Ok sitters and owners. This is a teaching moment not to make anyone embarrassed or wrong, but a listing just showed up in Hawai’i (since taken down - thank you THS!) and echoes a sit a friend of mine did in Hawai’i that doesn’t align with what this platform is about.
Gorgeous location and home 
But… here are the red flags:
- Husband will be living in main house the entire time (as in - sitter will be treated as the free help)
- Sitter will be housed OUTSIDE of the advertised property in a granny/guest flat that is not visually disclosed in the listing. In other words, you have no idea where you will be staying.
- Having a 3rd party on site during a sit is absolutely against THS policy and it is also grossly unsafe and disrespectful. In this particular case, it’s also a male.
- Advertising a house the sitter will not be welcome to enjoy on their own (the exchange for free services is meant to be the entire house) is false advertising.
A lot of sitters have no idea and get sucked into the main house pictures only to be relegated to accessing just a granny flat or similar that they have no idea about until they arrive.
This happened to my friend. He lived on a mattress on the floor in a tiny granny flat on a magnificent property he could not fully use/enjoy. I feel its important that what you’re advertising is the actual place the sitter will be housed. And the owner should definitely not be there on site during the sit.
Be careful out there. 
(Edited to remove listing in line with forum guidelines)
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I just saw that listing as well and it already has two applicants! Definitely should be removed by THS.
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I saw this post, I don’t see it as a red flag because they lead with and clearly state that for these specific dates, the sitter will be in the fully equipped studio and offer to send pictures. The previous sitter reviews sound like they all stayed in the house.
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The listing goes against THS guidelines. No 3rd parties on site. Yes, they tell you what is happening but it doesn’t make it right. Will someone agree to it - sure. Should they? No. If they want to offer the studio, then don’t offer pictures of the main house where the husband will be residing. Just the studio. My friend left a good review about his sit because he didn’t want to be mean but he hated the way he was treated. Only discovered the conditions onsite. Different folks different strokes though. As a female, I would never accept a sit with the male owner present.
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Hope he mentioned the actual situation. Because sitters are sometimes a huge part in luring innocent members into sits like this, because they are not transparent of sit in their review.
As hosts, many sitters do not know enough about terms of service - and some don’t care - so I am not surprised that such sits get applications. But if one want to keep THS a platform for equal partners it is super important to maintain the terms in practice. Otherwise it will be too unpleasant and unpredictable for too many to keep it as a community that we want to be in in the long term. It is a common responsibility to make a community. «Surfers» in this do the community no good.
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It is sad your friend didn’t feel able to be candid about his sit. Without reviews which reflect the lived experience the system of reviews for both sitters and owners is pointless.
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I felt bad as he was afraid of retaliation. The owner screamed at him about mowing the lawn. So he didn’t wish to be reported for doing that without being asked (though it was meant to be helpful to them)
Similar to this situation, the house was gorgeous. It was his first sit. So it was a weird dynamic as he could pass through the gorgeous house to look after the pet, but he was relegated to this granny flat that wasn’t great at all and not in the original listing.
Also, in his case, the owner stayed longer (he had to stay at my sit 45 minutes away, to wait for him to leave for about 10 days) beyond the agreed start date. They also treated him like the hired help once he arrived and tried to charge him for use of their car in a rural area.
So when I saw this owner listed the husband as being on the property the entire time, I just had to say something to let sitters know to be aware. The listing looks awesome but only bc of the “main” house pics designed to draw you in.
And, this is also for owners to be conscious about what is okay and what isn’t. What’s weird to me is if the husband is at home, why can’t he look after his own pets? Unless, he has a disability. But that wasn’t mentioned. It makes me wonder if something else is going on or there are additional and unlisted service expectations. I have found some Hawai’i owners to be quite demanding.
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It’s funny you mention this; I saw that listing also (and wished for a “block this listing” feature.)
I’ve also have seen some unique listings in Hawaii, like:
HO details a precision, military-style feeding & exercise regimen for their pets that starts at about dawn; expects multi-acre lawn maintenance…pool maintenance…no leaving pets alone (as if there’d be opportunity, given his listed duty roster), explicitly states that sitters should not expect to have an opportunity to visit beaches or do tourist activities during his sit, etc. He follows up by acknowledging the high expectations, but states that as he is aware how desirable his home/location is, he knows he’ll be able to get grateful sitters anyway.
Note this is a high-end multi-million-dollar home on one of the big tourist islands — so no doubt he’s too financially-challenged to actually pay someone to be his skivvy 
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@merrypuppins Maybe he spent all of his money on his multi million dollar home now he has to solicit free help on THS
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He didn’t want to be mean!!!
Leaving a factual review is not being mean, it is being fair. Whereas leaving a false review is being unfair to other members.
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Totally correct. He was a newbie and sadly he wasn’t aware he would be protected