Thanks to you all for your great responses. As one HO said, THS has a learning curve and your answers have taught me a lot!
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if thatâs what she definitely wanted (which she definitely did, she backed out of your agreed sit), she should have said at the time of applying.
Itâs got nothing to do with you being new on here and not understanding how things work, sheâs done the wrong thing by you, think yourself lucky you found out now. Most sitters on this platform wouldnât have done what sheâs done. She changed the terms of the sit, not you, itâs just not on.
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I think this is perfectly reasonable. I sit by myself, but sometimes, my daughter has visited me or sat with me. I always ask. For instance, I booked a holiday sit in California, I asked if my daughter could come from the beginning, since it was a holiday sit.
I have sat in one bedroom apt in high rises. I think having that many guests without the HO could be stressful for the pet. There are plenty of visiting areas. Were they just visiting for a few hours, or overnight? You can agree to anything. And I am sure severeal have answered the question, that as the HO you have to cancel.
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Is that the only part of the T&Câs that refers to âguestsâ?
WeirdâŚ.âother persons to participate in the sitââŚ
If I were to invite a friend over for coffee or lunch or dinner, I would not think of the friend as âparticipating in the sit.â
Is there a clear section that states that sitters cannot have guests without written permission of the owner?
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The third party policy says
âA sitter must not allow any third parties to attend the sit or enter a pet parentâs property without their consent prior to arranging the sit. If they are happy for a sitter to arrange for a friend or family to visit them for any part of their sit, then that is absolutely fine provided the pet parent gives their consent for the sitter to make those arrangements.
Sitters must remember that they are staying in a pet parentâs home and be respectful to not allow unauthorised third parties be present on the sit unless they says it is okay to do so. â
https://support.trustedhousesitters.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360001881117-Third-party-policy
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Thanks @Silversitters. The policy seems clear enough.
Whatâs unsettling to me as an HO is that this policy is not widely known even in this forum. Almost all of the focus is on the third party policy as it applies to hosts. Iâm sure plenty of sitters would be fine if a hostâs friend or family member dropped by the house for a valid need or reason IF the host made prior arrangement and agreement with the sitter. I think the same is true for sitters having visitors. Itâs no big deal at all if thereâs prior arrangement, itâs a little bigger deal if the prior arrangement is skipped but the visit is short and itâs definitely a big deal if the 3rd party sleeps over without prior notice. To me, that last falls in the same category as a surprise third party staying overnight on the property while a sitter is present.
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This sounds like a misunderstanding. She probably assummed when you confirmed that youâd thought about it and the guests would be okay. Sitters canât cancel a confirmed sit. If you dont cancel her, she wonât be able to look for other sits during the dates. She will need to go to THS and explain the misunderstanding standing and that you wonât cancel. It will be a thing and you also wonât be able to confirm another sitter while this thing is happening. So for the sake of everyone, just âunconfirmâ the sitter and move on.
Sometimes sitters donât mention another person until after the confirmation which is bit tricky. In this case not only a partner but a child on a first sit sounds like an issue.
I would suggest that if you are talking to a solo sitter BEFORE CONFIRMING you mention upfront that you donât want guests and ask, âWill anyone be accompanying you?â That way it is clear before the sit begins. You can also state upfront that you wonât consider any accompanying requests made AFTER confirmation. You can also state upfront on your profile that you donât accept sitters traveling with children.
If you have a preference for solo sitters thatâs fine, but remember this is used as travel hack and many people travel with friends, partners or relatives, so you might consider people traveling with another person. Most of the time the other person will be on the account, but sometimes someone might mention in their applicaiton that they might be traveling with a partner who is not on the account. This is not unusual, but you can certainly decline or ask to see the personâs linkedin or other verification.
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There is no right or wrong. Even to this day, I have no idea how our family has been able to confirm so many sits since there are so many of us. Being clear in the listing is a must, please donât just put it in the welcome guide. That will save everyone a lot of time. If you only want a solo sitter with no guests in your home, that is fine.
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I am not so sure, I would not accept a sit if this was disclosed to me beforehand and if it was sprung on me I would feel very uncomfortable about it. I think the general opinion on this is that itâs a way of the home owner checking up on their âtrustedâ house sitter.
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Thatâs a bit like saying we can get rid of all road signs & markings because it is in the highway code
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Just want to clafify in case @LisaLisa returns: There is no ding for your cancelling. Trusted Housesitters doesnât track cancellations. They only track disputes. The sitter wonât dispute the cancellation since she is asking for it! You will both be able to move on but only you can cancel by âunconfirmingâ the sit. I hope this drama has ended and youâve both moved on. Please come back and tell us.
