I live in an apartment building owned by a property manager. I booked a sit with someone about two months ago, but a few weeks ago we had a ceiling leak that took days to get a response back from management about. They eventually patched up the roof and we haven’t had a leak since. We disclosed this to the sitters and they were ok with the situation.
This morning, we were told by management that they scheduled roof repairs overlapping with the exact time of the sit which we are now less than a week away from. We know that this is beyond what the sitters signed up for and that the noise will be a great inconvenience. We’ve made efforts to disclose the situation, ask them to give extra medication to our dog, recommend they leave during repair hours, and have offered to pay for a meal (aka send some money as a measure of goodwill.) We’ll leave a bottle of wine for them, also.
What else would you do as the host? I feel really bad about the situation but have no control over it, but I hope this won’t tank my rating.
To be honest - as this wasn’t disclosed before confirmation it gives reason to cancel sit in my opinion. Request to leave during working hours would for many be a great inconvenience as the home is what one get for petsitting. A meal and a bottle of wine is something some hosts would give just for hospitality. Since you ask. Is there something to do in your area that you could offer to treat them with? Tickets? Gift card? If not so much - could someone take care of the pet a few hours so they could explore something at more of a distance? Just suggestions. If you were a sitter, what would you have felt would be an equal exchange, given the circumstances?
If you read their listing again with this in mind, maybe you get some ideas on what they would like?
It is unclear what you mean when you say “We’ve made efforts to disclose the situation”
I agree with Garfield that it is a reason for the sitters to cancel.
Are you able to cancel your trip? If you feel so bad about the situation I think that this is the proper thing to do. Also, if your dog would suffer so much that he/she will need extra medication, it should be you who can comfort him/her
Keep them updated, that’s all you can do, and also if you only got the notice this morning, personally I’d show them the letter that states that when you’re showing them around your place, and say you’re really sorry about the dates the management company have organised, and that you’ll leave the letter out for them to read, so that they know whats going on. That way, you take the focus/blame away from yourselves, so hopefully they’ll understand and review you nicely for keeping them up to date.
Personally, I know you are lovely to be treating them to a meal, and a bottle, but perhaps a small hamper of goodies would be good on this occasion too, but make sure they know it’s to apologise for the roof repairs. It’s only a one-off, it’s not likely to happen to again, so it’s a really small cost as a one-off in the grand scheme of things, but it may help you relax about their review while you’re away.
In their review Hospitality and Accuracy of Listing are the only things they can mark you down for.
You were unaware this was going to happen on these exact dates which would be accuracy of listing so that’s the one that may be trickier. But they can’t possibly mark you down for hospitality, if you give them goodies whether its a meal, wine, or little hamper, to help cushion the noise levels.
When I checked into a hotel a while back, they let me know there would be some construction during my stay and handed me a set of earplugs with an apology. I would have preferred your bottle of wine
Every sitter is different, of course.
To me this would be a non-issue and it would not deter me from the sit.
As long as you’re honest and clear with your potential sitters, I would hope that it wouldn’t have any effect on your rating.
I hope that you have patient , flexible and adaptable sitters !
Asking them to leave during certain hours of the day is not always doable for sitters, especially the ones who work during those hours. The best you can do is explain the situation and give the sitters an opportunity to cancel.
True. Sitters are different, some sit to be out during the day anyway, while others would work from home some or most days. If working and having zoom-meetings construction work would be a major problem. A bottle of wine could in no way cushion that. The listing of the host would also be a factor and what expectations they gave. If for instance the host expected sitters to be home a lot during sit that would be different from advertising freedom to roam.
This would not deter me either. I have had to put up with far worse. One sit I had to be there and check a new bathroom being delivered. I was told to ensure all in one piece etc. I then had to put up with builders in the house every day puting new bathroom in and tiling. Aniother sit I had ther owners uni son come home for a few days but with half a dozen friends, coming and going all the time and getting ready for a camping trip they were all going on. They werer helping themselves to my food in the fridge. And I did have roof repairs at another but that was not too bad, as I was out quite a bit of the time. But there may be rules but many owners just ignore them and you do not know until after you have arrived. You sound very consideraste owners. I never received anything extra for the week long bathroom fitting or the Uni son comkng and going with his friends. Hope your sitters still sit for you. Good Luck,
You’re a more tolerant sitter than many. I hope you at least wrote factual reviews that warn off other sitters, because hosts who surprise sitters with home repair work and such should be outed. And there’s a star rating that sitters can down rate hosts on if they’ve done such, when it comes to whether the sit was as originally described.
I urge other sitters to not be as tolerant, because that only enables bad hosts.
Not sure how much warning this Home owner had but wasn’t mentioned that flat next door was being gutted and totally renovated.. banging and drilling evenings starting at 6.00 pm also weekends beginning at 8.30am ! I sent the Home owners a recording!
Luckily I’m deaf so can take my hearing aids out! But I feel sorry for the dog who has excellent hearing
. I’m instructed to put the tv on when I go out for the dog’s comfort which I do.
I live in a renovated flat myself so know what flat life can entail.. the previous sitters live in a house in the country and were seriously put out by the drilling etc..
I haven’t seen the owners yet apart from
on a video call.. will be interesting to see how they play it. I never threatened to leave but did say it had been troublesome… and in fact they have agreed to me staying on with them there for an extra week (which is very handsome of them) so I can explore without the dog as they know I’ve done a great job. ( the dog has an air tag!)
I think putting oneself out is part of all this but if they had known of the disruption in advance and not said then I think that changes my view on this totally. I was lucky I didn’t have to work on line and could get out when it got too much and take the dog with me!
Coincidentally, we have workers coming Monday and I plan to take our dog and I’ll telecommute from our RV, parked outside our house. That’s to avoid the hammering and such that they’ll be doing inside. Our dog will definitely be less stressed that way, too.
I have a Campervan so could have activated plan B too! But to be fair it never got that bad!
When I had my flat renovated I made sure I was abroad lol!’
I work during the day while sitting and always have a noise-cancelling headset with me because you don’t know when the neighbor’s gardener, tree trimmer, trash trucks, search and rescue helicopter, emergency vehicle sirens, or any other disruptive noise may occur. My concern would be if the construction activity were to cause severe anxiety for the pet during a time when I could not take them out.
So I’ve now had a view of the renovated flat. It was previously a business concern with treatment rooms and so it has had to be completely rejigged with a kitchen put in and new windows etc! No wonder it has been a work in progress for over a month as the workers seem to come evenings and weekends! The only lift in the building is also being used to transport the rubble, new bricks and tiles etc! When I meet other residents also using the lift, when I say, “oh the flat next to me is being renovated.. “
“yes we know !” they chorus!
Ha ha! Noise travels!
‘Carry on Renovating’ would have great material staying where I am!
Today there has been a massive downpour with full blown storm suitable to stage Macbeth!
I couldn’t believe some of the drainage systems here! Look at the photo! Straight onto the pavement! Luckily my footwear proved to be waterproof!
Is there something to do in your area that you could offer to treat them with? Tickets? Gift card? If not so much - could someone take care of the pet a few hours so they could explore something at more of a distance? Just suggestions. If you were a sitter, what would you have felt would be an equal exchange, given the circumstances?
