Well you can discount the ones with meat
In my experience, it hasn’t been the norm for owners to leave anything for me. A few have left me a bottle of wine or a little basket with some snacks. One left me a very generous gift card to a locally owned grocery store and one left me afternoon tea. But only 15% of my sits have left anything. All I expect (hope for) is a clean house and a sit that is as expected in terms of what was discussed and agreed to.
I’ve been fortunate in the last year with some very generous owners. I’ve posted before about the sit I did in an amazing multi million pound property with one chilled cat that left me a fridge full of amazing cheeses and kept reminding me to eat it every time I sent them an update. They also left me 2 bottles of wine, a fillet steak meal and a chicken meal!
I had a HO cook me a meal upon arrival and leave me a rather nice fruitcake to eat.
I’m doing a repeat sit for amazing HO’s that took me for a meal at the start and end of the sit and also left me some amazing food to eat! They’ve already been in touch to say do I use any special toiletries or shower gels etc as they’ll grab some for me to save me the hassle for my upcoming repeat sit.
So yes there are some amazing HO’s that treat sitters like a member of their family despite the bad stories posted on here of bad sitters and HO’s.
9 Likes
We sit for a home owner with a son a little older than my oldest boy. As she understands the challenges of continually growing teenage boys, she will put aside clothing her son has outgrown in case it fits my boys! As @richten1 said, good hosts treat sitters like family.
8 Likes
I wrote a blog post about this:
I saw above that someone was given a grocery store gift card. How amazing!! A perfect gift!
4 Likes
These are some lovely stories. Am curious as to what are the lovely things that sitters have done for their HO’s when they leave? Do you leave packages and food and treats and so on? It’s be great to hear some stories of sitters who go above and beyond - although maybe that’s for another thread?
1 Like
The idea of THS is a fair exchange nobody said it was a 50/50 split regarding expense and effort. I think we can agree this is mostly on the sitters side hence many HOs are appreciative to their efforts and maybe offer a little gift for them as a thank you.
Sitters are following a routine for the pets that you have asked for and are in full responsibility for your home and any and all problems that might occur. It goes a long way to show appreciation for the work and responsibility that you are being tasked with.
They are also doing this for free - they have asked for nothing in return except what you advertise to be.
(edited by the Forum team to remove a reference to a removed post)
3 Likes
Sitters bought us flowers and a lovely little treat from a bakery. They also used some of the emergency funds we’ve left them to buy us milk and eggs, so we didn’t come home to an empty fridge.
We took them for a dinner when they arrived + grocery shopping (which they paid) and left them a coffee shop gift card.
3 Likes
I am a sitter and leave litle gifts all the time EG a cook book I Knew the owners would resonate with flowers , gifts for the kids , flowers ,herb pot plants , I once left a painting I did for a millionaire client who had a fabulous art collection worth squillions . During the sit I went to a paint pour session and we had to take our not quite dry paintings home in a pizza box Sadly on the train home mine got squished However the squishing seemed to enhance the paintings charms and sent it into an interestign new direction I thought it was awsome and called it Salamander or FIre spirit I couldnt fit it in my suitcase alas so decided to leave it for my art loving home owner telling him I was gifting him another masterpiece to add to his collection
2 Likes
Love the story with the thoughtful cat Mieoww !!! very cool 
Love this Forging bonds of community and sustainability with your homeowners 
1 Like
Sometimes I do, it depends entirely on the kind of relationship I have. With some owners I’ve bonded instantly. I’ve often made meals for their arrival, left flowers & usually a nice card - when in the UK sometimes a personalised Moonpig card with pics of the pet(s)
3 Likes
Yes. It has happened that I treated the HOs to a dinner. I am not doing cards, but I try to send cute photos.
But the most important thing I try to do for the owners is to be flexible, to try to accommodate their travel delays etc. Unfortunately, that has not always been appreciated, like with the HOs that suddenly became very bad at communicating because they did not have wifi while travelling, that even made typo’s in their updated time of arrival.
Now I am on my way to Stockholm. I will see them today for the handover, but tonight I will sleep in a hotel because the family will leave in the middle of the night. I looking forward to three weeks in the capital with just a cat to take care of, and I am not expecting the owners to give me stuff.
4 Likes
Enjoy yourself and happy Christmas from one lone Christmas sitter to another 
2 Likes
Hello everyone!
I had to do a bit of a tidy-up on this post in line with our Community Guidelines. This has been such an awesome discussion with lots of positive stories being shared, and I’d love to see that continue.
I read some great advice from @Enjaybee earlier which was spot on. That advice was to please try to stick to the theme of this topic which is in the sitter’s section (hence the bias) about ways in which homeowners have gone above and beyond for their sitters.
They also mentioned that owners might like to start a new topic on the homeowner section with a similar title. Plenty of people will be happy to comment on the nice things sitters have done in return for a pleasant stay.
I would love to see a “sitters going above and beyond” topic started for more feel-good moments, so feel free to start one!
Finally, just a quick reminder that while it’s ok to disagree with another member, please be kind and respectful in your interactions with them.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far, I do love this topic, and it’s great to hear about moments where you’ve felt extra-appreciated by an owner.
Jenny 
2 Likes
As a HO (although no longer as my lovely old boy passed away on 30th October), all I wished for from sitters was a happy dog, a clean and tidy house and ,hopefully, the bed stripped ready for washing.
We always asked our sitters for a list of groceries they would like on arrival and usually included a bottle of wine. One recent lady left us a delicious meal to heat up on our return. She had also brought some small gifts from her home country which was lovely of her.
2 Likes
@wendywindow I fortunately have many stories I could add to this post but I’ll share one from the sit I’m currently on.
The owners picked me up from the airport (25 min drive) and took me out to dinner that evening (I was staying overnight). They gave me the choice of restaurants from ones they suggested. At dinner the chat was easy and fun. In conversation I mentioned that not only do I not drink coffee but I dislike the smell of it brewing.
Next morning they casually mentioned that they were going to their nearby bakery for breakfast. I asked if it was because of my dislike of coffee being brewed and they did admit it but said they were happy to indulge at the bakery and did invite me to join them (I didn’t).
When they returned they offered to move the fancy coffee machine out of the kitchen (I said no need). Once again, so thoughtful and certainly going over and above to show their gratitude and respect for my comfort.
5 Likes
Oh, I have SO many examples! One host left me a HUGE bag of luxury bath/spa products that I used for 6 months following. When I came back through for a weekend, she added even more! I’ve had lots of gift cards for grocery, coffee shop, or local restaurants. One not only arranged for me to stay overnight at (basically) a B&B across the street from her house, left me a little gift basket of local treats and gift cards, but when I happened to mention it was my birthday halfway through the sit, she arranged for a friend to deliver a bag of extra treats on my birthday!
The latest jaw-droppingly amazing action was that hosts that have done for me was a couple that I’ve gotten to know very well over repeated sits. They arranged for me to board their dog with someone else for half the week and join them at the beach for Thanksgiving!! They included me just like family and paid for all my food, plus gas to & from. It was amazing!
Most home owners/hosts really are amazing and go out of their way, not only to make me feel welcomed, but appreciated and even loved.
5 Likes
I dislike coffee too, although would love to like it!
1 Like
At a sit I did in Sussex, UK over the Easter holidays I arrived to a fridge full of goodies, including items for two meals, wine, mile, bread etc and instructions to use whatever I wished (I always replace what I use even when told not to). Then, over the Easter weekend a huge box of chocolates, including egg, arrived from Hotel Chocolat!
4 Likes