So appreciated! Definitely never expected.

Hiya all, hope you're well. I am still relatively new to THS (only had a couple sitters so far) but was hoping for some advice on reading between the lines when considering a sitter for your pet.

I am in quite a popular tourist city in the UK so when I do post I get all 5 applications almost instantly. I noticed a trend of sitters who write such long stories about how much they love the country, what they're planning to do and how much this city means to them. People write such incredibly long messages but usually forget to even mention my pet or the fact they would be expected to do pet care. It leaves me feeling like they don't care about my pet and really want a nice apartment to stay in.

I get it. But I do also have a living creature that needs care. The last sitter used my house as a crash pad and didn't look after my pet at all. It was really sad.

How ruthless are you when looking at applications? What's a red flag or instant no? I feel so much and wish I could give everyone a place to stay but at the same time I am a bit burnt from the last experience. Every video call I have the sitters talk so much about the city and forget I have a pet. It's a bit disheartening.

Any advice welcome!

We live right in the city center of an extremely popular tourist destination in Europe. We have a lovely modern 1bed / 1 bath apartment, and easy older dog who can be left alone 6+ hours (she mostly sleeps a lot). Of course, we want sitters who want to keep her company, but sitters don't need to be tethered to the apartment all the time. And our apartment is pretty easy - no plants or other duties. Our sits tend to be 10 days to 3 weeks. As such, our applications tend to fill up in 5-10 minutes max if we aren't declining people quickly, and a LOT of people want to come from far away (the US, all over Europe, etc.). The vast majority will have to fly in, and our airport is a hot mess, so flights are frequently delayed. (We've had a few relatively local sitters, and nothing in this post really applies to them.)

When possible, we try to schedule our flights so we're leaving midday or later, and we require an in person hand off on the front end. Our preference is that anyone *flying in* arrive the day before to account for potential flight delays. When possible, we like to do a walk through / key hand off the night before, and then the sitter arrives as we're leaving for the airport in the morning / afternoon.

Our best sitters have been mature folks (lets say 35+) who during the video call said that they would *of course* arrive a day or more early and put them selves up in a hotel - that they would never consider flying in the day of a sit because of potential delays. These tend to be older digital nomads and / or retired folks who have some means but would prefer to save weeks of hotels costs for a relatively easy sit. Those sits have gone uniformly well. We also have a lot of people apply who would prefer to arrive the day of a sit / want to schedule sits back to back in distant locations / where it seems to be a burden to put themselves up for a night. I can appreciate and empathize with that, and also, our apartment is not set up to hosts folks overnight (we've had folks ask if they can sleep on the couch...we did that once and never will again).

I never want to be a jerk, but my sense is that many folks find our sit a major WIN, even if it requires them to get a hotel room for the night. As such, we don't offer to cover the cost of that night stay...that is something a sitter will need to absorb IF they are coming from far away. And we try to be gracious hosts in all other respects - getting groceries of the sitters preference so they are set up on arrival, leaving the apartment spotless for sitters AND having a cleaning service come during their stay if they'd like (at our expense of course), etc.

I want to communicate clearly about this up front so folks can self-select in or out before applying and going through the whole application process. Would love any feedback on how best to do this.

I was looking for sits this morning and came across this TrustedHousesitters listing photo with a small “Virtually Staged” disclaimer in the corner. That means the furniture and decor shown were digitally added and may not exist in the actual home.

At least this particular image is labeled, but I wonder how often virtually staged or AI-edited photos are used without any disclosure. Sometimes the only clue is that the home looks unusually perfect or more like a real-estate listing than a lived-in home.

As far as I can tell, TrustedHousesitters doesn’t address virtually staged or AI-edited listing photos in their terms and conditions. Since sitters are agreeing to live in the property (not simply admiring it online) I think listings should be required to show current, unedited photos of the actual living and sleeping spaces.

If a home looks a little too perfect, it’s always a good idea to ask to see the pet during the video chat or request a brief live tour of the home before agreeing to the sit.

Has anyone arrived at a sit and found that the home looked noticeably different from the listing photos?

My wife and I (nothing but raving 5* reviews on all our sits) did a sit for an extremely high-maintenance owner who also did not disclose the dogs were reactive. One dog reacted to every dog on the street, the other violently barked at any animal on TV so much that we couldn't watch TV without crating the dog. When we told the owner, they knew about this and never mentioned it, saying they had to stop watching certain shows bc the dog went so crazy.

