Have any other sitters noticed an increase in listings for large homes expecting the sitters to stay in other accomodation on-site and just visit the house to look after the pets? I like sitting at old rural properties, but so many now seem to have air bnb’d an outbuilding and that’s what you get. In my local area recently I’ve seen a tiny apartment within the house (tiny, only seating was a single armchair), a small apartment over a garage, a bedroom and bathroom in a farm outbuilding, and a wooden garden cabin next to the goat paddock! I immediately lose interest - if I’m good enough to look after their pets then I’m good enough to stay in their actual home.
How do other sitters feel about this? I guess others are happy with it.
And some of these have been invitations - I’ve rejected with an excuse about dates not working, but I was really tempted to comment on the accomodation. Should I?
If you receive an invitation and would consider doing that particular sit IF you were welcomed into the main house, then it would be worth mentioning it.
Otherwise, I think that people need to learn from their own mistakes!
I agree with you though. These owners don’t really understand the exchange. I have noticed similar listings too.
I have also noticed an increase in these types of listings. I feel like the spirit of “trusted” house/pet sitters is lost when you aren’t able to stay in the main house with the pets. Most of these secondary spaces don’t have a full kitchen, which is not great if you are doing a long-term sit.
@UKSITTER1, good observation. We’ve observed quite a few such listings. Whether onsite guesthouse, Airbnb, vacation place or otherwise. We’ve never progressed such a housesit.
Re secondary homes, suspect
honest transparency in listing. Photos just/mainly of primary property?
attractiveness of secondary property. Perhaps it’s lovely?
responsibilities for primary property. Visit briefly but significantly clean?
On a related, but lesser, note then we’d argue same principal for Pet Parent that asks housesitter to sleep on a sofa bed, murphy bed or other subordinate sleeping arrangement rather than sleep on an available standard bed. We learn …
Yeah I see this from time to time. I evaluate my interest based on what they are offering. A small annex for a week could be fine. For a month maybe not. Some auxiliary housing is quite nice. If I caught an unwelcoming vibe from the posting, I wouldn’t apply. It’s up to the host to offer what they want. It’s up to me to decide if I’m interested.
I, too, have noticed this @UKSITTER1 in the UK where I look for sits when travelling overseas and feel just as you do. I’m good enough to look after their pets but not good enough to stay inside their home - I don’t think so. Depending on the tone of the listing, I may raise the point with the owners should I really be interested but that hasn’t happened yet. The pets are used to having people in the house, especially overnight, but this doesn’t seem to register with owners, unless they expect the pets to sleep in the separate accommodation with the sitters which I would not agree to. We’re all different in what we will/won’t consider and I know there are other sitters who have happily enjoyed staying in a secondary accommodation.
I too don’t understand why HOs offer seperate accomodation quarters for sitters where the care of pets, other than farm animals, is required and the pets are used to living in the main house. To me the main aim of having sitters include the pets having company and feeling like they are ‘home’ which they always do as the bond between sitters and pets invariably happens very quickly. To close the animals in the main building at night and then go to the seperate accomodation is not something we enjoy and try to steer clear of or discuss with the owner to determine why and perhaps change the arrangement.
On a housesit 18 months ago, the owner had 2 identical large adjoining apartments on the ground floor of a 3-tiered complex. We had 24 hour access to the ‘main’ apartment where the 3 dogs lived however at night were to close the dogs in and sleep in the other one where our baggage and clothes, where we showered and did washing. We did find it hard to not feel for the dogs when we first closed them in for the night and had them whimpering until they got the idea we were not coming back until the morning (although of course we did go back if we felt anything was wrong by the increase in noise or activity). Fortunately the sit was for a short 10 days and we all managed with that arrangement.
I did talk to the owners when they arrived home explaining how we felt and perhaps they should reconsider and let future sitters stay with the dogs all the time in the ‘main’ apartment. They indicated that they had never thought of that consequence and changed ideas from that point. The next time we returned the dogs welcomed us staying with them and we felt so much more content. And the owners did too!
So any HOs reading this consider your arrangements unless you have the pets living with the sitters in the ‘other’ seperate living quarters.
