Is it universally understood (at least by TH sitters) that the “emergency contact” is the person to call when the sitter needs to leave? Do sitters assume that the EC will drop everything and come to the house to take over, even if temporarily? In the Welcome Guide, the section about emergency contacts doesn’t elaborate on what the EC is for. In my WG I’ve listed half a dozen people and indicate how far away they live from us, what their relationship to us is, what skills they have and what languages they speak. I told each one that they were one of our emergency contacts but not that they would need to come over and stay with our pets if the sitter had to bail for any reason. I was quite surprised to read comments in the forum like, “You should call the emergency contact and leave.” If something dire happens I would expect the sitter to contact me first, not the emergency contact. Does THS tell sitters that the EC is for when XYZ happens? I wish THS spelled out for us HOs the role of the emergency contact so we knew whom to choose.
THS doesn’t define that and there’s no standard definition. In the place of a host, I’d make sure someone would cover for the sitter in case of an emergency or would take the pets to a kennel if needed, if they couldn’t cover.
Why leave this to THS to determine? Why not consider what you optimally want for your pet(s) in case of an emergency? Anything could happen. Like what if your sitter(s) were injured in a car wreck or hit by a car?
It has happened once that I tried to reach an emergency contact. That was when I had locked myself out 
That was the neighbour, they had a key, but they were not at home (also on vacation). Then I contacted with embarassment the HO. And I got in via the next-door neighbours, over the roof 
I am a sitter and I would contact the emergency contact, only if hosts were uncontactable . This has not been necessary in 25 sits so far but I always insist on having an emergency contact.( I also ask for an emergency contact for paid drop in visits that I do privately)
For THS sits I expect hosts to have a Plan B in place if there was an emergency that meant I could not continue with the sit . ( A few examples of when this might be needed - If I had a Serious Accident or illness, hospital admission , bereavement of close family member , which meant that 8 could no longer take care of the pets ; prolonged ( several days ) loss of utilities due to power cuts ,severe weather , or natural disasters causing damage to property that makes it unliveable )
If an emergency happened that meant I had to leave the sit , I would first contact the host for them to advise me who was their back up plan to take over care of the home and or pets .
So far, I have not had any reason to leave a sit early .
However two hosts have had emergencies which resulted in them returning home early and curtailing the sit.
First, because the host contracted a serious illness which meant that they had to curtail their cruise and return home for treatment . Second the host had a serious accident , resulting in broken bones and concussion which meant they had to curtail their trip and return home early .
I had a Plan B so although it was stressful I was able to adapt to these curtailed trips .
Both hosts and sitters should have a back up plan they can implement if an emergency happens.
If I arrived to a sit where the host had been dishonest or deliberately concealed important information about the responsibilities of the sit or the living conditions I would advise the host that I was leaving and expect them to implement their back up plan for taking care of pets and home.
THS could provide a prompt in the EC field, like “Name a person who has agreed to stay with your pets temporarily if the sitter has to leave and can’t reach you. Name a friend or neighbor who has an extra key.” Etc. I eventually did that after the second sitter. I just didn’t think of telling any of our contacts that they might have to come and stay.
Yes, they could, but given how slow and gappy they are, it’s unlikely.
My current and previous hosts have designated in their welcome guides. Like they’ll write that X has emergency keys or knows the pets well, has sat them before, etc.
An emergency contact could be chosen for a variety of roles depending on the situation, host , the home and the pets .
They could be the person who will take the pet to the vet in their car if there is an emergency. Or the nominated person who will pay the vet bill if your pet has to have emergency treatment and you are not able to pay the bill from abroad .
It could be someone who knows how the home’s plumbing system , alarm or generator works in case of an emergency with the home’s utilities .
It could be a relative who can make decisions on your behalf if you as host are uncontactable.
It could be someone familiar with the pets .
It could be the neighbour who can be called on and is prepared to bury the elderly pet if they die during the sit.
It could be the neighbour who will come with waders and a boat and help you and the pets leave the property safely when the river at the bottom of the garden bursts its banks.