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Does your sentiment mean that you include in your profile that HOs cannot have roommates, family members or friends stay on the property while youâre in residence as a sitter? I donât think Iâve ever seen or heard of that but maybe youâre the exception?
Ahhhh, gottaâ love the , â But other people let me do âxâ â response !
Sounds a bit selfish and , dare I say it, juvenile on her part. Which also means you possibly dodged a bullet because dealing with this sort of attitude when a sitter is in your home becomes a different challenge.
You did the right thing : You stood by your requirements which are entriely reasonable.
I believe that HOâs can ask anything they like (within the boundaries of legalitity and morality, of course) as long as they are clear and convey these requests from the start. Sure, this may limit the pool of applicants but your home, your pets, your rules.
As they say, live and learn : Update your welcome guide and on to a sitter who respects your rules/requests/boundaries !
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Reading lots of advice here on the forum, I have now added *No Guests* to my profile. After a recent problem with sitters having guests stay. Even asking to leave these guests with my pets and house while they went away overnight !!! I said no but suspect they went ahead with their plans. THS are investigating.
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I mainly sit solo but sometimes bring my partner and on odd occasions we bring our dog.
Yes, itâs in the Ts and Cs that I need to ask permission. However, if a HO has already decided this is a definite no for them and clearly stated no guests or pets in their listing then I obviously will not apply.
Saves us both from wasting our time.
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First, as others have said: your house. your rules (as long as theyâre clear). For us, weâve allowed guests a few times, and one time did not. One had an adult daughter who is also a THS, and when both available, they often sit together. (The reviews confirmed this.) Another asked if her kids who live in the area would be allowed to stop by, maybe for dinner. (And there are partners where they generally sit together (married or not); only one gets the listing in their name and getâs verified. Weâve always had both partners in on the chat. [I WISH THS did the full background check on both sitters, and let sitters post both their names.]
If accepting the sit was dependent upon you allowing her friend/kid, I think she should have been more up front in the conversations before your chat and could have offered for you to meet him/kid in the interview-chat if that would help.
I think where this went wrong for you was she should have said that it was fine for you to think about it, but that you should know that she was only available if the friend/kid was âinvitedâ.
Weâve never been surprised with a sitter bringing a guest, child, or a pet. Although we have been surprised when we had it confirmed after several messages back and forth that the sitter had young children who would be coming. (We were the ones to bring it up since it wasnât in her bio, but we saw them mentioned in a review. Children have been fine with us, but honesty and being up front is essential, and we didnât feel the trust that we need to feel.
Several dog owners have applied and weâve thought if we were in a bind, we might allow one. Same with loaning our vehicle.
So I guess Iâd add that if you plan to write âNOâ in your listing, you might be eliminating great sitters who youâd have had no problem saying âyesâ to under different circumstances.
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I would not even say that guests can meet in common areas in your building. From my one bad experience, I told a sitter she could have a boyfriend come for âa few dinnersâ. He ended up staying the entire time. She had a bunch of bogus excuses like they fell asleep watching a movie, he got off work early, etc.. In your case it could be they go into your apartment to use the toilet or get a snack and suddenly they are spending time inside. Just keep it simple with a no guest policy. I donât like how this sitter put you on the spot. Iâm glad you were able to move on in time.
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To support clear communication before an application is made, Trusted Housesitters has added another option for home owners to state if sitters are able to invite guests over.
Check out the link below for more information.
But why did THS go into our Profile page and put a default to YES, to having sittersâguests? Why not No? And why interfere in the first place? We have 4 rescue cats who take long enough to get used to the one person or couple whose reviews weâve carefully checked and with whom weâve had a reasonably long video call, to ensure as well as we can that they will be good with our animals. As I said to THS, extra guests would mean more people in the house, more noise and less space for a nervous animal to hide. I would know nothing about these sitterâs guests, so I have changed the default setting to No. The last time I looked, THSâs policy was that they advised against allowing guests, so Iâm annoyed with them for doing a volte face and for putting us in a position where we could appear mean if we say no to future sitters on this question, and perhaps attract less sitters because of it. Does anyone else feel a bit aggrieved by THS sticking their noses in and editing our profile pages before letting us know what they have done?
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@Acb Since reviews are already being edited and adjusted, Iâm not surprised if this kind of distortion of profiles doesnât stop there.
Even if you donât have pets (and not all hosts do), there is nothing âmeanâ about being unwilling to risk letting additional strangers into your home.
Itâs not a moral failing, itâs a matter of insurance. Most policies wouldnât cover a situation in which guests freely enter and then damage or even steal something, without any actual break-in having occurred.
THSâ policies do not appear to be the rare exception..