Hi there, everyone. My wife and I have been on the Trusted Housesit‘s platform for a couple of years now. Overall, our experiences have been phenomenal. Come in, enjoy the house, the area, and the pets, take care of what needs to be taken care of, head home, and get a decent review. Unfortunately, our last two house sets have been quite frankly disasters. The pet parents were, mostly in my opinion, the main issue. Both of them were quite helicopter-ish, a bit overbearing, and had unreasonable expectations for their sitters and showed very little gratitude, even though they were frustrated at how we did certain things. Like I’ve mentioned, one of them opened up a dispute case on us, which is still in the process of being handled. It’s really turned us off of the whole idea. I know that we shouldn’t let two bad experiences ruin everything else, and we are currently on a lovely house to sit right now. It’s just really difficult when they are back to back and we get no gratitude or thank you. Just a whole list of complaints. The last house set, we even hired a cleaner to come and professionally clean the house before we left to ensure that it was spotless. The homeowner came back and had nothing but complaints about a stain on a rug in the dining room, as well as a little bit of dirt marks on her foot stools from our children when they played outside. There was never really a thank you or any sign of gratitude, just a laundry list of complaints. Does it get better? Because I feel like these homeowners are intentionally ringing our bells. We’re not passive-aggressive; my wife and I are both straight-shooting kind of people, and if you have a problem with us, we prefer you just bring it to us directly, but unfortunately, both of these homeowners acted like we were doing a great job and then immediately got mad off upon their return about, in my opinion, things that can be easily resolved. Any words of encouragement for this? Or should we just quit while we’re behind? Both of the homeowners gave us three-star reviews, and I’m not even sure if anyone’s going to want to have us over at this point in time.
2 HOs are a pretty small sample size.
I feel like THS (for sitters and hosts) is a bit like playing craps. Snake eyes are possible but the odds are on your side. Snake eyes twice in a row might have me reviewing my technique or I might chalk it up to bad coincidence.
Could it be the place where you sit? Because 100% of the pet parents we have sat for have been incredibly grateful towards us (UK and Spain). If so, change your location of where you sit. I know there are plenty of here that have had the odd not-so-nice host, but all of ours have been really lovely.
Also…
Be proactive in the future, don’t leave dirt marks on the stools etc, just buy upholstery cleaner and sort it before the hosts return, we automatically try to fix anything that ‘we’ cause.
In the grand scheme of things, you’ve had two years of sits, and only 2 ended up bad. That doesn’t sound large, maybe figure out the number of days you’ve sat for, and the number of bad-sit-days, and figure out the percentage, and then maybe you’ll find it doesn’t sound too bad afterall.
In retrospect, were there any signs that you might be a bad match?
I’ve done 26 sits over two+ years and have had nothing but appreciative hosts. I screen carefully for good partners, heed red or yellow flags and avoid those hosts and sits. I also leave sit homes as good as I found them.
If you’re sitting with kids who leave stains or other traces of their stay, you might need to seek out hosts who are less house proud.
I would see if there were any signs that you could look for going forward. I study the tone of the listing and the photos to see if their expectations align with what I think is reasonable as an equal match.
You say the things mentioned could easily be fixed. Maybe go a round on «inspection» yourselves before end of sit? We often share end cleaning and take some rooms each, maybe you could assess each other. Or child-proof at start of sit and remove or adjust things you consider «risky»? I do that even as a solo sitter, just to save me cleaning at end of sit.
It could be a good idea to seek out families like yourselves to sit for. We swapped homes for 15 years, almost every time with families with children of similar age, and never had issues with different opinions on cleaning. Also family homes in general. I kind of prefer the more lived-in homes as I find the hosts more relaxed also.
But maybe you do something similar, and it was just new hosts or a less than ideal match.
When our family swapped homes we avoided anyone who specified the type of wood their floors were made of or named the brands of their kitchen appliances.
