Hi,
In my experience, most listings and welcome guides need some minor (or not so minor) updates. I understand that some owners list their place once or twice a year and it may be easy to forget that what they wrote is no longer accurate. But the frequency of this outdated information made me wonder if HOs get prompts every time they publish a listing.
So, HOs, will you please share what prompts you get during the whole process?
Thanks.
I’d love to know this too! When I was writing that post that was turned into a blog, I did some research and somehow found the prompts that HO’s are given when writing their listing. I can’t remember how or where I found it, but it was definitely helpful for the blog. I do remember though that the prompts were very basic, a bit vague and don’t prompt the key relevant info sitters are actually looking for 
For example, for the introduction it prompts HO’s to describe their hobbies & interests and why they need a sitter. I get the incentive behind it; to try and form a connection with the sitter. But it would be more helpful to know why a sitter should sit for them rather than that the HO enjoys chess and are going on cruise 
But I think they only get those prompts when they first create the listing, not sure if they are reminded to update it, to update the guide, to disclose comeras, etc.
I update my listing regularly, but I couldn’t remember any prompts when posting a new sit so I tested it. I was able to enter dates and the next step was Confirm, no prompts before that. I didn’t press the button but I suspect there were no prompts after either.
When confirming the sitter we get this:
One week prior to the sit we get this:
Five days prior to the sit we get this:
Finally three days before the sit we get this:
Thanks very much for the information. It seems there’s no encouragement for updates.
Thanks for updating your listing regularly, too. Sometimes you see listings for Christmas ten months later. Number of pets different, even different house or location. I even saw one for a different country. They must have moved and forgot to update the listing.
Well, this is really useful. Thanks very much.
You get quite a lot of advice but I’m afraid the updates are mentioned a bit too late, just 5 days before the sit starts.
I don’t know how you, HOs, feel about this. Participating in this forum, you probably don’t need these reminders but I think some examples of possible updates would probably be helpful, more helpful IMHO than the “top to toe sprucing up” 
As a HO I think it’s only logical to update the listing AT LEAST before posting new sit dates. In our mind it’s automatic to make sure that what we advertise is as accurate as can be. The same goes for our version of the Welcome Guide that we change every time our context changes, whether it is the pets, the apartment or any other info included. For instance I don’t know how many times we’ve changed the description of food and treats in our Welcome Guide because the cats decide they don’t like something anymore. 
I guess that being people used to updating documentation in our line of work it becomes second nature in life. I’m also personally very organized and I do things way before anything is due, especially when planning trips. We have two planned well into 2025 and I’m already looking at possibilities for our first 2026 trip. Everything confirmed is written in our travel app. I’m the planner in our couple. 
Yes, that’s right - these are the listing writing prompts only. I have no idea what updates a HO gets sent.
I also don’t know that those prompts have ever been updated; they don’t reflect the key info sitters want to know that perhaps wasn’t as relevant when THS first started out. These days there’s so much choice & competition between sits in the UK & US, and if the listing isn’t as attractive & detailed or has demands & expectations that are too high, many sitters will just skip it, unless it’s in a highly sort after location. It would really help them to prompt HO’s to describe the room a sitter will stay in, the bed, how close they are to public transport, if a car is available, the local area, and much more detail in the responsibilities section.
I’ve sat various cats and what I notice is that in various instances, hosts don’t necessarily need to update their welcome guides to reflect food and treats. Why not: They put whatever food and treats are in favor at a given time on certain shelves and rotate out those out of favor.
For instance, one set of hosts had a variety of wet cat food on lower shelves of their pantry, which I could just ignore. They’d directed me to whatever brand or flavors that were in favor (along with treats), conveniently on shelves at eye level.
At some other homes, they had separate containers or jars of dried food that were labeled for each cat, depending on their diet. I just made sure to give them the right one and not let one cat eat the other’s food.
I had completely forgotten about this thread and I have ticked a solution now. What remains unsolved is a revision and update of reminders. I am going to mention it again in the thread about Features you would like to see… I think the reminder about cameras is very important. There are lots of people who don’t know or don’t remember the rules.
I usually read all relevant information thoroughly and I don’t remember reading about it when I signed up. I may have read about sitters responsibilities and may have skipped the “only applies to owners” part.
Thanks everyone for your contributions, especially @gchampagne for the solution.
