My advice: Don’t do wishful thinking. If/when you’re desperate for shelter, you basically expose yourself to greater risks, sacrifices, discomfort, inconvenience and such. Be prepared to suck it up, if so.
Sits turn out better when sitters aren’t desperate and they can be selective and afford fallback plans.
To be clear, I never said I’d abandon the animals!! I was asking for advice on communication with HO & THS.
The roommate was unexpected when I applied for the sit, and I was given the impression that they were essentially a tenant who had a mostly separate downstairs apt and ONLY sometimes used the kitchen. So the amount of interaction and sharing of space was also unexpected.
Why do so many of you commenting feel the need to pick me apart? I came here because I thought this community was good-natured and kind. Another lesson learned, I guess.
Hi All. Thank you to everyone who gave thoughtful, kind and helpful advice! I had no idea I’d get so blasted, judged and insulted for making an honest mistake in a vulnerable position and coming to what I thought was a good-natured community for feedback.
I don’t think anyone asked but FYI for anyone following along, this was not my A or B or even C plan. I had two other places lined up that fell through and could’ve gone out of state but a series of events happened that led to me being in last-minute need and wanting to stay local— and as far as that goes, I have a safe place to be right now, with lovely animals and am grateful.
Also, I wouldn’t abandon the pets. 
I do this because I truly love animals, and I have 100% 5* reviews because I take my commitments seriously.
I stated clearly that this was a “lesson-learned” experience, so why so many people felt the need to bash me and tell me how I made a mistake and they would NEVER… and even insinuate for some reason that I didn’t learn a lesson when I genuinely DID… is VERY disheartening.
As for my actual question, which was advice on how to communicate with the HO and THS about this situation, a few of you did answer that with kindness and compassion, and for that I’m grateful!!
But wow, my overall experience of this community has been very tainted by a lot of your responses. I request that some of you look back and ask yourself what the reason was for even answering if you weren’t going to be kind and/or answer the actual question I asked. Seems like a lot of you are just sitting there waiting for a reason to assume the worst of people and kick them when they’re down. Jeez.
Thank you.
Thank you for your thoughtful response. It means a lot.
No one is picking you apart. Nearly stating that you agreed to this situation and now think to complain about it. Sometimes uses the kitchen to me means breakfast, lunch and dinner.
When you ask for advice you don’t always get the response you expect.
Hopefully the varied responses will help you decide how to proceed.
I can appreciate that you may have felt lambasted @tenayapapaya
Keep in mind that you are still somewhat new to THS (and not a frequent forum poster) and many of the other forum members (myself included) are frustrated by these not infrequent posts about HOs breaking the rules and sitters acceptance of it. It is everyone’s responsibility to familiarize themselves with the guidelines.
I hope all goes well as you seem to be keen on completing the sit. But what if the roommate turns out to be a real Creepy McCreeperson?
Now back to your request for advice on how to communicate about this with the HO and THS…
I agree with @Newpetlover and her suggested wording on how to address within the review. That will benefit future sitters. But THS doesn’t really monitor the reviews so I disagree with some who insinuated that you have given up your right to notify THS of the breach of the third party rules. Do report and then let THS deal with it.
Such a great response as always @Snowbird
You should also look back on what you have written because you put yourself in this situation so can hardly complain about the responses you’ve been given. Please do ensure you write an accurate review as the hosts should not be allowed to post on THS
I would wait to report to THS till after the time period to write a review. Otherwise they will tell the host you informed them and she may actually know already it is against the rules and was hoping to get away with it. Then she will give you lower amount of stars for exposing her.
I disagree. She should do it straight away, I hardly think the owner has a leg to stand on in this case
You can ask @Jenny , @Maeve or other @moderators to close this thread if you don’t need more answers.
To be fair, you haven’t been put in that position.
You’ve put yourself in that position.
Hi everyone,
I’ve decided to close the thread as the original question was answered clearly early on (thanks @Silversitters, @Oztravels, @WeRPAWsome, @GotYourBack for the practical, policy-based advice).
As a general reminder… it’s fine to disagree with someone’s choices, but once a member has acknowledged a mistake, repeating the same criticism back at them isn’t kind or respectful (as our guidelines ask us all to be). Let’s keep that in mind going forward.
@tenayapapaya, hope the rest of the sit goes well, feel free to send me a DM if you would like any support - I can put you in touch with Membership Services.
Jenny