I would be unhappy too if dirty footprints were left on my footstool and a stain on the rug. Particularly if the sitter did nothing to try and clean it or mention it to me. Kids cant help being kids so you need to be more careful with the owner’s house and proactivey cover software furnishings with old towels or sheets that can be washed to avoid your kids leaving dirty marks.
Completely understand.
We just happen to miss it before we left and it was a genuine mistake. Instead of being conversational, the host was mostly just accusatory. It is unfortunate, but I feel like it is a pretty simple fix in my opinion. I’m sure it’s a bit frustrating and I did feel bad, but at the same time it was also a genuine mistake.
It can be so frustrating and saddening when sits don’t turn out the way we hope.
For sake of discussion, I will take your word as the truth - that both HO’s were unappreciative, excessively overbearing, etc. Obviously their side(s) can’t be presented here.
Thoughts :
1)Can you take a look at those two sits and find any commonalities between the listings that might clarify the issues ? In other words, were there previous reviews which suggested that the HO’s were particularly demanding, picky or otherwise of concern ? Did you perhaps miss some red or yellow flags ?
If what you’re saying about hiring a cleaner and the HO’s dissatisfaction is true, that HO clearly has needs which can’t be met
2)While it may seem like your sitting future is derailed, two reviews is very little. Look for a few local sits to bring that average up (obviously never any guarantees but a small and easy local effort may help)
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Pics, pics, pics - Take’em when you arrive and take’em just before you leave
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Finally, I’m a firm believer in “gut”. When speaking with the next HO’s, if you have ANY reservations - identifiable or not - withdrawing in a timely manner may be your best option.
Hoping that you find future sits which are great matches for all people and pets involved !
With hindsight, if you would have offered to pay then that may have smoothed things over, and they may have said no to that anyway, but at least you could say that you offered in your response if they still gave you a not-so-great review.
Maybe do with the kids, like we do with the pets, limit any access to certain areas a day or 2 before you leave if possible, so that you can tidy those areas up and thoroughly check over them.
Those sits that accept kids are fewer anyway, so good reviews are even more important to you, so try to pre-think any potentially thing that could go wrong. For example, no felt tips whilst sitting, only pencils, etc.
Surely their time of return is when they’re going to assess the condition in which you’ve left their home and pets? It pays to do a final walkthrough at the end of a sit, to check for any of these issues which - as you say ‘can be resolved’.
The simple thing is surely to check for things like this, and sort them out before the pet parents return? Okay, so they’ve opted for a family with kids to be their sitters, so you might argue they should expect a few marks or stains, but maybe they just haven’t thought this through to be accepting of such?
Nobody on here can answer that for you. It’s your decision, just as is for you to determine what changes can be made to achieve all 5 star reviews going forwards. It sounds like you’ve either got to be more pro-active in preserving the homes you sit in or, as @Maggie8K says:
Possibly look for sits where kids live?
@TheBrandons0819, sorry to hear of two poor experiences after ‘phenomenal’ experiences.
After ~50 housesits in many countries then we’ve come to perceive that most THS Pet Parents are good, reasonable, welcoming people. Some are superstars. Some we would not return. As we have gained experience then we have learned about our own preferences, e.g. we’d need a truly compelling reason to consider a housesit where pet(s) sleep on housesitter human bed. But we have also greatly refined our search tactics, application criteria and confirmation requirements.
Given your recent experiences, we would encourage some self-reflection. Were the problematic housesits of a different profile (e.g. new country, premium value)? Were the pet parents of a different style (e.g. retired vs working professional vs large family)? Were the specific issues easily remedied? (i.e. change your exit routine or communication or otherwise)
One tactic would be to reach out with an open, honest note to the two challenging pet parents. State objective of improvement. Seek say three topics on which they perceive that you could have somehow performed better. Or perhaps ask if you had done a specific task differently then would that have resulted in a different outcome. Somehow isolate. Maybe there’s a common theme between the two housesits? Or maybe the Pet Parents were entirely unreasonable outliers. Who knows. Openly inviting constructive criticism requires a deep breath and strength of character. Objective here is to continue the ‘phenomenal’ run of housesits. Keep smiling 
Looking at the topics you’ve started, I wonder if there is some amount of self-reflection that could either improve your experiences or make you decide THS isn’t the right venue for you.
