97% are praised to be wonderful human beings, all very welcoming and nice, including the rude ones, and the ones that are very demanding. I once messaged a host to ask a question, they just declined without a word; also I had came cross a host who replied me with a few separate messages to make sure I understand that they didn’t want me anyways after I politely told them I couldn’t sit for them. They are praised to be great hosts. I also had someone who canceled on me on the platform a week before the sit start date because they changed the plan, they just canceled without saying a word while they have my phone number and WhatsApp, they are praised to be great as well.
So they are all great if you sit for them, if you are not even chosen, what’s the point?
I think I understand what you’re saying but as English isn’t your first language (I’m guessing) it’s not 100% clear. The 5* reviews are by sitters reviewing particular aspects of a sit. It’s their personal experience and based on multiple variables including but not limited to communication style during before and after the sit. And yes HOs might show a different side to sitters who they don’t feel any affinity with based on reading your profile plus the application or subsequent messages… THS is all about building positive relationships and making good matches.
A 5 star review isn’t a total judgement of any person. A host can have great rapore with a sitter they confirmed and hosted. A sitter who doesn’t fit their needs may only get a decline.
Similarly, if a friend called on the phone I might have a nice chat. If a telemarketer called I would likely find that to be a nuisance and not answer or hang up immediately if I accidentally answered.
Unfortunately with any electronic messaging medium politeness is not always given.
Can you give more context to your situation? Are you a new Sitter? Seasoned sitter with many 5 Star reviews? Help us understand a little better where you are coming from.
Most people won’t give you the time of day if you aren’t of any value to them. Until a sit is confirmed, there is no common, mutually beneficial relationship so a host nor a sitter has any reason to be polite, friendly or nice.
As far as reviews go, there is an overall hesitation to give anything less than 5 stars by many members so view 5 star reviews with skepticism.
I don’t agree with this at all and it speaks volumes. I’ve travelled widely, a lot. I’ve often been amazed by the kindness and generosity of complete strangers. They haven’t been seeking anything from their actions, just a willingness to help a fellow human. it certainly hasn’t been transactional. I appreciate people who are warm, kind and friendly, because that’s their nature, not because they want anything in return.
It is true for lots of people these days, I find, and even more so online. However, there are still lots of wonderful and kind people who enjoy being friendly because that is just who they are.
It speaks to different experiences that are perhaps somewhat cultural in nature.
As per the first post of this thread, the Op has experienced exactly what I described and I’ve read similar stories in other posts.
Host and sitters can’t be bothered to be polite or communicative until a sit is confirmed, and it’s common for sitters to retract applications without explanation and hosts to decline or simply never reply to applications if they aren’t interested.
Is everbody like that everywhere? No, of course not. Some are polite, respectful and courteous, others are disrespectful and selfish. Some people volunteer at homeless shelters, other people look to take advantage of others in any way they can.
Experiences vary. I’m glad you’ve only had positive ones.
When host chooses a sitter and wants them to take care of the pets, that host has something to gain and something to loose. When the same host no longer needs anything from the sitter, then can disregard the sitter as if the sitter was not a human being. Some hosts are like that, and chosen and not chosen sitters will feel very different.
I am open for some kind of “application review”, but then again I am also flaky in the interview process, and for this once I think that maybe the best policy is to just ignore the application process unfriendliness. It is absolutely not personal. It’s like dating app thing. I wish it did not happen, but the fastest solution is for all parties to expect it and thus accept it as part of the system. I apply to a lot of sits when I do, like 5 per day when I am planning my next trip/week in a trip, and maybe that has made me disregard the hosts who just reject me without a word. Happens so often.
I had arranged a chat about a cat sit with 12 cats!! Before the chat, I messaged the host that something had come up and I couldn’t make the chat. She declined me immediately, without any further communication. How polite is that? It wasn’t ideal that I cancelled the chat of course, but her “click, next” mentality showed me that I’d be better off never sitting for this person.
I’ll take a guess at what you asked, because the wording left things fuzzy.
Are you saying that five-star reviews about hosts aren’t necessarily reliable? If so, yes, that’s the case with ALL reviews – some people (whether hosts or sitters) are afraid to write truthful reviews for selfish reasons or because they simply lack courage and/or think they’re being “nice” (except that writing a review that pulls punches or misleads is actually not at all nice to other sitters or hosts).
In the examples you mentioned, those circumstances wouldn’t lead to reviews anyway, because a sit wouldn’t happen at all.
My POV is, how a listing is written is actually quite telling. And then you factor in reviews and a video chat. Plus, reading between lines and observing what’s missing in listings or reviews can be revealing as well.
The funny thing is, often we see posts or comments about sits gone wrong, where the sitter or host has written an untruthful review and then complains, because the other party has actually written them a review that dings them. So they end up bitter over having given an inaccurately “nice” review. Too bad. IMO, hope they learn from doing that.
But the reviews only cover sits that were actually confirmed and happened.
They may have had 5 star reviews but just are abrupt in their online communications.
Keep in mind that all reviews are subjective to a large degree – what someone thinks of as a great sit varies. Plus, many folks (including me) think that someone should receive a five-star review for meeting expectations (as a host or sitter) as described in listings/profiles, with anything above and beyond (or lack of that) not affecting star ratings. (Personally, I use comments to acknowledge above and beyond and don’t ding hosts on minor things and/or not going above and beyond.)
Possibilities to be more selective: You could avoid sits where reviewers don’t explicitly say they’d be happy to repeat the sit or the hosts haven’t had any repeat sitters. (Or for hosts, to look for comments from other hosts, saying that they’d love to have the sitter back and/or the sitter has done repeat sits.)
I pay very little attention to it, since 5 seems to be the default. Focus much more on the kind of people the host matches with, the wording in listings and reviews given reveal a lot.
Apart from the obvious of stopping using the app, I honestly wish there were a sort of option or maximum to switch it off in that respect. The more reviews I receive, the greater the chance that people skip over the essentials in my profile.