Having other people staying in the home is against THS policies.
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 the host’s 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.
I essentially require 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.
Note: If hosts change the terms of a sit (like if dealbreakers are suddenly revealed that they previously withheld), sitters are within rights to tell them to cancel the sit. This is purely logical. Why I say that: Otherwise, hosts could lie and trap sitters into sits they would’ve never agreed to in the first place.
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I think only two:
(1) HO who think they are giving you an amazing opportunity.
When WE were on the HO side of the equation, we recognized the value of having trustworthy people care for our pets, home, garden. We have said “no” to an offer of a sit after a Video Chat with a HO who was entirely too high-handed. If there isn’t mutual respect? Nope.
(2) Cleanliness & comfort. We have stayed in stunning multi-million dollar homes. But also simple cottages & condos. I’m not buying the place so the grandeuer or simplicity is not important but how disrespectful to ask someone to take care of a home & pets without providing a pleasant environment! Thankfully arriving to find an unclean environment has happened only one time; a place without normal basics also only once.
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Totally agree @ASASG - it’s all about mutual respect, lovely pets, and clean and comfortable homes for us too 
We say this in our profile and so far, so good (apart from our first THS sit that we cancelled because of poor communication)
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Completely agree with both points. I’m not someone who needs a big home. Actually, I veer more towards more modest abodes. Less to clean, after all!
Respect is, without a doubt, number one on the list, in house sitting and in life. You can quickly get a sense from an initial conversation with the HO whether they respect the sitter, or believe they are doing them a favour. I once applied for an incredible sit lasting several months in England and spoke to the HO on the phone. It was quickly apparent that, not only had she misrepresented the sit (it was her intention to return home several times in the duration of the sit), but she was incredibly mistrustful. She had previously had sitters who had wrecked her house, stolen from her and refused to leave (she was quite fanciful so I’m not sure how much of this was true). She therefore approached any potential sitters with the same suspicion and disdain. It was clear I would have to jump through hoops in order to accommodate her and restore her faith. She was also plain rude. I found myself negotiating internally about how I could make it work, how I could compensate for the other sitters failings, before realising I didn’t actually feel comfortable doing any of it. Unless there is respect from the HO, it’s a no from me.
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Also agree with @Garfield. In terms of de-spidering…eww. Why is this expected of a house sitter? And an additional pet is a no-no.
I had a sit once and it was sprung on me after the HOs had left that their daughter would be bringing her Lab puppy round for me to look after. I didn’t appear to have much choice in the matter. After much consideration, and the eventual realisation that I am not a doggy daycare, I told them in no uncertain terms that I was responsible only for the dogs on the listing to which I had applied. In most cases, there is mutual respect. In others, HOs need to be communicated with more firmly, and this seems to be one of those cases, lest you are completely taken advantage of.
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Strawberryjen: We are very flexible people - but have come to realize that disrespect rarely affects one aspect. If the HO (or Sitter) is disrespectful in one way? Chances are they will be disrespectful in other ways as well.
Absolutely NOT acceptable for a HO to spring a last-minute “our___ has to drop of their ___for you to watch as well…” as a statement rather than asking.
The equation can shift from a comfortable arrangement to one that’s quite difficult. Especially if the “extra” is a puppy you can never leave alone for more than an hour or when the add-on pet doesn’t get along with the home’s pets.
Not surprisingly one of the two times that’s happened to us after we’d agreed to a sit, and once the sit began the HO also changed the return date a couple times, ultimately caming back two days early on an 8 day sit!
This was before the “blind review” system and after we left they made up stuff to complain about to us (completely contrary to our habits) via E-mail. Hindsight: we realized it was a veiled threat: “Don’t write a review about what we did or we’ll say THIS about YOU!” Neither of us wrote a review but it was lesson-learned re red flags AND thankful that THS now does the blind review system.
