I would use needed or required interchangeably, and wouldn’t infer anything different by using required vs. needed.
Having read your post, I understand where you’re coming from, however I assume most wouldn’t think ‘required’ indicates the house/pet owner means they are looking for more vs. using ‘needed’
Kieran (from South England)
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I am not a native English speaker.
I never thought about the difference between needed, looking for, required…
But my first impression was that “required” is a more fancy/ difficult/ neat word for “needed/ looking for”.
At school we would first learn the simple words as “needed and looking for”…not the word “required”. That’s for more advanced English lessons…
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Interesting. As a native English speaker, I wouldn’t say required is a more advanced version of needed. They can certainly be used interchangeably, but I would use them in different contexts. The difference is subtle. In my experience, listings that talk about their ‘requirements’ typically have a less friendly tone overall.
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As a native speaker of American English, I don’t find an issue with it. To tell you the truth, I don’t recall the verbiage of any of my 30+ sits so I can’t tell you if I’ve had that mentioned in the listing. I don’t try to read much into a choice of words as much as I pay attention to they overall listing conveys and the feedback from other sitters. I’ve only sat a few times in the US and mostly in Europe and New Zealand.
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I was intrigued enough to look back over all my previous sits and only two out of around 30 odd used the word required in the heading.
Interestingly these two were the only ones that felt very ‘transactional’ on arrival and one of them was not terribly hospitable compared to all our other sits. Nothing bad but no offer of a drink on arrival for example. It definitely felt more about them than us, unlike our other sits where the hosts were very keen to ensure we would be comfortable and had everything we ‘needed’ (
).
We haven’t had any disastrous sits but I may now pay a bit more attention to this wording going forward along with other things I tend to look out for 
.
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Out of interest, I just went back over at least 25 of my past listing reviews and not one mentioned the word require. Thinking about it, I don’t recall ever seeing the word require on any of the three house-sitting sites I am on with over 60 completed sits in Europe/UK, USA and Australia since 2019. Maybe it’s just rare to see, not a constant To me it’s just a word, nothing more. Anyway, moving on 
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@Chrissie Thank you. That was exactly my question. I suspected as much.
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@systaran
I just think the whole thing is being ‘overthought’, now then, is that a word? 
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I just got sleepy reading this thread. 
I think I need a nap. No, wait. I think I require a nap. 
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Seeking a nap 
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As a literalist (often to a fault) and an American and Australian English speaker, “sitter required” has no nuance in my ears.
They are travelling and they need (= require) a sitter to care for their animals while they’re away.
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Say no more.
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Same. I think people spend too much time trying to force nuance into word choices where none exists. Language varies drastically by age, location, culture, skill level, etc. Trying to apply your interpretation for x word to y person can tie you up in knots. Better to spend that time asking questions and looking for actual red flags vs inventing ones.
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As a native English speaker (British) I do not find the term ‘sitter required’ offensive or negative at all. It is more a statement of fact, though it is rather unnecessary, and a little formal perhaps, for use in the THS context when the only purpose of a listing is to find a sitter!
For me- if the rest of the written content and pictures come across as friendly and welcoming I would think nothing of it.
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I totally agree!
I’m not too concerned about the word ‘required’, but it’s a swift pass from me when I notice the word ‘duties’.
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Ha ha. Two nations divided by a common language! 
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