A nice friendly welcome, to a clean home is really all I wish for
essential amenities, milk in fridge for my first cuppa after travelling
olive oil, and salt.
everything else I need I will have brought with me or can buy on day 1. I drive to all sits.
I am a HO and that’s what I am do. I try to have enough food in the pantry that only special things are necessary to buy, offer all what’s in the fridge and freezer and in the veggie garden. We have high speed internet and enough streaming channels to make one ‘dizzy’. This year I also put together some lawn games like badminton, boule, lawn lounger and different seating areas and a a BBQ. We also provide a pass for the local nature reserves…I like to make the Pet sitter to feel like they are on a nice vacation, even so they have to take care of our pets and the pot plants outside.
All great suggestions but please don’t be overwhelmed. As you can see from the different posts, different people value different things but we all appreciate feeling honestly welcomed.
Your post already sounds really thoughtful and welcoming. Just ask the sitter directly if there’s anything you can do to make her feel at home.
I always appreciate kind gestures even if they offer something I don’t need. I take my own toiletries but I always appreciate when the owner have some in my bathroom or leave a little basket. It’s thoughtful. I’m in Alaska now and was offered to use their warm parkas if I was cold. I don’t need them but it’s nice of them to think that, coming from warmer weather, I might not be prepared.
That is true. Travelling to unfamiliar weather conditions, cold or wet or whatever, whether it be a offer to borrowing parkas or wellies is very thoughtful.
How considerate of you to think of your sitters comfort. Thank you.
I agree 100% with those who have said that the most important things are a clean home with space for my food, work supplies, clothes, and bathroom items. Equally important is thorough, complete, written info. I’ve been surprised how many people expect me to remember food amounts, meal timings, exercise preferences, even medication routines that they tell me as they walk me around their home for the first time. I can’t write it all down fast enough and it makes me anxious that I’ve gotten it wrong.
I prefer no supplies like food and alcohol and personal care products. I don’t drink, am vegan, and don’t eat sugars, grains, and starches. I also only use vegan, cruelty-free products. All the thoughtful gifts are always wasted on me and I feel badly “rejecting” people’s thoughtfulness.
I’m happy with the basics requested by TH. But it’s lovely you ask.
I’ve done this proactively if a host is trying to tell me too many things, rather than having written them down:
I compile notes (even if incomplete) and ask them to review them. I send them via WhatsApp or text, so I have a record of having sent them and essentially forcing the host to reply in writing.
Twofold reasons why I do this if needed:
Covers your butt to show that they’ve not written stuff down well enough and yet you did as a sitter, in case the sit goes sideways and you end up needing proof for a THS enquiry or complaint.
When you write stuff down, even if it’s incomplete or off, the host is essentially forced to reply in writing with the correct or missing info. If they don’t and things go wrong, again, No. 1 can help cover you.
Note: I did this when I first started sitting. Since then, I’ve stepped up my management of sits by essentially requiring a welcome guide well ahead of any sit. That’s so I can look for any potential issues and/or ask Qs. In one case for example, that allowed me to cancel a sit where the host had withheld info earlier about a dog that needed letting out at night to do his business and another that was prone to diarrhea.
I mention during video chats that I’ll be looking out for the welcome guide. I frame it as making sure I can take care of their pets and home well. If time draws near for me to book travel or make plans and there’s still no welcome guide, I send a friendly nudge that makes clear I won’t go into sits blind. I’m prepared to cancel a sit if a host doesn’t cooperate. So far, I’ve not had any problems since I started doing that — I get robust welcome guides.
To me, sitters have power, because no one can force us to show up. I use that agency to make sure I avoid getting stuck with a bad sit and/or too little info. I suggest that sitters use their power accordingly.
That is so serious!
Of course it is excellent and impressive and professional.
I am more the happy-go-lucky sitter. Most recent sit was a repeat sit, this time outside THS. I had no WG anymore, no written instructions, and of course I had forgotten how it was last year. But owners were also easygoing.
Slight problem when I had locked myself out late one evening - no access to emergency numbers 
Fortunately, the owners immediately replied via Whatsapp. And I could get back in via the next-next-door neighbours and the roofs to my open bedroom door. Phew!
