Why did you give them five stars if their pets pooping in the house behaviour was not disclosed before the sit ?
By not leaving an honest and factual review you are doing a disservice to the next sitter and to other owners who are genuinely 
.
becuse you don’t get house sits if you don’t have positive reviews … and that means you don’t leave negtive reviews. this is very important for a new house-sitter and is a serious flaw in the way these “trusted” reviews re currently handled …
I don’t understand what you mean ? Reviews are blind, the owner is not able to see a review ( either negative or positive)until after they have written their review so your review doesn’t influence what they write about you.
So you have decided to punish other HOs and future sitters because of that owner’s actions. And they got their 5* review! I’m totally missing the logic of your reasoning. I may be too tired. It’s been a long day.
Blind reviews now solve the issue for you to leave honest, helpful reviews @dani_p so please do. If you’re a good sitter, new or otherwise, and you do a great job looking after the pets then you’d hope the review would be positive (especially if you’ve chosen a well matched HO and done a video call. The HO can’t see what you write until it’s published so write the truth. #honestywinstheday
I saw a review from someone and I mentioned it before on another thread. Maybe a review similar in style to this would make you feel more comfortable. I’ll use my words, but it went something like this:
This sit may be for you if you like:
- access to easy walks
- lots of time home with the pets
- a friendly owner
- easy food delivery
- you have a car
This sit may not be for you if:
- you want to spend more than two hours away from pets a day
- you prefer a clean home without clutter
- you like space in a fridge and closet for your things
- you don’t have a car
@dani_p Did you ask the host why they did not review you? And I wonder- did you mention the pet pooping to them whilst they were away? If yes, I’m thinking maybe they suspected you might leave a poor review so did not leave you one at all- because they felt irritated/caught out or to avoid a retaliatory response.
The end result is that you have left a 5* review when it clearly was not warranted and they left you (the hardworking sitter) no review at all.
So all that future sitters can see is a potentially nice sit.
Unfortunately you have not served yourself or future sitters. I understand that you are new and need to ‘learn the system’ -so to speak- but I would strongly suggest that in future you always leave a truthful, unemotional, review and knock stars off if needed. Reviews are blind till both parties have written so a host can only respond to your review but their own review can no longer be influenced by what you write about them- (as was always the fear for sitters before)
Good luck for your next sit- its all a learning curve! Onwards & upwards! 
That was me (although you did not reply to me).
You are totally right that I should’ve left a 5-star review for hospitality, in addition to the 5-stars I gave him for communication. That WAS wrong of me, and an error.
However, the question was about what we were thinking when we were leaving a blind review, and I was being thoroughly open and honest about what I’d done, yet feel I’m getting bashed 
I was thinking this all was a learning process 
Not a judgement session, since none of you have ever made a mistake.
So, let’s all pretend we are perfect.
I also shall say that I have never sat at a ‘mansion’ or the types of places people seem to be portraying are my style. I have never had access to a pool or a tennis court or a hot tub or a yacht at the end of the dock.
My written review of my host WAS ‘glowing’ and I said he “could not have been kinder.” and yes, I totally acknowledged that he had gone over and above. (?)
I found his review of me to be kind and straightforward but I would not call it “exceptionally glowing.'”
Sorry that my way of interpreting the blind reviews was “wrong.” But I did highlight what was fabulous about this sit.
I loved the pets and the pets loved me, so all is good.
The sit is in Falkirk, Scotland. Go for it!
I’ve just had a look at your review and think it reads very well and you have evidenced why you scored as you did very clearly. If anything i would say your review would encourage me to apply for a sit if i wanted to be in that area, whilst also giving clarity to expectations.
Thank you Newt. I appreciate it.
@Sandi To preserve anonymity, I specifically did not identify the sit, the sitter, the area or the pets in the review I’d noticed and referred to almost 2 weeks ago, so in no way could anyone be accused of ‘bashing’ you personally and I’m sorry you feel that. I did not know the identity of the sitter, and didn’t connect it to your previous posts in this thread.
