Out of curiosity, why would blind reviews potentially make you more active, @HelloOutThere?
Not every HO and/or THsitter has the interest or lifestyle to accumulate 50 + 5 star reviews, which are suppose to “speak for themselves.”
1 or 5 or 10 reviews should also speak for themselves.
There should be no need to read between the lines for HO’s or THsitters.
Blind reviews seem to have the most integrity when it comes to THS’ stated motto of ensuring pets (and homes) are well care for … not application limits or restricting overlapping sits, more specifically.
If a THsitter overlapped sits to the detriment of a pet/ home, the review is the best way to ensure that particular sitter is held accountable, along with a report to MS.
Like wise for those THsitters that think they asked every possible question for a good understanding of the sit, only to arrive and feel they were mislead…the review is the best way to ensure that particular HO is held accountable, along with a report to MS, if appropriate.
I also think the blind review is the most effective equalizer between HO’s / THsitters / and TPTB.
@Ben-ProductManager & co need to balance THS as a going concern with member satisfaction/ requests and revenue.
HO’s and THsitters don’t have that balacing act. It is a win win between HO and THsitter to follow through with their commitment to each other; there is no 3rd party agenda.
There’s more to my thinking but this is the crux I think…
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Hi @luckycat and @HelloOutThere
Just a quick FYI that I’ve moved your chat about blind reviews over to the review mega thread, so we can keep the other thread on topic 
Thanks!
Jenny
I received a five star e-mail …at first glance it appeared I had received a five star review it says
Yippee to Your 5* Sit! 
And High five on your five-star sit!
but on reading further it then says
“we’re glad you had a great time on your sit - we loved reading your review”
At that point I had written my and review the HO had not yet left me a review
The homeowner left their review 2 days later and then I got an e-mail which said
Exciting times # you’ve just received a new review!
It then says it’s now time to leave your review ( which I had already done two days previously)
All the reviews are showing correctly on the dashboard but the e-mails need some improvement as they are currently very unclear .
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Hello @Silversitters Thank you for sharing this, I will also share the other thread where this is being discussed so that both threads can see the answers 
Please see the other thread here
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Hello everyone 
Just an update that you might have spotted in the TrustedTimes - the preview of the new owner categories that are coming soon!
Thank you to everyone who made suggestions about these!
I will share an update here when they go live
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This is exciting! And good news! I’m not sure about pet behavior as it stands though as I could see some petsitters especially less experienced ones giving lousy ratings to pets that just aren’t that friendly or that lively, or for kittens being kittens or puppies being puppies. I think “Accuracy of Pet Behavior” might be more like it. But I get that it’s hard to come up with categories and I’m sure a lot of thought went into this. I think it would be helpful for both reviewing systems if THS offered some kind of guidance/rubric for both HO and sitter reveiws. This could simply be a go to page with more information about reviews that people see with reminders to review.
Also on my wishlist: Private feedback the way Airbnb does it!
Oh my! This is going to be difficult! For example hospitality. Several HOs have really gone over and beyond with dinners, overnighting, etc. So five stars, no question about it. But then there was the one where I was not even offered a cup of coffee. The rest of the sit was good, the bed was nice, etc but how many stars for “hospitality”?
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Very happy to see this coming soon
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IMO: There’s baseline what THS recommends that hosts offer and then there’s above and beyond. So I wouldn’t down rate a host for not offering a drink, a meal and such, because it’s not part of the agreement.
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Or for that matter “pet behaviour”. Sometimes it is already clear from the listing that the pet has issues with behaviour. Should one give five stars?
Personally, I’d benchmark pet behavior agnostically, not by the pet. Then in my written review, I’d mention X specifics about the pet and whether I’d be made aware of X before I accepted the sit.
Yes, that is what I do too, descriptions and “better than described in the listing” etc. But from now on I will need to choose a number of stars.
I don’t think I like this reform.
I think this is a really great update to sitter’s reviews of homeowners and will make reviews more informative for future applicants when considering listings.
I look forward to using the new star rating feature and hope it’s introduced in time for my next sit review .
Since the cleanliness of a home (or lack of ) has been such a hotly debated thread on this forum . I am glad to see it included as a category. Hopefully the categories will focus the mind of homeowners on what a sitter expects .
@Carla Will all members be sent information about this new important updated feature or only those signed up for promotional e-mails ?
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That’s unfortunate. I think it’s an improvement, because it will help offer other sitters more visibility before they make decisions about potential sits. I can see how some folks might not like it, though.
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Hi @Carla thanks for posting.
I did see this via an email.
I like the update thinking.
Something doesn’t sit right with the comparison of categories when I view them side by side and I can’t put my finger on it, not being cheeky, as they say.
But something seems off.
Purple = home host categories
White = THsitter categories
The categories for each should be reflecting “compliance” with the “member code of conduct.”
Hospitality doesn’t fit that criteria, in my mind but I get the gist but its not really helpful info.
The sitter categories could be updated as well to be more reflective of the code.
Maybe it’s not too late to take one more look before the “sample” categories are presented as “live.”
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I agree @HelloOutThere. I like the update thinking, but feel more thought is needed before launching, particularly for the Pet Parent (I believe that’s the moniker currently being used). And I also agree that Sitter categories could be reviewed and updated.
Leaning on the THS Code of Conduct makes complete sense as that is where expectations for both Pet Parent and Sitter are clearly defined. Doing so makes the categories for both more aligned and rate each for compliance.
One glaring omission in the Pet Parent category is Welcome Guide. Another very timely topic on the Forum, Sit Dates, which I guess could fall under Listing Accuracy with explanation in the actual Review.
I don’t feel Hospitality is needed as it’s too ambiguous.
Suggested categories drawn from the Code of Conduct:
PET PARENT
Listing Accuracy
Communication
Welcome Guide
Cleanliness
Responsibilities Agreed
SITTER
Profile Accuracy
Communication
Cleanliness
Responsibilities Fulfilled
Pet Care
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Hello @Silversitters It went out in the TrustedTimes, but will double-check if it’s in any more emails and get back to you.
@HelloOutThere Great spots, they are only in purple for the update to make them stand out, in the reviews they will be in the same colours as the sitters.
@PetSitterBug @HelloOutThere That is helpful feedback and suggestions. I will share them with the team. I’m not sure if there will be any changes at this point, as the team has decided on these categories based on research and feedback collected across THS, including the forum, but it never hurts to share new ideas and if anything changes I will let you know
Hospitality is hard to mark, some sitters get picked up from an airport, some don’t even meet the owner.
Nothing wrong with either scenario, just not so sure how you would mark the second example. It would be unfair to award them less than five as they’ve NOT been inhospitable, just different circumstances.
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