We started a sit yesterday. It’s the first time in roughly 40 sits that we have ever considered discussing leaving early.
The listing mentioned two bedrooms, and the welcome guide said we would be set up in the spare room. (Amenities only state ‘Bedding and Pillows’)
The reality is a sofa bed in what I would describe as an office. There is only a small space to walk down one side of it. Nothing in the lead up to the start of the sit would have suggested this (the was no photos of the room in the listing), nor any of the reviews (over 20 x 5*).
We feel mislead. The sofa bed has a very thin mattress, uneven support, and as a result is not comfortable to sleep on or to sit up in to read (as we would often do at night).
Although there is a main bedroom, we don’t feel it is appropriate asking the owners to use this.
Further, we weren’t given a full description of pet responsibilities until about a week before the sit (we were offered the sit two months ago), including the lack of cat flap (listing states cat “will come back every few hours” throughout the day), and the usual feeding routine of wet food “every two hours or so” (although we are also assured not to “feel tied” to this).
On top, we just went to use the washing machine and there is a detached piece of plastic housing and an exposed piece of metal which has put us off using for fear of damaging our clothes.
At the moment we are considering to leave at least one night (of 3 remaining) early, but aren’t sure how to approach this in fear of the home owners leaving us a bad review, so would appreciate any guidance on these issues.
I just wanted to mention that over the last few weeks (since your sit was agreed), Trusted Housesitters have introduced some recent new features which are aimed at helping to set expectations; including (required) pics of the bedroom to be used by the sitter and pet care needs laid out in a clearer way.
I’m sorry to say that these don’t change your circumstance, but your post helps to explain why we’ve introduced them.
As well as advice from the forum, our member service teams may also be able to offer some support - they’re available via email on support@trustedhousesitters.com.
So sorry to hear your experience, this HO sounds like a j**k but thinks he’s smart, but only 3 days left…, maybe other more experienced sitters can give you good suggestions
I understand completely what you mean about the sofa bed being uncomfortable as I often used to stay at a friend’s house and her sofa bed was awful!! I think if you can manage 2 more nights then you can manage the third but please state in your review how unsatisfactory the sleeping arrangements were and how the listing stated 2 bedrooms when in fact one, the one you were given, was an office. If you really can’t bear a 3rd night on the sofa bed could one of you sleep on the sofa? Far from ideal but might mean you can see the sit out and avoid receiving a negative review. Alternatively, and the owner might prefer this, contact the owner and explain just how uncomfortable you are in the sofa bed and ask if you can move into the other room. At least that way you are giving them the opportunity to remedy the situation. I don’t think it would be cheeky to ask and the owner (who has possibly never slept on the sofa bed) might appreciate your honesty.
Other than learning a lesson to avoid badly listed homes that clearly avoid posting pictures of the whole house and that you should ask more question before accepting a sit, everything you can do now to improve your stay is going to involve you taking the initiative and standing up for yourself.
You have 4 issues here if I counted right?
The sofabed - either use the only actual bed in the home with the HO’s consent or talk to the HO about it and then use it.
The feeding schedule and cat doorman schedule - the HO already said don’t feel tied so don’t feel tied to it. If you’re there you’re there if you’re not you obviously can’t do it. The cat will be fine.
The washing machine. If you don’t want to use it go find a laundromat.
You were mislead. You were most definitely misled. There i no reason not to have pictures of every room in the house that is there for you to use other than to hide something. Learn from this and don’t even apply to these sits. Just swipe and move on. Leave a review that reflects the less than 5 star nature of the sit, the last minute high maintenance cat schedule etc. and do the next potential sitter a favour.
None of these are are going to impact your sitting as much as leaving early and forcing the HO to pay a sitter at the lastminute to take over. They are almost definitely going to slaughter you in their review. The worst problem is the sofabed and that’s easily fixed by using the bed. I’m not sure what you are expecting THS support to be able to do for you in this scenario? What is is you are wanting from them? They’re not going to give you permission to leave early, they will tell you to talk to the HO.
