Hi @meshellguz. Welcome to the forum. I agree, I would be happy to show my passport, just not have it imaged/copied. I worked in cybersecurity and agree, you can never be too safe.
A native New Yorker? Lucky you! We were there for two months last spring (1 month in Williamsburg, 1 in Manhattan) and loved every minute of it. There are so many great neighborhoods, each with its own feel.
I’ve often wondered, do people in NYC tend to stay in the same neighborhoods they grew up in, or do they tend to move around?
Before I went to NYC I listened to all the stories about New Yorkies being unfriendly, dour, difficult to talk to etc. it’s all lies. I can honestly say we were met with the friendliest, kindest people ever. Even the people at the train stations and on the underground were so helpful. I love the city, the people, the whole attitude. Viva NYC.
Thank you so much Elsie!! We really are. We just don’t show the best face forward all the time. This city is brutal & relentless. Unless you were born & raised here, you can’t really value it for what it is. It is the mecca for the entire world!!!
I love it soooooooo much! My mom still lives in the same Apt I grew up in. Lol. She has been in the city for 45 years! God bless her soul. I am so happy she decided to stay. She had no choice, but it was for the best.
Every native New Yorker is uber friendly, we have dealt with the whole world since birth. Lol.
NYC is truly a melting pot. Queens has 134 countries living there alone!!! Based on the 2010 census! Food for thought. It is the most diverse place in America!!
Lokstar, thank you for your long and considered response.
Can I say I am normally a very trusting person, some would say too trusting. We do have long chats with prospective sitters and I do ask questions but find it difficult to ask outright what their last name is and by the way can I have your address, even before we have said yes to them.
Can I also say we are not newbies and have had 16 sitters over the last 6 years and I count at least 7 of them as still friends either Christmas card list or on Facebook or still contact for chats.
However, one thing you are overlooking is that not everyone is as honest as you.
Finally, we would really put people off if we were to interrogate them in the early stages, and yes, I do want to trust people but it is a big chance we take letting strangers into our home, vetted or not. What good is vetting if no help is available when things go wrong.
@frenchlife it sounds like you may (perhaps?) have had a negative sitter experience & your trust has been abused- I’m sorry if that’s the case- Its unlucky and can happen to any of us. I do think, though, that the vast majority of sitters are honest and trustworthy (I would certainly like to think so!)
We, as sitters, have also had less than desirable experiences. We too have experienced dishonesty on the part of hosts (e.g extreme behaviour of pets not disclosed)or simply lack of respect from them(e.g presenting a dirty home where no effort has been made & the listing pics show something different…) its tricky. We once had to get THS involved to mediate a difficult Sit…
I’m really glad to hear you’ve had so many great sitter experiences too! If we were your sitters we would endeavor to add ourselves to your list of great sitters! But we still would not be able to provide you a home address -as full time nomads or consistent ID as we have 2+ names!
But… at the end of the day its important that you do whatever you need to do to feel comfortable that you have chosen the right sitters. Its a learning curve for sure! We are much more discerning these days- just from our own experience! Also beyond personal contact with a host we also now scrutinise previous sitters feedback and reviews (or lack of) to make sure everything fits! At the end of the day all hosts and all sitters want to have a positive and memorable experience!
Lokstar, just as you have been let down by owner we have been let down by sitters. I gave more info but admin wouldn’t publish. Our last sitters were ‘nomads’ and the best ever. Let’s just end this by saying overall our THS experiences have been some of the best and given us the chance to meet so many wonderful people we would never have met. The good has far outweighed a couple of bad.
@frenchlife The admins are very effective at ‘moderating’ I get carried carried away sometimes & get ‘moderated’ too!!
I’ve just taken a look at your listing and it looks delightful! So I’ll keep an eye on your listing for future dates!
Happy travels!
I grew up in NYC and have become very very close to my elementary school classmates following a reunion we had for our 50th birthdays, and subsequent ones annually as possible. Some of my (lucky) childhood friends are living in their parents’ house. Or they are getting ready to sell as their parents have passed on and none of the siblings can afford to buy the others out. I grew up in Brooklyn Heights and many of the homes were large enough to be divided or already had an apartment for the younger family. Others have moved to other neighborhoods or states. A few of us moved west; I moved clear across the country to Oregon after college, and now live in Washington state.
I’m wondering if this is pretty much the same or vastly different from people who grew up in other areas of the country. (None of my elementary classmates moved to the midwest, so there’s that, I guess:)
Thanks so much, I agree with everything you’re saying, and I appreciate your comment, it seems pretty super conscious. With respect to this topic (as something unusual has recently come up for me), I believe that our ID verification through the site should be enough security for the HomeOwners. I don’t understand how a homeowner having a copy of my ID or just wanting to look at it makes any difference to their security, since the site has all of this information, in case of any breach in trust. All it does (for me), is add some level of mistrust to the relationship. I’m just now having some struggle with this, as the homeowner (who I am scheduled to catsit for in 6 weeks, and we had a long video chat before our agreement) is now asking me to send a copy of my government ID on whatsapp. She is the first of 7 HO’s to ask for this (and I have all 5 star reviews), and when I told her that I wasn’t comfortable sending my govt ID online, she is making it into a long drawn out conversation about these issues: that I know her address and am going to live in her most valuable asset. Even after I shared with her a copy of the email from THS support, saying that I do not have to send my ID to her and that all sitters’ IDs have been verified through the site, the HO is still going on about how all previous sitters have sent in their IDs. I don’t think it is necessary at all for the HOs to require ID from the sitter, and this is not trusting blindly, since our IDs have been verified through the site. If anything happened, the homeowners are protected by this very fact. For me, it points to a lack of trust, and this turns me off. I appreciate what you said about the homeowners responsibilty to post these and any other requirements. Thanks for your comment.
