Our house owners were so friendly that I arrived and they cooked me a meal as they were not going till early hrs and requested I stay the night before.
Meal, wine and chocolates were so lovely and great conversations. Has anyone else experienced this?
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@Joyfull , that’s lovely. There are many owners who will cook a nice meal for their sitters. The wine and chocolates are over and above and very thoughtful.
See these: https://forum.trustedhousesitters.com/t/best-thank-you-treat-from-a-homeowner/
https://forum.trustedhousesitters.com/t/what-makes-a-sit-special/
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Yes, several times, six out of ten so far. Mostly they cooked or we ate takeaway, once they took me out for dinner in a local restaurant. It is very nice.
That is the kind of hospitality and cordiality that makes me more inclined to accept an invitation for a return sit.
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Yes. Over various sits:
I’ve been invited early; been offered a cocktail or wine; been taken to dinner or treated to dinner ordered in; had lunch made for me the day before they left; been given a welcome bottle of wine and been offered a departing bottle of wine; been given liquor brought back from the hosts’ vacation. Was asked to dinner after their return, after I’d left for a hotel to do sightseeing.
Also have been asked before a sit whether there was any food I’d like them to purchase for me.
My current host invited me two days ahead and showed me around, took me to Waitrose. Then encouraged me to visit an incredible museum during our overlap and said I should feel free to let the dog sleep and sightsee a bit during my sit. She even offered to loan me rain boots and jackets if I didn’t have enough with me.
A previous host picked me up from the train station. I’d barely met them before I had to zip upstairs to my guest room, to attend a Zoom meeting, because I telecommute. They were so kind that they brought me a tray of tea and fixings and left it as I worked, because I’d just arrived. After my meeting, we sat down to tea and scones. Then they introduced me to neighbors and took me to the village pub for dinner.
During my sit, they asked neighbors to take me out for things like a lecture or afternoon tea. When I caught a bug, the neighbors checked on me and asked whether they could walk the dog or pick up food or medicine for me.
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Yes, one homeowner even baked us an amazing cake, was just remembering this earlier today, so yummy!
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Indeed, I’ve had many experiences similar to @Maggie8K , in the UK, Belgium, Greece.
I had one owner arrange for me to have dinner at the local Mexican restaurant.
I have another regular owner that messages me a couple of times during the sit to ask when I need a grocery delivery.
The toy pandas for my children brought back from a Chinese trip.
For longer sits it’s very common, and I’m actually rather surprised if I don’t get dined, food, or some other act of kindness.
I’ve met some wonderful people the night before a housesit.
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My sits are usually a week or two long. I don’t do long sits and am not interested in repeat sits, because so many experiences, so little time. I do miss the pets, though. I wish I could see them all again.
Did the dog sightsee?
Two HOs have contacted me to let me know that their pets died, and to thank me for being part of their lives. 
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Not yet, but it’s been raining. I’m going to take her this week and walk around some cool areas nearby, including a university campus. And I took a hop on, hop off bus before my sit started and I saw that they declared that dogs were welcome, so I’m going to take her, LOL. When my husband and I’ve taken our dog, he’s even with us on trolley tours and a boat tour. That dog has seen more of the U.S. than many Americans, LOL.
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My current sit dog is so funny. Tonight, we were walking and she kept stopping and looking into doors of restaurants for a long time, as if she expected to be invited in. I’m sure she’s going to love sightseeing, LOL.
At one of my most recent sits, in Stratford-upon-Avon, in the U.K., I never had to leave my sit dog home alone once. They let me take him into pubs or we sat outdoors, and they let me take him on a cruise on the River Avon and a ferry across it. The only place they wouldn’t let him in was the church where Shakespeare was buried. But there, a nice lady who was waiting for a church meeting watched him for me while I briefly took a look around inside.
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Yes I have @Joyfull on quite a few occasions and it’s just lovely. At a recent sit in New Zealand as soon as I got through the door I was laughing with the owners and later singing around the piano with them. I’ve made many friends through housesitting that I’d never have met otherwise.
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Thank you for this topic!
I have been treated to dinner many times. Some pet owners were great cooks and it was wonderful to eat their yummy food! Others left me chocolates, and many said that I could help myself to any food in the house.
One of my nicest sits included a friend of the owner’s, who met up with me and drove me around the area for sightseeing. 
It’s always extra special for me when people ask me back and I see them and their pets again. This Christmas I’ll do a dog sit which is my 5th time in that particular place. The owner now feels like a friend.
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This is THS at its core.
I’ve been a member since 2016 and this was my EXACT experience for the first 5 years.
Airport pickups, dinners (home-cooked or out), walking/ driving tour of the neighbourhood, lift to the supermarket to stock up on groceries - one HO even drove me shopping to buy some warm clothes 
I drop them off at the airport and leave dinner or lunch in the oven for their return (sometimes home-made brownies or flowers) or other relevant gestures that make sense for who they are or their hospitality towards me.
I still meet wonderful people, but I have to look really hard and really vet HOs on the intro call to get a feel for the the type of person they are.
The essence of THS is a holiday exchange. HOs get to go o holiday with peace of mind that their home and pets are taken care of. For this they are truly grateful, not to mention the cost saving. Sitters get to stay in a home away from home with pet cuddles. It’s a win:win.
Looking through the threads on this forum I am saddened at horrified at the awful experiences HOs and sitters are having because YOUR lovely experience is what THS was created for.
Just arrived last night to an immaculate home, they treated me to Indian takeaway for dinner, I walked the dog this am, but we’ve been chatting all day as they prepare to leave this evening - I have made new friends
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@Joyfull Its so lovely to have a great experience with hosts! I can well understand your good feeling! We too have often been invited the night before and shared many lovely homecooked meals or been taken out for dinner. Frequently if we’re there when they return then we reciprocate the gesture. One lovely family, who we sat for 3 times over a summer period, are now firm friends. On each sit we were showered with generosity- a fabulous steak BBQ one visit, a bottle of Gin (from their trip) as a returning home gift, a dinner out with proper Champagne etc and, always, free reign of anything & everything in the kitchen. They are truly grateful for our care of their dogs- it always gives us a warm fuzzy feeling.
Many other hosts (some of whom we did not even meet!) have left us welcome gifts- bottles of wine, or other goodies. A couple of times even flowers in our room! Every kind gesture is very much appreciated
I wish it was always like that! We have also encountered the complete opposite- no generosity at all, too high demands on us, and/or the need for deep cleaning. Twice even no fresh bedding eek!!
Every host gets our 100% commitment & care of their home & pets but the generous, kind, & appreciative ones are the only ones we would return to. We know our worth! 
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Such amazing kind helpful people 
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Yes, we have, many times. We have met some absolutely fantastic homeowners, and that’s why we continue to do sits.
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Yes, the owner invited us early to meet her and her dog. We all took him to the dog park and met some neighbours. She toured us around Saint George and we drove through Snow Canyon Park, where she bought an annual park pass and handed it over to us to use for the week. She bought us dinner and introduced us to a neighbour girl that will take the dog for his afternoon walk so we could go to Zion Canyon and not rush back. She let us stay the night when she returned so we didn’t have to move to a hotel.
The other owners have all been as gracious and friendly.
We met another young couple with a newborn that we have sat for twice now. They live an hour from us, they are so adorable we have adopted as part of our family as they have no family nearby and we have no grandkids yet. It’s taking the pressure off our kids:)
I believe if you treat people with kindness and respect people, most will do the same.
(Edited to meet posting guidelines, personal information removed)
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That’s so amazing! Joy