Based on this example and others on this forum, I’m surprised sitters don’t routinely ask about the sleeping arrangements prior to accepting a sit. It is no small thing. What size is the bed, do the pets routinely sleep on the bed, can the pets be kept out of the sleeping area, … Clarity on the sleeping arrangements also yields volumes on a host’s general attitude.
It sounds bad, mostly due to the bed, but it also sounds like both a short sit and that you could have done more due diligence regarding the bed. I understand wanting to leave, but leaving a day early could be dangerous for the cat or hard to get someone in to care for the cat and will almost definitely result in a poor review for you if not a dispute.
I’ve been on indoor/outdoor cat sits with similiar “wet food when he comes home” instructions, but I’ve never felt obliged to be home all the time to feed the cat. It sounds like the owners don’t actually expect that of you either.
Is there anything you could do to make the bed more comfortable? Is it possible to buy an airmattress or a camping mat or a topper to help you through?
Poor sleep is always a bad situation, but in your shoes I’d try to stick it out and write an honest review with feedback about the bed.
this! I had a sitter earlier this year who asked me about my bed long after we had both confirmed the sit. Fortunately, I have a firm mattress, but by the time the question was asked, it would have been really hard for me to fill the sit had they decided it wasn’t ok.
And please do describe the sleeping arrangements in your review, especially that the sitter’s room is not the one in the profile. Help the next potential sitters out!
@sitter83, sorry to hear of encounter and delighted that you’ve determined better solution of mattress on floor.
A subset of our housesits (50+) have included surprises. Including sofa bed or murphy bed or something other than a standard bed. Ugh. Sometimes we have had to adapt sleeping arrangements, even use a sofa. It sounds like your housesit is relatively brief duration. Leaving one night early strikes us as limited upside for a likely bad review.
Applaud your creativity. Sometimes oddities occur and the only way forwards - if brief and manageable - is to take a deep breath; be creative; and leave an honest review.
@Mark_B But there’s no guarantee the bed shown is the one available to the sitter. I’ve seen many listings where the photo is of the primary bedroom with a large bed. Then when you read the amenities, if it is even completed, the bed description doesn’t match the photo. Same with the bathroom photos. Are the instructions clear as to what is needed? Of course a detail person would understand, but many also want to put their best foot forward and so perhaps show the primary bedroom and ensuite, to hopefully impress sitters. This post is a perfect example of how many of the features are often not an improvement.
Sorry to hear about that…an uncomfortable bed is certainly not ideal. It would take a lot for me to leave a sit early–we only did it once back in 2015 and we stuck it out a lot longer than most other people would have. Especially if it was only 3 days left, we wouldn’t consider leaving. But ultimately you are free to handle it however you wish.
If this is the first time in 40 sits you have encountered such an issue, that probably explains why you took the sit without seeing photos of the bedroom–such a situation is probably pretty rare and not something you would anticipate. Add in the numerous positive reviews, and there would be no reason to suspect any major issues.
I wonder if other sitters didn’t have an issue with the bed, just didn’t say anything about it or perhaps they used to offer sitters their bedroom. It is certainly something to mention in the review in a neutral way, just stating the facts of the accommodation available to the sitters. And perhaps offer them some private feedback that they might consider changing the bed or letting sitters use their room.
I remember years back we took a sit off Facebook and didn’t see any photos of the house. We were familiar with the area as we had sat there previously and I realize we made some inaccurate assumptions about what the house would be like given they were foreign residents and not locals. The most interesting aspect was the bed was a trampoline!
So unfortunate. Sadly, most of us learn what to ask from situations like these.
For us, in our early 60’s, sleep is a precious commodity so beds and sleeping arrangements are one of the most important aspects of agreeing to take a sit. Photos are our first impression and if we don’t see what we need, we’ll ask on a video call if it gets to that point. Seeing rooms and beds is paramount for us. Sleep deprived sitters do not bode well for pets or humans! I wish hosts understood better how important it is for sitters to be able to know where they will be sleeping and whether they will be comfortable.