I think you have it right. Not to require but to request.
We ALWAYS do the linens, towels, clean before leaving a sit.
We ALWAYS send the HO a note letting them know the bed’s been made with freshly laundered linens & the towels in the WC have been washed.
Unless the HO very specifically asks us NOT to (one did, explaining that the guest room bed - which was lovely - is generally left unmade so the mattress airs out until it’s needed!)
We started out as HO needing sitters, and our experience with sitters give us a perspective on the experience of coming home from a trip and not knowing what’s what…
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I ask sitters to at least strip the bed and put used linens in the hamper. If they have time to wash and hang linens to dry, that’s awesome/preferred and in some cases, we do ask them do so if we need the beds reset for whatever is happening next in the house, but usually the former is fine and what happens.
Leaving wet sheets in a washer is the worst scenario for us unless we are coming home immediately and would be able to hang them up (we don’t have a dryer so they would sit and need to be rewashed again).
If I’m on a sit and no guidance is provided, I will strip the bed and put used linens in the hamper, laundry room or a pile. If I end up using extra linens, I make sure extras are clean (for instance, on my current sit, I used the pull out couch until the main bed was available as we had an overlap at start of sit, then I washed and dried all extras).
TLDR, If you require sitters to fully reset the bed, I would just make sure to have a new set of sheets out and ready for their departure and be explicit in your guide. There’s not set method as it depends on what is agreed to by HO/HS.
I hope it goes well for your next sit!
Can you share your departure checklist?
Thanks !
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How would you manage to do linens, towels etc if you were leaving at 9am for example?
You could maybe wash them but pretty tough to get everything dried surely?
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I saw a cat sit in Melbourne AUS that instructed the sitter to bring their own sheets, pillowcases and towels (in the home and location section of the listing). I was taken aback as I’ve never seen this request in a listing. I travel full time and do not have room in my suitcase to pack bedding. Needless to say I didn’t apply.
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That’s odd. Maybe the host doesn’t have a washer and dryer? But I agree, skip, skip, skip.
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@Maggie8K in the amenities section of the listing it lists a washer and dryer.
Even odder.
Hallt64 - Most homes we’ve sat had dryers: We get up early enough to take care of the wash HOWEVER generally speaking homes have extra linens so we make the bed with the spare set, leave the freshly washed ones for the homeowner to put away as is convenient to them.
Thanks for taking the time to reply. Curious though, if the home doesn’t have a dryer, how would you do it then?
This can work fine with sheets, if they have extras. But many comforters, duvets, blankets or such don’t dry easily or the host doesn’t have a dryer or large enough one. If you’re saying a sitter can remake a bed with just sheets and pillowcases, if there are extras and they’re not leaving super early, sure, anyone can do that, IMO.
This is not unusual in some cottage rentals, but yeah, not ideal if you’re flying in.
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Or at 5am? Just sleep on the couch lol…
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As some have said, I indeed strip the bed and put the linen in the laundry hamper. If I have enough time, I would wash them but I don’t want to have wet laundry sitting in a washing machine as I leave. Often HOs indicate that they’re happy for me to just put the sheets, towels etc in the laundry bag. If I make the bed, it’s only if there’s a spare set readily available because usually I leave early.
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I’d never leave wet sheets, you don’t know what order people want things washed in or if they might get delayed on their journey back and they’d just be sat wet for ages!
I always strip the bed and put the sheets in the washing machine so the host can decide what order they want to wash things in when they get back. Sometimes the sheets are white too and I hate the idea of washing them with a towel and ruining the colour or something! I find people have different laundry habits etc…
Usually when I leave there’s not enough time for them to wash and dry, plus I’m hoovering, making sure the kitchen is clean and everything is put away etc… So I do expect it a bit much to ask for the sheets to be bone dry and back on the bed the day I leave. I’ve done it once and it was a squeeze. I also kinda expect people to own more than one set of bed sheets.
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I also had a sitter do the same, she didn’t even strip the bed and left the same sheets on our bed that she had slept on, lol. After that I made sure to include sheets & towels in the departure instructions. My instructions do include to wash the sheets, but we’ve never come to wet laundry, normally they dry the sheets too. You do make a good point though, we have a front load washer and those tend to absorb humidity.
It is nice when sitters make the bed and they also let me know. It is very much appreciated if I have a long trip/late arrival, but not necessary.
We keep extra bedding sheets in the guest room in case they don’t have time to dry or make the bed for us, we just do it ourselves when we get arrive home.
I just went to review my departure instructions and I do mention this at the bottom of the sheets & beds:
*If you have an early morning flight, just strip the bed and leave the linens and covers on the mattress, along with any used towels.
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I’ve done sits when my hosts have graciously had me stay after their late night return or we otherwise overlapped before I left. In such cases, I ask whether they want me to start a load of linens and they’ve said yes.
In a couple of other cases, my hosts didn’t have dryers, so I left their linens draped over drying racks.
For a recent sit, my hosts specified stripping the bed and leaving linens in a pile on the washer, with them planning to take the heavy bedding to a laundromat with big machines.
At another sit, my host said they’d wash the comforter, because you had to fold it a certain way to get it to fit in their washer.
And so on. Few sits have been identical. That’s why no host should assume that there’s a standard. Just be specific.
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