You say it suits a solo sitter but then on the picture captions you say you offer your bedroom for a couple. It would be nice to clarify that.
I agree with others that there’s superfluous information that could go in the Welcome guide and there are some repetitions which don’t help get the right tone of the listing.
You’ve been given plenty of honest and sage advice here. The biggest challenge is how is this a mutual exchange? It’s a lot of work for an unpaid 2 day sit that requires a car. Please refine the responsibilities, shorten the intro, add the benefits of coming to you and see if you can stretch it to 3 or 4 days to make it more attractive. Alternatively much easier to pay someone for just two nights. #havearethink
Completely agree this is superfluous, I even think it works against the purpose of attracting a good sitter.
@Joandacat, you are directly addressing potential sitters and making assumptions that they will be stress free and having a great time ignoring your cats. A lack of trust transpires in the listing.
There’s nothing you can do about the review you wrote but you can change the tone of your listing and consider, as @Silversitters and @Cuttlefish say, what’s in it for potential sitters. It would also help if you consider both the sitters and yourself will be working on the same team, not against each other. It may help if you see yourself as a sitter that has lots of potential sits or just lives comfortably in their own home and are just looking through the listing to see if there’s an attractive option. Would you apply to your own sit?
If the answer is no, then try to see what puts you off and what you can make to change that.
Possible points to consider:
Welcome back and I hope you and your next sitter find a mutually beneficial exchange.
Edited to add information.
HO here -
I think the wording of your review of the prior sitter was fine, but even if the individual categories stayed the same, the overall rating should have been 4 stars unless they really didn’t attend to the kittens at all. Sounds like this sitter has new sits lined up and will hopefully have other reviews for their future on THS.
I have had kittens, and while I agree that young animals have very different needs from adult ones, your detailed list is exhaustive. I tried getting through it twice and just couldn’t, and I’m not eve a sitter considering the sit.
IMO, HOs with pets under a year need to understand that their sits are less desirable for that very reason and either adjust expectations or hire a sitter. Especially for such a short trip.
That’s an excellent point. As a solo sitter, I avoid rural sits for this reason–loneliness, boredom.
Motley biting means he’s hungry
THS removes listings where an animal bites (is my understanding).
Having read your scathing review of your last sitter, I would not choose to sit for you.
How do you know your previous sitter “didn’t tune into the kittens’ needs” and didn’t give them enough attention?
Your 3 star review of the last sitter and mentioning that you don’t think she gave them enough attention is a huge, huge red flag for sitters. It firstly makes me think I would get a bad review, and secondly , since there should be no way for you to be able to actually determine how much attention they received, makes me think you have hidden cameras in the house.
Hi and welcome back to THS. Congrats on your new fur babies, they look adorable. I am a HO, not a sitter. I am giving feedback on improving your Housesit Listing based on being a retired successful sales rep and having a listing that has been saved by 225+ sitters. (listing is attached to my profile if you care to look).
I wont repeat what already is suggested by the many sitters replies.
I suggest you do the following to improve the visual aspect, in addition to improving the verbal style used in your listing.
The pictures almost all need an overhaul IMO.
If you struggle with taking great photos, ask a friend who is really good at it for help. You are here asking for advice to improve your listing, you may need support from someone to get your listing dialed.
I wish you the best of luck in finding suitable sitters soon.
Great advice @MTBer
Another point to consider @Joandacat is that with the introduction of booking fees, short sits, like yours, are going to become less attractive to sitters. When I read the tone and lengthy responsibilities to carry out for your 2 night sit, I have to ask myself would I be prepared to actually pay to sit for free for you and the answer is No.
I know our advice has been quite critical but we are being honest in trying to help you. With 30 comments from members, it would be great to have you respond where you came here asking for advice.
The whole listing is too long @Joandacat. My eyes started to glaze over while I was reading it. The clue is in the headings e.g. the introduction should be concise.
I also wouldn’t have enjoyed receiving the 3-star review. A point was docked for reliability; however nothing in the review backed that up. I think the sitter deserved at least 4-stars not 3.
Agree with much of what’s been said here. Agree about the verbosity, the things that should go into the welcome guide, the length, and the tone, as well as the 3-star review. “You need to do your bit” and some of the other lines do make it sound a bit as though you’re going to be, figuratively, looking over sitters’ shoulders. I understand wanting to get the best possible sitter for your babies, but, there must be a better way to word it.
I “actively” (??) adore cats but would hesitate too, for fear my 5-star record might get ‘dinged’ for some perceived failing.
I’ll just add this to the others’ advice: you’ve stated “you need a car” twice in 2 paragraphs. And then a 3rd time. I think once with the distances to town/shops/services stated is sufficient.
And unless the sitter is going to be looking after the sheep, I’d change the cover photo to maybe a pic of the house. It does sound like a nice setting.
Good luck; hope you find someone who lives up to your wishes.
It’s a cat sit, and your opening photo is of sheep in a field
if there are no sheep to be cared for the photo is totally irrelevant.
Off topic but I can’t resist : I was looking at sits last night and saw an active one where the main pic was of bathroom with a toilet - with an open lid !!!
It didn’t say how long the toilet could be left alone, however, so I passed on the opportunity.
Where is the OP Joandacat and why is she not responding to our feedback??
Excellent question @lmhale!
I can well imagine that the OP has not liked or appreciated any of the feedback given on her topic hence has not responded. That is entirely her perogative, and understandable. But if you come onto a forum asking for advice but get cranky if the advice isn’t positive, or what you want to hear, maybe asking isn’t the best way forward. I don’t believe all the responses were hostile, maybe negative but I wouldn’t call them hostile., at least the majority of them. With all due respect @OnTheRoadAgain 
But I think it’s human nature to usually think we are generally always right in our processes and how we live our lives, but we must also be open to discussion and opinions, no matter how much we don’t like it. If one asks a question on a public forum, I do believe it should be followed up with at least a request by an OP to close the topic or make some comment. We don’t always agree but that’s why it’s called a forum - a medium (such as a newspaper or online service) of open discussion or expression of ideas
Considering the undeserved hostility she encountered here, it is unfortunate but entirely understandable that she’s not responding. SMH.