I agree that the main house is best but one sit we did the main house was full of cat hair and we were very happy to stay in the airbnb accommodations they offered instead. Another time we stayed in a guest house next to the main house will full use of either place, it just gave us privacy for the first night. I wouldn’t like it if the seperate place was too small or i didnt have full access to the house…but there have been times where the sepeate place was a better option. We are very sensitive to feeling like unpaid help so screen carefully for that vibe.
I don’t really get it, as using THS as a host (for me) would be so that the pet gets to live «as normal». A pet living alone in a home is for me subpar for the pet when it comes to wellbeing and mental health. For long periods it could even impact the behavior of the pet more permanently, not having significant human interaction on a daily basis. If you’re ok with the pet staying with a stranger somewhere else than the home, choose a kennel.
I’ve seen such sits, often staying for instance in a rural cabin with the pet. I never apply to those.
These hosts would make a better impression - and thereby get access to better sitters - making an offer to stay in main home or apartment or such - then some sitters would choose to stay in a smaller place.
I’ve had a sit where I was in the B&B (not AirBnB) annexe which was the old dairy attached to a converted ancient farmhouse, joined by an enormous kitchen and living room, and where I had use of the main house if I wanted to but to be honest what I had was comfortable and quite adequate, and not full of antiques that I had to worry about. The dogs could wander between the 2 but tended to spend their time with me and the cat wasn’t really bothered as long as I fed her.
On another sit I was in the “granny annexe” which was a 2 bedroom house (very comfortably converted stable) in the garden of a large townhouse. The cat wandered between the 2, and again I was happy not to live amongst the antiques.
Both of these sits were in a beautiful area where both very old townhouses and farmhouses with outbuildings are being rescued and renovated, saving them from dereliction.
I’ve passed on sits where the description and photos of the sitter accommodation looked basic, but I did notice there were applicants for the sits, so there is clearly no problem for some people with staying in such places.
I’ve slept in the holiday accommodation next door. I preferred it because it was easy to clean and the animals didn’t wake me up. I’m going back for the 3rd time next month,. I have seen ads here with sheds in the back garden where the pet is supposed to sleep with you and that would be a big fat no.
When I see sits that are set up for the sitter to stay in secondary accomodation I don’t apply.
It’s another reason why I do so few sits.
I have a long list of rules (number of animals, location, length of sit, sleeping set up, type of residence, etc.) on what I will and won’t accept as part of a sit.
I might draw the line at this particular one, but on the upside, at least only some minimal ‘mucking out’ would be required when it was time to go home. I’ve stayed in ancillary accommodation on several occasions, and haven’t minded that at all. Less risk of breaking precious family heirlooms, far less cleaning required at the end of the sit etc. I can understand why others may be irked to not even be offered the option of staying in the main accommodation though – it’s always nice to be given the choice.
I haven’t noticed this but I don’t sit full time and I have some very specific criteria for our “vaction” sits. If I was interested in the sit because of the location, dates, etc, I would probably check it out. If the guest accomodation is just for sleeping it might be great. But I don’t understand the point of it if the dog is left alone all night! Or cats are left alone to get into mischief. So to me it would be worth checking out to see what I had access to and what the host’s rationale was for doing it this way.
I sit in urban areas and haven’t noticed sub-standard annex-type situations, though some hosts have guest quarters or mother-in-law units. I don’t have issue with staying in such, as long as the living conditions are equivalent to the rest of the home.
At my home, we don’t host THS sitters, because our rescue dog needs professional care, but we had professional contractors add a mother-in-law unit that is self-sufficient, including a kitchenette, laundry and garage parking access. That was so we and our guests could have privacy and quiet. If we’re not there, that also means guests could have limited responsibility, since the rest of the house could be shut off.
Our dog normally comes and goes throughout, including in the mother-in-law unit. To him, it’s just part of his familiar surroundings. If someone stayed with him there, he’d not think it odd.
Yes I’ve noticed an uptick and I find it unwelcoming, not to mention odd that listings use a picture of their huge property to promote the sit then in the listing mention that the house is off limits and sitters will stay in some kind of outhouse. Then there’s also the ones who say things like “and if you like gardening help yourself!” or “the fence could do wait a paint if you fancy it”.
