Thank you for your detailed and helpful response.
I think the posts here show you that there are all kinds of sitters. Some are offended you used them, others think you used “them” appropriately. There are all kinds and if you don’t like the applications, you decline and get more. There are plenty of newer sitters who would welcome the opportunity. Just open it up until you find the person that works for their needs and yours. There are sitters who say they write all their “demands” in their application or move on. Let them move on if it doesn’t work for you.
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You are correct, there is no monetary exchange, it’s simply accommodation in exchange for pet care. Anything else is between the owner and the sitter.
Some owners give their car, but don’t give your car unless you are totally happy to do so, plus you need to check whether your insurance covers the country where your sitter is from anyway. The main benefit to yourself, is that the sitter could potentially drop you off at the airport and pick you up, to save you getting a taxi or paying for airport parking, depending on where you live and where you are going.
There’s is absolutely no need to provide food/drink, although the occasional owner has left us with yummy things in the fridge on the odd occasion which is lovely of them, but it isn’t the norm, it’s far more likely that we get left a box of chocolates, a bottle of wine, homemade cake/biscuits, or fresh flowers to show their appreciation, but we’ve had plenty that have left nothing too, and that is totally fine too, there’s no rights nor wrongs.
All we personally ‘expect’ is to be able to use tea, coffee, herbs, spices, etc, hand soap etc, and enough loo roll to last at least a week to save us having to go to the shop in a hurry when we arrive.
If we arrive the night before the owner leaves, for example if the owners have an early morning flight, it is usual that the owner asks us if we’d like to have our evening meal, usually with a glass of wine, which is lovely.
Trust your gut and your intuition, if you don’t think someone is right for you simply decline them, you don’t actually need to give them a reason at all, or if they have made a request that you aren’t comfortable with, simply tell them in a nice polite way that you aren’t comfortable with it and so you are rejecting their application if they have made you feel uneasy. However, there is nothing wrong with the someone asking to use your car, so don’t necessarily rule them out straight away, if you think they sound with that exception, simply say you aren’t comfortable with giving your car, and they need to provide their own transport, and ask if they are still interested in your sit given that.
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All that is expected of you is a clean home, a comfortable home, heating, enough pet food to last the sit. Anything else is at your discretion and can be discussed in the video call before you accept.
I have had meal cooked for me the night before hosts leave, I had a freshly caught and cooked lobster left for me, a bottle of wine, a home baked cake, and recently a Christmas present from the dogs and cats, but none of these things are expected.
On a personal note, I would not ever let anyone else drive my car, not even family, you are quite within your rights to just say a flat out NO to that.
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I would like to thank @Largo, @Marion and @CavvieQueen for their language explanation. Although my question was deleted “for clarity”, it was a genuine question as a non native speaker of English and I do appreciate your comments regarding the use of “them”.
The rest of my previous post really doesn’t make sense anymore as everything was about the tone, so I will just delete it.
I also apologize because my first post focused on language and I am aware, @CavvieQueen, that I didn’t address your point. I meant to but was not able to continue at that point.
Has been already answered at length and I would just add that it is quite unusual
I don’t know what the context of that “listing” is but it sounds as entitled and demanding.
I would only understand this kind of comment if the meal has already been offered and even then, it seems more people tend to say that they have dietary restrictions and don’t want to bother or something like that.
IMO, the best short answer to your question is
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Usually, when hosts offer me a meal, they automatically ask about allergies or preferences if they’re cooking. Or if we’re going out or ordering out, they’ll ask about preferences.
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Regarding cars: hire cars specifically don’t allow dogs to be carried so if a sitter only has access to dog play/running areas by car then an HO offering their car for this purpose will increase applications. Sitters need to check the insured car excess though as it might be quite high….
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Thank you for your helpful response.
@HappyDeb thank you for your very helpful response. Perhaps I will amend my listing. I am registered disabled and my car is a motability vehicle so I wouldn’t offer use of it. I have an Electric vehicle and I have offered use of my home charger should a sitter have an EV. I have stated that sitters need their own transport due to my village location. I gifted my recent sitter with flowers and a book that my pets are in and bought gifts from my holiday to forward on. My sitter was invited to eat and good and drink in the fridge freezer and cupboards, toiletries were left out and all the usual essentials.
I haven’t responded to the applicant listing their dietary requirements, instead I paused my listing to gather advice on how to respond on here first.
Of course if a sitter was invited to stay the night before, they would join us for dinner etc.
Thank you for your advice.
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@RedLassie thank you for your helpful response.
@Maggie8K thank you, of course if I had gotten to the stage of confirming a sitter and they were having a meal with us, I would request their dietary requirements as I myself and gluten and dairy intolerant. Thank you for your help
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@ [Newpetlover] As a first language English speaker I wish mine were as good as yours as what yours are! 
[quote=“CavvieQueen, post:1, topic:60017, full:true”]
Good morning & welcome to the THS platform.
We started as Home/Pet owners needing sitters, now do sits so I have a good perspective on both sides of the equation and years of experience.
Overall: it’s a fabulous system.
