Our place has a garage that fits 2 cars and a slab that fits another two - so four spots total. In our instructions to guests it literally says: IMPORTANT - do not park on the street or you will get a ticket from the city.
Our last guest parked on the street anyway and got a ticket, sent us a picture of the ticket and want us to cover the cost. While this isn’t our responsibility at all, I am nervous about not covering it and then they give us a bad star review for only this reason. Keep in mind - this was their first Airbnb trip so they aren’t familiar with it. I am thinking of telling them that we will check with the city to see about getting the ticket waived and basically waiting out the clock on the time for them to review us. I figure the second we say we won’t pay it, they will then give us a 1 star review. Which is really unfair because they liked our place and said so and we have been superhosts for a year now. Thoughts?
I would simply say no and send a screen shot of the part of your description that says don’t park on the street. Waiting out the clock may not be a bad idea. I wouldn’t bother with the city. Are there any NO PARKING signs in the area where they parked? If so I’d send a picture of that too.
It’s clearly not your responsibility but I understand not wanting a bad review. This will come up for me someday with a guest and I think I should be prepared with what to do, but I’m not. It is illegal to park on the street overnight in our city. It’s been a law since the 1920s so there aren’t any No Parking signs anywhere. And the city makes a ton of money from unsuspecting out-of-state visitors.
The ticket is only $25. The more expensive ticket is $45 for parking backward/against traffic. Most places prohibit it but it seems like something people are generally not privy to. We had a tenant who parked on the street legally with a permit we were able to get for him but he got a ticket for parking backward. He was apoplectic. I ended up paying the ticket for him and there wasn’t even a review involved but I still really wish I hadn’t.
Please mention this guest’s demand about you paying for his parking ticket in the review. It is something I would like to know about a guest.
I’d likely pay it in lieu of taking the risk of a bad review but I’m not convinced it’s the best answer. Your idea about letting the time run out sounds ideal.
Thanks - I am not actually planning on contacting the village - this is clearly their responsibility to pay it. But to avoid the bad review I was thinking of just waiting out the clock and saying that to keep them happy for now. I just know the second we say we are not paying it, the bad review will come flying in.
As a host I’d like to be warned about this guest but if I were in your position I wouldn’t review either unless they reviewed me first. That seems unlikely to happen but if it does, they go ahead and mention that they didn’t follow the rules on parking in your review.
Remember ABB’s new policy, you can ask to have a bad review removed. I agree with taking photos of your warning to guests, you will need to send that to ABB.
In the interest of being nit-picky but also clear about the policy… we shouldn’t tell hosts that they can just ask Airbnb to remove bad reviews. I wouldn’t want guests to think bad reviews can be removed. If bad reviews can be removed then the review process is worthless.
Reviews that violate content policy can be removed, and that’s not the same as bad reviews. If a bad review is earned by a guest or a host and it doesn’t violate content rules then it damn well better stay posted for all of our sakes.
But a retaliation review because they wouldn’t pay the ticket can be removed.
@KKC Sorry, I should have said “retaliatory” reviews. I thought it was clear in context. I was at the meeting where this was discussed, higher ups were extremely clear that if a negative review was unjust they were very open to taking it down.
As a long time member of the forum (and a retired teacher) I know what you mean. But there are many lurkers here and someone will read “bad review” and file that away in their memory bank. Then they will come back and say they read that they could get a bad review removed. They want that 4 star review for no hot water removed because it wasn’t their fault the water heater broke and now they are losing superhost status.
Are there street signs saying no parking allowed? Did he not notice that no one else was parked on the street? He should pay the ticket.
I think you have the right idea to wait it out. When the review window has closed then message him that he’ll need to pay the ticket.
There are actually not street signs - which is exactly why we make a huge upper case note of it in our messages to them. I’m going to wait it out and fingers crossed the review window closes before they submit one. Since they are new to Airbnb I’m assuming they also won’t understand how the review process works.
Yes, stall them until day 14 and leave a review last minute warning future hosts that they expected you to pay their fines.
