Providing space for luggage is something that does get raised in the forum.
It’s a challenge that can be related to type of home. At the risk of generalising, European and city centre apartments can be space limited compared to (some) US and Australian homes.
Of course, the broader aim is that the needs of the sitters are considered in advance of their arrival, though no checklist can cover every scenario.
Also to add that @systaran’s suggestion of mentioning an empty drawer is valid.
Exactly! Doesn’t THS keep score on complaints? Or why does it roll out a feature that is so useless, but had so much potential? Once it is in place, it will not be updated or changed, so here we got clutter and missed on getting something useful.
Not sure this helps anything. Maybe new HO. But I think departure and arrival times (even estimated) should be included in the listing. For full time sitters, it helps us get ahead of timing for checking in to hotels and Airbnb’s between sits. I just had a homeowner who only told me at the last minute that they are coming back early in the morning, and most places you can’t check in until after 3pm. And twice now I’ve asked to stay a few hours after they come back and HO have given some excuse. Arrival and departures should be included in the listing, not just the welcome guide. And more and more I am finding that I has to keep asking for the welcome guide because they don’t automatically release it when the sit is confirmed, so I’m always finding out last minute when the HO are coming back. This needs to be a new feature.
This feature of Arrival/Departure times is now in the listing @Ams619 but some hosts choose to tick “To be agreed later” or this may also be the default for hosts who have not updated their listing.
There is nothing to stop you duscussing arrival and departure times in your application or in a video call, or at any other point during pre-sit communication. This is what most experienced sitters did before this was part of the listing.
Sometimes arrival and departure times may not be fixed until later in the process. Even when they are, this can be subject to change. We did a sit where the hosts return flight was changed by the airline to a day later than what they had originally booked. This change took place a few weeks before the sit. Fortunately we were able to accommodate this.
However much “scaffolding” THS puts in place, there is no substitute for good communication between host and sitter.
Every sit may a little different and there may be an uncontrollable situation which can pop-up e.g. the weather.
New features like the pre-sit checklist (and others) aim to support communication between members and not replace it.
Many forum members are experienced housesitters who may not directly benefit from all new features, but data tells us that there are a bunch of members who do… as I mentioned elsewhere, a rising tide lifts all boats.
I can also confirm that text will be added to the pre-sit checklist which will remind owners to disable interior camera’s. I don’t have a confirmed date just yet, but likely to be included over the next few weeks - I’ll share once I know more.
Thanks again to @Snowbird and everyone who has shared their feedback.
Ooh, if the camera text is added, it does restore a little bit of my trust towards THS. It does not solve the camera issue, but it shows interest towards the experience of the sitters.
