This particular sit was confirmed 4 weeks before the sit.
The owners TOLD the sitter that they have an HO Guide (different name leads me to believe that they use different format from the Welcome Guide).
Owners are NOT RESPONDING to a reasonable request from a sitter. RED FLAG.
At least the owner should explain WHY. If you are updating your Welcome Guide, fine. Just let the sitter know when to expect it. Not very difficult.
The HO and OP agreed to be in touch 2 weeks before the sit. The OP is now getting impatient due in part to their failure to ask not very difficult questions during the interview process. Youâre assuming the hosts are now available for communications when itâs entirely possible they are not, knew they wouldnât be and set up to reconnect when they expected they could.
Sitters âghostedâ a few days before the sit are fairly common here and usually get sorted out. Sitters âghostedâ 4 weeks out, not so common but still get sorted out.
The OP can and maybe should cancel this sit because they did not do their due diligence before accepting the sit.
I agree with you that the OP sitter should have been more insistent/diligent/timely with their request. HoweverâŚ
If the owner/host is actually completely unavailable, like they are climbing Mt. Everest, they should have warned/informed the sitter that they would be completely unavailable until 2 weeks before the sit. And, if this is true, it would have been really smart for the owners to send the Welcome Guide before they climbed the mountain.
Every sit/situation is unique. It is hard for us to know all the small details around this situation, but I can understand him/her feeling frustrated.
Sitters should not have to be aggressive nor threatening to get the Welcome Guide. And owners should realize that it really is to everyoneâs benefit. It is not just for the sitter. It is better for the pets, the owners, when the sitter has more time to review the WG and ask questions well ahead of the sit dates. As sitters and owners prepare for their travel during the week before the travel, the last thing that I want to deal with is an initial review of the WG and clarifying the information.
Maybe itâs just me.
On one of our very first sits with THS, I realized only as we were driving to the sit, that I did not have the exact address. I knew generally where it was, but the exact address had not been provided. Thankfully the owner answered his cell phone when we called. After that, I started to put ALL CONTACT info into my cell phone for every sit, well ahead of the sit dates.
Is anyone arguing this?
Iâm not sure why all the YELLING. I agree that the HOs not responding is troublesome. Seems like there is a lot of escalation of what might be a simple miscommunication - but also, if this is a dealbreaker for the OP sitter, they have options.
Are you not the one who wants âcommunicationâ to be among the review points for sitters?
I would give this Owner a zero for communication. Rude. Inconsiderate.
And I do not agree that the sitter has somehow âboxed themselves inâ by âagreeing to touch base 2 weeks before the sit.â In all likelihood, the sitter had every reason to believe that the Welcome Guide was going to be sent soon after the confirmation. The sitter should never need to chase down the owner for the Welcome Guide. People are so weird, entitled. I really donât get it. 
Yes, I very much wish that Communication was a rating option when reviewing sitters. What does this have to do with anything in this thread? Communication is already a criteria for sitters reviewing owners.
I agree that welcome guides should be available as soon as possible. It gives sitters time to look over and ask questions prior to sit that may need to be sorted out. If homeowners need time to revise it they should say so. This topic comes up alot.
We had exactly the same experience on a sit in Spain a couple of years ago. Weâd booked the sit 3/4 months before and received the WG early on. But it wasnât till we were actually on the road to them, from another part of Spain, and just half an hour away, that we realised we had only the village name and not the exact address!! Like you we made immediate contact and fortunately they picked up! (Next week weâre heading back there for the 3rd time!)
Since then my policy is to always ask for the full address at some point during our initial contact and definitely before confirming the sit. And I too input it directly into my contacts for easy references! I never wait for the WG to receive this most important info- sometimes it only has the postcode!
This is voluntary; you absolutely have that right; itâs not a locked-in deal. Iâve experienced the radio silence after accepting too, and unfortunately, it turned out to be an early warning sign.. a red flag that led to nightmare scenarios I couldnât have imagined. In that case, the hosts were still new and saw the concept and arrangement solely as a service to them rather than an exchange. Which, in hindsight, may explain why communication became flaky after I accepted.
Since you still have a few weeks left, Iâd ask them directly whether this is on or not, as you need to make further plans. If thereâs still no response, I would cancel.
HO here. I have only had 2 sitters, and have shared the welcome file (even in draft form) asap after both agreed to sit. For one of them, not seeing our address, so she could check it out for transport links and the neighborhood, would have been a deal breaker. And rightly so. I would be suspicious of any HO who appeared to withhold this information. Definitely contact them by other means, in case they donât follow THS, but if you donât get the info you need straight away you are within your rights to cancel.
I honestly donât share my document right away, because I go through it to make sure that everything is current. Sometimes that takes me a few days depending on my workload. maybe you just need to be a little bit more patient and theyâre doing the same thing.
I wouldnât wait that long even if the agreement is to follow up in two weeks. Itâs not hard to just send the address. Yes, the THS guide template is cumbersome and may be off-putting. Hopefully you also have their email address and they can just upload their guide. In their defense, not all people are computer illiterate. They may not know how to upload the guide or email it to you. Not sure thatâs an excuse in this case. If you are uncomfortable, cancel the sit.
Your approach is completely understandable and reasonable. I just hope you are letting your confirmed sitters know that you are working on updating the WG and will send it by X date.
You have a workload, and that is understandable.
Sitters also have workloads, too.
Ignoring a request from the sitter is never the right thing to do.
