Has anyone else dealt with this? You confirm a sit, everything seems fine — and then you get the Welcome Guide, and suddenly there are red flags everywhere. Things like strict temperature control, limited use of listed amenities, or detailed micromanagement that you would never agree to.
The real issue is that THS doesn’t allow the Welcome Guide to be shared before confirmation. You can only access it once the sit is confirmed, which means you’re locked in before knowing the full picture. If something major comes up in the guide that would have been a deal-breaker upfront, you’re stuck unless the homeowner agrees to cancel.
Homeowners can cancel sits without issue — why shouldn’t sitters have the same option when the situation materially changes after confirmation? It’s simply not fair that sitters are held to a higher standard when key information is withheld until it’s too late to back out without consequences.
Why isn’t it possible to require a completed Welcome Guide before a listing goes live?
Why not introduce a cancelation window? Once a sitter confirms, the Welcome Guide becomes available automatically, and the sitter could have, say, 24 or 48 hours to review it and cancel if any deal-breakers appear. That way, both sides would have more clarity and fairness from the beginning. Wouldn’t this be a win-win for everyone involved?
Has anyone else faced this issue? How did you handle it? For me this is very stressful as I feel that I need to convince the HO to let me go. It annoys me a lot.
I think that is a great idea! I think a lot of sitters cancel because of what you said. Let the homeowner ask the sitter for the sit and if they agree the welcome manual should be sent out immediately and then sitter has 72 hours to decline, which is exactly what you said. Brilliant! Maybe the other sitters are not sent a decline letter till sitter confirms within 72 hours of having access to the manual. Homeowner can leave off their address and other personal info till sit is confirmed. Homeowner can then decline the other 4 and start over or pick another sitter from the four.
@Fatamorgana
It’s never too late to back out if some (previously undisclosed ) negative information comes to light which is a deal breaker.
Before doing anything - screenshot the listing as it stands now ( hosts can change it at anytime ) to prove that these things were not disclosed in the listing when you applied .
You can tell the host direct that you will not be going ahead with the sit because of xyz ( previously undisclosed information )
You may decide that you first want to inform member services to cover your back .You can contact them by e-mail or by calling the Urgent Support Phone Line which is a 24/7 phone number where you can speak to someone .
Only problem is time delay.. sometimes I’ve applied to several sits at once as I don’t mind which I secure as a sitter. First to decide on confirmation gets my acceptance. This delay of course works both ways but I don’t want hotel bills so I’d prefer to move quickly to clinch a deal.
Early sending of most of details except address is a great idea though. The more knowledge about the intricacies of the sit and expectatioms of the Home Owner can’t come soon enough in my opinion before I want to commit.
Thank you for the confirmation. I had actually suggested this before in another post, but since this is now the second time in a row that I’ve wanted to cancel after reading the Welcome Guide, I thought it deserved its own thread. Hopefully, this will catch THS’s attention and encourage them to reconsider how this process is handled.
“We received the WG, and from the numerous instructions about the care of the home, a blind man on a galloping horse could see it was going to be a challenging sit. But my partner thought, 'Can’t be that bad; the other sitters got through it.” Needless to say, everything was picked over. I was a bit naive & foolish because I thought my word is my bond and we’ve agreed to sit. I’m more informed now and would cancel a sit if I felt there were any red flags in the WG.
I’ve got 20 5 star sits now so yes I can pick and choose to some extent. I hadn’t realized I could back out for late info but I think that’s only fair. Home Owners and Sitters should be as up front as possible to encourage a sense of trust.
This isn’t Poker lol!
In my review I mentioned it was a late decision to sit after a last min cancellation. I also mentioned it was done with no Welcome GUide in place as Home Owner said it wasn’t something they realized was required.. I gave them the benefit of the doubt. After the sit I sent them the guide on what was required in a Welcome Guide.
In this way I hoped to protect future Sitters from this same reason of ignorance of need of a Welcome Guide being used repeatedly. I also hoped I was helping the Home Owners to provide the necessary info up front to improve their chances of a good fit with future sitters.
Successful sits are all about team work with Sitters and Home Owners doing their best for the House and pet care.
A cancellation window after receiving the welcome guide is a brilliant idea. I’m really thankful that the sits we’ve had, have been great so far. Our owners have been completely transparent. However if it did happen, I’d just be open and honest, and explain we weren’t a good fit for each other after all, that way they’ll go off you naturally anyway and want to cancel you as their sitters.
As a homeowner, I think this is a great idea. We are transparent with our sitters, so I know there’s nothing any different in the WG, than what we discussed. If it makes the sitters more comfortable, I’m all for it.
I’m wondering if you could convince them to cancel you?
“Having read your Welcome Guide, which includes ____ that had not been previously mentioned, I feel that I will not be able to tend to your pet to your satisfaction…”
You also have the issue of extra information you receive when you arrive at the sit that hasn’t been included in the WG. For example, “by the way, she’s prone to vomiting a few times a day, but don’t worry. And she may leave a little present in one of the rooms when she doesn’t want to use the litter”. Of course, I wouldn’t have accepted it but it’s too late.
I’ve had sits that along with the welcome guide they have additional information printed out at their house that is not in the profile or in the guide. That’s another problem I have encountered because you are already there. Then a discussion occurs before they leave if you meet them or by text. But getting the welcome manual first is great and taking a screen shot if you agree to the sit as I’ve had one PP say something was in her guide when it wasn’t. Then she said I meant to put it in there acknowledging it wasn’t there when I showed her the screenshot.
I think that’s a great idea. It would help to improve listings to avoid unnecessary cancellations and it would also improve the chances of making good matches.
Unfortunately, THS doesn’t seem to have any interest in implementing this type of measure.
I’ve posted this in these forums at least a few times on this topic and I will say it again. I think once the HO clicks confirm the welcome guide should be released to the sitter for review and then the sitter can either accept or decline based on full information.