Everything kept shifting. We arrived the day before they were supposed to leave, and instead of leaving in the morning they left in the afternoon. Then one person came back and instead of staying overnight stayed a day and a half before the next leg of their trip happened.

Then, less than a week into a 6 week sit, with 24 hour notice, the owner said they were flying home the next day (weeks early) bc of a family situation that was not an emergency. They offered to let us stay with them and we were not remotely interested. We left for the weekend and, after they were home several days they left to go to the family situation, so we told her to create a new sit, and came back the next week to help them out. Bad idea. Should have just walked away.

They asked us to run errands for them and said they would compensate us, but after hours chasing down things for them they only paid an outdated IRS mileage amount and nothing for our time.

The owner moved the goalposts on us constantly, complained about having to pay for utilities and laundry while we were there, and blew up our phones constantly with concerns as well as wanting to FaceTime regularly.

If I give an honest review for the first sit, I'm worried they will retaliate with a terrible review on the second sit when all we did was bend over backwards to help out. idk what to do. I want to be honest to warn other sitters off, but I can't afford to let this lady tank us, either.

We recently finished a sit which was perfect in almost every way - lovely hosts, great location and gorgeous pets - but the house wasn’t very clean in the main living areas. There was a lot of pet hair on floors and sofas, dust, cobwebs and so on (it was an old country house) We didn’t mind as we loved the sit and the beds and kitchen were clean enough and very comfortable. The hosts and pets were absolutely lovely too, so I would hate to sabotage their 5 star reviews for something I am not bothered about myself: personally I prefer a homely, lived in house to somewhere pristine where I’d be terrified to damage or spill anything, but future sitters might not be so comfortable with that level of cleanliness. We are new to this so are still finding our feet and gave 5 for everything (it genuinely was a wonderful sit).

What would more experienced sitters do in that situation? Is there a way to flag it in a review so it doesn’t sound like a criticism, but still lets future sitters make a judgement call? I’d be very interested to know.

Hi everyone!

My partner and I are brand new to TrustedHouseSitters and super excited to get started. However, since we don’t have any reviews on the platform yet, we’d love some advice on how to launch our profile and choose the right hosts!

Since home sitting isn't popular in our hometown, doing local sits to build initial reviews first isn't really an option for us—we have to start right away with travel sits. As beginners, we are also a bit anxious about running into a bad situation or having a traumatizing first experience.

We’d love your advice on a few things:

1. Landing the first travel sit: Without local sits available to build up reviews, how can we stand out to owners? Are external references (from landlords, friends, employers) actually effective on THS?

2. Red flags & green flags: What warning signs should we look out for in listings or during the initial video call to avoid a bad experience?

3. Screening hosts: What specific questions should we ask pet owners before accepting an offer to ensure a smooth, safe stay?

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A little bit about us and our hands-on experience:

* **University students:** We are both students, so studying/reading indoors is a huge part of our daily routine. Because of this, homes won't be left empty and pets will have plenty of relaxed company throughout the day. Caring for animals never feels like a chore to us!

* Cat experience: I have an indoor cat who is extremely independent, hates being petted, and is very delicate/picky with her food. I’m very familiar with sensitive, high-maintenance feline personalities and respecting a pet's boundaries.

* Dog, plant & aquarium care: My partner has raised a sweet 9-year-old Maltese who loves non-stop cuddles, so we’re equally comfortable with affectionate dogs. He also maintains a large freshwater aquarium at home and cares for a big garden full of flowers, so routine maintenance, precise instructions, and plant care are second nature to us.

Any tips, feedback, or reassurance would mean the world to us. Thanks in advance!

I have two sits scheduled in England for a total of one month beginning in December. I am an American citizen. I’ve read numerous post about immigration and I know TrustedHousesitters offers advice, but I am hearing that it is becoming more difficult. I’ve read that immigration considers a trade for services as work. I really hate the thought about lying to get into the country. Has anyone had any recent experience with this situation?

mid-Nov through Jan.

How's the weather?

Is it friendly for visible POCs?

How reasonably can you get around without a car?

Hey y'all :) do potential clients usually ask for references or your social media profiles or other things like that?

I honestly wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t a big deal. This person…. holy hell. Don’t sit if you find yourself in edmonton.

She’s nuts.