A warm welcome @Letty to the forum. I am sure you will enjoy the many discussions here.
WOW!
This one has been sitting in the chamber for months. THS even kept it from when I wrote it months ago. No better time than the present
HAPPY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!
Fun Fact: One Homeowner actually uses the photos I took before I left the sit as the photos of their home on their listing!
( I departed before their return home as agreed and just wanted to document everything )
I come from 5 Star Hotel experience and grew up in a Military Family so the attention to detail, and respect for others runs deep.
( I am also ADD, OCD and HOT )
My father taught me, “Always leave a place better than you arrived.”
( to this day, I still wipe down the public restroom sink after use )
I appreciate the fact that we as sitters get to enjoy a beautiful home with beautiful pets.
At the end of every sit, I wash everything I have used from the kitchen, to the bathroom to the bedroom and the living room
All plates, glasses, silverware, pots and pans washed and replaced ( every refrigerator emptied and cleaned )
Bed linens washed, ironed and bed remade ( yes ironed…read the reviews )
Bathroom cleaned from top to bottom ( no my fingers don’t bleed)
Living room vacuumed and dusted.
( cat and dog hair can add up after 30 days )
( except Tim and Henrietta sit who had a housekeeper come five days a week! With eight dogs running acres 1500 acres, makes sense! )
Do I have to do it…no.
Do I want to do it…yes!
I have been blessed with some amazing sits, which amazing pets and more amazing humans. It’s a nice way to say thank you and it’s a nice way to close out your stay as well.
And what can better than coming home from a 12 hour flight from South Africa to Happy Pets, a spotless home, charcuterie board, homemade pasta and warm brownies! ( yes, all that…read the reviews )
Does everyone appreciate the extra effort? Perhaps not.
Do I feel good about about the extra effort? Absolutely.
Because a Great Man taught me, “Always leave a place better than you arrived.”
Actually, that somewhat that’s tru
I’m just weighing in because while the reviews themselves are independent, the homeowner can respond publicly to your review, and that can create a problem.
In my experience, I complained about indoor cameras, and the homeowner’s response to my review basically ranted about what I was doing and questioned whether I was doing something I wasn’t supposed to be doing. So even though the review itself was independent, the response became a way to push back against what I had written.
I’ve also had homeowners text or call me to complain about my review, even when I had only given one star less in a particular category for a legitimate reason. So I agree that keeping reviews factual and fair is important, but I don’t think it’s accurate to say there is no reason to worry about retaliation simply because the reviews are technically independent.
@KellyK As an experienced sitter, you also know that an owner’s response to your review appears on their profile and not yours so it’s only if owners investigate your past sits that they may read it. They can clearly see whether the owner is just ranting or has responded in a clear and factual way.
If an owner messages you directly after a sit has finished complaining about your review, you are under no obligation to respond.
You are a hard act to follow @BigDog. Looks amazing!
Gràcies Jenny per obrir aquest debat, vaig arribar el diiluns al vespre despres de 21 dies fora i… m’ha sorprés com he trobat casa meva. No s’havia passat l’aspiradora, estava tal qual, hi havia pels de les gatetes pel terra, i tampoc s’havia passat un aigua al terra de parquet de l’apartament. El terra de la cuina també tenia taques de no haver-se fregat. A la nevera havia un troç de síndria en mal estat, passada, i un advocat obert que estava molt verd i al portar algun dia obert estava tot rovellat. La brossa orgànica i d’envasos per llençar… La persona que ha fet de cangur no dona aquesta impressió. Jo soc molt exigent, deixo casa meva impoluta, ho rento com diu la web TOT, coixins, cortines, catifes, faig un a fondo, fondo…!!! No espero això, pero els pels de les mascotes sino fas una bona aspirada del terra, i un aigua no dona la sensació de net. La brossa orgànica… al meu poble es recull porta a porta, la cangur va marxar el dilluns al matí i el diumenge recollien orgànica i envasos, es va oblidar de baixar-ho
Thanks for starting this discussion, Jenny. I got back on Monday evening after being away for 21 days, and… I was surprised by the state of my home. It hadn’t been vacuumed—it was exactly as I’d left it; there was cat hair on the floor, and the apartment’s parquet floors hadn’t even been mopped. The kitchen floor also had stains from not being washed. In the fridge, there was a piece of watermelon that had gone bad, and an open avocado that was very unripe and—having been left open for a while—had turned brown and oxidized. The organic waste and recyclables were still there to be taken out… The person who house-sat didn’t give the impression that they would be like this. I have very high standards; I leave my home spotless. I wash everything—cushions, curtains, rugs—just as the website says; I do a really deep, thorough clean…!!! I don’t expect that level of detail from others, but regarding pet hair—if you don’t vacuum the floor well and mop it, it doesn’t feel clean. And the organic waste… in my town, it’s collected door-to-door; the sitter left on Monday morning, but the organic waste and recyclables were collected on Sunday—she forgot to take them out.
(Post translated by the Forum team via Google Translate).
TBH…it was the perfect sit.
Wonderful Hosts
Handsome Hounds
Modern barn conversion
30 days living like Harry Potter
It is the least I could do.
