New to the forum and a relatively new member of THS . I’ve had a few sitters looking after my two dogs - about 6 sits over the last year .
Great experience all round . Luckily I got someone to do a week long sit over this Christmas period .
As I know how hard it is to get sitters for Christmas , I wanted to pull out all the stops for my sitters so they would have a great experience .
I checked with them beforehand , if they celebrated Christmas , wanted me to decorate , food allergies , food likes , the whole lot . They confirmed the do celebrate Christmas, would love Christmas decorations etc
I put together a Christmas hamper , cheeseboard ,crackers , biscuits , wine , chocolates , relishes and chutneys etc etc . I also put together a little booklet of festive activities they could do in my area ( they got that weeks in advance so they could plan )
Decorated the house , Xmas tree etc . Picked them up from airport , did handover and dropped them back to their accommodation after .
Left Xmas presents for them both ( small things like Xmas socks , personalised Xmas decoration , Xmas mug )
They did a good job, house was clean , dogs happy .
I feel I went above and beyond as an owner. The review they gave me was 5 stars but very brief , didn’t mention or thank me for Christmas gift or hamper . I feel like a bit of a mug and completely taken for granted
I wouldn’t mention the hamper in a review as I wouldn’t want to give future sitters expectations you had to live up to.
I would obviously have thanked you privately though as it sounds lovely
We have had some very generous home hosts in the past, but never mention gifts or acts of kindness in our reviews so as not to embarrass the home host or put them in a position where future sitters may expect the same above-and-beyond generosity
Agree with the others . I did similar for my sitters for my Christmas sit .
I personally wouldn’t want this mentioned in a review as all future sitters would be miffed if they didn’t get the same treatment . It would add unnecessary stress for me as a homeowner .
This is why sitters don’t mention it in a review . Did they thank you privately ? As long as you got a 5 star review, they looked after your dogs and left your home clean , that is really all that matters
@doglover24 ah that’s so sweet I bet it was so appreciated - personally we never go over the top for reviews as wouldn’t want the host to feel stressed or under extra pressure about doing the same for every subsequent petsit.
Maybe we were just special as it was Christmas and don’t want their previous sitters either to feel upset.
Sometimes we have even had to downplay how spectacular the homes are as the hosts have mentioned they don’t want people to apply to the sit for the wrong reasons in the future.
@doglover24 We are sitters and homeowners. Here’s another perspective on this.
This past year, we had something similar that happened, but in reverse. One of our sitters did a wonderful job for us, for sure, but left a few gifts for us and the cats. We did not mention it in our 5-star review of them because we did not want future sitters to feel obliged to leave gifts, as well.
We are simple folk, and we exist in the THS ecosystem with the belief that this is a fair exchange. We provide a clean, comfortable house with pets that are as described in the listing. In exchange, sitters take awesome care of our home and pets, and we come home to a clean house.
Hi @doglover24
I’ve been lucky enough to sit for some very generous HO’s including my current sit but I too am careful not to mention any gifts etc a HO may give me as I don’t feel it’s my place to set any future sitter expectations. I simple say I was well looked after or taken care of ny the HO and thank the HO directly.
It was nice of you to do all those things. They gave you five stars. To publicly state that what you gave them would be bad form. It would set the bar so that all sitters would expect that of you at all times. I imagine they problably left you a note or a text or some private thanks. Thanking you pubicly for going above and beyond could have created future expectations that you might not always want to meet. What they did was correct.
If a home owner had gone to that much effort for me I would have at least mentioned it in the review by saying as it was Christmas I had really appreciated the Christmas hamper and gifts. This is not saying how much you recieved but is mentioning that the reason was because it was Christmas. Any future sitters would then not have expectations, as not sitting over Christmas. I would also have left a card, thanking the owner for their kind generousity. Would have felt this was the least I could do, after them making such an effort for me. If the sitters did not at least do that, I would have been extremely upset. It is just common courtesy to leave some token of your appreciation.
I understand now why they didn’t mention it in their review.
I like the way you have worded it @Visit . I would have appreciated some reference like . It was a great Christmas sit , owner was generous and hospitable.
Or worded it in some way like Doglover made a big effort to ensure we had a grea experience over Christmas
No I never got a card at all and they never thanked me for Christmas presents . I guess they didn’t like them as they left them behind .
They want to sit for me again but to be honest I’m not sure I want them back .
You did something very sweet, that was very kind of you.
So the sitter is doing you a giant favor, sitting for you, and then left you a 5 star review and you feel unappreciated? I wonder how the poor sitter feels here.
@doglover24 I get it! A thank you would have gone a loooong way, in this case. Was it too much to expect? Don’t worry, the feeling will blow over in a few days. You sound like a lovely, caring home owner. Some people just don’t say thanks much. Half of my family are profound ‘thankers’ and the other half never bothers - we’re always at ends about it.
Keep your good faith, your good spirits and keep doing well. The the goodness will find you again.
@doglover24 . OK I am seeing more information now. Yes, they could/should have said thank you in some form or another. And leaving the gifts behind? Poor manners if you ask me. Were they trying to travel light? Maybe but say so then.
@doglover24 I agree it would have been appropriate for the sitters to thank you personally/privately to show appreciation. And they should not have left your thoughtful gifts behind- that’s very tactless.
Personally if a host is very generous and goes over and above for us I will say they are very generous in the review but I will not mention specific gifts. E.g one host bought us an expensive bottle of a speciality gin back from their holiday and another time we sat for them they took us out to dinner and ordered champagne! Etc Super generous but I would never mention such specifics in a review as each sitter/host relationship is different and its important not to create expectations for future sits.
In contrast we always leave a card (from the pets!) and flowers (or other appropriate gift) as standard, except if we overlap at the end, then we might cook a meal instead. Some hosts mention this in their review, others might thank us in a private text & not mention it in the review. Others never acknowledge it at all. Every sit dynamic is different and we’ve experienced many variations of generosity or lack of!
Im sorry they didnt thank you for the gifts. That was inconsiderate. If they travel full time they may have left them behind simply because they have no place to keep them. Of course, i would have just taken the items and donated them to a thrift store.
It sounds like you were very generous. You sound like a wonderful host.
That really does sound like you went the extra mile for your sitters and in their shoes I’d have been really touched. I also would not have mentioned in a review for the same reasons others have mentioned of not wanting to create an obligation/expectation for future sits. We always leave a thank you note and usually a gift/gifts on most of our sits. When home owners have gone over and above we would as well.
But I would also feel unappreciated in your shoes if they hadn’t thanked me or left any kind of note of appreciation. Were they new sitters who now think gifts are par for the course maybe? It may only be with hindsight that they realise how generous you’ve been. A couple of recent negative experiences have made me look back on the sit we did last Christmas and I even thought about messaging that host to thank her again for her generosity to us in stocking the fridge, decorating a house she wasn’t going to benefit from, leaving us her special Christmas tableware and a bottle of champagne. We were very grateful at the time but also didn’t know how much of a rarity this host was.
Ok now that I’ve read more. Totally tactless and rude to leave Christmas presents behind and no thank you . Plenty of better sitters who will appreciate your generosity. Onwards and upwards
