I don’t know how you do it - We were once given half a box of M&S macaroons and thought we’d hit the jackpot!
I was actually surprised by how warm the Brits were. I had worked with many Brits over the years, who were warm and fun, but that was in career contexts, where we were collaborating or I was asked to advise. I thought that THS hosting might mean Brits would be more reserved. But no, they turned out to be as friendly and chatty as Americans. (My primary London host was an Italian, who’d lived for a long time in the U.K.)
Totally agree with you. I have done several sits in the most exclusive, unique waterfront locations one could imagine, all in the New York City/Long Island area. Never in a million years would I expect to pay for something like electricity of all things. People who live in such homes in such locations can clearly afford the electricity in exchange for loving care of their pet! I also do paid petsitting, and even my paying clients have never come close to asking for money, and several of them also have their housecleaner come while I’m there.
I did a sit arranged outside of THS (we knew the person and had a good relationship). It was all fine until she mentioned that I’d have to pay the house cleaners when they came for their regularly scheduled cleaning near the end of the sit. She was surprised I was surprised and asked me if I’d prefer to clean the house myself. I said no and paid the cleaners.
But the truth was I had been cleaning up after myself all along and what the cleaners took care of was mostly all the fur from the three cats, plus parts of the house that i hadn’t even used. I find that homeowners don’t factor in that a lot of what needs to be cleaned up is due to the pets and not the sitter. And that would be true if they were home instead of having a sitter.
I know how much that needs to be cleaned is due to me, but homeowners are used to seeing the pet mess as part of life in their house and not separate from human activity.
Do you mention in your profile the need to receive the WG? I’ve let it go a few times for newer hosts, but regret doing so.
No, I do that during the video chat. Never have had a problem getting a welcome guide (in whatever format — I don’t have a preference). I wouldn’t sit without one, because stuff like emergency contacts, vet account info, spare keys are important to me.
I see sitting as a partnership and, if a host can’t or won’t get it together to help set up a sitter for success, then to me they’re clearly not worth sitting for.
And I won’t ask a bunch of Qs to extract info in lieu of a welcome guide. To me, it’s already telling if the host doesn’t address that on their own.
I ask few Qs during video chats and yet can gauge hosts effectively. I do that by simply observing what hosts ask and how they ask it. To me, sitters asking a bunch of WG questions during a video chat unnecessarily clutters the chat.
What I ask is if their WG includes all relevant information I don’t need that information during the chat but I need to make the HO aware that I need them to include it in the WG.
I just tell them I’ll make travel plans after I receive the WG. I don’t tell them what to put in it. Haven’t had to. But I screen listings so I end up with hosts who’ve managed to read the WG questions/format and use common sense. If they can’t manage that on their own, that would be a great sign for me to avoid them. That hasn’t come up.
Note: Even if the hosts end up using another format/platform to produce a WG, they should be reading the THS-provided Qs/sections for welcome guides. To me, no need for me to repeat that. If they’re not doing that, I’m not interested in hand-holding them.
May I ask how you found the listing? Scrolling through all Amsterdam listings would be endless… Thanks.
Look for Adorable cat in the heart of Amsterdam
@Pumpkin When you’re trying to find a listing that’s discussed in a post, changing the sort by to distance can often zero in and/or reduce the number of relevant listings. I’ve found this works both on the website and for those showing on the app as reviewing or no longer in need of a sitter. 
That is exactly what I did. Another reason to rethink my amount of time spent online… 
Good point, thanks
Thanks, found it. And I would never apply 
Just saw another listing in Amsterdam that says “because I’ll be away for almost two months, asking for addition in terms of rent.”
It already went to reviewing in the time I was writing this. I guess hosts with listings in desirable cities can get away with anything.