Yes, that’s true. But for me the house itself is probably at the bottom of my list of priorities.
Pets come first, that means at the very top of the list and first in the sense if they are not pets I think I can confidently take care of and enjoy their company I just don’t continue reading.
At the same level of importance is how comfortable I feel with the hosts if they’re nice people who have reasonable expectations and are willing to communicate in a fluent, friendly and honest way.
The house itself is not important for me, I don’t need the same level of comfort as I have in my own house but I need a clean livable environment and I am not interested in high maintenance properties.
Anyway , I think you probably meant that too. I just wanted to develop a bit more what part of the
is important for me. Just getting the concept of mutual exchange is a great start.
I always do a video chat. It’s important for me to meet the people I will be partnering with. The hosts make or break the sit. An otherwise wonderful sit can be very unpleasant with difficult hosts. These are the people I will be communicating with on a daily basis sending photos/updates. More importantly these are the people I will be dealing with if something goes wrong - a problem with the house, a sick pet. I want to have a sense of who they are before I agree to a sit. The video chat is also the time to get additional information and clarification on sit requirements. I always ask about the health of the pet, I’ve had a couple calls where health issues were brought up when I asked in the call that were not in the listing. I find video chats to be very important and I have declined sits a few times after a video chat when dealbreaker info was disclosed in the call or when I just didn’t feel the hosts and I were a good fit.
Same here re: tone of HO.
A few examples where the video call was helpful – sitter’s bed turned out to to be the child’s single bed. No thanks. He did acknowledge other sitters had said the same.
– A high-strung HO who got right in the camera and said “I need you to understand that you will need to be on alert 24/7 for any change in pet’s behavior and to get to the vet ER immediately.”
– I now prefer to “meet”/see both HOs if it’s a couple. I got “the PR rep” in one case…but it was the other person in the couple who writes the reviews.
–Having a longer than needed video call where HO is rambling and reveals some information that might make the sit difficult for the sitter.
I have to say, that while my spouse now sits in on more interviews than he used to, with his schedule, if a sitter insisted on his presence, I’d probably move on as I don’t see the relevance and he has now returned to the office from previous remote so scheduling would be a nightmare.