We’ve done it both ways. Staying with home owners was strange at first but we’ve learned that you meet very interesting people that way, in a relaxed atmosphere with loads (sometimes too much) of time for a handover. We’ve also stayed in hotels at our own expense and at the homeowners. Whichever it is we’d rather have the time to get to know the owner and pet before they go.
3 Likes
I always ask sitters to arrive the day prior as I like the opportunity to have a chat with them and to introduce them to the cats. Unless they have food preferences i usually ask them out to a local restaurant for a meal the night before I leave. I have had a number of sitters over many years and this has always worked well. I would add that the sitters room is at one end of the house and mine at the other end.
3 Likes
I have a post in the Sitter forum about this.
When my husband and I started with THS 4 years ago, we planned a year in Europe with many pet sits. As this was our first time doing this and being introverts, we were a little uncomfortable when the HOs asked us to come early and stay the night before their holiday. Over the course of that year with pet sits we actually looked forward to spending time with the HOs. We have made close connections with some of them and they have visited us back in the States.
Fast forward to this year. We are currently on a 4 month long road trip in the USA. Out of 12 sits, only 1 HO has invited us to stay the night before. 10 of these stays we have arrived a day early to do the meet and greet and walkthrough. We have had to find our own accommodations.
We do miss the interaction we had in Europe. It never felt awkward staying with our HOs and we loved sharing the time with them.
3 Likes
I have a 5 week sit, and want to take a few hours with my sitter the day before we leave. That would entail them having to sleep in my city overnight. We do not have great guest accomodations, and I’m not really comfortable spending night with them here.
Should i offer to pay for a hotel the night before; they would come here, get acquainted with cats and house, go back to a hotel, then come back here to start sit next day.
thank you!
3 Likes
To pay for their overnight accommodations would be very nice of you and the right thing to do unless you happen to find someone local who can stop over the day before.
That has happened to me where there was insufficient room for us to stay the night before. They recommended local accommodation and paid the bill.
It has really surprised us how different home hosts are on this topic. The last sit we had, we were asked to arrive 2 days early which I thought was a bit excessive. The next sit we have, as the home host is leaving at 7 am and they have multiple bedrooms I offered to arrive the night before if they preferred, but no, she said she will leave the keys with a neighbour and we can let ourselves in after they have left. -
I’m just hoping she has let the dog know that we are not intruders!
2 Likes
I agree @Colin 2 days is excessive and I wouldn’t apply for a sitting that expected that.
We have carried out 3 sittings for the same family where we have never met them and not even spoken to them. They left the key in the grounds (it is a large house). The dog welcomed us when we let ourselves in. No good as a deterrent for burglars but it suited us.
5 Likes
Hi Everyone
I’ve been part of Trusted Housitters for 10months and have had great experiences.
In general most of my flights are very early in the morning so I generally need to do a handover the day before advertiser sit start date . There has been no issues as most sitters would be flying in the day before anyway
However in the last few months , I’ve noticed that a lot of sitters expect me to put them up the night before . I would still be in the house that night, and I do not want to do this .
Has anyone else come across this and what typically do you do
Hello @MigeyMeatball and welcome to the forum where you are going to find so much helpful and informative information from our members who are here to assist you along the way with your questions and/or concerns.
Your question has been asked by many, many members here on the forum, and honestly, it is a personal preference. Before we became sitters we were pet parents welcoming sitters into our home to care of our sweet little girl Sassy and to take care of our empty house. We always invited the sitters in the night before for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, it was to introduce them to our baby so she was comfortable with them being there and us not just springing strangers on her right before we left. Secondly, it was an opportunity to just have a relaxed conversation with them over dinner, learn about their sitting adventures and let them settle in with a good night’s sleep before the handover. Thirdly, it gave us a chance to show them the “lay of the land” so to speak, with a tour of our home, how the heating, ac, sprinklers, etc. worked, and let them ask any questions that may have arisen (and believe me, there are always questions). But once again, this is all personal preference.
A great way for our other members to get to know you and be able to give you valuable feedback is to link your member profile to your forum profile. By doing so, they can easily click on your info and help you with valuable advice if you have concerns about your listing or questions on what might make it more appealing. It’s amazing how much valuable knowledge exists in this group. To link the two just click here How to add a listing or profile link to your FORUM profile - Owner & Sitter Exchange - TrustedHousesitters Community Forum.
Once again, welcome to the family!
