Owner just cancelled on a three week house sit with just four days until the house sit. This is here in New Hampshire, USA. We agreed to the house sit back in mid-February, three months ago! She gave no reason except that her plans changed.
What is the policy for cancellations, especially just a few days before the house sit? Also, can I leave her a review, even though I never completed the house sit?
Pete
No, You cannot leave a review when a sit never took place.
Sorry to hear this, Pete. That truly sucks and particularly when no valid reason given. Do you have a premium membership by any chance? Unfortunately as @RedLassie says, you can’t leave a review for a sit that never took place or was cancelled before it began.
I forsee this happening more and more now with the new cancellation policy. Not good, not right.
You can’t leave a review as the sit did not take place.
The policy for cancellation is that it should be for extraordinary reasons. The reality is that they cannot force the HO to host you. You can open a dispute with THS and report this behaviour. They may or may not sanction the HO, place them on a watchlist or do nothing.
If you have premium membership you have some cancellation cover (with some requirements).
@peteswanson65 Sorry this has happened to you. Although it doesn’t help you, THS has updated its cancellation policy where both sitters and owners can cancel, selecting a reason from dropdown box.
If you have Premium membership you should be able to make a claim providing you follow all the criteria. As others have said, no review can be given for a sit that doesn’t take place.
"My travel plans have changed ". Well that covers anything and everything doesn’t it!
Just to give another perspective and no reflection on you at all. This is more for the full range of sitters who might experience similar to you.
Basically a HO might not want to get into the detailed story about their reasons, but it must be pretty significant to them to last minute cancel a 3 week trip.
@peteswanson65, really sorry to hear of your sit cancellation.
As others noted, if you are a Premium THS member then you may be eligible for Sit Cancellation Insurance. This provides up to max US$1500 (max US$150/night) for alternative accommodation that is booked within 20 miles of pet parent location. There are quirks. Recommend contact THS Member Services via phone, website chat (not AI), or email support@trustedhousesitters.com. There are quirks to eligibility and coverage - see weblink below.
If you are not Premium member then you have no coverage.
This has happened to us twice. Sucks. But life happens. Suggest take deep breath, understand THS coverage if any, and make alternative plans accordingly.
I’ve definitely noticed more HOs canceling their travel plans altogether–or deleting the dates b/c they’ve found a different solution.
I didn’t know about this. Thanks for bringing it to my attention @temba. It’s awful, particularly if people have paid for flights. What on earth was THS thinking?!
There’s a similar list of reasons that sitters can now use to cancel @Smiley.
There’s a whole thread of discussion on the whys and wherefores. I’m personally happy that sitters have an equal process to cancel. However back to the OP, we all face the possibility of disappointment in any arrangements based on Trust. 
There isn’t really any recourse. If she simply “changed her mind” you can complain to THS and ask them to watch her account which just means if this happens again AND someone complains AGAIN they might notice.
If you have the premium plan this would the time to make a claim.
If you don’t have the premium plan, this would be the time to figure out your plan B.
I did just notice an unfilled sit in NH – it might be the one you got cancelled from still up, and several “last minute/low application” sits in nearby Vermont, so I’d get busy if you still want those dates!
I just had a homeowner cancel a sit on me - an international sit in another country. It was a sixteen night sit and hotels are approximately $300-$400 a night. She provided no explanation at all. I now am faced with flying to another country with no place to stay so don’t know what I will do. I really think that THS needs to put something in place for sitters/homeowners who cancel for no reason. I belonged to another house sit site years ago and they took this very seriously. If this happened more than three times, the sitter/homeowner was removed from the site. THS has in their terms that the cancellation of a sit has to be a mutual agreement. This wasn’t mutual on my part but I can’t expect to show up at the homeowner’s home and insist on being let in to do the sit 
The sitters and homeowners are the backbone of this organization. We’re the ones that are doing the work but THS is dropping the ball in a lot of areas that are expressed by members on this forum.
That’s hugely frustrating. If you’re Premium you know you can claim accommodation within 20 miles of the sit location if you can’t find another sit there. This doesn’t help if local hotel rates are very high, as there’s a cap on the claim. If you’re not Premium it’s a horrible situation to be in, are your flights flexible maybe? Could you pick up another sit for different dates?
Probably you’ll have considered all of the above though. Hmm let’s hope the HO has a very good reason but just didn’t want to share it, maybe a life event happened that’s hard to discuss. Do HOs with a holiday planned simply cancel for frivolous reasons, I wouldn’t think so. Best wishes to you, please let us know what you decide to do.
It’s super annoying. Doubly so on long sits in expensive countries. We had one like yours cancel as the plane landed at Zurich 
Where are you headed & can you change the flight or just write it off if it’s cheaper? Or take a smaller flight somewhere else? We headed to Germany on a flix bus in the end. We also just had to write off an Africa flight but we never book the refundable options & it was outside premium timelines. What’s your plan B? Assuming you’ve considered host a sister or local FB sit pages or work away options? #superannoying
If you say the location maybe kind sitters/HOs could offer a place to stay whilst you get sorted?
How stressful - you can report a cancellation it to THS so that they will track if cancelling without extraordinary circumstances is a pattern by the host. It could be that there is an extraordinary circumstance which they haven’t shared with you ( for example recent medical diagnosis requiring urgent treatment )
You can call the Urgent Support Line - if you are a Premium member ( and because the sit was due to start in the next 14 days )they can help you make the claim for alternative accommodation.
With hotel prices at $300-$400 a night the max you can claim will only cover a few nights stay but it may give you enough time to come up with alternative accommodation for the rest of the trip .
We had a three week sit abruptly curtailed a few days in when the host had an accident and needed to return home. On that occasion we used the Sit cancellation plan to cover the costs of a hotel for the initial days of the cancellation and then we were able to secure another good sit which covered the remaining days .
On another occasion when a month long sit was cancelled a few days before the start we decided not to travel .
All the best .
Neither owners nor sitters need extraordinary circumstances to cancel now, this has been in place for a while unfortunately & probably why we’re seeing so many more cancellations now…..
That’s really short notice, ouch. I hope you came up with another plan that worked out well for you!
Did you ask the home owner about the reason? Or was that her answer already, that her plans had changed?
I really hope home owners (and sitters as well of course) don’t just cancel for a silly reason. I hope that wasn’t the case but you just never know, right? I guess we all have different perspectives on what’s a good reason and what not.
