Over 100 sits and I’ve only stayed over a handful of times. When I do, depending on time of their return, I’ll offer to prepare dinner - and if they say yes, make jambalaya, a Cajun version of fried rice/paella - usually made with shrimp, sausage, or chicken or some combo and ask if they don’t eat any of those things.
Current sit will be interesting- agreed to stay over after their early evening return when there was going to be a guest bathroom. Unfortunately the reno wasn’t completed before the sit and the shower is in the master bath through their bedroom. I’ll shower late afternoon before they return and then use the toilet/sink downstairs that night. I could leave and spend the night at an airport hotel, but airport is about an hour away ($100 ride share) and they will be taking me to the airport the next morning.
As HO we had a situation where our original plans were cancelled due to international events but we managed to cobble together an alternative. This did mean that we were still home for a day with our sitter before we went, and a day after we returned. As it turns out we cooked and ate together beforehand but when we returned he arranged to eat out, so all well in the end !
I would leave. You can even work out a departure time before HOs arrive and avoid any “awkward moments” or sense of obligation. Once your sit is complete, that’s it.
Sounds like you handled it beautifully. As an HO and Sitter, I do like to have the sitter arrive the day/night before we leave. It gives me time to simply show them where everything is and to have an in-person chat with them so we can both get a better feel for each other. (for possible future sits) Whether they choose/need to stay an extra night is up to them. We always make sure to have that conversation so there’s no awkwardness on either part.
As for food - we invite our sitter to join us for a simple dinner (a yes/no answer) and upon our return we don’t expect them to have anything prepared for us.
Of course, depending on the time of day we return, we feel it’s our responsibility to provide all of us something to eat and can figure that out when we get home.
In 100+ sits, I think I’ve only stayed over a handful of times - mostly when folks are arriving very late. If they are going to return in time for dinner, I ask if they’d like me to prepare dinner and if they eat shrimp and pork (my go to dish is jambalaya). Some say yes, some no. I’ve got a sit coming up that will have me staying over after their late afternoon return. The location almost makes that a requirement.
Bonjour from us! As we never leave an appointment until our Hosts are home and pets are ‘handed over’, I always offer to have an evening meal prepped if that’s going to be a later in the day ETA and we’re staying the additional night. If it’s before midday, the meal is there for their convenience and we leave. If staying, I suggest food options, set the table, chill some wine, ask for a suitable dinner time then we disappear to bed after eating and clearing. I keep the meal simple and I limit time in their kitchen space because yes, it feels strange to have ‘taken over’ in their presence. As we don’t have breakfast, we do the bed linen change having already done the major tidy-up and leave quietly knowing that often our Hosts need to relax/ recover/ re-energize. Many Hosts generously offer extra stay time when we do our Sit interview but they don’t realise that actually, the last thing they’ll want after arriving home from holiday, is to further entertain Sitters! ( It’s worked well to date, except for one recent exception where AFTER we arrived for just a long weekend Sit, the offer to stay the extra night was rescinded. Yes, after offer and acceptance when we confirmed. They farewelled us at 845 pm. on a Monday. Our closest available accommodation by then was 65 kms away. I took the prepped dinner with us (Spanish frittata and Lime tart) as they said they’d stopped en route to eat.???). But… we’ve had so many brilliant Hosts, we just adapted to this one-off…and drank the wine in bed!
@Tasmazias How rude of those hosts to kick you out after having agreed you would stay!! That would have left a bad taste for me (more, or less, depending on how they handled it) but, In your shoes, I would not have stayed till 8.45pm for a personal handover! I’d have changed plans and left much earlier in the day (with the prepped dinner ofcourse!)to suit us better. If I have to pay an overnight I’d want to get there at a decent time to enjoy what I’m paying for..