking on premises” as stock language. I see it as an explicit description of the amenity. Also, @Josiah has more than one reviews which include complaints about parking.
After an hour because of a parking space? And now he’s threatening you? Either he’s got mental issues or it’s not about the parking. This is a way out of proportion reaction.
Since it’s rarely an issue and you have plenty of great reviews just chalk it up to your unhappy guest being a random weirdo and carry on.
I really have to agree with @EllenN. If you look at the Amenities section of Josiah’s listing, he has not selected on-street as one of the amenities. Only on premises.
As you can see from @anon67190644’s screen shot, you can tick Free parking on premises, Free parking on street or Paid parking off premises. If I’d been promised parking on premises, I would be irritated to have to park on the street. It looks like the guests did read and comprehend, then were not given what was advertised.
Likewise with the amenity of smoking allowed. When you get there and the host says yes, but only in the yard…it could be similarly qualified. There’s parking on the premises…but only if there’s room.
Generally, Josiah offers parking on the premises but it’s clear that there are times and circumstances that it would not be possible. As he stated in a companion thread, he offered the guest to park in the driveway and the guest declined. Don’t know if that’s so but that’s what he posted.
I also agree with @EllenN. Parking is a big deal in many cities. Our city business license requires off-street parking for short-term rentals. As a host, I park on street and give the driveway parking to the guest. (If I ever clean out the garage, I will park in the garage and just not leave when a guest is in the driveway! I realize not everyone works at home like I do and this may not be an option but if on street parking really is plentiful park on the street and give the driveway parking to the guest.)
When I travel as a guest I sort by Free parking on premises. It is an important amenity to me as I have been frustrated with searching for on street parking in way too many cities.
I don’t think hosts should tick the smoking allowed amenity if they don’t permit guests to smoke inside the listing. In addition to irritating smokers who will assume that smoking allowed means smoking allowed inside; non-smokers won’t book because they don’t like to be exposed to smoke or smoke smell.
I don’t either. I was interested to see many new amenity options that they didn’t have last time I was on those screens. I look forward to them adding them to the search filters.
I see that, but the existing checkbox is “free parking on premises” which is not the same as on the street. It would be better if AirBNB didn’t show amenities in the public listing that we, as hosts, can’t control. In my case, I would actually check both even though we have always been able to arrange for our guests to use the driveway.
As an aside, these kinds of issues (guest taking two parking spaces, monopolizing the bathroom, not cleaning up after themselves, etc) are why I just can’t imagine renting my two separate rooms to two separate groups. It assumes that everyone wants it to work, but guests tend to be “all about me.” I know I make a bit less money, but my business is not at the mercy of someone who can’t share.
me either! Why the heck is Air giving some hosts this feature and not all? They need to be consistent across the board or guests will complain and give us bad reviews! Oh wait, they already complain and give us bad reviews-- even when we have all the free parking in the world and a ton of amenities we don’t advertise.
I think the divide in viewpoints about parking is due to different views between dense city dwellers and rural/suburb dwellers. In dense cities, if you leave your car on the street it is far more likely to be scratched, dented and/or broken into than if you park off the street. Also, it is difficult for guests to remember the parking restrictions for street cleaning, permit only times, traffic calming, etc.
The only problem I have with parking is getting guests to park in the front of the house, in the prime parking spot, in the circular driveway 100% of the time. I’ve had people park in the street next door and across the street and in front of my garage. This is despite making it part of my listing and one of my rules.
