Same here. And it also eases the transition when they are leaving a temperamental or stress-y dog.
To be honest, I wouldn’t even mind sleeping the first night on the couch if they don’t have a spare room…
Or if they do have a spare room but it’s not furnished, I have an inflatable camping mattress that I love, and would happily sleep on it… as long as the door closed in that room.
But that’s just me, and I know that would not suit everyone.
We absolutely prefer personal handovers. So as international sitters we love meeting up with the home-owners the night before usually sharing a meal -maybe a beer and a wine. We have so many more friends now because of those occasions and can return (as such) to many locations as friends rather than sitters. Many times we’ve reciprocated the hospitality on their return, preparing dinner and welcoming them home so we can do a personal al handover at the end of the sit. On the other hand, we’ve done sits where we’ve never met the owner in person. Maybe we are more sociable, but those in peraon connections are special to us.
I’ve done about 60 sits and they’ve been all kinds - no meet at all, a few hours together the day the sit starts, stay over the night before with the HO present, dinner with the HO and then the HO paid for a nearby hotel room for me as the house would be cluttered with the travel prep.
But I am pretty flexible. Occasionally stayed over an extra night on return of the HO - if they are home early enough, I’ll cook dinner.
But each of us has our own approach.
tom
As a homeowner, I initially felt a little weird asking sitters to stay the night before, but now I find it just makes sense if we’re not able to meet prior. Our dog does much better when he’s met the sitter and they’re here when we leave. The one time this didn’t happen, he hid most of the first day which caused us and the sitter unnecessary concern. Not all animals need this, but I’ve found it works best for us.
I do have a question for sitters - would you prefer the night before to be included in the stay dates or just mentioned in the listing?
I’ve started adding a section to my listing with specific details for each stay which hopefully helps.
I, too, prefer personal handovers and have no issues staying the night before. On the whole, it’s been time well spent getting to know the owners (some of whom have become good friends or repeat sits) but more importantly pets, in particular dogs, have become used to my presence in the company of their owner.
Both please so the dates are booked in our calendars and it’s clear we’re all hanging out for 24 hours too 
In answer to your question @pergamino, it’s important to do both - include the night before or after if that is of relevance in the dates AND clearly state in your listing your dates include sitters arriving the day before.
I think in the listing the HO should be explicit about the type of “hand off” they want: shared overnight or day of “warm hand off” for both ends of the stay.
I think the timing of sitter arrival and departure is then better detailed with the confirmed sitter since it will depend on travel arrangements of the sitter & HO.
I am open to an overnight or warm hand off but would like to know that important detail for my decision making process.
I think I saw threads on the forum about top questions to ask.
I have come up with 10 that I will ask consistently and this is actually one them.
We are both quite introverted, but our social skills are fine! Therefore we loathe ‘the idea’ of spending a night with the owners, but when we do, it’s generally actually quite enjoyable! We only agree to it when they depart early in the morning, though. As someone else said, it becomes a drag when you’ve spent your evening together, and then also the next day if they don’t leave until much later in the day. If this is the case, we just arrange to arrive earlier on the day they depart instead of the night before.
Oohhh, is that what HOs generally mean when they ask me to arrive the night before so they can explain things in person? I thought it would be I’d travel all the way over to their home just for the tour before heading back my way again the same night. This is why I turned it down before and suggested meeting the day of for the tour, several hours before they leave.
If I could spend the night after the tour with my luggage already there, it wouldn’t be an issue for me.
We’ve stayed as overnight guests pre and post sit and had some really enjoyable moments, great food too, but it really is personal preference for everyone concerned and something that should be discussed way ahead possibly even before confirming, if it is important to both parties.
The only thing we DON’T do when staying overnight if arriving by car, unload while they are still home, instead I have a small overnight wheelie we take in. If you are asking why I have never perfected the art of packing light, PP/owners might think we were never leaving!!
Excellent reply here and this certainly mirrors our experience. Gives both parties plenty of time to ask questions, explain routines and you are able check out your environment. We also like to do this at the back end of the sit. We’ve done this in Australia plus in Europe and Canada.
@Angela_L we definitely also DON’T unpack that night and also have a small wheelie case. You should see our car - I mean, in addition to our ‘office backpacks’, we also travel with two additional computer screens, a seasonal suitcase, 4 pillows, a duvet, 1-2 bags of food…and then some other bits and bobs. They really would think they’ve got squatters in their house!
If you do the reccommended video call beforehand you can “virtually meet” them and find out who they are, what they look like and most importantly, if you all get on. This might help with some of the anxiety about staying in their house.
You have something in common with them after all and that is your love of animals.
@botvot @Angela_L
Your replies made me laugh! We’re the same- we only bring in any essientials for the night plus fridge stuff- for exactly those reasons- as soon as the HO goes we unpack the rest- & hope they don’t have external cameras recording the ‘moving in’!
@Angela_L @TheNomads We do exactly the same and always take just a small overnight bag whilst they are still home and we are staying with them! 
We have also stayed as overnight guests both pre and post sit. We have had many wonderful times shared, great food, and conversations and have made so many lasting friendships that developed from this. 
@MissRien there seems to be quite a lot of us introvert’s on here! Yes, definitely a bonus if it saves on a hotel stay.
@MojaveForever hello 
I can definitely see the benefits of staying over and the whole experience of meeting new people; our first sit I could have easily spent an evening with the HO as we all seemed to get on really well when we did a pre visit prior to the sit dates. We are intending to go visit them again soon as we are still in the same area on another longer term sit (we’re also stealing their dog to take for a forest walk as we absolutely fell in I’ve with her )
Having an annex or guest suite would also help and we’d possibly consider if that was an option.
It’s the social etiquette that I sometimes find draining; talking for long periods is tiring!
@Chatsetchiens it would seem from this thread that we’re definitely not alone! There’s a whole community of introverted house and pet sitters 
@Greensheep what an eloquent way of putting it. Yes, I like to be social, to a degree, but definitely find it tiring when it’s with people I don’t know and for extended periods.
So far we’ve been able to do pre sit meets with the HO but are aware that this isn’t always going to be possible.
I totally understand and agree that it’s important to know who you’re handing your home and beloved pets to and also that it’s beneficial to the sitter for a good handover.
I’m hoping that the more we do the easier it will become.