@jaybird I am glad my comment was useful to you. I just re-read it to remind myself what I wrote as it was 2 years ago! We’ve now done 115 sits and I still stand to everything I said back then.
We have still only ever had that one host, early on, ask for ID.
If a host requires this they should ask directly and not at a late stage like you are experiencing. I agree it smacks of distrust and would turn me off too.
Definitely do not send your ID via WhatsApp or email -its not secure. In our (one) case the host just asked to take a photo of our passports when we arrived. We were a bit taken aback as it was a first for us but they were not suspicious people-they were just doing what they thought everyone did.
I think showing your ID on arrival is acceptable but the insistance from your host- of sending in advance- is something I would not like either.
So you could offer to show your ID at handover and if they won’t accept that then consider withdrawing from the sit due to lack of trust (if you are in a position to do so)
As an example- we once did a sit for a couple who were very suspicious and insecure having a sitter for the first time. In the video call she made her fears known and we did our best to reassure. We had 50+ 5* reviews at that point. Several weeks and several messages later (getting to know each other) we arrived on the doorstep for handover. They were friendly enough but her last words before leaving were how odd it felt leaving their home ‘in the hands of complete strangers’!! This did not feel nice to hear as we were not strangers anymore and they knew so much about us and we had such a great track record. Anyway everything went perfectly well but they blanked us afterwards and did not give a review. And they also cancelled their membership. We suspected they may have had cameras spying on us. We did nothing untoward but who knows what they thought?.
Moral of the story- if someone starts out suspicious it does not always bode well…
Go with your gut feeling.
Just as you would feel put off by not knowing the person staying in your home, many sitters would be put off handing over identity information – passports, driver’s licenses to strangers.
As others have said there is an ID check for all sitters and even stricter checks for sitters based in the US. As a sitter I would be comfortable handing over a driver’s licence in some cases if for example a host lived in a gated community and it would be necessary for me to gain access or use amenities or they were going to loan me their car and required the information for insurance. I would not be comfortable if they were simply requiring me to hand over ID so they could make and have a personal copy that could be copied and that copy if not locked up and destroyed later could somehow get into the wrong hands. It’s too much of a risk for me as identity theft is rampant. It also sends the wrong message to the sitter. We’re all members here. I am a homeowner who also sits and I wouldn’t ask to see the deed to your home or your rental agreement to make sure everything is on the up and up. Nor would I as a homeowner show such an agreement or title to a sitter.
It sounds like the sit is starting in 10 days and you haven’t brought this up yet, so you would be surprising the sitter with this request on arrival? That might not go well. It could escalate from a bad start all the way to their feeling that it was a red flag to the point of simply refusing to do the sit.
Normally, when I choose a sitter, on THS I look for signs of trustworthiness. These include: membership itself which is paid and requires an id check, previous great and detailed reviews from other homeowners, sometimes other proof of real world identity such as airbnb reviews and/or linkedin. I also chat with sitters to get a better sense of who they are and why they want the sit. I have often moved on if I saw any “red flags” in the application or on their profiles. I have asked for linked in or other “real world” information if the sitter is travelling with someone who is not listed on their account and/or there are no previous reviews mentioning the person.
I would recommend at this point treading lightly. If there is something nagging at you about this particular sitter, then I would suggest contacting them and having a video chat to ask some questions and try to clear the air, but a demand to see their papers won’t sit well.
Things can always go wrong. If someone was a master criminal using THS to get access into homes for nefarious purposes what makes you think they wouldn’t be using a false passport? It’s possible you just experiencing first time jitters, but it’s also possible this model is not for you in which case even though it is late in the game, you might consider cancelling the sit altogether and finding a kennel for your pets.
Yes, that has happened to me. When I asked a phone scammer for an ID, they sent something that showed up in a reverse image search as a specimen example
Thanks, it’s an interesting conversation, and I’m just waiting for another response from support as to have a clear understanding. It makes sense what you’re saying, if there was a problem, there is no reason for the homeowner to have personal details of the sitter, for everyone’s safety. A negative review can serve as adequate justice. But my question to support is about criminal behaviour - destruction of property, theft, or negligence. My question or assumption here is that if the police are brought into the picture, I assume THS is legally bound to disclose the sitter’s info. That’s all. Maybe I should search ‘criminal activity’ or something, and I’ll find the answer:) Okay, thanks. Be well.
There was a posting by an HO on this site who wanted to the contact info and full legal name of a sitter, in order to demand money for damages. Or maybe to report them to the police, I don’t quite remember. THS did not give that information.
But we still would not be able to provide you a home address -as full time nomads or consistent ID as we have 2+ names!
I get carried carried away sometimes & get ‘moderated’ too!!