do i have to pay for guest parking?

KickAssMOH · August 2013

I am having both my ceremony and reception at the same location, which is an upscale hotel in the downtown area of a city. Hotel only offers valet parking, unless the guest would like to self-park at a nearby lot. I have reffered guests to the nearby lots via my wedding website, and listed the prices $15-30). Sadly, my hotel has upped the cost of valet parking since we booked the venue a year ago. Our wedding is 1 month away ...parking will now be $35-46 depending on what time the guest departs. Is it rude to leave guests with that cost? Should we attempt to cover a portion of it? There is no way we can add the total parking cost into our budget at this point.

Gisellerina · August 2013

Yes, yoiu do need to pay for parking for your guests. It would be very rude to expect them to pay for parking to attend your wedding and reception. Can you change something on your menu or cut back on some decor so that you can pay for parking while staying in your budget?

OliveOilsMom · August 2013

You should be paying for parking. Will your hotel give you a deal if x amount of people use valet?

photokitty · August 2013

You should pay for parking. Ask the hotel to honor the rate they had when you booked the venue - no demand that they do. Especially if it is anywhere in your packet or contract.

MayDay513 · August 2013

Or is there a lot nearby(block or two) that you could reserve spots in and pay for, and have your guests park there?

LavenderHoneyBee · August 2013

Can you set up something with another lot if the hotel lot is out of your budget? Maybe you culd work out a deal with a place on the same block, see if they can give you a discounted rate? And then once you have that worked out you could notify your guests that you are offering complimentary parking at X Lot?

Jen4948 · August 2013

Yes, you as the host need to cover all costs of the wedding without passing any on to your guests.

southernbelle0915 · August 2013

huynhette said:

Or is there a lot nearby(block or two) that you could reserve spots in and pay for, and have your guests park there?

This. $35-46 for valet is WAYYYY too much. I would figure out what the hotel can offer you considering you're spending a shit ton of money to have your event there. They could at least give you a discount. Sheesh. Talk to a manager.

[Deleted User] · August 2013

I know someone that went to a wedding where all the parking was paid parking. In the invite the couple included a special parking pass for the guest to present to the parking attendent. The couple paid for the parking based on the number of parking passes that were turned in. Not sure if they were able to get a discounted rate due to the number of cars that they brought into the lot, but I would hope that a business would offer a discounted rate.

If you are not able to afford the full cost for each guest, see if you can arrange to pay a part. You could do something similar to above. Provide each person with a parking pass with the price on it that they will have to pay, say $10, they present that to parking attendant with their $10, and you pay the difference on the passes that were turned in.

muenginerd · August 2013

It's not in your contract is it? Something like this should be honored at the rate of the time of your contract. But that would need to be spelled out in your contract.

Are guests also spending the night at the hotel? If I was a guest in this case and also staying overnight at the hotel I would not necessarily expect the couple to pickup my parking. If I am coming specifically for the wedding and nothing else, I would not be overly happy to pay my own parking rates at such a high fee.

s-aries8990 · August 2013

You should be paying for the parking needed while your guests attend your ceremony and reception.

grumbledore · August 2013

OliveOilsMom said:

You should be paying for parking. Will your hotel give you a deal if x amount of people use valet?

This is what I would suggest. Contact the hotel and see if they will do a reduced or flat rate for valet for all of your guests. OR find another lot in the neighborhood that will give you a good deal. But passing on the cost to the guests isn't cool.

arrippa · August 2013

Ask the venue about the discount. My venue was going to charge for parking but I negotiated free parking if I upgraded my apps. Win/win for me. Free parking and tasty apps.

AprilH81 · August 2013

Whenever I go to a wedding or other event in a downtown location I always expect to pay for my own parking.

If you can fit it in your budget great, but I would not side eye having to pay to park (but that valet price is crazy).

thisismynickname2 · August 2013

I'm a fellow city bride facing the exact same issue as OP- parking is crazy expensive. But.... that's the city. Everybody who doesn't live in the city visits on occasion (restaurants, museums, shows etc) and either a) pays for parking, gas, tolls or b) takes the suburban commuter train and combines that with local public transportation or taxis. You come to the city, you pay out the nose for transportation, period.

I think I may be able to subsidize parking, but not pay the whole thing. My point is more that if you're traveling to a city, you are paying for transportation no matter what the occasion. How is the couple paying for parking more expected than a couple paying the hotel costs for overnight/out of town guests in any other circumstance? Why are we not expected to reimburse for gas if someone's driving over an hour or two to get there? I think if you are "required" to pay for parking, that's a slippery slope of etiquette: not only do I throw the party, I cover ever single cost of every guest making it out their front door and if I don't, now I'm rude.

