What does "Parking on premises" mean to you? Air B&B problem ...

[Puzzledandpissedoff]

Unashamedly posting here for honest opinions, based on the main question in the title

Background is that I'm on holiday with a friend, in an apartment situated in an area where street parking's well known to be almost impossible

We were therefore extremely careful to source a place that actually had it, and checked with the owner before booking that it really was provided - only to find on arrival that it isn't, and all that's available is (non existent) street parking meaning that we hardly dare go anywhere because returning means driving around ( over 2 hours yesterday ) in the hope of finding a space

Obviously we've contacted the owner, only to be told we've "misinterpreted it" and street parking counts as being on the premises

So my question is whether or not we were BU to expect what the listing said, and if not what would anyone else do now? What we really want to do is leave the hassle behind and ask Air B&B to sort a refund based on misrepresentation, but I'd welcome thoughts before doing this

There is a slight issue with the categories Airbnb allows you to tick as a host. It is either parking on premises or free on street parking. If you choose parking on premises you can say how many cars it is for. If you choose free on street parking you can’t say a number of cars, so guests could book believing they can bring 4 cars.

I have on street parking with my listing, but it is permit parking and I can only have one permit for my guests. So either of the options I have to choose from could be seen as misleading. So I choose on premises parking and my message to the guests as soon as they book states it is a permit for parking on the street.

Is it a permit that guarantees the property resident and nobody else the right to park in allocated/reserved space 41 or does it just mean that you have to compete with everybody else who has a permit for parking somewhere on the street (assuming you can find a space)?

If the former, I think you could possibly stretch the definition of 'premises' to effectively include it - assuming that it is very close to the house; but surely there is an option to mention it in the property description?

Could you not just select 'free on-street parking' but then make it very clear in the description that there is only one space available, and no others (either free or paid-for)?

Yes, people use the options to filter property options, but surely most people would then read the description of all the places they are seriously considering before choosing?

It was long before the days of Air BnB, but I always remember when we were looking for a hotel at a UK seaside resort and we found one that had its own (on-premises) car park; but you had to find them to raise the barrier for you each time and there was a charge of £10 (and this was 25 years ago) every time - so £20 for each day when you wanted to take your car out for the day and then park it back there in the evening!

Incidentally, it was also the place that clearly said in their brochure (pre-web!) that "If you are coming to Blackpool for a fun time and a knees-up, this is NOT the place for you!"

It sounded like the seaside equivalent of Edward & Tubbs' local shop for local people. Obviously, we didn't book there and we found another place instead where they didn't morally object to guests hoping to enjoy themselves on holiday; but at least they made it crystal clear from the outset, so that nobody ever only people with compatible requirements would book.

Looking back, I wonder now if the whole set-up was actually just a front for money-laundering and they were desperately wanting to scare away any actual potential guests!

Absolutely unambiguous as far as I'm concerned. Parking "on premises" means within tbe cartilage of the property and "parking available" would imply parking in the immediate vicinity but not necessarily at the property itself, like on street parking or a nearby private or public car park. Their description was misleading. Complain.

YANBU. You were shamefully misled, or lied to even. Put it in your review. I’d be furious.

Parking on premises means there is parking at the premises.

They've lied and should be named and shamed for being cheeky cunts

Yanbu, I always check and you have been mislead

OP - you need to accept the owners £180 offer to pay for alternative parking. As a host you can send money yourself - you don’t need Airbnb to action it. Then you can let Airbnb know it’s resolved, or not, if that’s the case.

I’ve noticed this misrepresentation more and more on AirlBnb lately. A local car park over the road, where you have to get a new ticket at 8am is not ‘Parking on premises’ either.
I was trying to book something a few weeks ago and although lots of places said they had parking on the premises, the reviews showed they actually didn’t!
I’d report it to AirBnB myself and offer this information within your review to help others.

