Our last sitter was here for 2 weeks and following what they described as a great stay they gave us 3 out if 5 stars 
They said our hospitality was 4/5 although we left them a cooked lunch, bread and milk, coffee beans for the coffee maker and said they could use anything they needed from our larder etc.
They also gave us 3/5 for communication despite having a friend come to greet them and show them around the house… we left them a welcome letter explaining everything with detailed instructions and contacted them to ensure all was ok whilst away.
Their written review was very nice so it all seems a bit odd
Sounds a little odd, but maybe they had something in mind without actually saying it, maybe they made a mistake or maybe they think that the highest number of stars should be really hard to get. Have you asked them?
It could be a mistake.
If I were you, I would ask them if it is a mistake or if it isn’t what can be improved.
This happened to me, strangely enough, twice in a row. It seems if you use you phone it can happen.
If it is a mistake, THS can fix it, they just need proof. It could be texts you get from the sitters saying it is a mistake or, preferably, the sitters can contact THS themselves.
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Might be worth asking them for private feedback, framed as your wanting to make sits better for future sitters, given the reduced stars they gave.
Maybe they’re the sort who have actual issues with a sit, but are too cowardly or otherwise to have said anything. Your asking in a friendly way might encourage them to be candid.
Doesn’t seem like you’d lose anything by asking them. Direct communication is more likely to produce something meaningful vs. asking here. None of us can know how the sit unfolded in their eyes.
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That is strange. Have you had other sitters from THS stay before? If not, the communication side of things starts right at the beginning, for example, how long did you take to respond to any of their messages not just during your trip, the prior messages too, were there any last minute date changes, or time changes, did anything change after you had accepted them. Personally we wouldn’t mark down for times/dates changing as long as we knew at least a week or so beforehand. Could any of those things happened.
On the hospitality front, was the bed made up ready for them? If so, I’m not really sure what else you could have done on that front considering you made them a meal too, which is really lovely of you. Unless your pets weren’t welcoming to them… or your friend. I’m grabbing at straws, I really have no idea.
I’d ask them, better to know for next time, and like others have said.
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I did ask and they didn’t respond
We’ve had numerous sitters before… all 5 star reviews… i definitely responded quickly to all messages …it did take a while for them to respond back to me!
Bed was made, a fire layed, i cleared a desk for them as they were working from home… they txt when they arrived and said they’d met the cats and they were lovely. How beautiful or gone was and thanked me for the delicious meal! I have asked but they’ve ignored my message!
Like you…i have no idea
Sounds like they were clearly disappointed then. You might take a look at their previous reviews for other hosts and see whether they gave strong reviews and mentioned elements by contrast that were missing or otherwise different from your sit.
The fact that you’d already asked them and didn’t mention it in your original post seems odd. Maybe you similarly missed some things in your sit and communications and just don’t realize that.
Like you say you left them a welcome letter and details. Did you offer a welcome guide ahead of the sit or leave details till they arrived? Because that can mean they were surprised by something on arrival, for example.
Maybe they felt there was too much communication lol.
I wouldn’t worry about it - sounds like their written review was positive, you’ve got other high ratings, you’ve made every attempt to discover what could have gone differently. It shouldn’t hinder your efforts to find good sitters moving forward.
I mentioned it after i posted. They had a welcome guide and a friend to show them round and answer any questions. They sent a txt to say they’d settled in … loved the house … met the cats and all was good. When they left they sent a txt thanking us and saying how much they’d enjoyed the sit.
They have previously left others hosts 5 * reviews.
All just a bit odd…
FWIW, a good number of times when sitters have posted about sits gone wrong, they’ve mentioned being surprised by something that had not been described or discussed before the sit, including sometimes receiving asks that weren’t expected. And often they say they gave the sit a five-star review anyway, out of kindness or not wanting to confront or be direct with the hosts.
Though you received five stars before and although these sitters said all was well, they clearly had issues with the sit.
You can choose to ignore that and do as you have previously. The only thing is, you might again run into a bad review. In your place, I would share the welcome guide well before the sit and see whether prospective sitters raise concerns about anything in it. If you share welcome guide info only after a sitter arrives, it’s too late if there’s anything objectionable in it.