My opinion is that the bottom line is we all have to pay to attend someone else's wedding- gas, train tickets, plane tickets, hotels, car rentals, parking fees, taxis, public transportation (babysitters and gifts too!). Sometimes it's cost-prohibitive for some folks, sometimes it's not. Them's the breaks. I am paying for the party; how you end up getting here is up to you, and for us city brides, it's gonna cost.

grumbledore · August 2013

AprilH81 said:

Whenever I go to a wedding or other event in a downtown location I always expect to pay for my own parking.
If you can fit it in your budget great, but I would not side eye having to pay to park (but that valet price is crazy).

In fairness, I would also expect to pay for my own parking (as a guest at someone else's wedding), however, as a host I would pay.

KayDeee · August 2013

FWIW I always expect to pay for parking on my own when attending any wedding. If I don't want to pay the hotel fees, I can try a garage that's closer and cheaper or try to find street parking. It may not be the most convenient for me but if I don't want to pay it, I'm an adult who is able-bodied and capable of looking for options.

And that valet price is expensive but right on target for an area like Chicago (I am not sure from which cities everyone else is posting).

RebeccaB88 · August 2013

You should cover parking for your guests.

NYCMercedes · August 2013

If I drive in the city, then I expect to pay for my own parking, just the same way I expect to pay for my own gas, taxi, or subway fare. I never expect my host to pay for it. It would be nice of you to negotiate a lower rate, or to give out vouchers to your guests, but it is not necessary.

LDubHawksFan · August 2013

While I think it is a nice gesture, and i would, I don't think you need to pay for parking....but that price is crazy! Even parking for a concert in LA only runs like $20! I was going to suggest you offer plenty of cheaper options on your website (like you would for hotel options) but I see you are already doing that. Try to negotiate the valet to a lower rate, but I think if you've already warned guests if the prices, you are fine.
Fwiw, when we were looking at venues, one would have required valet since there was not a lot of nearby parking and we accounted for that cost on our due diligence breakdown for venues.

allispain · August 2013

I think it's nice to cover parking for your guests, but it isn't required. The one and only time I ever had to pay for parking, I was staying at the hotel where the reception took place for the night. I was a bit annoyed that I had to pay to stay there (there was no street parking allowed anywhere nearby and no other lots either), but it never crossed my mind that the bride and groom could be considered rude for not paying for it for me. After all, they were already paying for the reception, transportation to/from the ceremony, etc.

MobKaz · August 2013

NYCMercedes said:

If I drive in the city, then I expect to pay for my own parking, just the same way I expect to pay for my own gas, taxi, or subway fare. I never expect my host to pay for it. It would be nice of you to negotiate a lower rate, or to give out vouchers to your guests, but it is not necessary.

I agree with this. We often go into the city for weddings. Depending on the time and location, sometimes we will drive, other times take the train in and taxi to the venue. I would not expect the B & G to cover my train and taxi costs any more than I would expect them to cover the cost of parking. Negotiating a lower rate would be a pleasant surprise to me as a guest.

Dreamergirl8812 · August 2013

If you aren't able to negotiate a lower price, I would add tray passed champagne when guests arrive. So even if they're a little irked that they had to pay that much for parking they're immediately handed some champagne. It will tell them that they have a classy affair to look forward to and it will be worth the parking price.

MandyMost · August 2013

You don't have to pay for the parking any more than you have to pay for your guests hotels, or gas, or tolls, or taxis to get there. If someone chooses to drive, they have to pay for that, the same as if someone chooses to stay over night they have to pay for that.

I do think it would be different if you were requiring all of your guests to get valet, but you're not. You've offered other parking lots as well. But, are there non-driving options for guests? If so, I'd add that info to the website, too.

My venue has some free parking, but we'll also be letting guests know it's a short walk to a subway station, and about a $5 taxi ride from the hotel block we're getting. How they choose to get there is totally up to them.

Paying for parking is a fact of life in the city. Since some of your guests are not city people, you're doing the right think by alerting them to this fact. I see this as similar to how if a wedding will be outside on the grass, it's polite to alert your guests to that (otherwise, us cityfolk wouldn't think of it and would wear spiky heels). But you don't have to pay for their parking, just like they don't have to buy me flats.

minskat30 · August 2013

I tried to pay for parking for my guests. The only way to do it was to rent out the entire parking lot near our venue (the only parking option nearby for about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile). That would have cost us several thousands of dollars for only a few guests that were actually parking at the venue. Thankfully parking was $8 a car at the lot but I still feel a little odd about not paying it.

moosette113 · August 2013

I agree with PP that you should pay for parking. Regardless of the location of the wedding, isn't one expected to provide a (hopefully safe) place for guests to park their cars? I think most people would side eye being expected to pay for parking in the suburbs or in a rural area, so I'm not sure the location of your wedding should impact what a guest needs to pay for. Kind of like "covering your plate" IMO- the location and expense of the venue should not dictate how much a guest spends.

mercimarie · August 2013

muenginerd said:

It's not in your contract is it? Something like this should be honored at the rate of the time of your contract. But that would need to be spelled out in your contract.
Are guests also spending the night at the hotel? If I was a guest in this case and also staying overnight at the hotel I would not necessarily expect the couple to pickup my parking. If I am coming specifically for the wedding and nothing else, I would not be overly happy to pay my own parking rates at such a high fee.

