Arriving Early For Introductions/Instructions

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
#22

This could certainly be arranged :wink:

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#23

Wonderful! If I ever have the opportunity to house-sit for you, please get a cleaning lady. :laughing:

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#24

:+1:t2: Not a problem, ours just left ten minutes ago. She’s here once a week.

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#25

We have a lovely cleaning lady too…:kissing_heart:

#26

Wonderful! Maybe I’ll house-sit for you someday. :grinning:

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#27

Just a note that every city and town is different as are the socioeconomic status of hosts. We live in a very small flat in one of the worlds most expensive cities. We don’t have a guest room so would not be able to put anyone up and at a hotel (any hotel that is safe ) in our city costs close to $300/night. We don’t have a lot of money and would not travel at all if we didn’t have someone who was willing to care for our pup in exchange for a free place to stay. Our dog is home defensive, so for our sitters safety, I make sure they can meet the dog beforehand and that I am there for the hand off. Because of all this, we often need to use local sitters or sitters who have other accommodations they can utilize the night before. Just letting people know there are many perspectives and situations.
Thanks

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#28

I haven’t done this yet, as I am new to the site, and I’m only applying locally to begin with.

But for the sits that are far away, where it’s not practical to visit beforehand, do sitters ever offer to turn up the day before (if there’s room of course), so they can get to know the homeowners’ and pets’ routines?

Or do homeowners ever want the sitter to arrive a day before they leave?

Thanks

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#29

Yes, certainly! Even our last sitter, who was only a two hours train ride away, did arrive a day early. We wanted to leave around 9 o’clock in the morning and her earliest train would have arrived at 9.05. That’s why we decided to ask her to come late afternoon the day before. We went through the house with her, invited her for dinner at a restaurant around the corner and were sure the next morning that she knew everything there was to know about caring for our cats.
It really depends on the departure time of the HO and, unless they were ok with not meeting the sitter in person (which we are not), it is necessary to arrive a day early.

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#30

Lots of discussion about this topic here: Arriving Early For Introductions/Instructions - #2 by mars

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#31

We’re always happy to arrive a day early, if we can stay with the host (we have seen listings where they wanted you stay in an AirBnb at your own expense, which we try to avoid). Good way to have the time to learn everything from the hosts.

#32

Hi @BillyBonnieBenji and welcome to TrustedHousesitters. Applying for local sits is a great way to get started, to build up your experience, reviews and be able to easily do pre-sit visits, but as you mention, sits further away do require a different approach.

I’ve moved your post here on to the thread that @Lassie mentioned as it does have a lot of feedback and advice on this particular topic. So much depends on the pets, the accommodation, the location and the routines, but we’ve always favored arriving the day before the sit for reasons I’ve talked about in an earlier post on this thread.

Do have a read through the comments from a wide range of our members here, and if you’ve got any other questions around this topic don’t hesitate to ask. And we look forward to hearing more about your next (first?) sit, whether it’s home or away!! All the best.

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#33

I almost always arrive the day before and always suggest it to the home owner, especially if they’re new. Several had never thought about it before but think it’s a great idea. With few exceptions, I’ve pretty much always stayed with the home owner that night. During the negotiation, while hashing out details, I generally include the following:

“In the past, I’ve found it useful to arrive the night before so I can spend the night in the home getting to know the pet while you’re still there. This generally provides for the smoothest transition as the pet will feel safer with me knowing I have your approval. It also gives us the chance to go over everything and I can handle the evening and morning routines to make sure I’m doing it correctly. Let me know if you’d like to do this and I can plan my arrival accordingly.”

Some people are just not interested or legit don’t have space for you to stay. Regardless, I’m always prepared to stay in my own lodgings the night before they leave, just in case they’re not interested. And heck, some don’t want to meet at all. I’ve had a couple sits where I never met anyone. I was just told where to find the keys and given the instructions. I’ll say that I don’t generally like this, but owners have their reasons for doing things and it’s their home so I just roll with it. lol

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#34

If it’s only one sitter coming a day early, it’s not a problem to spend the night at our house. As we only have one bed suitable for two people to sleep in, we cannot host a couple while we are still there, but I see it as a courtesy to book and pay for a nice B&B. We know beforehand when we are going to leave the house and that we need the sitter to arrive the day before, so if we then choose a couple instead of a single sitter, I think the payment of the B&B is on us.

#35

It really is depending on the HO. Most of them invited me to come earlier and even offered that I can stay at their place. I had a few occasions where I arrived earlier but took a cheap accommodation close by for a day or two… I always offer to arrive earlier for a proper handover and that the pet can get used to me. :wink:

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#36

As I sitter it always feel awkward to stay after the pet companions return. They are tired and probably on a downer thinking about returning to work and normal life. I always feel it’s better to give them a quick handover then leave.

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