Update: Seems unanimous that what I wrote won’t come across well and better situated to talk about during a phone call in a nice way. Will do, thanks everyone.
I’ve had a couple homeowners cancel on me this year and 2 that changed dates costing me over $1,500 in alternative lodging fees. HO’s, if you saw this in my application, would you be turned off?
Once we have confirmed a sit, we have come through 100% for each and every homeowner on previous sits. The TrustedHousesitters terms and conditions state that confirmed sits cannot be canceled and we take this seriously. We understand that cancellations or even date changes on our part could provide stress or could even ruin a homeowner’s trip and therefore once we commit, we have not canceled or changed dates. As full-time travelers, we are very detailed and careful about planning and budgeting our travel dates and therefore would appreciate the same courtesy in return from the homeowners we confirm pet/house sits with.
@IHeartAnimals , I understand that due to past experience you want to do what you can to prevent this kind of expense but if I were a home/pet owner, I would not appreciate seeing this information in an application. You are asking them to consider you, and not only you, your whole family, which in itself is more complicated than having a couple or a solo sitter. By additionally pointing out the expenses you’ve incurred, it might be construed as pressuring the home/pet owner. They could decide it’s easier to deal with someone else rather than someone who is talking about finances from the outset.
Better, when you have a phone or video call with them, ask them to be very specific about dates as cancellations and date changes in the past have been very expensive. Or don’t even mention finances, just tell them it’s very important that arrival and departure dates do not change from what was originally agreed. Then, double and triple check with them before you buy any tickets.
That must have been so frustrating for you. And expensive! However it would definitely put me off as however committed we all are to not letting each other down, sometimes things happen that are completely out of our control- death and illness for example- and we need to be able to extend grace to each other. It’s a nightmare of mine that we would ever have to cancel on a sitter and thankfully it’s never happened but the fact is that any of the last 3 times we went on holidays we had to organise respite care for my mum who lived with us and there was always the chance she might get ill and not be able to go. We would have done anything we could to find some alternative for the sitter if that had occurred, but as someone else has mentioned, that would be much harder to do for a whole family than an individual.
We are due to go on holiday next Saturday and our sitter is arriving on Friday, but my husband’s aunt is currently dying and it’s possible we may have to ask the sitter to tolerate us in the house one more night to allow us to attend the funeral. I hope not, but I also hope she will be understanding if it’s necessary. (She will have the granny flat to herself).
In summary while I always want to honour sitters’ time and fulfil our commitment completely I’m acutely conscious either of us might need to ask for the other’s understanding if life throws a curveball, and your wording would definitely make me feel uncomfortable entering into that relationship of mutual trust with you. I do understand why you’re considering it, I just don’t think it’ll achieve what you want it to achieve as it’s just not possible to exclude uncertainty entirely, with the best will in the world.
While I completely understand your reasoning, I do think the wording is a bit harsh. As a homeowner, I would probably select another candidate. Maybe it’s something to bring up in the phone call instead, where you can explain what happened before and suggest that you want to avoid that on any future sits?
Thank you- she is 97 and has been very angry with the world for quite a while so it will be a release for her and everyone around her but still a difficult time.
I really hope you have no more changed plans for a while and happy travels!
@IHeartAnimals It’s very direct and transparent, but I wouldn’t get offended. I’m a member of the straight talk makes for straight understanding.
I would understand where you are coming from as you have been burnt by flaky owners. As I’m not looking for and want to avoid flaky sitters at all costs… You are the application that I would flock to
I feel your pain. We committed to 4 separate sits for one Owner. She ended up cancelling 3 of the 4 sits. She cancelled all of the longer sits (2-3 weeks each) and kept the 3 night sit. It was absolutely ridiculous, but what could we say?
That’s rough too. I’m starting to learn that successful sits on both sides is a blessing and both sitters and homeowners need to deal with the fact that there will be a percentage of people who will cancel or change dates
Just wondering how to you can make that promise though? I mean, we would definitely NEVER cancel frivolously but if one of us ended up in hospital or an immediate family member died, or some other horrible unforeseen event, we would have to. Anyone would have to. So IMO, you can’t really promise 100% that you won’t cancel.
This is a very useful discussion @IHeartAnimals . We also started THS sitting this year and having had our last 2 sits cut short we also are looking at how we can manage this possibility going forward.
As @mars suggests we have also thought that it is something that we will bring up in future video calls ( once we have discussed the usual things we ask)
We will ask homeowners to confirm the arrival and departure dates and times . We will explain that we have had homeowners come back several days earlier than agreed which was very disruptive as we work from home ( which is usually why the homeowner has chosen us )
We will also ask if you had to come back early what would you expect us to do ? I think having these “what if” discussions it’s helpful to both sides .
Very true, 100% cannot guarantee that I won’t have a situation where I have to cancel in the future. That statement was that in the past, I haven’t initiated a cancel. Hopefully they see me as a dependable person.
Please be very careful when making statements like this. I get where you are coming from. Like you, we are full time sitters and take confirmed sits very seriously and have been out of pocket once because of a cancelled sit due to their home being destroyed by an earthquake. They (and their dogs were un injured).
However, we have been the ones to cancel a week into a two month sit because of a family tragedy. The help and support we got from everyone was fantastic, the home owner especially.
My point is, you never know what’s round the corner. Things happen to disrupt plans even to the most professional sitters and pet owners.
We have had 80 plus successful sits. We must be truly blessed.
A forum like this can portray a very negative outlook. Most people only look for a platform to vent their dissatisfaction or to discuss something that went wrong. Also, the people on here are a very small percentage of the people registered on THS. I have spoken to a lot of pet parents and 90% of them know nothing about this forum.
I would personally say this forum and the things discussed is not a true snapshot of the site and sitting/hosting experiences as a whole.
Yes, it does come across as kind of demanding but I can umnderstand. I was booked for a sit once and just in the UK but then cancelled then they came back to me with other dates. Then it was they were unable to get accommodation for those date, so cancelled yet again. Then came back leter with different dates, before changing their minds and not going away after all. I was only drivimng a couple of hundred miles but if i had booked travel etc, it could have ended up being very expensive. As it was it was extremeley frustrating. But I have heard of owners who have cancelled a sit due to different reasons but honoured the sitter coming. I do think this should be made more compulsory. For example if pet suddenly dies close to a sit starting and you have booked flights etc. You can at least still look after the home. On the other hand I have been contacted quite a few times this year, due to sitters backing at at the last minute. One home owner said they had been let down twice by sitters suddenly cancelling. I did also read on the forums, of a sitter questioning if she could go after a preferred sit and cancel the already confirmed one. This really should not be allowed. Once you have confirmed then you should stick with it.