I realise that this is a subject that has been discussed before but it doesn’t seem to have been resolved. We’re experiencing more and more owners who fail to complete the welcome guide. As sitters we all know how valuable the information is. However, the document does seem to have become unnecessarily weighty and might therefore be putting owners off completing it. THS don’t seem to have solved the problem and arriving at a sit without all the vital information eg emergency tel nos/contacts/vets details/animal feeding/meds etc makes for a stressful situation.
We’ve arrived at a sit with no welcome guide, nothing written down anywhere and having to process a load of info that has been communicated verbally. There are no instructions about anything and the owners didn’t seem that interested in forming a relationship with us. Maybe if THS were to asterisk the sections that were essential and left detail like favourite walks and restaurants as useful extras we’d get more owners willing to complete the guide. I even wonder if it would be worth saying no guide no sit and making it part of the sitter agreeing only after the guide has been received.
I don’t know if there is any way to officially ‘resolve’ this issue short of THS implementing some sort of requirement to fill it out, which I don’t imagine they would do. In order to get hosts to comply they would need to meter out some sort of ‘punishment’ for not doing so and I can’t imagine what that would be. Kicking them off the site? Cancelling the sit?
I’m not a host so I don’t know how things work on that end and if they are given suggestions about it, given notifications to fill out the guide if they haven’t yet, kind of like the ‘confirm your sit arrival’ time that sitters get, and the like.
Ultimately the onus would be on the sitter to follow up with the hosts to get some sort of guide, whether it is their own document or the one on the site. Might not seem fair or ideal but that is the reality that presents itself.
If a sitter said they would only confirm a sit after seeing a completed guide-which is how I interpreted the last part of your post– that is something they are free to do I suppose. But if the guide is the one the site provides, at least as of now, I don’t believe a host would be able to send it without the sitter being confirmed first. And if they didn’t have anything put together yet, they might not like the idea of feeling rushed into preparing it.
I am not sure if you are referencing one sit in particular, or you are saying this has happened to you on numerous occasions. In my experience of sitting for 11 years, pretty much every host– if not every one– has put together written instructions of some kind.
If this is something a sitter feels very strongly about, and worry about whether they will get a guide for their sits weighs on them, then it would be important to discuss this with hosts directly, whether it is broached first thing in your application message or in any pre-sit confirmation chats. It would also be important to ask questions upfront about the types of things that the sitter personally feels is important to know before confirming.
This is true for any specific issue that concerns a sitter, whether it was some one-off thing they want to be sure doesn’t happen again or something they seem to encounter more frequently.
From experience, we have escalated our expectations for Welcome Guides. As full-time housesitters then we typically have a series of future confirmed sits.
In video calls, we all Pet Parents re status of Welcome Guide. For listings that have a significant unknown, concern or complexity then we require Welcome Guide prior to decision to accept the sit. For other listings, we now keep track of WG receipt for future confirmed sits and are far more comfortable chasing earlier and more regularly. Like you, it seems, we have had at least one WG that was wholly verbal - and one WG that was doodled on a single post-it note.
We do not expect THS to mandate WG completion. So we are increasingly self-accountable. Most Pet Parents are transparent, organized and recognize that better information helps both pet care and housesitter experience. But not all.
I never have trouble getting a WG (or the same info in another format). I just mention during our video chat that I won’t book airfare/make travel plans till I’ve received the WG. That way, hosts are automatically incentivized to send it.
I also screen listings carefully and avoid any with skimpy info and I look for a friendly tone, with info that reflects that the hosts think of reciprocity. Plus, I withdraw if hosts don’t reply within 48 hours of my applying (to schedule a video chat).
I’ve found that hosts who have their act together with their listing (and reply promptly) also tend to send WGs quickly. They also write reviews promptly, without needing nudging.
Good hosts set their sitters up for success, including sharing WGs with emergency contacts, info about spare keys, vet info, etc. Since there are so many sits, I don’t bother with hosts who are weak or iffy partners. Just move on.
Did this homeowner who failed to provide a Welcome Guide, nor any form of written intructions, and who was not interested in forming any sort of connection with the sitter have prior reviews from sitters that might have flagged the problem?
Do you intend to mention this in your review of the host?
Yes, we won’t sit without first receiving the WG, mostly because we want to check that nothing has changed since agreeing the sit and to ensure emergency contacts and vet details are specified.
Yes, I won’t do a sit without a welcome guide. Homeowners have a responsibility to provide sitters with the information we need. I’m not going to make travel plans wondering if I’m going to get the welcome guide. Early on in my sitting journey I had two sits in a row with no info. One had nothing written at all, the other just quickly wrote feeding instructions on a scrap of paper. I had no vet info, no emergency contact. Since then, I require a welcome guide and I want it right away so that I can review it and make sure all the info I need is there, I can ask questions if something is unclear, and I can ensure that there are no surprises (e.g. undisclosed pet behaviors or medial conditions, extra tasks or responsibilities, etc).
According to THS, sitters are agreeing to follow what’s in the welcome guide. Yet, we have to commit before we can see the guide. Since that’s a completely unreasonable expectation, I would have no problem cancelling a sit if there were surprises in the welcome guide. If I don’t have a welcome guide, I have no way of know whether I’m ever going to get any information.
I’ve said many times on the forums that it would be very easy for THS to add an intermediate step in confirming sits. HO confirms, welcome guide released (could include an option to upload a non-THS welcome guide), the sitter reviews guide and accepts or declines.
You can do something similar without a THS policy change. If the sitter wants to see the Welcome Guide prior to the sit, then agree to that contingency during the video chat. “After we hang up I’ll send the Welcome Guide, look it over and if we’re good then the sit will be confirmed, but lets do this within the next xx hours because there are other interested applicants and we don’t want to keep them waiting”.
Apologies for the late reply! No, there were no reviews and I think it may have been their first experience with TH. And yes, I tactfully reported that the absence of a welcome guide proved rather challenging. However, I don’t think they could have paid much attention to the guidelines for owners as we had an empty fridge with not even a pint of milk when they left. The husband was on site but didn’t even have the grace to say hello. It’s the first time we’ve felt like staff!
We have been experiencing this more often now, not sure how they fill in the Welcome Guide but maybe if it had tick boxes and had to be completed prior to being able to load the sit would help
I ask for a Welcome Guide early on now. I won’t do any more sits without one having encountered too many surprises on arrival. I confirmed a month’s sit for February, back in September. My request for a WG has been ignored and they still won’t confirm travel dates. They just booked me for an extra few days so they would have flexibility on flight dates. I am going to ask them to unconfirm now because I do find communication is important. They want me to drive 3 hours to meet the pet in advance but I don’t even know where they live.
Will do. I agree that all the red flags indicate that this sit wouldn’t be a comfortable experience even if it were to go ahead. I’ll ask them to cancel and if they won’t, I’ll contact THS. Thanks for the feedback.
Good idea!! I am tempted. But it’s been 6 weeks since I asked for the Welcome Guide and flight dates and I’ve just had radio silence in return. I would worry about lack of communication on a month long sit so just going to pass now.
