Hi I’ve been sitting since July 2021 and I’ve completed 8 I think so far. Currently in South Lanarkshire lovely and lovely clean house.
I’m having an amazing time even though one house was filthy and one kitchen was filthy. One house had a slug problem in the kitchen even in the cat’s bowls and one HO advised me they had a rat problem when I got there! I’m learning and I’m now very wary if there are no inside pics of the house. I am waiting for a response from THS regarding these things. I am finding that the review situation is unfair, the implication seems to be you give us 5 stars we will give you 5 stars.
Like I have read on previous topics they are not B&Bs or hotel rooms but peoples homes that are lived in and I don’t mind cleaning what I use but I would never invite anyone to stay in my home without cleaning it first.
The houses with the rats and the slugs the locations were amazing so 5 stars but why can’t there be separate sections like there are for sitters i.e house, location, pets?
Hi @Lainey welcome to our community forum, thank you for joining us. Welcome also to TrustedHousesitters it’s great to hear that you are having an “amazing time” and have completed 8 sits so far, that’s amazing … well done.
Have these been local, what’s the furthest you’ve traveled and are you looking to sit over Christmas? There are wonderful opportunities on the site and as someone who has sat for the past 6 Christmases I can highly recommend it.
I’ve been on my amazing pet sitting journey for many years and have completed numerous sits across 5 continents and while there have been “moments” which I needed to attend to with homes they really have been in the minority.
These situations shouldn’t happen of course and we do everything we can to guide all of our members, sitters and owners in best practices and how to prepare for sitters and how to leave a sit
The review system is under internal discussion and we are taking all of our members feedback into consideration to find a fair and workable solution for everyone involved and so your suggestion will be added to the feedback … Not wanting to make light of the discussion of course but if we could get the pets to review their experiences I’m sure they would award 10 stars across the board.
Enjoy being and do explore the forum there is great conversations going on between members and we look forward to sharing in your THS journey.
It occurs to me that perhaps you Angela could have a Check tag next to the Sitters and Homes perhaps.
So where Lainey has experienced some issues a Check is then added and then when that House has resolved the slugs, rats and cleanilness then the check tag could be removed. So although the place is ‘OK’ mostly it just means that there has been a report of ‘an issue’ to warn others sitters ?
That was it’s a warning and an incentive for the House to resolve the issues.
I dare say a private area for sitters to chat more privately about their sits and their experiences can help to resolve some ways of resolving some issues too? (I dare say that this is already in existance perhaps?)
I’m sure that some people don’t ‘see’ how their place might come across to others as we can become complacient as to some problems and issues, as well as life getting in the way of fixing things. And then of course the complex ‘expectations’ everyone holds and believes are all so very different!
Hi, @AuroraMagic , in practical terms, how could THS verify that a house has been cleaned up? It doesn’t seem feasible to me.
I agree, it would be nice to be able to converse with previous sitters. This topic has come up numerous times on the forum. The issue is some people would resent a potential barrage of emails coming unbidden to their email inbox and would view it as an infringement of privacy. Of course, people could elect to allow others to contact them privately. THS chooses not to do it. See this:
I shan’t let the negatives put me off. Perhaps THS could do an initial video chat and tour with prospective HOs?
I am happy to travel all round the UK to experience places
