. “Nothing major, but I can’t decide whether to just feedback to them privately as a ‘learning’ thing, or include some details in review and deduct a star under hospitality. All thoughtlessness rather than any bad intent.”
As a HO new to THS…I appreciate your comments very much. Seems a few of us on the forum are pretty cynical, which is not often helpful. You are obviously a kind, thoughtful person! Not to mention …down to earth. I love that you identify your issues as nothing “major” (thats down to earth) and recognize no “bad intent”. Your kindness in being willing to talk/text through these issues with HO instead of just dinging him in review, esp since he’s new!
Good for you! You are on the right track! Talk to the HO and then decide how your review should read. If he talks to you and explains or apologizes, OR refuses and becomes defensive…I think you will know what to say, and can be confident in your reply! I’d also suggest you include in your review that you talked/texted or him first,tried to. Says so much about you!!
I’m a new HO here. I love the whole idea behind THS, but it sounded so easy and so I didn’t scour the info on line. I had no clue, didn’t realize how important the whole guidebook was at first! My bad! Lucky for me, my first two sitters were so awesome😊
While I agree, but suppose the sitter contacts host with her issues. The the sitter can still ding him a bit or a lot, depending on his response. Sitter can but mention in the review that this was HOs first sit, and that he he seemed open and willing to do things differently next time, ……or not. That way sitter gives HO benefit of the doubt on his first sit. More importantly it would give reader a pretty clear idea of what kind of HO he is.
He’s the kind of host who’s this thoughtless, for example. Waste of time to bother with such folks, IMO, but other sitters might think otherwise. Me, I figure any normal human knows that their dog will poo and need cleaning after, for example.
I love your advice. It’s so no-drama, down to earth and…kind. We never know what’s going on in another’s life, or head. Especially so in the days before leaving home. No wonder you are HappyDeb! Reap what you sow, right?
It’s true that folks can have brain farts or other challenges and we’ll not know. The thing is, when someone who’s kind or thoughtful experiences something like that and creates inconvenience for others, they apologize. Instead, the host in this case essentially blew off the inconvenience even though he realized that leaving only two poo bags wasn’t right. That’s telling.
For me, reading obvious signals like that is enough when it comes to deciding how to review. Other folks’ mileage might vary.
I am always baffled by that… Why is the house sitter expected to bring supplies, when they’re coming to the HO’s place? I get it in situations where one is sitting in their own home (as in paid care) and one has all their own supplies. But for THS? HO’s need to have their supplies on hand. Yes I can bring a few spare bags here and there but the overall responsibility to provide the essentials is on the HO, not the sitter. That HO was absolutely thoughtless in that regard.
