Some pet-owners are friendly in a professional way, welcome you to their home, leave you a loaf of bread, milk, some cheese in the fridge. Nothing wrong or ‘unwelcoming’ at all. So, 5 stars, right?
Then the next pet-owners welcome you like a family member/friend and share a home-cooked dinner with you, pack the fridge with goodies and encourage you to invite your parents (for example) for an afternoon visit. Still 5 stars?
Very timely post as we are struggling with this question on our current sit. In the 2 instances you mention I feel 5 stars are warranted. The vast majority of our hosts are very social and we have made many friends. Every now and then you can find hosts who are very “business like” but as long as they aren’t treating us like “the help” we aren’t too worried about it.
Although I kind of agree, I actually don’t usually mention the hosts’ ‘above and beyond’ generosity - I don’t want to set up expectations for the next sitter that they would definitely receive such a welcome (and therefore place pressure on the owners).
I absolutely do let such hosts know via private message how appreciative I am of their wonderful hospitality.
I would write something like, “their hospitality went above and beyond.” No need to specify if it’s something hosts might not do or offer for every sitter.
I’ve had a couple of hosts write in their review ‘‘he even laundered the bedsheets in the morning’’ or ‘‘his daughter made us a lovely drawing’’ - and I think, ‘oh no, please don’t set up high expectations about me!’.
5s is 5s. As hosts, we expect 5s for hospitality because we do everything we can think of that’s reasonable to make sure sitters feel welcome. If some of what we do goes above and beyond, that is because we truly hope sitters enjoy our home, pets and community. If that is the result, it is its own reward; nothing more is needed or wanted.
I disagree that you should highlight e.g. sharing a dinner, filling the fridge etc as the homeowners might not do that for the next sitter and it would be expected!
I was disappointed to arrive at a sit not to have a freshly baked cake, which the two previous sitters mentioned they had. The owners didn’t have time as they had had builders in…..I’ve also, on many occasions, cooked meals for the owners’ return, especially if they’ve had a long journey. I tell them not to mention that in their review as don’t want to do it all the time!
@Rhe We are sitters and HOs. As homeowners, we are so busy getting the house clean, pets prepared, and get ourselves ready for our trip that frankly, we just don’t have the energy or time to have dinner with our sitters anymore (before we leave early the next morning). We used to do dinner but it was always exhausting. That’s nice if a HO does this, however, it should not be expected ever!
We do leave our house super clean, and include a few starter groceries. Our sit is easy. As sitters, we can say that with confidence. The location is wonderful, and sitters can stay out all day exploring. Our glowing reviews echo this.
Yet, we think some sitters and HOs are losing the ethos of THS: it is free accommodations in exchange for free pet care. Period. In our opinion, it is unfair to expect a full fridge, dinner upon your arrival, use of car, etc. It’s nice if you get that but HOs who don’t provide it should not be viewed as not being generous. Generosity is a fluid, dynamic expression and it is not a one size fits all proposition.
There is a lot here. I think because we all tend to give each other 5’s a default, I would use my words to describe the outstanding welcomes – the gift baskets, bathroom extras, fluffy towel hospitality etc. I would use a lack of words or get creative around the lack:
Honestly, I want a near empty fridge!! CLEAN and empty. Unless we are asked what items would like to have waiting for us, please don’t assume!
What makes me happy is lots of clean space in the fridge, no wilted produce I have to decide I need to throw out, space in the freezer and space in the pantry!
If I can use the olive oil, or some butter or coffee, and of course spices and seasonings great, but everyone has different eating habits and I’d just prefer to get my own.
As I posted earlier, I never mention fabulous dinners or extra-mile gifts and generosity, as I don’t want the owners to feel obliged to offer that to all future sitters.
And you are right not to get too specific with that stuff, but I think you can mention some stuff without getting too into it. You can also check with homeowners about what they are comfortable with if they intent is to let other sitters know what a great sit it is.
In this category specifically I think that so long as hosts meet the basic requirements of ‘good’ hosting–a clean space,etc… then they should be given 5 stars. The highest rating of any category really should not be reserved only for doing things that are ‘above and beyond.’
And the same goes for hosts rating sitters. We leave houses spotless, take excellent care of people’s pets, are great communicators and overall I think pretty pleasant people to deal with. If a host only gave us 4 stars because we didn’t have a three course meal prepared for them like their last sitter did, I wouldn’t think that was fair.
Like someone else said, the written comments give an opportunity to go into more detail about the experience, whether it is noting very specific gestures or just stating in general how great the person was in X, Y or Z respect.
How people approach ratings depends on the context, and think in the context of this particular exchange, marking down in any way should only be done if there was some sort of concrete issue. Of course this is subjective but my point is that so long as basic requirements were reasonably fulfilled, the highest rating is warranted I believe.
s is 5