It's precisely because AirB&B won't comment on the "parking refund" - despite being messaged numerous times - and because the host insists it's not for her to refund us directly thhat we have't accepted it, Espresso25

In any case, as mentioned upthread, the local hotel originaally "sorted for us" isn't yet available, and the public parking lot offered as an alternative is much further away

TBH once this is over we just want to forget it ... we certainly don't want yet more ongoing angst fighting it out with a company who won't reply and a host who's already been thoroughly dishonest

Sorry OP I missed that - is this a new host? They don’t sound that up to speed.

Report to AirBnB. This is a misleading listing. It is not in their interests to let this stand.

On the premises means on the premises and not on the street.

Make it very clear in your review that the listing is misleading.

Nothing to apologise for, Espresso25, but she claims to have been doing this for years and "nobody's ever mentioned the parking before"

Yeah, right Unless of course they've all come without a car, which TBF many do as the parking's a notorious problem here ... hence why we were so careful to check

I would assume there was parking available for me 24/7
I've seen the sentence 'off street parking available' ...and assumed that means there will be parking.

You're right. To me "on premises" means that they have a driveway, carpark or allocated parking space.
I think you'd be right to complain, especially as you emailed to check and they basically lied.

You’ve definitely been misled. I’d be asking the owner to point out to me where exactly on their premises the parking is located. When they say it’s the street, I’d just respond with..so you own the street then? At the very least I’d want a partial refund (plus I’d leave a crap review) Ideally, I want to be fully refunded for being lied to.

Still think you should get some recompose of some sort OP - they have misled you.

I'm now wondering if she's of the same mind as the bonkers man on our road who has told us that he actually owns the section of (public) road outside his house - both sides, so also the section directly in front of the (nice, reality-understanding) people who live opposite him!

If you asked him, it wouldn't actually surprise me if he would categorise those spaces as part of 'his premises'; he gets irrationally angry enough when anybody else parks there. He has a double drive and doesn't even actually need to park there himself!

A quick update if anyone's still interested - my perfectly honest and fully objective AirB&B has been removed, because they claim "The review was left in retaliation for a policy or rule being enforced"

Very obviously it wasn't, and anyway what "rule being enforced" when my area of complaint concerned something promised which wasn't actually available?
At least though I now know why none of the other reviews mentioned the "parking on site" which didn't exist ... it seems reviews they'd rather not have are deleted

Well OP, you should put a review on another site like tripadvisor and say that Airbnb deleted your review.

That’s terrible! Airbnb are so inconsistent.

In these circumstances I'd be very tempted to contact 'Rip Off Britain' OP. At least that way you'll be warning other people about what happened to you, and you never know, you might even get a 'gesture of goodwill' from AirB'n'B.

I can’t see how hosts can remove any reviews they don’t like - otherwise none would ever have any reviews less than 5*? That’s not how reviews work surely.

I'm really shocked at this. Air BnB usually only remove reviews that are retaliatory or if you have threatened a bad review unless there is a refund.

I'm on lots of host forums and Air never remove bad reviews for any other reason. I know someone who has had their listing removed because of a one star review. They have lost all their future bookings.

I'd have to take this further if I were you OP. The owner has obviously complained to AirBnB about your review and they've removed it and had to cite on of their "one size fits all reasons".

I'd communicate again with ABNB and if that fails, approach a travel journalist with the story.

Thanks once again, folks; needless to say I've read my review again and AirB&B's "reason" about "retaliation for a policy or rule being enforced" makes no sense, since there's been nothing to enforce - unless of course the host's made up something, and even then I'd have thought she'd have to prove it via the site's messaging link

I even gave 3 out of 5 stars overall, saying truthfully that the apartment itself was lovely but that the whole experience had been spoiled by stress over going out at all, for fear of not finding anywhere to park on our return - and all this over something that was advertised as being available but wasn't

Anyway I don't want the hassle of journalist involvement and there seems little point in again contacting AirB&B who appear to have this well stitched up, so the obvious answer is simply to never use them again