What has worked well for me is to ask how often they expect updates. Some will say daily, others every 2 day, etc. I ask this as part of the application process. The times of arrival and departures are also agreed upon as part of the application process. Once confirmed, I check in 2 weeks before the sit start date and reconfirm. Then the day before we leave, I remind them once again how departure date will play out. Here’s an example. “Per our previous discussions, we have agreed that I will depart from the house at 10am, your neighbor Bob will stop by at 2pm to let the dog out to pee, and you will be back by 4pm. Please let me know if anything has changed on your end. I will fill water bowls, take the dogs out for one last potty, and secure the house. Please text me once you reach the house so that I know you made it back to your pets. If I don’t hear from by 7pm, I will start calling all of the emergency contacts and if I can’t get a hold of them, I will call 911” I don’t like leaving things up to chance and in the event the pet parents forgot something, I reiterate a few times.
All Owners and Sitters should have a frank conversation before the Sit commences, about the desired frequency and length of updates. And yes, people should exchange cell phone numbers. Every Owner is different, and nobody can read minds.
Part of the chat before accepting any Sit should include that you work and your work schedule is X and so you can only take care of animals at Y and Z parts of the day. If the Owner’s expectations differ from what you are able to provide, then it is not a good match.
When everyone knows ahead of time that you have to leave at 4:30 am on departure day, you all should have had a very clear conversation about what needs to happen. Personally, I would have spent a few hours before I went to bed, cleaning and packing. I would have laid out my clothes for the next morning. I would not sleep well if everything was not in tip top shape before my head hit the pillow.
I think I wasn’t clear - as an HO I want the updates, I just want them sent by WhatsApp so I get them in real time. It’s the photo link that I can check whenever that I would not like. I don’t need a zillion updates, but it also doesn’t bother me to get them. Nor does it eat up any data or cost me anything.
Another example of why communication beforehand is important! 
As a sitter, my default even if someone doesn’t say to text everyday, is to text everyday, and to send a photo. It doesn’t take long. As a host I ask that sitters send a text with a photo every day just so I’ll know not to worry that anything bad has happened.
I always use whatsapp or regular texts. I can’t imagine relying on the THS app and mail system if my pet’s life depended on it.
Well done for asking for support and I hope you have found the responses helpful.
You’ve asked why you can’t revise it afterward. Imagine if that were the case - reviews would be changing all over the place as soon as one party saw something they didn’t like. People would feel forced to leave a 5 star review, even if there were issues that other members should be warned of, to protect their own profile. “Retaliatory reviews” are the reason the current double blind system is in place.
Do not feel disheartened about the review here. How we respond to a negative situation often says far more about us than if the outcome was initially positive. Take the advice others have left about leaving a calm, considered reply and treat it as an opportunity to show off that you are a responsible, considerate sitter who takes notes and develops. If I were an HO that saw such a reasonable reply, acknowledging any mistakes (if indeed there are any), promising to do better, I might even see a small positive in this - “they’ve already been dressed down once, surely they will be on their best behaviour to avoid it happening again”. When sending future applications, you could also pre-emptively note the previous review in your application, and what you plan to do differently for future sits. Please note I am a sitter though, so would be interesting to see what actual HOs think of this.
I’ve said it before in other threads. As a petparent, I am much more turned off by the drama of an angry response than I am by a less than stellar review. The pre-blindreview pettiness of “you gave me four stars so I’ll give you two” is a signal for me to stay away. Any response by either a sitter or a host should be objective, measured, and as factual and unemotional as possible. Anyone who tries to be clever in a response loses my confidence even if they are justified in their feelings.
I’m much more impressed by anyone who can own the part that belongs to them and explain succinctly what they’ve learned and how they’ll do it better next time.
@Marion - I look after two Trip Advisor threads for a client with a fab gastro pub & B&B in the UK. 99% of her 800+ reviews are wonderful but 1% aren’t (of course). The feedback we always get is that customers want to see how we respond to the criticism & the things that went wrong as that tells the whole story. It’s exactly the same for sitting reviews. #twosidestoeverystory