You sound like you’ve had to do this?
No, but I always have a Plan B for when Airbnb places or even Hotels aren’t as described. I simply won’t be inconvenienced as I’ve got older and wiser…so I am applying this approach to house/pet sitting too. I’ve set high standards for myself and for the HOs I’m happy to sit for. It’s just me and how I want to do this.
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It scares me to think of buying a flight to a foreign country to have the HO cancel on me!
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I think a good approach is to aim at a location that has plenty of listings and not so many sitters, so if you get cancelled you have a good chance of picking up a replacement sit or sits to fill the gap. But it’s true you can’t 100% rely on any HO not having a life event happen resulting in a cancellation so Plan B or C or D to ….Z is required.
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Exactly. I live on an island and for me to get to anywhere is a ferry/ plane ride… it’s not as easy as driving back home to the next county!
Silversitters
Nearly all the reviews from sitters have given sits top reviews.
Even one I did where the house was not clean and totally not conducive to a comfortable sit. Yet none of the sitters mentioned any of the issues I came up with. I’m far from being fussy but Im sure nothing was different with previous sitters yet they did not mention any of the negatives in that sit. After discussion with the forum I did a honest review of my sit.
My question…how reliable are sitters reviews? Are sitters worried about others thinking they r fussy when there are real issues that should be mentioned in their reviews?
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Sitters are diverse, so how trustworthy or candid reviews are vary. But yes, there’s tension in sitters and hosts possibly toning down or papering over in reviews, because they worry about landing good hosts or sitters going forward.
Personally, there was one sit that I didn’t review, because of a lack of cleanliness. I figured my standards were maybe too high vs. previous sitters’ and the hosts’. That was early on, when I few sits to compare with.
Now, I’ve sat enough that I’m comfortable with being candid and specific in reviews. If I were to review that sit now, I’d definitely mark down on cleanliness. I like the new star system, allowing sitters to rate on categories.
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@Karen65 Not sure how long you have been a member, but the reviews very recently became blind. Before the reviews were blind, the Owner could see the Sitter’s review as soon as it was submitted, and so we can all understand that Sitters might have toned down their comments in fear of retaliation.
Now that the reviews are blind, we should all reap the benefits of honest reviews! There are tactful ways of saying “the house was not as clean as I would have liked,” for example, rather than saying, “the house was a complete dump.” Future Sitters will thank you for your candid comments.
Bad Owners and Bad Sitters deserve each other! The success of THS depends on the winning habits of Good Sitters and Good Owners.
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I think reviews are more honest since the blind system came in.
I had a dog with an undisclosed behavioural issue and didn’t mention it in my review then - but I would now.
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