Has anyone done this and or see any issues with this? We have done few sits recently where the pet hair was crazy so thought this may make our life easier. Thoughts?
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We have multiple things in our car in the UK, to help us on ‘cleaning day’, we even travel with a mop with disposable mop heads, because a lot of other peoples mops hurt my back, or they are already covered in pet hair.
I think you may struggle because different types of robot vacuums are good on different floor types. Some are good for specific pile-types on carpets, and some for hard floors, so it may be trickier to get a one-size-fits-all one, unless you’re sitting in a country that just has hard/laminate flooring.
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If I’m driving to a sit in Oz, my Dyson stick has been known to accompany me as well as my easy-to-use floor mop!
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We haven’t taken one with us @Oztravels but the best name for a robot vacuum we used on a sit was Meryl Sweep #handylittlelady 
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My thought is that if the owner can’t provide proper cleaning equipment then why take your own. That said, I’m currently looking after friends’ home (no pets) and both Dyson vacuum cleaners are useless, even after having cleaned out the filters and brushes. Mops with no bucket. I did go out and buy a new squeezy mop as wanted to properly clean the floors and enjoy doing so, but I’ll leave it for them.
Why would you risk damaging your robot cleaner in other people’s homes?
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I have a robot cleaner in my own home. I wouldn’t bring it because
- I don’t want to spend more than I do petsitting and cleaning equipment is not my responsibility
- In my experience such a cleaner works best in a home that has been modified for it - with larger areas without furniture, stuff, clutter - and going regularly. If not then other cleaning is quicker and more efficient.
For lots of shedding it could actually be more efficient giving the pet a good brush, if they are happy to do that. Not all pets are. Make it an enjoyable time with cuddles, praise and a treat or two.
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A Roomba is not good with hair.
The easiest cleaning that I had was when the home had a mopping + vacuuming machine that was special for dog hair and everything. It was a joy 
Quite expensive. And large.
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I’ve done a few sits with my own car and wouldn’t bring my robovacuum.
I use what’s on hand, and if the hosts lack a reasonable vacuum or such, I might ask how they clean the hair or X.
If they don’t have a reasonable way to do that, I’d do only what’s reasonably possible given what’s available. That might mean leaving fur as-is, because if they don’t care to have whatever gear is needed, shrug, I’m not going to sweat it.
And I’d mention preemptively in my review that I checked with them, but they lacked a vacuum or X, so unfortunately I couldn’t clean to my usual standards. (Or if their vacuum was malfunctioning or otherwise not effective, I’d mention such.)
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I don’t own one and have never used one.
However, our next sitting has a robot cleaner called Heidi who seems quite a character.
Looking forward to meeting her
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I sat two Siberian cats, who have triple coats and shed a lot. The hosts had a robovacuum and I had to run it four times in a row to get most of the shedding off the floor.
That meant I had to get the barstools and dining chairs off the ground. The cats sat on the counters, watching warily.
Even then, it did only an OK job. Then with the furniture and textiles, I used their super sticky roller.
They didn’t even let the cats into the master bedroom, which also had an air purifier running all the time. I slept in there and could understand why they wanted to breathe cleaner air while sleeping.
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I have been lucky so far and there have been enough cleaning utensils in my sits, but I’m with @Maggie8K, if there weren’t, I would mention it and clean as best as I can.
Unless there’s an unexpected breakdown or something like that, I would expect HOs have the utensils they need for their cleaning standards. Sometimes they have cleaners who bring their own but I think it would be reasonable to continue with that service during the sit too.
That said, @Oztravels, if you’re considering that option it’s probably because you think it’s going to be helpful so it may be worth trying. As @pietkuip said, I wouldn’t be to hopeful about pet hair, though.
I’ve had Sam (Samsung) twice do the vacuuming for me - very happy with his help!
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@Oztravels
A few thoughts - we have done several sits where they had robo vacs these worked well . However these homes had hard floor surfaces , no rugs and had the furniture arranged so that the robo cleaner had a free run and would not get stuck under chairs , sofas, stools, table legs etc .
But for homes that don’t have their own robot cleaner you may find that you are having to spend quite a bit of time “rescuing“ the cleaner that becomes stuck behind or under various pieces of furniture .
Also the capacity of many robot cleaners is not that big - so if you are starting with a home already with a lot of pet hair ingrained into carpets etc you will need to empty often .
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I tried my host’s robovac without moving any furniture, but it got trapped under dining chairs and of course left uncleaned spots where chairs and stools were. (At home, my husband takes care of ours.)
Do you know of a robovac that handles dining chairs and barstools well? I’m going to buy a second robovac at home, because we added a mother-in-law unit. I don’t think robovacs are created equal.
The hair would remain ingrained if it were me sitting there. My goal is to leave the house as clean and tidy as I have found it, not to do spring cleaning. A few times I have left it cleaner because I have a certain way of cleaning that is perhaps a bit more thorough than some owners’, so the result of cleaning after myself may be a cleaner house. Only once I had to do some previous cleaning for my own comfort.
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I also think they’re pretty useless…
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My first experience of a robo-vac was at my recent Christmas sit, in the huge kitchen. I hadn’t noticed it, so when I was woken up in the wee hours of the first night by a crash from downstairs, I was terrified that there was an intruder. Eventually, I plucked up courage and went down to investigate - it had caught a trailing wire left by the HO and dragged the attached gadget to the floor. The robo-vac seemed to have been programmed to work overnight because each morning I’d find it trapped and out of charge somewhere new. At first, I took pity and put it back in its charging station, but eventually I left it where it was. I’m not convinced that it ever cleaned anything, and it certainly didn’t encounter the tiny bits of lego left by the kiddos in the family room.
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Thank you everyone for your feedback. Based on your hivemind we will leave the RV at home. For those who have had and experiences with robot vacs it may be the brand as ours are excellent.
Brilliant. Love good names. My sourdough starter is call doughrathy
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We have two. A Roborock and a Eufy. The Roborock is far superior. I think every house (stools) etc need to take into account dimensions. A great YouTube reviewer vacuum wars seems good for info.
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