You are right i should have mentioned it. But to be honest i did not even really think about mentioning it, because it did not bother me too much, as the rest (apartment and location) were really good. But will definitely be more honest the next time.
You can’t control what other people write. Getting upset by it is pointless and will have 0 results other than making you unhappy. I mean, if you want, you can ask HOs in the future to write longer reviews, but that will probably get you some side eye. I think you’re massively overthinking this and it will end up having 0 impact on your opportunities in the future.
2 Likes
@lalalein94 - at the end of the day you got a 5 star review and you have no control over what others think and write about you.
Occasionally I have received short reviews when I think I have gone above and beyond and other times glowing reviews for very little effort.
It usually evens itself out and the more you do the less significance the brief ones will have.
2 Likes
You omitted to say the dogs peed everywhere. That’s not being honest. They said you were a five star sitter. That’s them being honest (as you say yourself). It’s done now, lesson learned and you got a great review. #onwardsandupwards
6 Likes
I really don’t see why this would work only one way. Wouldn’t HOs appreciate a detailed description of the sitters regarding the different categories they review?
What I think may be different is that there are more full time sitters than owners needing sitters most of the time so sitters may be more aware of the importance of reviews, the deadlines and what can be read between the lines.
1 Like
Hi @CRU
This happened to me.
All of my communication was with the husband, application, Whatsapps, videos etc.
There were 2 cats who hated each other and could not be in the same room without fighting. The house was split into 2 for the cats and it made it difficult to spend the same amount of time with each cat. We decided to try and introduce the cats to each other slowly, brought them into the same room and they did indeed start to interact with each other in a friendly way.
We took videos of all of this and the husband was amazed.
We received a very concise review and very soon after, the husband wrote to us apologising that his wife had taken it upon herself to write the review. He said that he would have written a fuller review emphasising the positive work that we had done with the cats.
It was years ago and it still annoys me!!
4 Likes
What else would you expect a host to put in a review other than what I listed?
Enthusiasm is good but does it mean the sitter is exceptional or that the host and sitter “clicked”. I’m just happy to get another five star review!
In fact, communication is a category THS only apply to HOs and not sitters but, of course, it can be mentioned in the review. In the example you mentioned, I would wonder if there’s some shortcoming in communication as it’s just good in comparison to pet care, which is excellent.
I am not a HO and I am not saying we should worry about short five stars reviews. I am just saying that reviews work both ways and are important to both sitters and owners. As a sitter, I read both the reviews the HO gets and the reviews they write. I always get more relevant information from what people write than from the number of stars.
Lots of HOs say how reliable a sitter is or how they bond with the pets, how they send frequent updates, how they genuinely love the pets or are knowledgeable about them. If there’s overlapping handover, sometimes they give some details about that too.
I am not saying it should be a requirement but detailed, honest reviews are usually very helpful and appreciated
I just used common sense and logic to work it out 
but it still wouldn’t bother me 
Note: I’m writing from the sitter perspective.
As mentioned above, some people are more concise than others. Having written technical documents for much of my working life I struggle to write in any way other than concise. Having read the long reviews that other sitters write, I try hard to write a more descriptive review because I realise that some people prefer that. But I prefer the concise sitter reviews over the long ones - I switch off too early! However, I read on in order to look for red flags that might even be written between the lines in order to be polite.
1 Like
How do they know their sitter bonds with their pet when the overlap is usually an hour or two?
As you say, I’m quite happy with short concise truthful reviews from hosts too. I just feel sitters have an u written obligation to expand more. If the bed is lumpy, say so, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t a five star sit but would give another sitter the heads up.
2 Likes
I received a very brief all five star review on a repeat sit once. My first review from this person was very detailed and long with “over the top” praise. I found out later that during the second sit she had a terminal illness and that she passed soon after.
There are many reasons someone may write a perfunctory review. If you receive all five stars, I wouldn’t worry about it.
A related issue is that on several sits, the H.O. and I decided to extend the sit. That isn’t possible on TH so a new sit has to be added beginning on the day I would have left the first sit. In these situations, the H.O. often writes a glowing review for the first sit but nothing at all for the second sit so it looks like I have missing reviews which could reflect poorly on my otherwise 5 star record. Any suggestions on how to deal with this?
nothing you can do to fix the past ones but in the future just contact member services and have them adjust the sit dates.
1 Like
@Skydancer both you and the owner can easily copy and paste the one review into the 2 sets of dates. This has happened to me and will again next March.
1 Like
Thank you, Creature Cuddler! I didn’t realize that they could or would do this.
This is a good idea. Thank you!
I have the opposite problem. I’m a HO, and I always give, what I think are very nice, detailed reviews right away, only to find that the sitters haven’t written theirs. I’ve had to prod sitters to please write a review, and one promised and promised, and just never did. I don’t think she had any problems with us or with the sit - at least not that she communicated with us, but my one issue with her all along was her lack of prompt communication and follow-through. It got to be way too late for her to submit it, so she has a nice, thoughtfully written review written by me, while we have nothing from her. I’d hate for a potential sitter to see that as some sort of red flag. It’s frustrating on this end too!
1 Like
@JudyY Check the reviews sitters write before choosing one. If you notice that they don’t routinely write reviews, you can make a better informed choice.
You can read reviews from both ways of the sit. You might have done that, but for reference: when you go to the review-section of the sitter/ host you will find their reviews. On the heading of the person who gave the review - press the photo/ name and you get to the listing of the reviewer (if they’re still a member). Now find the reviews of the reviewer. You can now scroll through their reviews and see the review your sitter (or host) has left for others.
This is very informative. You will get a broader picture of how the sit went, or if the other party has a habit of leaving reviews at all and what kind of reviews.
I have the impression that the sitter in question did not leave a review for you or for the previous sit before you. When sitter writes reviews they are really short. So you would have the possibility to know this before confirming your sitter.
As I do read reviews thoroughly both ways, I would when considering to apply for your sit also notice that the sitter who didn’t leave a review has quite consistently been docked for stars by several hosts, so I wouldn’t hold it against you that the review is missing.
2 Likes
I know it is frustrating but I wouldn’t worry about that missing review, as @Garfield has mentioned it’s easy to track that sitter’s history and prospective sitters will know she doesn’t have a great record and she often doesn’t review.
Your dog looks adorable and your listing is attractive so I’m sure you will get great sitters if you vet their profile and have a chat with them before confirming.