^^ The bolded bit. I would speak to the wedding coordinator/manager about this as in my working life I do a lot of contracting and if prices change throughout the year, we tend to honour the contracted rate as a "Thank you for your business and for booking early" sort of dealy.

I do agree that you should pay for parking but I would fight tooth and nail to get it down to that original rate.

MandyMost · August 2013

moosette113 said:

I agree with PP that you should pay for parking. Regardless of the location of the wedding, isn't one expected to provide a (hopefully safe) place for guests to park their cars? I think most people would side eye being expected to pay for parking in the suburbs or in a rural area, so I'm not sure the location of your wedding should impact what a guest needs to pay for. Kind of like "covering your plate" IMO- the location and expense of the venue should not dictate how much a guest spends.

I'm assuming that if the venue is really in a city, then there are many options on how to get there, not just driving. Bus, train, taxi, etc. Those options are not available in the suburbs or in a rural area. Also, guests could probably try to find street parking within a mile or so if they want to. If paying for the parking is an issue for a guest, they can choose to get there another way. The hosts are being very open with what parking at the venue will cost, and people can choose to park there or not. I mean, if she's going to pay to validate their parking, should she also pay for the taxi fare for other guests, and the subway pass for others?

I don't balk at how to get to a venue out in the 'burbs when I'm invited to a local wedding--I go ahead and reserve a ZipCar for the evening if I need to drive and can't get a ride from someone. Should the hosts of those weddings REALLY be expected to pay for my rental for the night? Obviously not. Just like the hosts of urban weddings really aren't responsible for paying for WHATEVER method of transportation a guest chooses to use to get to their wedding.

moosette113 · August 2013

MandyMost said:

moosette113 said:

I agree with PP that you should pay for parking. Regardless of the location of the wedding, isn't one expected to provide a (hopefully safe) place for guests to park their cars? I think most people would side eye being expected to pay for parking in the suburbs or in a rural area, so I'm not sure the location of your wedding should impact what a guest needs to pay for. Kind of like "covering your plate" IMO- the location and expense of the venue should not dictate how much a guest spends.

I'm assuming that if the venue is really in a city, then there are many options on how to get there, not just driving. Bus, train, taxi, etc. Those options are not available in the suburbs or in a rural area. Also, guests could probably try to find street parking within a mile or so if they want to. If paying for the parking is an issue for a guest, they can choose to get there another way. The hosts are being very open with what parking at the venue will cost, and people can choose to park there or not. I mean, if she's going to pay to validate their parking, should she also pay for the taxi fare for other guests, and the subway pass for others?

I don't balk at how to get to a venue out in the 'burbs when I'm invited to a local wedding--I go ahead and reserve a ZipCar for the evening if I need to drive and can't get a ride from someone. Should the hosts of those weddings REALLY be expected to pay for my rental for the night? Obviously not. Just like the hosts of urban weddings really aren't responsible for paying for WHATEVER method of transportation a guest chooses to use to get to their wedding.

I understand your point about ZipCar rentals since public transportation in the suburbs is less friendly than in a city (not completely absent, but less readily available). But I think my sticking point is that guests can choose to get to a venue however they would like- but once they are there, they shouldn't have to pay for anything. Yes, the meter keeps running on the ZipCar rental while you're at the venue, but it isn't an additional charge to what you would already be spending to attend that wedding.

KickAssMOH · August 2013

Thanks so much for all of the advice! We are going to try to work with the hotel to add a few items to our event, in exchange for lower parking rates (to at least make it comparable to the other local lots). That seems like the best win-win here. Our wedding is in the Seaport area of downtown Boston which actually wasn't as popular a year or two ago when we booked the wedding, so prices have unexpectedly skyrocketted. Luckily we were able to keep room prices down - our negitiated rate is like half of what they now charge for a guest room - but they will not honor the old parking rates as the valet parking company is seperate from the actual hotel.

Thanks again!

a6a14173 · August 2013

If the rate were 5 or 6 bucks, I would be fine with it. Recently I attended a wedding where the parking fee was about 30 dollars and there were no viable public transit options. I was pissed, as were others.

do i have to pay for guest parking?

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