RR
I think you should contact the village since you say you’re doing so, and because you might want to have that evidence should you seek to get the guest review removed for retaliation (to show your good faith).
The guest might well give you a bad review since they will likely notice that you have not promised to ‘take care’ of the ticket for which they unreasonably think you’re responsible, and they might feel not only disappointed that you’re not paying the ticket but also manipulated.
I’m curious whether the guest wrote anything explaining why they felt you were responsible for paying the ticket.
If the guest does leave a negative review I wonder whether you will have established that the review is retaliatory if you simply say that you’ll contact the village to see if you can get the ticket waived. If the guest does not respond to dispute your course of action or to say again that you’re responsible, is there a basis for claiming the review is retaliatory?
Instead, consider responding that while you will contact the village to see if they’ll waive the fine you want to remind the guest that the ticket is their responsibility and that your instructions do say “IMPORTANT - do not park on the street or you will get a ticket from the city.”
That way it is clear that there is a conflict between you and the guest. Although that might make a retaliatory review more likely I would think it makes more likely that you could get it removed on that basis. Also, while the guest might not like the response they won’t feel manipulated.
ALL: I wonder how it’s determined whether a review is retaliatory. For example, suppose this guest gave this Host a poor review complaining about the parking situation. That would clearly be retaliatory. But what if the guest complains only about, say, the cleanliness of the listing? Is it sufficient that there was a dispute between the Host and Guest about something for which the Host was in the right that ANY ‘negative’ review (4 stars? a review that does not mention the dispute) would be removed as retaliatory?
Your guest can leave a bad review whether you pay the ticket or not. @panda26
There’s no reason for you to pay their parking ticket when they choose to park on the street contrary to the warnings of your city and your instructions.
Just photograph your instructions not to park and signs from your city re parking restrictions when you confirm this is the guests liability and if they feel they have had a ticket unfairly they should provide evidence when they appeal the ticket.
Is anything of this on the Airbnb message thread with the guest? If not…get it there and then pro-actively call Airbnb CS and ask them about what to do. Mention your messages, mention that your thinking they will give you a bad review about …
which will go a long way if ever that bad review hits you.
I know many hosts will disagree, but personally I would pay it and give a good review and hopefully get a good one in return. It’s too small an amount to go to such lengths over. If there are no street signs, then give them the benefit of the doubt. I have two big signs in my house about where my trash cans are on the side of the house and honestly 50% of the guests ask me where they are lol. People don’t read! There are so many things that can go sideways I try to save my battles for the bigger stuff.
Reviews are meant to be honest- giving a good review to a guest who insists a host pays the parking ticket they got for parking where the host specifically told them not to means the review would be dishonest. I would never want a guest like that and would be mad that a host didn’t mention that behavior in the review.
You are advocating hosts acting like doormats in hopes of a good review. And how do you know how “small an amount” it is?
Guests not paying attention to where your garbage cans are is not at all in the same category as demanding a host pay their parking ticket because they don’t want to take responsibility for failing to read the parking instructions provided.
@panda26 if you sort of want this to “go away”, the less attention you draw to it the better. As busy & distracted as everyone is right now (I know I am with family emergencies, illnesses, travel plans, holiday happenings) after having sent you a photo of the ticket, this item will likely slip down their list of things to hold their attention. If you don’t bring it back up and they likely ignore the barrage of emails from Air about reviews, which they most likely will, then you can just ignore the whole thing and they will have to deal with it. You can slip your review in real quick and be done with it.
Agreed. And I’m sure that most hosts feel the same way. Unless hosts and guests leave honest reviews, then there’s no way of determining standards.
One way to look at it is this: imagine that your guests are on a road-trip and their next stay is with your friend, or mother or sister … whatever.
If the guests had been awful you’d phone your friend and let them know, wouldn’t you? You’d feel obliged to warn them so that their new hosts could nip any trouble in the bud.
Hopefully, hosts should feel the same way towards the entire hosting community - we’re all in the same boat.
Excellent suggestions