Is there anything that has changed about how you sit? You say that you bring children with you - are they now at an age where they are more active/getting into things and need more of an eye to leaving things as they were (i.e. finding and cleaning spills/dirt on furniture)? Are you applying to sits that aren’t a 100% fit for your family in the hopes that it will just work out? Are you invested in caring for the pets the way the HO asks and taking care of the home, or just looking for a cool spot to chill? Are the disputes about things that flat out didn’t happen? Or are they things that you think the HO should just accept as part of the exchange?
I am confused by your statement, “things that can be easily resolved” when you didn’t resolve them before leaving. Especially a stain on the carpet. I would never have left a stain on the carpet. And I would have done a thorough search. As your kids have gotten older – in the two years of doing this, they may be more active, more intrusive on the homeowner’s stuff. Then it is your responsibility to watch and manage it or choose a house that can take it. No rugs. I also close doors to rooms that I do not want to have to clean or disrupt. I try and keep a minimal footprint. And I don’t trust a professional cleaner to come in, when I am in an area and I don’t know how good the service is. I keep a small footprint and make sure it is clean when I leave. That is part of the deal. So as your children are getting older, maybe it isn’t for you.
You said there was a laundry list of complaints in addition to the two that you mentioned. It would be helpful to determine who is being unreasonable if you were to go ahead and list all the issues that the homeowners had with you.
of the two you mention, the dirty foot stools complaint seems over the top but they are justified in being unhappy about a dirty rug. Especially if it’s wall to wall carpet not just a mat. Either way, it really should have been addressed before they returned. If you didn’t see it, well that’s maybe a sign that you do need to be more thorough in your cleanup.
Not saying I’m right but as a homeowner that’s how I see it.
My thoughts… based on what’s been described. I can’t help but echo what a few other people have said.
It feels like the two recent sits may not have been the right match for you and your family.
If someone was bringing their pets, or kids to my home then the likelihood of encountering some real life increases. That might mean a muddy footprint gets missed when tidying up.
Equally, I could imagine it might be frustrating to come home to a stained rug. Though, I would hope that could be expressed politely and compassionately.
A potential solution? Similar to what @Maggie8K described, being a little more selective when looking for your next adventure. 
Kids are kids. No matter how well behaved they are, it’s impossible to prevent everything. 2 less than ideal reviews will not end your pet sitting adventures. I’ve seen other sitters profiles where they have had multiple bad reviews and have booked more sits.
I’ve been doing THS housesits with my 2 sons for 6 years. We have never encountered any difficult or demanding hosts. I have always thought that was likely because more demanding hosts would probably not choose sitters with children.
Having said that, there are things we have always done to ensure we try to keep the home as clean as possible. We leave our outdoor shoes just inside the door so we don’t walk mud or dirt around the house. We also only eat at a table in a kitchen or dining room, or sometimes at a table outside in summer. So crumbs and spillages are confined to one place. This limits any mishaps and makes less work for us when cleaning after ourselves. We have been known to move anything breakable to a safer place, and we only use the plates and bowls that can be easily replaced. We have had the occasional mishap, but we have informed the owners when it happened, and they invited us back again.
I am definitely not obsessively clean, nor do I deep clean. However I do check everywhere thoroughly as we do our final clean, to make sure we haven’t missed anything.
So my advice would be to choose your sits carefully, do what you can to limit dirt, mess or breakages in the house, and have one of you be responsible for a really good check through the home before you leave, or through each room as you clean it. If something still goes wrong, be honest about it.