I applied for a sit today and I noticed the listing contained a new section named Home tasks. I’ve never seen this before and it is not available on the mobile app, just on the desktop. For this particular sit I am glad I applied on my laptop because I’ve would have missed some important information about the cleaners coming fortnightly and a gardener coming weekly. I did not see this being announced or did I miss it?
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@Mark_B had mentioned generally that there would be such updates, as I recall. Maybe they’re being phased in.
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I really hate the discrepancy between the app and the website. I never use the website so if I missed stuff because of that I would not be happy. Surely it’s not that hard to have both platforms identical. @Mark_B
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I do see it now on more of newest listings, but the instructions must not be very clear because some homeowners repeat the same pet care instructions that they just filled above in the section responsibilities. My potential homeowners did a good job. The Home Tasks section includes - trash schedule, mail pickup, cleaners and gardeners’ schedule and indoor plant care.
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The most recent app update was fairly light touch; making some sections mandatory, creating a dedicated household tasks section and ensuring that all the Pet related sections were grouped together.
Platform development is continuous and over the coming weeks/months we will add elements that forum members have asked for and address challenges which research/data has highlighted.
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I’m an HO, and I haven’t seen any updates about this from THS. I just checked my listing, and this is the prompt I got to fill in the Home Tasks section:
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Thanks for sharing @CatsAndDog it’s great to see what this section looks on the homeowners side.
One listing just put None! and totally missed the opportunity to list their rubbish schedule, mail pickup, plant care etc. Others copy/pasted the pet care instructions. 
you are the first to mention it and I’ve not seen it myself as I mainly use the App . Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
I always use the App and so if it wasn’t for the forum I would be unaware of all the new sections .
This disparity will cause problems for sitters that use the App as they won’t have full information and won’t know that they don’t know !
Sitter ( who uses only the App) will say it’s not in the listing that the cleaner comes every day for 5 hours , I wouldn’t have accepted this sit if I’d know that - Hosts will say I disclosed in the listing - both will be correct - resulting in a problem sit for both members - all part of the new smooth process!!
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Perhaps this is a listing from before the new section was added ?!
This is a brand new listing from an hour ago. The homeowners just typed in “None!”
The Home Task section is missing for all older listings.
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I actually just checked my owner listing which I no longer use. The last time I had sitters was 2020. Admittedly, no pets to care for BUT my house and garden responsibilities have automatically been transferred to the Home Tasks section! So, if an owner doesn’t include any house responsibilities, maybe None is automatically generated under Home Tasks.
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We’ll see. The cheque is in the post springs to mind. Yes, I’m skeptical.
@Mark_B When will the app be consistent with the website?
There is another thread on the forum citing a different issue that is exacerbated by the web-app discrepancy, which is a very real problem.
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Yet another unnecessary tweak, adding yet more visual clutter. We’re adults, y’know ; HOs will let us know if there’s an important household task that needs doing (every HO I’ve sat for has just put stuff like the bin drill in the general household info section of the WG). If there’s one they don’t mention, we can ask.
Off-topic, but I’d really like to know how those of you who only use the app manage to write applications. It would take me hours to compose the sort of introduction I normally send, on an iddy-biddy phone screen..
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This will be another reason why I’ll continue to use the website rather than the app, which I have never got on with! Thank you for bringing this to our attention
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Having just edited my listing, I think it cleans up what was an awkward “Responsibilities” section. But… see my general reply below.
Thank you for letting us know @BunnyCat I have just accepted an invitation and hadn’t seen that at all!
I use both the App and the desktop, but I prefer having a good look from the big screen before going with the final commitment.
In the case of this specific sitting, I don’t see this “Home tasks”. Perhaps it is something that HOs might or might not fill in?
Differently from the previous posts I can see that under Responsibilities there is a list while before there was some text.
On the App I can see Arrival and Departure where possible instructions are written below.
Nothing else to report unless I am missing something?
The new Home Tasks and the old Responsibilities moved under the Pets section will clean up the always awkward old Responsibilities section IF hosts cleanup their listing. I just finished that task. The result is a slightly more coherent presentation of host expectations. Thats the good news.
The bad news? Let’s see.
The new Home Tasks is currently only on the website listing. There is no change I saw on the app.
The website verbiage from my old Responsibilities section has been moved by THS to the Pets Responsibilities section. That work was automated so the result is less than optimal. The Pet section looks a mess until cleaned up.
After splitting Responsibilities into the new Pet Responsibilities and Home Tasks sections on my website listing, I see that those changes do NOT appear in any form on the app listing. This means that hosts currently must maintain separate versions of their listing? Surely that will not continue indefinitely @Mark_B ? I am very wary about the unintended consequence of this change in terms of how changes to the website responsibilities/tasks merge with parallel changes done using the app. I suspect at least a minor train wreck ahead and recommend that all hosts maintain offline copies of the now 3 different sections for future post train wreck reference.
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@Mark_B Seems to me that a mandatory field in Amenities should have been set for the bed requirements, long before these most recent changes. Also, futon (different to sofa bed) should be included as that’s a no for some sitters.
The bed size doesn’t bother me as I travel solo but for many it’s a dealbreaker. I’m guessing making that a mandatory field is an easy fix. It would also alert those who have minimal information in their Amenities to update those sections that didn’t exist when they first joined.
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@Mark_B I now see how things likely converge down the road.
After I edited my website listing, I went to edit the app listing and found the new sections only. The contents of the new sections matches on both website and app while editing. When previewing my listing to see what sitters would see, the website listing is the new format while the app listing is the format and wording as yesterday.
So maybe no train wreck but a lot of folks are going to be seriously confused for awhile.
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