What guidelines and specifications are you referring to? I see many profiles that have lots of pet photos and only a couple of the house. Thanks!
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@JulesandBadger Welcome to the community forum. I would put the actual bed measurements, in metric and imperial. Often those who know inches donāt know centimetres and vice versa. Sitters from the US, who arenāt aware there would be a difference, will assume a king is a king, whereas a UK king is about equivalent to a US queen. A US king is far bigger again, and now quite common in the US. If you have international sitters, they may be taken aback by how small your king is. 
Check out this post: Know your bed sizes around the world
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Completely understand that. I have thought about offering my room with āproperā bed but honestly donāt want to have to move all my stuff out of my room into the spare room. I think larger houses are likely to have at least one spare room with a proper bed but in a two bed house that may not be the case. So far Iāve had one couple for 2 nights and everyone else has been a singleton. A couple are booked for September for their very first sit so I hope it goes well for them. They only live 40 mins away so if it doesnāt work, one could potentially go home again. It will be an interesting learning point for both of us.
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@DianaO , I always zoom in, skirting boards can often tell a story. 
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See! Thatās Exactly what I mean! Also, some sites have pictures of the house when it was ON THE MARKET for sale, and inside itās nothing like the house description by visual images per the website. That can be a health risk to some; Totally not ok!
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We are both tall broad shouldered people and sleep in a king size bed. There is no way we would be ok in a sofa bed no matter how comfortable you say it is. We would not even consider applying for a sit where the bed option was a sofa bed. It needs to be a queen size bed as a minimum for us plus somewhere to put our clothes, hanging space & drawers.
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Thanks for your advise! Iāve just updated with sizes
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I used the marketing one for front of house as itās an excellent picture of our home & is still true today. The rest are all very much up to date, with my childrens toys in shot, but tidy!
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Oh I never thought about clothes hanging space!!! We have ample, but I havenāt explained this or photos! I shall update! Thank you
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You donāt need to move āall your stuffā out. Just leave some space for the sitters belongings.
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Well honestly that had not occurred to me. I think of my house in the same way as an airbnb when someone is sitting, so space to put your stuff away. There is a chest of drawers and hanging rail in the spare room so I guess Iād need to move the contents of my drawers and at least some of my wardrobe into the spare room. Will need to give that some thought.
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Same here! I often do sits alone bc we need separate sleeping arrangements (snoring, light sleepers, etc) - So details as to where we can sleep is vital in the description, though sometimes weāve asked after the application and so far it has worked out nicely.
I am always content to see photos of cluttered, messy rooms because this tells me what I need to know!!
What makes me crazy as well is missing photos of living space but a dozen photos of the pets. I certainly want to see the pets but one or two photo of each is sufficient, however seeing the bathroom, kitchen or bedroom where Iād be ālivingā is imperative.
I just found a listing where the location and dates work and there are several photos of the exterior of the apartment building, the lobby area and apartment community gym but zero interior photos. Zero. Baffles me.
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Very much agree with this. I am a light sleeper and need pitch black, quiet, and dark. Sleeping conditions make or break my decision and most listings spend no time explaining them.
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No, really not. What we did was to offer the sitters our comfy bed, and tell them that we have cleared space in the 2nd bedroom cupboard. Their choice if they want to hang things there or live out of their suitcase (we often live out of our suitcase for sits of up to 1 week!). Or just clear a little space in your cupboard. It really does not need to be a lot, most sitters are very practical in managing their āstuffā.
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Thank you. Thatās clear and manageable. I can do that!
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I agree with many of the views, comments and insights posted here, many gave me a different perspective too (never thought of checking out skirting boards : )
Like many, i prefer a guest bedroom when available. Maybe a good tip for an owner is to stand in the doorway and objectively ask themselves āis there any way to de-personalize this room?ā Decorating aside, tons of family photos, old trophies, chachkies etc., could simply be removed until their eturn. This makes the bedroom neutral (not stark) and more inviting.
Fresh bed linen is imperative and just the decent thing to do. Certainly an owner would expect that miniumum if they were to stay at an AirB&B or hotel. Give the duvet or quilt/cover a good tumble in the dryer to knock off dust/must too.
Iām a little suspicious of pics of a spotless kitchen and then pics of a tumbled-up living/TV room/dining room. Kitchens are easy to āfakeā so to speak. And pet hair, please donāt put in your ad that a sitter needs to vacuum and keep on top of the pet hair (which I donāt mind) but then have me walk into a situation with hairy floors and carpets.
Essentially for me, it comes down to me exercising some friendly flexibility combined with a gut feeling right from the get-go.
I suppose āOne manās junk is another manās treasureā so they say!
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Thatās horrible. Glad you said something to them in private. Hopefully that will mean it wonāt happen to other sitters.
Yeah, impossible to avoid the unseen thingsā¦
I zoom in as well but many photos are poor quality and hard to make out details.
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Iām in one of those atm. Eeuhhhh.
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