We are new to THS and currently in the process of applying for our first sits. Admittedly, I am agonising over the perfect application message and enticing sitter profile.
For HO who have accepted new THS members on their first sits, what did you look for or made them stand apart?
Similarly, what makes characteristics make families stand out for you?
Also, given the “current climate” and the world opening up again, how would you as a HO feel about a sitter offering to or hiring a cleaner during their stay or end of stay clean?
For us, we care for a home as we would our own, and always had cleaners/housekeepers and garden maintenance (not that we are incapable, we just liked outsourcing this job as a life “upgrade”) at our homes in Australia. Would you see this as a deterrent as a HO?
Hi @Tashie and welcome to the forum. You raise an interesting question re offering to hire a cleaner by a sitter. There is a strict no third party present when sitters are on a sit unless mutually agreed by owner and sitter e.g in this case their own cleaner comes say once a week and you agree to that happening. It is not up to the sitter to arrange a cleaner for a home that does not belong to them as there are too many risks at stake.
My house isn’t very child-friendly, so if yours are older and not likely to stick fingers in outlets/sockets or throw trinkets around, I would mention that.
As for cleaners - I would be OK with that if I could choose the cleaner.
I find it unusual that you suggest the sitter might hire a cleaner. Normally the sitter would clean the home, leaving it as clean as they found it (often cleaner!) prior to leaving. In my experience it’s the HO who might pay for a cleaner, sometimes keeping them to their normal days and, for me, that’s a real treat!
For us, we would want to show that we treat and respect a HO home as we would our own, and as we would hire a cleaner if in a place for an extended time, we would do the same on a sit. (We do this on long AirBnb stays too - we are digital nomads).
Am I totally off mentioning this in profile/application message and should leave it for a later conversation?
Thanks for your reply Temba! I wouldn’t bring in a cleaner unless mutually agreed upon and the business hired was chosen or cleared by the HO. I would be sitting as a family (3 kids - 11,9,16months)
My thinking was that the offer to hire a professional cleaner would alleviate any concerns a home owner my have about offering the sit to a family.
I can understand you might want to do that on longer sits with 3 young children but I’m a solo sitter so don’t make a great deal of mess, it tends to be the animals that do. I agree with you about checking with the owner. However, I wouldn’t bring in a cleaner for an Airbnb, as you generally pay for that service anyway.
Actually this would put me off! Not that you would like a cleaner to come but that YOU would want to hire someone. To me this would be someone too many in my home.
There’s a difference if I as a HO hire a cleaner or you as a sitter does it. So, saying that you are good with keeping the regular cleaning schedule (if the HO usually has a cleaner coming) and offering to pay for it, is something completely different than hiring someone who has never been in our house before. To me this would mean too many strangers at the same time in my home.
Not here in my house. It’s not possible to clean it in one or two hours. And it’s not about the time but the fact that another person, who I don’t know is rummaging around.
You’d probably be happier with the sitter(s) cleaning then, as most home owners are. We know what the home was like on arrival, where everything is so can leave it in the state it was in or better. I’ve never had a complaint about my cleaning, in fact am usually complimented on it, despite the fact that I hate cleaning….
me too
I would be perfectly fine with having our regular cleaning lady come during a sit or, if the sitter prefers, on the last day of the sit, but I wouldn’t want someone I don’t know to come.
@anon39388349 I was hoping to would weigh in on this a I love reading your replies and opinions to questions!
Is it a matter of phrasing? Should I write “I would be happy to pay for a cleaner of your choosing for stays longer than a week?” Or this is something that should be left out of my profile/application message and discussed at a later date?
@Smiley oh I don’t bring in an external cleaner at AirBnbs, but definitely chose accomodation that includes regular cleaning or asking the host if we can pay for their regular cleaner to come weekly.
Thank you very much. Sometimes I feel I might have too much of an opinion on everything and that maybe others think “oh, not her again…!”
This wording would be perfectly alright with me😊 and I wouldn’t mind if it was mentioned in a profile, but I think in an application letter it could probably ease a HO’s mind when they consider if they really want so many kids to stay in their home or rather have someone traveling only with one child, which I could understand.
We do have a cleaning lady coming usually once a week, but so far I haven’t asked if the sitters would be alright with her continuing during a sit. I thought for a one week or 10 days sit this would not be necessary. However, our next one will be nearly 3 weeks long so I will find out if the sitters want her coming or rather do the cleaning themselves.
The most important element to a good application is showing you actually read it. If there are things they mention that seem important to them, make sure you address it. Create a detailed profile so they really get a sense of you and your family.
I would also recommend only applying to sits that are specifically listed as’ family friendly’ I know many people on here apply to sits that specifically state the HO’s are only looking for certain types of people (e.g. single female) or that the sit is not suitable for children, etc…trying to convince the owner why they should still pick them.
This may work sometimes perhaps, but in most cases, is probably nothing more than a waste of time.
In case you didn’t know, this is a label owners can add to the assignment under the section that describes the home. You can also search by this filter.
Understand that sits with multiple children may be harder to secure but there are people on here who do sit with kids so it is totally possible.
Be authentic in your application and don’t try too hard to sell yourselves or your kids–people pick up on that sort of energy. I imagine a lot of applications end up being nothing more than a bunch of stuff the sitter thinks the owner wants to hear rather than an authentic message that gives the HO a real sense of the person.
At the end of the day, you don’t know why people pick who they do, and it often has nothing to do with any serious rejection of the other applicants, it is just the fact they can only pick one person.
As for offering the cleaner, that might be something you can address on an interview and not put in the listing. My first thought when I saw that was: I wonder if her kids make a huge mess. That probably isn’t true but wanted to share how the offer could be interpreted in a negative way.
As an HO it’s all about my dog. I’m looking for people who have experience with young and/or energetic dogs, and if they haven’t sat before it’s no problem at all (presuming they have some kind of a reference, perhaps from an employer, as to their character).
I do not have room for families. I choose sitters initially who have obviously read the details by mentioning : A the animals to be cared for and B that people need to know about gardening in order to tend vegetavles etc, although we only have a garden this is important for us.
We then arrange a skype call
I am thinking of putting in a key word and seeing if that is mentioned in the application to show they have red all the details
