Hi everyone. I just arrived for my longest sit yet, almost a month long. The place is not as clean as pictured and there are a few other things I’ve found to be inconsiderate when welcoming someone in your home. The biggest thing for me is the bed sheets have clearly not been washed. I am pretty grossed out and a bit upset. There’s no laundry soap and it’s too late to go out. How can I bring this up with the home owner? I’m feeling conflicted if I should mention this early on or just wait to write the review. Any advice appreciated.
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Are they new to THS? How about messaging the HO and saying “Arrived safely, pets all fine. Where can I find clean bedding to sleep in please?” as an opener and see what they say to gauge the reaction. If it’s solved then you can decide whether to tackle what you need as extras now or add feedback to review. What else is there that’s causing an issue? We arrived once for a month long sit in full on tropical rainy season and the first morning I had to message them and say "Do you have any of the following? Spare bedding, other bath towels, tea towels, bath mat, laundry basket, loo roll, coffee maker? The answer was no to all of them!! Quickly followed by “should we order them for you?” & “we better get those for the next sitters”. It wasn’t ideal but they ordered a couple of bits, they learnt, we managed and we were glad we asked up front. And they were new to THS… #bebraveandask
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Reading this forum has opened my eyes to how many clueless people there are in the world!
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I actually snorted out loud at that comment @KChev (oh so glamorous) 
The same HO had the barest fridge we’ve ever encountered, just about a lick of milk and nothing else at all and they owned a local restaurant…#gofigure
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Too late now but this is how I would handle it: I would message someone immediately and ask them Where the laundry soap and say something in not to cutting a way, "I noticed the sheets looked like they need to be refreshed. I can’t find any laundry detergent. It’s too late to go out. Where do you keep it or alternately are there clean sheets somewhere that I can use tongight?
As for the review, that would include both the conditions you walked into AND the owners response when you made them aware.
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Thanks for your response. I did ask, there are no extra sheets so they ordered a new set.
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Good on you for asking and happy they have ordered you a new set #thatsprogress
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Write a polite message to the host, asking them to make things right or compensate for your inconvenience. This gives them a chance to rectify the situation and shows that you are treating it professionally. It’s much better to deal with it now than to spend a month in an awkward situation! Plus, they may not even realise that an oversight has been made.
If they don’t respond well, you can certainly mention it in your on-site review. But in my experience, most hosts want to know about these issues so they can fix things.
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Hmm I don’t think I’d ask for compensation and not sure how they can make it right. Do you have any examples of what you mean? For more context, besides the dirty sheets, there were no towels laid out and they told me the clean ones were in a pile on their closet floor. I washed them anyway before using them. There was dirty laundry of theirs unwashed in the washing machine. The bathroom trash is full and the mirror is covered in toothpaste spray. It seems like their bathroom bath mat has never been washed. The kitchen trash is full and there was rotting produce in the fridge. Beyond hiring a cleaner to come and take care of these things I’m not sure what else they could do. I’m not to the point that I’d demand a cleaner come, I’ll just personally do it. The host seems young and inexperienced and I guess that extends to hosting. I will note all these things in private feedback once I leave and rate them for cleanliness appropriately along with a concise comment in the review.
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Also forgot to say the dishwasher was full of stinky dirty dishes. I have no closet space to unpack. The host clearly put no thought into prepping their home for a sitter. All in all, I’m just disappointed and feel taken advantage of. Not a nice feeling to start a 3 week sit.
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@s.marie15 Please include these facts in your review. Nicely, of course. 
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Do you think I should list everything I found to be unclean in my review? I am unsure how to effectively communicate the state of things. I don’t want the review to be scathing and I do think this host is just clueless. But at the same time, I am upset and hurt about the situation.
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Listing everything could perhaps be much - I think I would have just mentioned a few examples.
The home wasn’t clean and prepared as expected. The sheets were dirty, and had to wash the towels as they were in a pile on the closet floor. Dirty laundry and dishes. The bathroom and kitchen trash were full, the mirror had toothpaste spray, and the bath mat seemed never washed. It was rotting produce in the fridge. With better cleaning, it could be a great place to stay.
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I recommend that you also take photos of how you found things … you might need evidence of the conditions that you describe ( if the host decides to raise make a complaint against you or if you decide to raise one )
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“The host seems young and inexperienced and clearly put no thought into prepping their home for a sitter. All in all I felt disappointed and taken advantage of.”
Think you’ve said it all right there. I wouldn’t go into detail, and I would ‘sandwich’ this between some more positive points - which there hopefully will be throughout the course of a three week stay.
And who knows, by the end of three weeks you may have had such a positive experience overall that you no longer feel disppointed and taken advantage of. But if that’s not the case, please tell it like it is for the sake of future sitters!
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I’d like to update this and say the host sent me a single fitted sheet. No pillow cases, no top sheet. Their comforter doesn’t have a removable cover and they personally didn’t use a top sheet. Ugh. 
. I gave up and ordered my own full set. It will now travel with me to future sits.
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After reading to this point I had to stop. I can not believe how truly insensitive some people can be. Frankly it is beyond any semblance of decorum. You know that people are coming to stay at your home, in many cases look after your own pets, and you don’t wash the sheets. Good lord. Who brought these people up?
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This is truly a sad situation for your arrival. Perhaps a homeowner here could post what THS suggests as a checklist, to prepare for the arrival of a sitter. After the sit and the reviews (with your specific lack of cleanliness comments) have been posted, you can kindly email/text the list to them in the hopes that future sitters will not encounter a similar situation.
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If it’s not too late, take photos of what you found. I agree with the comments to summarize all the things that you found wrong when you write your review. (limiting it to just a couple of the items might make it sound like you are overly picky. It’s the accumulation of all these things that makes this sit really awful.)
You are doing a favor to any future sitters by informing them. I really wish THS had some kind of remedy for situations like this !
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@s.marie15 it sounds a very challenging sit cleanliness wise, hope you’ve managed to improve it for yourself.
If making the decision to stick it out and not give them notice to leave, I would inform the owner that you’ve bagged up the washing in the machine and disposed of the rotting food in the fridge and cleaned it accordingly. I understand you have bought your own bedding now, do make sure you tell them. Say you have received the single sheet they supplied, however, you had to buy a full set.
The review does need to be honest, start with the positives - pet behaviour, instructions, area and then add that you found the home not prepared for your arrival and that bedding, towels were not freshly laundered or spares provided making it necessary to buy some and that potential sitters should confirm with the owner that the fridge is cleaned of any out of date food and all areas for the sitters use, especially the kitchen, bathroom etc are cleaned and tidy and that basics such as cleaning products are provided as you found this not to be the case when you arrived.
No need to add much more as potential sitters will understand exactly what you are saying.
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