It’s unclear if the sitter arrived before you went out for the evening or after, which would make a difference. And I wouldn’t expect the sitter to be ‘put in charge’ until you’d actually left on your trip. Might be worth reflecting on those things, and how the interactions went during the hour together - was it just about information dumping, or was there a genuine welcome?
In the end, though, accept that people will have different expectations and if your overall rating is great these can be outliers that shouldn’t affect it too badly.
Agree! I’m on a sit now where not only did the hostess not offer anything when I arrived (at 1 instead of 4 as discussed), she asked me to leave and come back at 8 pm! Wha….? Well, I putted around, drank expensive wine at a nice restaurant, and came back at 8:30… she wasn’t there, but her husband was and we had a great meeting and conversation, it was truly delightful for 1/2 hour till she got home…. She was nice but really condescending… whatever. Next day I got the tour, and she wasn’t any more hospitable….no breakfast, but did get great expresso I made…. When I asked if I could use the gas fireplace at night ( I use mine a lot at home), she looked alarmed and avoid answering, saying the heat was on a thermostat. So. The good news is she has 2xs a week cleaners, so zero cleaning required. It’s lovely here, like an air b and b…. Still…. Left a funny taste, you know. I’ll definitely put a 4 star for hospitality….
My default as a sitter is to rate five stars for hospitality, but some hosts have certainly gone out of the way more than others. I’ve gotten wine and/or other goodies, sometimes toiletries. All that is nice! Not getting any of that won’t reduce the score. To me a clean home is hosptiality. Friendly easy communication is hospitality, so even without extras beyond that, it’s good enough! There are few sits where hosts were friendly and I wouldn’t dock them, but maybe the home wasn’t quite guest ready or we wound up buying our own soap or shampoo.
As a host, I try to be super-hospitable. I have a binder which includes things to do and see. I don’t have a washing machine in my apartment, but I offer a card with $ on it if people have to use the building laundry for a personal wash. I have a couple of suitcase holders and clear some space in our bedroom (where the sitters sleep) for their things. I also live some kind of food and/or drink gift and while I don’t leave special toiletries, I try to make sure there is enough shampoo, soap, toilet paper etc.
What I try to do beyond that is act like a remote host, so I’ll often check in with sitters when they check in with me about the pets maybe posting to ask how they’ve been or if everything is okay with the apartment, if they need anything, etc.
@Elke, kudos on 13 years of experience on THS and for a wonderfully thoughtful question.
We have been amazed at the high diversity within the housesitter community - in terms of personal situation, listing preferences and housesitting objectives.
Re your Q - suspect that there is no single answer. Local housesitters may have significantly different “wow” factors to international housesitters. We love it when Pet Parents seek to engage with us as people - not as staff; when they prepare house and welcome us in manner similar to family or friend - not as staff; and when they make effort towards us enjoying the experience and/or local area. Specifics don’t really matter but the attitude is palpable. If you make reasonable effort to be thoughtful to housesitters then it seems disappointing if they were unappreciative.
More broadly, there’s some collective ideas from THS Forum community in an earlier post on ‘green flags’.