Again, your choice. But your saying it’s odd over and over won’t help you. And I suspect you’ll run into other issues down the line.
All anyone on here can do is speculate, especially since the sitters won’t respond to your query.
This just highlights the importance of leaving a clear review; dinging stars but not explaining why in the context of the review doesn’t help anyone.
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Leaving a clear review is always valuable. But in this case, even had the sitters done it after the fact, if there was something in the welcome guide ahead of the sit that the sitters might’ve objected to, the host and sitter might’ve been able to deal with it before a clear review specifying negatives.
My POV is, if you can eliminate or avoid problems at the outset, you’ll still be better off as a host than getting a bad review with everything spelled out after the fact. That’s more likely to hurt you with other sitters, especially if your sit is not unique. Because all things equal otherwise, if you’re a sitter and two sits or more are similar, why pursue the one with a bad review if the other sits don’t have that risk?
If there are no potential surprises in a welcome guide, why not share it sooner?
I’m baffled! All you can do is give a factual response to their review (not tit for tat), which in your case I would say about how you prepared the meal etc, and ask in your response if they let you know what you could have done to improve things because they don’t mention any negative details in their review, and if you’d tried to ask for feedback already from them in message form, then mention that too. But write your response with future sitters in mind, so stay positive minded when you write it. Don’t let negativity enter into it at all, because sitters will read it and know you are a great, and they’ll be just as baffled by their low mark too.
Honestly, it sounds like you did nothing wrong, in fact, you went above and beyond with the meal. So you’re an amazing person!
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Hi @JANXL
Welcome to the Forum!
Are you saying that your overall rating was 3 stars, 3 stars for communication, and 4 stars for hospitality? If so, despite your leaving a welcome letter, they were unhappy about something.
If you had a friend welcome them (instead of you) upon their arrival, perhaps they felt that to be impersonal and did not feel welcome into your home.
If you have contacted them to ascertain information about the rating you were given and they have given you silence, it sounds like they don’t want any confrontation and / or do not want to be bothered.
During the sit, did you ask them how the sit was going and ask how they were doing? In their review, did they mention that you were a welcoming host or say any kind words about you?
They were very grateful that we’d arranged someone to greet them and show them round as we had to leave before they arrived to catch our flight. The written review was fine and i kept in touch via WhatsApp to ensure all was ok with them. They sent a goodbye message the day they left… thanked us and said they’d enjoyed the sit. They mentioned we’d left instructions so they knew where everything was and that they’d enjoyed their time
Just wondering what the reviews that these sitters left for previous home owners were like…
And sometimes we can only take comfort in the Yorkshire saying ‘There’s nowt so queer as folk’.
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This is strange indeed. The sitters left you a positive written review, but gave no reason as to why they deducted stars.
Hopefully, when future sitters come across your listing, they will focus on the positive written words and not the deduction of stars.
Our last sitter did not even give us a review. We went above and beyond for them. We welcomed them into our home, went over everything, showed them the hiking trails, doggie park, and took them out to dinner before we left. I told them to use whatever perishable items in fridge, condiments, spices, oils and anything in the pantry. Basically opened my home to them. It was spotless when they arrived. They sent us photos of our dog and kept us abreast. When we returned home, they were very friendly, said everything went great and had a great 17 days. We got home very late, so we thought they were spending the night. That was pre-arranged. They couldn’t leave fast enough, but I didn’t notice anything, until the next day. I went to the freezer to get something out for dinner that night and wow, they ate everything that was in the freezer. I mean everything. They broke a porcelain bowl and didn’t say anything. They moved everything around in the kitchen. My oven was so greasy, it took me 2 hours to clean it. It sparkled before we left. It’s only 2 years old so I keep it really clean. My husband asked them before they left if they wanted to sit for us again at some point in the future if it fit in their schedule and they said yes, that they loved taking care of my dog. They only live an hour away from us. That may have put them on the spot. We won’t do that again. So, we are surprised that they didn’t leave a review.
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I think this is really bending over backwards to find a way that the HO did something really wrong here. If sitters cannot communicate what’s wrong, even in the review in which they deduct stars while leaving nothing but praise, my assumption is that the issue is them. Doesn’t sound like they would have voiced whatever they found wrong even if they’d have been given the WG right away.
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