@Provence we do impress on owners the importance of reviews and feedback and the Product Team are constantly looking at ways to improve communication across the platform.
Have a safe journey home on Tuesday.
@Provence Angela, the owners told me already during our dinner the evening of my arrival they never wrote any comment, which explains why they have only 1 feed back although they have welcomed several sitters (they precised they liked them)
So for sure it would be nice and useful If at the end of the sits THS would automatically remind owners to leave feed backs.
I shall send a request but the HO told me she did not know what to write. I can’t write a draft for her, can I ?
Sometimes i’m really astonished by reactions.
Owners do get a reminder @Provence but it is also true that some people just don’t feel comfortable writing about themselves or others.
For inspiration show them reviews given by other owners, it need only be short and simple supported by the star ratings.
Reviews and feedback is a two way appreciation, owners ultimately benefit from having good sitter feedback, it could make the difference between them getting their right sitters … or not.
The Product Team are constantly looking at ways to improve communication, what have you found that works for you?
Actually Angela I’ve noticed recently that we don’t get asked for reviews which surprised me. I was going to bring it up but here seems a good enough place. I used to get a message asking to review my sit but for my last 3 sits haven’t, so have done them anyway and asked the owners to review me.
And did your owners reply to your request ?
I’ve noticed, being also an owner, sitters don’t write first (afraid by bad comments?), as explained lately on this forum.
This is why i suggested 2 months ago the feed backs could be seen by sitters and owners only once they have sent one feedback themselves (airbnb system). You can always reply If you are not happy or thank reply If the feedback is enthusiastic
We always ask owners to write a review before we leave then send the emailed request a couple of days later once we have done our feedback. Everyone we have sat for has reviewed us so far.
I always leave a review, usually before the HO, but that’s ok because the pets and the home are the stars in all this. It’s always been five stars with one exception when I only gave four. The owner was delightful, the pet a sweetheart but the (rented) house had disgusting carpets so that “black mark” was down to the landlord. Could the review have categories (like for sitters)?
Clarity of instructions / cleanliness of home / obedience of pets? Or is that just too personal? I should hate to offend a HO.
I am always wary when considering a sit if several sitters have not left reviews. First reaction is “ was something wrong and they didn’t like to say?”
I am not sure if the functionality that reminds folks to do reviews is working now. I have not gotten the “how was your sit” email since February. It would be good if that could start again to prompt people to do reviews. I always leave an exit thank you note for the HO and mention that I will promptly leave a review for them and would appreciate them doing the same.
One of my sits, the HO left a glowing review, but no rating. My 5 star overall rating came down to 4 stars. THS told me that the absence of a rating, even with a glowing review, counts as a zero rating. I asked THS to contact the HO to request a rating - but still no rating. I didn’t want to contact her myself because I wasn’t planning on leaving a review for her because of how she left her flat for me to find. In the end, I decided to leave a review to inform other prospective housesitters in view of the pandemic. I asked THS if they could restore my 5 star rating since the review was excellent, but I was told they “can’t” do that!!!
Is it possible that the star rating be made a required field for the reviews to be submitted, since if they accidentally leave that part blank, it counts as zero stars and negatively impacts the sitters rating overall? It seems grossly unfair that if someone leaves a glowing review, that forgetting the star rating would count the same as a horrible review.