I suppose there are anxious or disorganized sitters who are sending owners daily messages with multiple questions, and that would certainly be annoying, but that is probably very rare. In these cases, maybe making an appointment for a phone call to address all of their questions in one sitting would solve the problem.
True, some people are not good on the computer.
Some people donât even text very much (my 88 year old mother texts only minimally).
Most people are fine talking on the phone. These owners could always CALL the sitter and tell them why they have not sent the Welcome Guide.
In the âolden days,â we would make a copy of the WG and mail it to the sitter. This would also be fine.
Faxing is another option, but fairly antiquated at this point, and most people do not have fax machines anyway.
Before you conclude something is off, look at reviews from prior sitters. Sometimes people get busyâand it may be an oversight. But, if this is a first time for a sitterâ they may not understand why itâs important. We have had many housesit that we didnât get the Guide until we were to show up. The address is needed so you are able to make travel plans. I donât entertain house sits unless I can see the home. I want to know the condition of the house and surroundings. If the pictures of the house arenât available to youâI think this is more important than pictures of the petsâI move on and donât consider. I hope itâs just an oversight because it may be a hassle and worry to have to cancel.
I agree with the person who stated that if they agreed to be in touch two weekâs time before the sit, they may have moved on to managing other important parts of their lives and schedules. I personally have my phone set to a âminimalistâ mode which means most notifications are turned off and itâs up to me to check my apps, messages, etc. This has led to some frustration on otherâs part when I donât respond right away, but it helps me on a daily basis not be a slave to my phone. That being said, if I have a call scheduled or a sit listed and need to actively check for applications and messages before Iâve actually confirmed, I will! However, if I confirmed and scheduled a follow up date/ timeline, Iâd likely have it out of my mind.
I say all this to encourage some compassion and patience. If you have to book a flight or train or some other manner that certainly requires more details, yes, use other modes of communication to get a hold of them.
I also live by a motto- when you need to get a hold of someone, use all methods available to do so. Donât second guess about etiquette or being a pest. Just do what you need to do to get in touch with them. (If it can truly wait, youâll likely do so- but if itâs more urgent, itâs justified to call, write, show up, etc.)
Hope they get back to you soon and the sit goes well!
Any updates @dma ?
Hi @dma ! I have experienced a very similar situation, were the host was actively engaged with me leading up to the sit being confirmed. There was about a 3 month gap between when sit was confirmed and the actual start date of the sit. The HO and I agreed that the Welcome Guide would be updated and shared no later than 2 weeks before the sit started. Jump to 3 days before the start of the sit, and HO has been extremely unresponsive and I have no Welcome Guide or address. I message the HO about my concerns with going into a sit blind and their lack of communication (I too see that the HO is reading THS messages and texts), and express that if no Welcome Guide and address is provided by the end of the day, I would need to cancel. In hindsight this should have been perceived as a major red flag, sit cancelled, and end of story
However, because Iâm kind and professional and the Welcome Guide was provided before the end of the day (only giving me 2 days to review and ask questions), I continued with the sit.
This HO ended up being one of the WORST HOs Iâve ever encountered. The lack of communication was obvious upon arrival when I discovered that the WG wasnât very accurate or detailed and pet needed much more care, which was given to me verbally and explains why the WG and such details were held until the last minute, as a way to avoid a sitter not confirming or cancelling a sit. This sit had lead me to take an extended break from THS and when I return I will not hesitate to cancel a sit, if a Welcome Guide and address isnât provided in advance or I arrive to a sit a d feel mislead.
So, if 2 weeks before the sit starts and you are still waiting on a WG and address, I would recommend that you cancel the sit. Especially, since you are feeling concerned by the lack of communication. Make sure you send the cancel message via THS and text, so that you ensure the HO canât say they never received your cancel message.
Like others have said, the HO might be preoccupied or not checking THS messages, still that is not your concern. If the issue was reversed, many would tell the HO to cancel the sit and seek a sitter with better communication.
Wishing you all the best!
@Smiley It seems as though the 2 weeks âget in touchâ, might be for questions and to check in with the sitter, which also explains why the sitter is actively seeking the Welcome Guide and address, now. Nevertheless, there could still be a miscommunication that is being further miscommunication by the HO accessing THS by website or app to read the sitterâs messages, yet failing to respond with a simple âHi! As agreed I will have everything to you byâŚâ or just sending the requested information. This lack of communication is more of a put off, and could unnecessarily lead to the sitter cancelling.
Moreover, there was a sitter on this forum that failed to respond to a HO messages due to being busy/preoccupied leading up to the sit and upon arrival discovered that the HO had cancelled the sit due to their lack of communication and most comments agreed that too busy/preoccupied to communicate with your HO was unprofessional and warranted the sit being cancelled.
Most topics on this forum could be easily avoided with better communication between the HO and sitter.
As @Themavericksitter and others have said, Iâd consider it a red flag if the host doesnât share the WG promptly after confirming. I need it to prepare my travel but also to prepare for the sit, should there be info. in the WG not previously shared, but also to be able to ask follow-up questions on the pet care etc.
There has been to many stories about vital things not disclosed in listing or videocall that you find (traces of) in the WG. Incontinence of pet, reactive or aggressive or things about the home (sorry, no kitchen/ heating/ bathroom!) To ensure a good match, the right sitter etc. it is important to disclose these things and/ or have them sorted pre-sit.