I had a sit where the handover was after the owner left, and I departed before she returned. It was in a city, in a high rise, with many different codes and modes of operation to get in and out. She took videos of how to enter the building, walked me through the building on video, took me through a short walk on video with the dog, then entering her apartment and meeting her dog. Once inside, she showed me on video where things were. It was so much easier than I expected that I now often ask an owner to send me a video of anything that needs a bit more time to explain. If the owner would rather explain in person, I’ll then record when they explain so I can refer back to it later if needed. It came in very handy when I had a complicated mechanical system to monitor, and a few other things to be mindful of.
I always take before and after pictures, but if I’m in a hurry or it’s a large property, I’ll take a video before and after instead. I will then discard later when I don’t need to refer back to it for any reason.
Things I’ll never be happy go lucky about, for instance:
I ask for such info even for repeat sits, because it can change. And you can’t count on reaching hosts while they travel. A couple of my hosts went sailing or were otherwise unreachable for long stretches, for instance.
Some of this info was available. But it was inside
So next time, I should take a photo when there is no online WG.
And I will take this list and ask the owners on the next sit to write these things down. Thank you!
@fledermaus … well… I have had a sitter who completely emptied and refilled the litter boxes every day… that got rid of any reserves very quickly…
Yes, I always take screen shots of the welcome guide if it comes via THS’s platform, because as you know it has technical issues not infrequently and you might end up without access for a stretch. And I make sure those images are stored in the cloud, in case my phone is lost or stolen.
I sit solo and my husband has access to my cloud accounts, in case of an emergency. And I make sure he has my hosts’ contact info and address, in case I have an accident or such.
Another reason I take screen shots of the welcome guide as soon as I get it: In case a weaselly host updates it later, in an effort to hide a dealbreaker or such.
Yep, detailed instructions e.g. hard copy of the welcome guide are worth their weight in gold when it comes to feeling welcomed! I don’t want to bother you on your holiday any more than you want me messaging at inopportune times.
Very thoughtful of you to ask advice.
I always appreciate, hanging space in a wardrobe, a couple of clear shelves in the fridge and somewhere in a cupboard to put groceries.
The other things you have in your welcome pack will make them feel pampered.
How nice are you for being so concerned! If your sitter is flying in, then I would think also having some basic food on hand for their first day (for breakfast or lunch or dinner) so they don’t have to worry about rushing out while they get situated.
Making sure you have enough
vacuum cleaner bags, and other
cleaning products, and clothes hangers.
I’m sure your sitter will appreciate whatever you are able to do!
I like to ensure the fridge is clean and a couple of shelves made available, and space in the freezer. Plus useful to ask them if there is anything that would be useful. I have left milk/oat milk (I always ask) wine and even ordered a veg box (after asking them) but sometimes I don’t think one needs to go overboard and be too anxious, a clean and tidy home and being friendly, with a good welcome guide and be available for ongoing communications is probably fine. It’s what I’ve appreciated anyway when I’ve done sits as well.
What things are supposed to be and what they turn out to be can be very different.
I don’t believe any negative attitude was intended, I feel this is a bit of realism that’s sorely needed. The “power” is not balanced, and the platform does also not allow it to be, well-intended as it may be.
I don’t need my host to anticipate anything about what I might like to eat, or do, or even provide me with anything in particular! In fact, I just want clear, organized, comprehensive information, thoroughly filled out in the welcome guide, about all of the home’s quirks, animal routines, plant care, etc. I want to be armed with all the information I need to have a self-sufficient sit!
Clean bathrooms and kitchen are also nice - but everyone has different standards! I always clean the homes I arrive in to my own standards, anyway, because I have OCD. For example, my current house was “clean” but I spent a day vacuuming up all cobwebs, un-blocking sinks/cleaning hair from drains, de-crumbing kitchen counter corners, and other “deep cleaning” when I arrived 
I know these things don’t bother everyone, so I just do it myself!
I’m perfectly fine with your thinking that. For me and my hosts — who’ve given me rave reviews and invited me back — my attitude has worked out fine.
I do have a negative attitude toward hosts who leave sitters without the appropriate info or worse, offer terrible sits. And I have no problem with never sitting for them.
I always ask sitters what they like for breakfast and what they like to snack on so I make sure to have that on hand so they don’t have to grocery shop right away. In my welcome book I’ve listed several local restaurants, coffee shops etc that we especially like. I also clear off several shelves in the pantry and the fridge for them to use, and OF COURSE super clean kitchen, bathrooms and their room. Fresh linens and space in the room for their stuff goes without saying. Never thought about robe and slippers. That’s awfully nice. Never had any complaints!