It will be unique to each sit.
In all my sits (90+) I’ve only contacted an EC twice -
- when the HOs were unreachable and the dog was ill. The EC was sympathetic, but not at all helpful.
- the other was March 2020 as the world was closing down with covid. The HOs were stranded in South America. I actually got a call from the HOs’ daughter and son who were local, letting me know that I could leave early and that one of them could come home and take care of the day critters. I took them up on the offer and left a few days early.
- As to leaving a sit early, I wouldn’t expect the EC to step in unless maybe s/he was a relative.
We’re sitters, completed 30+ sits, and we’ve never had a a reason to reach out to an emergency contact, because the HO’s have always been contactable, however, if there ‘was’ an emergency and we couldn’t get a hold of the HO’s, then obviously we would reach out to the emergency contact.
We also don’t assume the emergency contact will drop everything instantly, we just assume the HO has a back up plan in the unlikely event that we need leave, and we’d try to work with them to find a solution, but we’ve never had to leave anywhere before. That’s the beauty of there being two of us, so even if one of us is ill, the other takes care of the pets.
I don’t think it’s “universally” understood. The emergency contact is not the plan B, nor are homeowners required to have a sitter who could just step in immediately if the sitter in the home leaves. When we have sitters in our home we’re generally available by whatsapp or text 24/7. The only time we might not be available is if we’re on a plane or something. So if a sitter had an issue and was thinking of leaving they’d need to call us. We would then make some calls even on “Vaction” or at an event, or whatever and find another solution. The “emergency contact” to me is a person the sitter would call if they hadn’t heard from us in a couple of days or couldn’t reach us in an emergency.
Edited to add: I also sit. It never occurred to me that “emergency contact” meant the person I would call if I decided to up and leave.
I regard an EC as someone I can reach out to in an emergency if I cannot get in contact with host, for some reason. That would be my default assumption on the role of the EC. But I would try to get in touch with the host first if nothing else was agreed.
If one has agreed something on the EC or emergencies that is ofc so many different scenarios one can agree on.
No point having an emergency contact who’s on holiday
We had this once on a repeat sit - they had kept the emergency contact details the same as for previous sits but forgot to mention that the EC would be on holiday for two of the 8 weeks of the sit !
We also had a situation where the EC (the host’s sister ) had an accident whilst walking her own dog and broke her collarbone… so she wouldn’t have been able to take care of the hosts’s dog if needed ( which had been the original back up plan for an emergency)
Fortunately in both occasions there was no need to call on the EC.
I feel that the emergency contacts are one of the most important aspects of the home guide. Especially when I am traveling internationally, I want my sitter to be able to reach one of my friends or family nearby at all hours of the night if they are locked out, need personal assistance or anything urgent occurs with my pets. I expect my sitters to always call me first, but it’s great for them to have back-ups in case I am unreachable on my more remote trips where I don’t always have cell service. Best to list as many people as possible in the order that they should be contacted.
Our New Year housesit realised just before the sit started that both the neighbours who were emergency contacts and had spare keys would be away at the same time as them. Not a problem as they dropped off a spare key with another friend in the village and added him their list of emergency contact phone numbers. We also had one of the hosts parents as an emergency contact as usual, although they live around 40 minutes away. #coverallbases
We’ve only ever had to contact an EC once.
We were on a sit in rural Spain when one of the dogs escaped the enclosed compound- the HO mentioned this had happened once or twice before but she always wandered back eventually. This happened 3 times during our month long sit and the first time I was alone as my husband was out shopping. Later we figured the dog must have thought we’d both gone and she wanted to follow! The other dog alerted me by her whining. After a while of waiting for her to return & getting increasingly worried I called the EC as the hosts were in Africa on safari and uncontactable. He lived 5 miles away and was ready to come over and help us search. And then the dog suddenly appeared- looking all innocent! Phew! We never did find her escape route! But the next time I did not panic as much!
Anyway the following year we applied for another sit in Spain in the same region. During the video call we discovered they were the emergancy contacts I’d called on in the previous sit!!
Its a small world! 