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Good points! If either side of the equation misrepresents or flat-out lies creating a very different equation from what was agreed upon, then a 24-hour window is a genuine courtesy. Over 8 years doing this and have heard of both HO and Sitters doing things that were truly astonishing! That said, our experiences have been overwhelmingly great and we’ve made wonderful friends doing this. Like ANY life situation, most people want things to work well but we all have to protect ourselves from inconsiderate HO / Sitters.
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Yup. And the 24 hours I’d offer is to protect the pets. If it were just lying hosts, I don’t know that I’d be courteous.
Personally, I’ve had overwhelmingly great sits. Have dodged bullets and weeded out hosts I thought iffy or suspect. To me, better to miss a sit over a false negative than to risk a crummy sit over a false positive (or by making compromises or talking myself into ignoring my gut). That’s because sits are icing to me. Who needs bad icing?
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I agree. Disrespect is a global thing, it isn’t specific to one area.
I have had a similar experience to yours. I should have sussed the red flags really, as when I arrived at the sit, the HO was entirely scathing towards their last sitter (who I ended up empathising with).
Long story short, there were several ways in which the HOs violated the Ts and Cs, which only became apparent during the sit. Having contacted MS to get advice (because I was put in a situation where I felt unsafe and unsupported by the HO), the air of respect turned into utter nastiness from the HO, to the extent they returned home weeks early and made up false accusations (which I was able to refute with text message evidence). Digging a little deeper, I realised that their housesits comprised either a few days or 3 months and that none of the three month sitters had left a review (this was also during the blind review process). Many red flags were collected on this sit!
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You’d be surprised.
Many of the things you stated as a given and as things that you can see in the photos aren’t.
I got to sittings where (despite THS policies) I had zero closet, drawers, or refrigerator space available for me.
As for freezer space, especially for longer sittings, it is not unreasonable to expect some. I usually cook, not eat out, and might want to keep some frozen vegetables or a big bag of dumplings that I eat a few at a time.
Pictures often don’t reveal the whole truth, whether intentionally or not.
It’s better to ask in advance than to be surprised upon arrival.
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I don’t see an option to do it by yourself, so it probably means you have to contact THS support
Haven’t heard of Fing before, will check it out.
When I am alone in the house (or think I am alone), I walk around dressed (or not) in a way that’s not meant for an audience.
I hope you reported the HO to THS, since having working cameras in the house is a serious breach of the guidelines.
And I sure hope you mentioned it in the review.
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I’ve never had to contact THS support for help with canceling a sit. When the host has introduced a dealbreaker after I’ve accepted, I deal directly with them in a friendly way. As part of that, I just ask them to cancel and they have.
To me, you’ll end up with better sitting experiences if you can advocate for yourself in friendly ways. Introducing THS can take longer, or might not get you the results you want. Plus, having THS intervene can set off some folks, because they think they’ll get punished or such. So better to be selective about when to contact THS.
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Here is the issue with focusing on the dog breed: the vast majority of problems in sittings have to do with the pets’ humans, not the pets.
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You are right. I just didn’t think of it.
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Abort! Find another solution for your living arrangements.
There are too many red flags and when you are there things would only get worse.
You are right to ask for the cameras to be physically disabled.
If you get to the house and see it ain’t so, unplug them from the electricity, or cover them with something.
But yes, the HOs should don’t, not you.
Great points!
If they think they are doing you a favor, it’s a huge red flag and a sign for things to come.
It goes both ways.
No one is doing anyone a FAVOR.
We (sitters) give the HOs a service that they would otherwise pay for, and in return we get a place to stay, which we would otherwise pay for.
A sitter that is resentful because they feel exploited just doesn’t get the purpose of this app, and shouldn’t be here.
The same go for HOs who treat the sitters as their employee.
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Fing app is awesome. It scans the entire wifi network you are connected to and shows all active devices. It also will categorize them and show “Ring doorbell camera” “Eufy floodlight camera” etc. So you can see exactly what is online.
The only thing is if the HO has multiple wifi networks (and just gives you access to the guest). More than likely the cameras would be on the main network.
Best of luck!
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