Well done @Ybrik I bet you feel relieved now!
Its all part if the learning curve- Onwards & upwards!
@Ybrik Thanks for the update! While I wonât get onboard with others here and claim theyâre entitled by anticipating a ride to and from the airport as I donât know how far they are from the airport or what their history with other sitters is, nor will I say âwell you sure dodged a bullet here!â as I donât know what theyâre actually like in terms of personality and vibe, and Iâve no idea what this entire situation looks like as far as the home, location, extent of duties, etc, what I will say is youâve made a decision that feels most comfortable for you and your husband and thatâs what is most important here. I offered to drive a couple 90 minutes to and from Frankfurt airport last summer as it was a month-long sit and I was using their car for that time and I really didnât mind it. They never expected it or even hinted toward it, they had planned on leaving their car at the airport. We all have that power and have no reason not to utilise it! Good journeys to you!
To the people saying use Uber or Lyft; this is not an option for us where we live.
75 km from the airport, no public transport, no Uber. If we could even get a taxi to do the trip, it would cost more than the airfare.
We do ask our sitters if they would drive us to the airport and pick us up, using our car.
Our last sitters, a couple, drove their car and our car to the airport, handed ours over then drove theirs off to their next destination.
Because of the transport situation here, we look for sitters who have their own vehicle.
We do ask our sitters to drive our car once a week, maybe to get groceries at the nearest shops, 30 km round trip.
We had an unfortunate occasion where one lot of sitters clocked up 4,000 km in three weeks, on an island that is 400 km long. Sigh.
@mikomeko the situation you describe is one many sitters might happily agree to do- especially if a car was actually needed and it would save a month of rental costs. We did that- happily- for a 3 week sit in France (but with a much shorter journey)
Sounds like the OP was put on the spot by an unexpected ârequest/expectationâ, did not need use of HO car and would have incurred costs on their own time, playing free taxi driver. Thatâs a no go. Youâd have to be an extreme people pleaser or a newbie desperate for a review, to accept that and not feel resentful towards the HO. We had that feeling towards an HO once who came with a much too casual and late ârequestâ so we cancelled the sit. Feeling resentful will not lead to a happy sit!
wow, I hope you marked them down for that on review, that is ridiculous and unsafe.
so glad you didnât cave in to them with this bullying behaviour
Fantastic wording, I love it. Firm but fair
But it wasnât only about your car or theirs was it?
It was also the expectation, and the early morning departure, I would have emphasised that. We are not prepared to arrive early oâclock to then drive you to airport.
Most people would ask friends or family to do this, if there was not suitable public transport.
Asking your car or ours means that they will probably try this tactic again with future sitters.
Good on you. I would have done the same. Btw a few things I noticed is that they didnât review their previous sitter for both of his sits.They talk about some elderly couple sitting for them on THS but there is no record of that. Also their dates are incorrect and finally they say the dog needs 4-5 walks a day, while on responsibilities they listed the dog needs only 30 minutes walk (unless his walks are 5 minutes each). A lot of red flags on that listing.
How did you find the sit?
Simple search.
Good call! Hopefully the ho might reconsider in future but, somehow, I doubt it!
@Ybrik, we perceive two unrelated topics here. First, surprise expectations - almost always bad. Second, travel to/from airport.
We have driven pet parents to/from airports on maybe ten housesits. As @Oztravels noted, it can be attached to housesitter use of pet parent vehicle. In our experience, this can also involve pet parent collecting housesitter from airport, train station, etc. THS works well as a fair trade. If the request is reasonable - ie modest distance, agreeable time of day - and there is give-take then we are generally fine with it.
Appreciate we seem to be in minority on this topic. Perhaps notable that many of our housesits are international. And perhaps some Scottish DNA is sensitive to costly car rental! To give example of potential win-win then we have completed on multiple sits where a) they have collected us from airport, b) we have driven them to airport, c) we used pet parent vehicle during sit (saved us a bunch, more comfortable for dog), d) at end sit, we have driven Pet Parent vehicle to airport; parked it and headed for our own flight; few hours later pet parent collects their vehicle and drives themselves home. All seems entirely reasonable and mutually beneficial.
Glad OP worked out. Good to set boundaries. And to withdraw applications before sit confirmation if there is a poor fit or expectation gap. Onwards to the next one!
Okay, great lecture and all that but hopefully youâve caught the part where I said to the OP âyouâve made a decision that feels most comfortable for you and your husband and thatâs what is most important hereâ. ![]()
Oh thatâs too bad if you liked the Sit enough to apply in the first place! Weâve had various experiences; if we have the use of the Hostâs car, we do not have issues with driving them to the Airport, etc.
As Sitters, we do always offer to drive Hosts to departure places and yes, weâve been âusedâ at times! Some pay for fuel, certainly tolls, some seem genuinely appreciative ( âthanksâ but no compensation) some give a gift (usually Shortbread!!) although some are more generous with gifting âŚ. though not actually expected by us depending on attitudes! We just donât mind (except the 0100 hrs flight arrival with an hour+ each way trip when âtheyâ made us bus to village after train after long flight!!). So itâs part of our lifestyle experience with House sitting âŚmaybe weâre just too nice! ![]()
As you have decided against confirming the sit you can ask @Jenny to close the thread.
I honestly donât think itâs unreasonable to ask a sitter for a ride to and from the airport, as long as itâs not a heavily congested area like Los Angeles and end up taking them ages to drive to and from, itâs not a tremendous ask. Iâve done it, Iâve offered to do it, 90 minutes each way x2. Lots of sitters using this and other platforms who donât want to do much in exchange for a nice place to stay in a nice area, provided both of those fit your and other sit descriptions! I mean, yes, as a sitter Iâve seen my share of HOâs expecting a LOT during the course of their sit, and some sitters will happily indulge them and others not!
@BunnyCat Curious why you were so âcuriousâ about this sit, so much so that you spent a fair amount of time in your day searching it out. Thatâs not a 5 minute task, with dozens of sits to page through, having to open each one individually and read through it.
I was wondering the same!
OP mentioned the location, date and pet type - a quick search setting the filters for these and the search brings up only 1 sit that fits that criteria.