I am presently on a sit where I expected to have a queen bed in a bedroom with a door. The HO did not mention that there are no doors in the house. Moreover, there was no mention that I would be expected to sleep on a pull out couch the first and last night of the sit because the HO would be there. I was expected to arrive the night before HO left because her flight was at 4am and depart a day later after her night return home. At the sit, HO got up at 3am and turned on lights and made noise from 3am to 4am (I couldn’t believe it. I would have quickly got dressed and departed with minutes so as not to disturb someone sleeping in the living room or given my bedroom to them and slept on my couch!). Prior to the 3am wake up, I had to deal with four cats (two of them feral) continuously coming in the cat door feet from the couch I was sleeping in. One of the feral cats has a bell around its neck that made noise. The house cats were growling at the feral cats and all of them were running around the room I was trying to sleep in! And then the dog came over to let me know it wanted go out to the bathroom at around 2am. I got no sleep! I am pretty upset about the situation. I think the homeowner should have disclosed that there were no doors in the house and that I would be on the couch ahead of time so I could have made an informed decision (which would have been to pass on the sit). I am upset about this sit because the listing failed to disclose the true arrangements of the sit in terms of the lack of doors/privacy and guest room. Finally, the HO had set up a feeding station next to the queen bed where all four cats came during the night to eat! I moved the station after the first night of having cats fighting under and around the bed!
How grim! Sounds like you will have ample awake and annoyed hours to plan a suitable review!
@KellyK Are the internal photos of the listing accurate ?
Going forward - “Where do the pets sleep ? “ is a question that many sitters ask during their conversations with potential hosts before confirming a sit .
I think you should get the bed and the HO takes the couch on her late night return.
Put.This.All.In.The.Review
ugh. this sounds unpleasant. hopefully it’ll be better now that you’re in a real bedroom and have moved the feeding station elsewhere. please please please be honest about all of this in your review. it should be reflected in both your star ratings and your words so other sitters are warned.
I thinking back to when my 3 kids were all in diapers at the same time. Waking up all hours of the night. Ugh, I’m getting shivers just thinking about it. Below is a question that I ask during the application process.
Are there any responsibilities or pet behaviors that would require the petsitter to wake up during sleeping hours of 11pm-6am? (ie potty break, medication, etc)
I feel for you and would also find it very annoying. However, as you mention that you would expect her to sleep on the couch, it seems it is a small 1-bedroom home? I myself would probably have given the bed to the sitter, but there could be various reasons (from not thinking about it to health issues) for the host to use the bed herself. Sleeping arrangements is a relevant question next time. If it is indeed a small 1-bedroom home I am not surprised it isn’t a door to the bedroom, as doors take up space in small homes - but is it no door to bathroom either? That would be odd to me. Was it visible in photos in listing?
I am a little confused about the cats as it said two of them are feral, but that could be a language issue on my part. I thought feral cats were wild and not tamed by humans, but I see it is mentioned that one has a bell, so clearly some human interacts with it. Do all four cats live there and are they mentioned in the listing?
So sorry you didn’t get much sleep. Good that you took measures with the feeding station. Hope you get more sleep going forward.
It sounds awful!
The pet parent should most definitely have disclosed that you would be expected to sleep on a sofabed for some of the sit, and it’s both disrespectful and thoughtless of her to have imposed this on you. Did she inform you of this when she showed you around the home, at handover? You could have stated you were unhappy with that arrangement and that you reasonably expected to be accommodated in the bedroom shown in the listing (I know it’s tough to do that, but it’s important to set some boundaries). I’d definitely do that for the last day of the sit!
Good luck with it!
Two feral cats that started coming in the cat door to rob the house cats food and bring in dead birds they caught. The HO caught one of the feral and put a bell to try to mitigate the wild birds being killed. The feral cats came and went in the house just as much as the house cats and were slightly tame. Both had been caught and neutered previously too. As far as the listing, there was a photo of a queen bed and photos of pets on a couch. I assumed the photo of the queen bed was the guest room where I would sleep as there was no mention of a couch or that there was only one bed. There were other rooms that could have been bedrooms but were not used that was. Six rooms in total including kitchen plus a bathroom with the only door. I did get a little more sleep after moving the food thought the cats still roamed around at night waking me occasionally. I learned a valuable lesson to ask probing questions before accepting a sit.
If a listing doesn’t include specifics about where a sitter will sleep and such (meaning they say so in words), I don’t even bother applying. That’s because I figure a thoughtful host will have put themselves in a sitter’s place and highlighted key elements. It takes two thoughtful parties to make a great sit happen.
If a listing just covers what the host and pets need or prefer, that’s telling to me — the host is self-absorbed, which doesn’t bode well for a mutually successful sit.
Not much help, but I did a classic double-take to read the HO got up at 3… For a flight at 4??? What, was she flying her own light aircraft from the airstrip next door? 
The HO got up at 3am and spent an hour up and about in the home before departing to drive to the airport.