Yes, it IS important to be clear about transportation! Especially for a sitter not familiar with your area: great that you noted Sitters need their own vehicle for your location.
IMHO, with thousands of Sits & Sitters available on THS at any given moment, I’d politely decline a Sitter who disregarded a clear note in a post with a simple, “Thank you for applying, but no vehicle is available.” Declining one of your 5-&-Done prospective sitters frees up a space for a new applicant YET if there was a misunderstanding that sitter can clarify AND you can still invite them to Sit!
Re Food & Bev: Many HO (ourselves included) esp for a long sit will host Sitters to a local place for a first meal, or invite them to a home-cooked meal or leave a meal or two so a sitter can get settled before having to forage (markets, cafes, restaurants…)
MUCH depends on location, length of sit, etc.
A dietary notation in an application? Seems a bit odd. More common for that to be brought up in a conversation ahead of the sit, "BTW, I’m vegan so I wouldn’t need you to leave me any dairy or meat…
We have seen Posts with “Vegan household, no animal products in our kitchen…”
Good rule of thumb: provide a clean fridge, cupboard space, clear notes about what the Sitter is welcome to use. What you offer is thoughtful: clarity on both sides is important! Some sitters have dietary issues (celiac, vegetarian, vegan, organic, lactose intollerant - the list keeps growing, doesn’t it!) thus bring their own food.
As sitters we expect to use perishables, clearly provided gifts. Otherwise, shop for our own stuff and (again dep on location, logistics) leave a meal for HO’s return.
Keep in mind, THS works as a Win/Win/Win for Home Owner, Pet, Sitter.
BOTH sides pay membership! Sitters have to pay for transportation to/from your home, and in your case either have a vehicle or pay for a rental.
Of course there are many elements to what works for HO and for Sitter.
Someone in this group suggested thinking of it like a dating app: you aren’t going to be the right fit for all sitters, just as all sitters aren’t the right fit for you!
So YES! A simple, polite note is always appreciated when you decide someone isn’t a good fit. If you don’t send a note? You may miss out on a great candidate for a future sit that won’t bother responding to your next posting.
In a couple of cases we have received a “Sorry but…” which revealed a misunderstanding that when addressed became a happy sit for both sides or led to a different sit.
Best of luck
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100% agree on “trust your gut” for both sides of the THS equation!
The more experience we have, the easier it is for us to spot Red Flags.
We’ve disregarded our instinct twice and it was not good.
Often the Red Flag doesn’t emerge until the video call: in that case, we will follow up with a polite decline letting the HO that the Sit won’t fit our plans, sometimes with a hint as to why, often just a simple “realize the Sit won’t quite fit our plans.”
We have seen too many stories of inconsiderate or even flat-out shocking behavior by Hosts and Sitters. Life’s too short.
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Sitters can search for sits where cars are available, so there’s really no need to write anything additional in your profile about your car not being available. Because you don’t want to write your profile for the sitters you DON’T want, ignore those sitters, you want to write your profile for the sitters you DO want. Because if you write it for the ones you don’t want, it sounds a little negative to those positive minded , perfect sitters that were about to apply so it may be off-putting, and you don’t sound like a negative person, you sound like a fantastic pet/home owner 
.
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As a sitter I appreciate when there’s the basic grocery available specially fir first day like a breakfast (eggs, bread, butter available). Because sometimes we are really tired coming from somewhere else/long flights. I don’t assume that food will be provided and I definitely do not ask it in advance.
HappyDeb: It’s true that sitters can search for listings that include a car, but sometimes those listings are inaccurate and homeowners forget which box they checked. This happened to me once but fortunately, we worked it out. The car may be available (or it may not be) for a given sit, so I think it is a good idea for H.O. to state that in their post.
That’s not how it works. As has already been clarified, both sitters and pet parents pay the same fee to use this introductory site, and after that it’s up to the two parties to ascertain best fit, which of course includes expectations.
You are under no obligation to supply sitters with food or a car, so it’s a pretty simple thing to politely decline anyone who specifically requests these things (it’s not necessary to state a reason). If a car is necessary, just mention this in the listing (‘As we are quite rural, sitters must have use of their own vehicle’). Lots of listings include similar wording to this.
Every sit and every host and every sitter is different, so there is no one-size-fits-all, just extend some warm hospitality to your sitters - as you would to welcome guests - and you won’t go far wrong.
Best of luck, going forwards.
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Right. No one is paying for sitter services. THS is just providing an introduction platform, which takes money to build and maintain.
Sitters pay for membership as well. But again it’s for intros, not payment for use of hosts’ homes. You can immediately recognize that if you consider: Sitters aren’t promised that anyone will necessarily choose or host them. Likewise, no host is guaranteed a sitter. You either make mutually agreed-on matches or you don’t.
It’s like a dating service. No one is obligated to date you — you have to be appealing enough to be chosen. 
That goes for both parties.
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Exactly! hosts offer and they ask about preferences. Listing preferences and allergies in an application just in case the hosts “welcome” them seems really off putting.
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