New Features for Smoother Sits

Product Updates
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Hi everyone

We’re introducing two updates over the next couple of months designed to make every sit feel smoother from the moment you prepare, to the moment you say goodbye.

Today we’ve launched a new feature for Pet Parents, which is designed to help sits start smoothly, our essential pre-sit checklist.

Preparing for a trip often means juggling a lot of moving parts. This guide brings the key pre-sit steps into one clear place, helping owners feel organised and helping sitters arrive with confidence.

What’s changing?

3 weeks before a confirmed sit, owners will now see a simple checklist on their dashboard highlighting the essentials for a successful start.

The guide includes reminders to:

  • Confirm arrival & departure times
  • Share the welcome guide
  • Prepare your home thoughtfully
  • Make space for your sitter
  • Organise pet supplies and routines

It’s not about adding extra tasks, it’s about making the important ones visible.

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Why are we introducing this?

Great sits have always relied on thoughtful preparation.

Experienced members already do these things instinctively. For newer members, knowing what’s expected can feel less obvious especially before a first sit.

The essential pre-sit checklist makes those shared standards clearer and easier to follow, so:

  • Sitters arrive knowing what to expect
  • Owners leave feeling organised and confident
  • Small misunderstandings are avoided before they happen

It supports a smoother experience for both sides.

Who will see this?

All Pet Parents will see the essential pre-sit checklist on app and web up to three weeks before a confirmed sit begins.

For last-minute bookings, the guide will appear as soon as the sit is confirmed, so you still have visibility of the essentials.

What’s next?

In the coming weeks, we’ll also be introducing check out tips for sitters, a similar checklist to support thoughtful departures and help ensure homes are left just as carefully as they were received.

Because great sits don’t just start well, they finish well too.

We’ll also be sharing more about this in February’s Trusted Times newsletter and there’s this blog with more information.

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How to make life easier for sitters
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Dashboard? Once the sit is confirmed, not many hosts (or sitters, for that matter) ever check their dashboard. I only check mine when I get a notification from THS about an incoming message

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This is as stupid as the notification I get “remember to let the pet parents know how your sit is going” or whatever. These notification prompts to contact the HO. Such micromanaging in such a wrong place.

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@Mark_B Based on your post and the blog linked to it, I’m disappointed to see that there’s no prompt to make sure and confirm any interior monitoring devices (camera & audio) are disabled. Interior cameras have been brought up multiple times on the forum. It looks like it’s a missed opportunity to address it.

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Well spotted.

I would also love to see that owners are encouraged to share vet details and arrangements for payment.

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Sorry Mark that you get the litter box emptied on you when you are just the messenger. Cant be easy to hear all the negativity. Remember that it is not directed at you, but at the company. I know you have to write “we” even though you had no prover in the updates.

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Sadly I cringe when I see yet more New Features for Smoother Sits, considering the new ones already introduced in the last month have not made it smoother at all.
More cosmetic changes instead of ones we have been asking/begging for, being those that @Snowbird and @Newpetlover have raised.
A smoother experience was what we had rammed down our throats to justify the unwelcome introduction of booking fees yet it’s been far rockier instead. Once again, THS is just doing what it normally does: ignoring what members really need and keep asking for.

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Hi @august

Good news!

2 weeks prior to the sit start date, a notification will be sent drawing attention to the pre-sit checklist.

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Hi @Snowbird

Thanks for sharing and good suggestion.

I’ve highlighted this post as an opportunity to consider when iterating the checklist. :+1:

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I know these emails might be important for new members, but they annoy me every time.

I don’t even read any pre-sit-suggestions, I delete them right away.

I have been a member for years and we had at least 20 sitters staying in our house, some from other sites or privately arranged and by now I know what most sitters like. I don’t need several reminders each time a sit is coming up :roll_eyes::roll_eyes::roll_eyes:

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Ugh, more ‘improvements.’ While it’s good to send a reminder checklist, that list should include the most important things. There should be a reminder about cameras and other recording/monitoring devices and a reminder about third parties. Of course, a reminder about providing vet information and an emergency contact.

The fridge is mentioned twice, I would leave the first that says clean the fridge and add to make space in the fridge and freezer for the sitter. Also, I don’t think the ‘provide a spot for luggage’ is necessary, how about provide an empty drawer.

Also, reminding them to share the welcome guide three weeks out is way too late. They should share the welcome guide as soon as the sit is confirmed.

It would be great if THS implemented feedback from actual sitters about what would improve the experience.

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@Mark_B, we support @Snowbird and @Newpetlover ideas re compliance re Cameras & Recording Devices policy (ideally with clear definition language) and vet details. We’d also encourage bumping Welcome Guide completion to earlier in process (shortly after sit confirmation). Finally, feel free to add an extra reminder “Select a commensurate gift for your housesitter” :innocent:

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I really really dont want the gifts to be recommended! THS is money free exchange. In my opinion that includes pressure to spend money for the other party. You may, and I will appreciate! But if you are prompted to, please do not. They I rather take the cash, as there is no way you will manage to buy something I will like more than what I would buy myself, and now I feel pressured to get you a gift. Let’s not waste money! Lets not waste resources! Lets not waste time and energy!

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I think the mention of a gift was a joke. That’s how I read it anyway.

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And yet we read regular posts on this forum about hosts who have no clue because they’re new. Those hosts need all the help they can get. The checklists are maybe not for you, an experienced host, and even if all 20 of your sits were arranged on THS and you had to deal with the “burden” of discarding 20 reminders over the years, that seems a pretty small cost for value received.

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At the risk of being pilloried by the cynics, nice work trying to address issues that are constantly raised on this forum.

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Oh, I am aware and that’s why I said it’s important for new members to get a checklist about what to do before the sitter arrives. I just said these emails annoy me, because for me they aren’t necessary.

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@Mark_B did the listing’s address issue get resolved? After a confirmed sit often the listing’s address was not available and if the homeowner declined to create a welcome guide, often times I had to ask a few times for the address. Homeowners believe THS automatically provide the address to the confirmed sitter. Is that true for all listings?

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I have to wonder who needs to be reminded to provide space for luggage. :thinking: If the house is that full of “stuff” I would hope that would’ve shown up in the listing photos! :laughing: And how much baggage are sitters bringing??

…After another moment’s thought, now I feel called out as a sitter, because if I’m driving to a sit I’ve got my bag, my camera bag, maybe my tripod, a cooler full of food … :rofl:

Srsly tho… As others commented, i can imagine HOs not paying too much attention to something 2 or 3 weeks out that says “Your sitter is arriving soon!” And agree about checklists needing to mention cameras. And the third party thing should be made more obvious somewhere further up the line when they actually create a listing.

What percentage of the booking fees is involved in this smoothification? :thinking:

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Agreed, the pre-sit checklist may be most useful to newer members but it can also serve as a useful reminder that may mitigate some of the edge cases that we see described in the forum.

A rising tide lifts all boats.

Thanks! :raising_hands:

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