I didn’t save or reference the sit, so I cannot refer to the review again now, but this thread is about review styles in blind reviews, and the one I mentioned did really take me aback, particularly because, as you say:
For the blind review system to be effective for both sitters and pet parents, it’s surely necessary for the category star ratings and the written reviews to correlate, so if a sitter writes a consistently glowing report but then deducts stars, where’s the context? In docking stars for cleanliness and listing accuracy, yet stating this was because it didn’t compare to other sits, one can only guess at how it relates specifically to this sit experience. In stating that the pet parent had gone ‘over and above’ but then docking stars in hospitality without further explanation then it’s simply baffling, and comes across as unfair (it genuinely did to me, anyway).
This is not a witch-hunt and was never a personal attack, simply a discussion of how the blind review system has changed the way we now award or deduct stars, and why. My assertion is that they should be fair and relevant, and include context.
It is indeed, and is why we are contributing to this thread, I’m sure.
Best wishes to you.
I agree. I think it would be highly unfair to rate a sit in comparison with other homes. The sitter knows before accepting that it is or isn’t mansion on the Amalfi Coast, so shouldn’t later mark it down for being less than that.
It’s been only six weeks since I started this topic and I have already seen an increase in reviews not rating 5 stars overall and even more with an overall 5 stars and some category rated lower.
My perception is that
- the rating is a bit lower from sitters than HOs
- There’s still a high proportion of 5 star ratings overall and one or two categories rated lower (usually 4 stars)
- Cleanliness is the lowest, followed by accuracy of listing and communication more or less in the same proportion and a bit less pet behavior.
- There are some (not many) 4 star overall with just one category below 5.
- More than half of the above do not give any explanation of why they don’t give 5 stars and the wording is completely positive. I have even seen grateful replies to those reviews.
Which isn’t very helpful, is it?
Not really.
A factual review is much more helpful than stars. A contradiction between stars and wording doesn’t help anyone and doesn’t make sense.
I have recently noticed an increased rating of 4 stars in cleanliness. More so in the reviews sitters write.
I’ve given it some thought and it seems logical that more sitters are not satisfied with the HOs cleaning standards, which may differ from theirs, while it’s easier for a HO to get their home in the same state they left it.
What puzzles me most is that in quite a few cases both HOs and sitters review each other low in the cleanliness category. I guess they must focus on different areas or aspects of cleaning.
I noticed that too - maybe the host was hoping the sitter would clean up for them?
Before the new star system - when it was just the overall star system rather than the categories, I took off two stars for a sit, and I mentioned why in my review, the house was not cleaned for my arrival and the communication was really poor with this host. I went back recently to have a stickybeak since the new star system and notice the host has had many sitters since me and several dock her a star on cleanliness. So I guess the host didn’t learn and doesnt care hahahaha
I did that too with a sit I did before blind reviews and categories. The reviews before my sit were all 5 stars and nice comments. The one after categories and blind reviews deducted 2 stars for cleanliness. It’s not that they don’t clean for the sit. It’s that their cleanliness and hygiene standards are really poor.
@Lokstar that is so ridiculous to remove a star for your self-sufficiency when she did not even provide a comprehensive Welcome Guide.
Just another reason why Sitters really need to demand the Welcome Guide! It could bite you in the behind if you don’t have one! Sheesh.
I hope you removed a star for communication!
@PVGemini We did consider dropping a star on Communication but decided not to as everything went very well in the end and we had a good connection. So it was disappointing that she obviously did not have the same attitude! In retrospect I should have followed my first impulse & been more honest & dropped that star! But with blind reviews you only get one chance!
Since then I’ve decided to be more honest straight away! I recently dropped a star on cleanliness because, despite the hosts being lovely, I couldn’t in all honesty say the house was 5* clean when the bathroom was icky and the crockery & cutlery needed cleaning before use. However I couldn’t help feeling a little guilty after they wrote us a spectacular review! (People pleaser at the core!)