3 Likes
I am a sitter and have been invited to be hosted but would not suggest to a home owner to host the night before unless they invited. Many have wanted to get to know me and also share a meal together and it’s been lovely. Other places owners have been frantically packing. I have arrived day before and booked an air bnb so I don’t feel it’s is something you do unless you are happy to. If you are not don’t do it. Have that chat before agreeing a sit that you prefer sitters to arrive on the day or after you have left. The issue is travelling to get to a sit very early can be a challenge. But I have had owners who were willing to leave a key for me and for me and go through everything on video call.
In fact we only get applications from sitters who are coming from a distance. There appear to be not many sitters here in Thailand. We live quite remote on a large piece of land and have many animals, so there’s a lot to explain. That’s why we ask sitters to come one or two days before we leave. We have a seperate little guesthouse, so there’s much privacy. Recently sitters asked if they could stay a few days more after we returned, so they did not need to find accommodation till they had their next sit. The guesthouse was not booked anyway, so it was no problem to let them stay a bit longer.
4 Likes
Hi @MigeyMeatball - As sitters, if the home host wants us to arrive very early because they are leaving very early then we would ask if they want us to arrive the night before.
If the home host was leaving later in the day then we would usually arrive an hour before they leave.
1 Like
That’s what I’d want to agree upon prior to the actual sit/meeting. My flights aren’t scheduled yet but I’d absolutely share that with my sitter ASAP.
We are in Australia and see it as our responsibility to Arrive somewhere to suit the Home Owner, wherever the location. We are hoping to be lucky enough to find some beautiful, gorgeous European, preferably Greek or Italian, animals that live near a beach, to mind.
3 Likes
I have not asked to stay over before a sit (or after) but have suggested it if they have a very early departure or late return so that the pets are covered. Usually it’s the host’s idea or offer and I am fine with it as long as it suits my schedule. I had two sits for the same folks recently with two days in between. They offered to just let me stay over and I did, though I made myself scarce while they were home. I had another sit where I thought I was going in a day early but it was two days early. They wanted ample time to show me their home and neighborhood and get to know their pet. I was ok with it since part of the reason I sit is to meet people, hosts included!
4 Likes
We always do this. This year we put our holiday on a few days because of the coronation and our sitters flight was booked so we invited her to stay with us for that and the subsequent street party where she met a lot of our neighbours. It was great, she got to know the house and our dog. We took her out for a Coronation Lunch at our local Pub, and we are now on holiday perfectly confident that she is more than capable of looking after everything. I would never ask a sitter for the day we go, so many unforeseen things can happen. Ditto at the end of our holiday she will leave the day after we get back so we get to say goodbye and find out how everything went.
9 Likes
That’s a great idea but for me my home is too small
1 Like
I think this is an area where clear expectations and communication is important. Husband and I are homeowners and sitters. We travel quite long distances to sit.
As a sitters we include in our application that we are happy to arrive a day (or more if schedule allows) earlier so that the handoff is not rushed. I say that we are happy to arrange our own accommodations or stay with them if they feel it’s important that we get to know the pets prior to their departure. We feel that our flexibility on this point helps us stand out, and we also want homeowners to know what the options are with us as sitters.
As a homeowner I write in the listing that I appreciate sitters staying one or two nights with us prior to our departure as we have one very skittish cat who adjusts better if he can see that we are comfortable with the new people.
I think it’s all about communication, pet needs, and individual preferences.
4 Likes
I completely agree! We have a very similar process. We always ask sitters if they aren’t local if they would want to come the day before and stay the night before our departure with us. Sometimes in the past our spare bedroom hasn’t always been available so that’s the only time when we don’t offer. I’ve also found that most out-of-town sitters that we’ve has appreciate staying with us the night before (even though we have a baby and it’s not a “quiet” home) I’ve always felt it’s really nice to have a meal together to connect with our sitters. This has also been our experience when we’ve been sitters - I just really love this type of THS hospitality getting to know the owners as well as the pets.
On an anecdotal note - one of the times when we didn’t have the sitter stay with us the night before…our dog who is naturally on the anxious side, saw us getting all our luggage out, packing the car…and then he spent the night before our early departure puking. At first I thought he must have gotten into something but he was completely fine and didn’t have anymore accidents once our sitter arrived. It must have just been the nerves from knowing we were going to leave him and he didn’t know who would be with him.
4 Likes