What’s a reasonable communication frequency from a house sitter?

Owner Questions, Advice & Chat
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We just began a house site that is planned to last nearly two months. The first day was a bit rocky ,the sitter arrived late, and we did not have direct contact with them at all. We had to rely on a third party to hand over the keys and show them around, and they have not responded to our texts or calls since arriving. We only confirmed they were there by checking in with the person who did the handover.

Because this site is quite long, we are feeling a little uneasy about the lack of communication. We are wondering what is typical to expect from a sitter in terms of updates. Should we be hearing from them daily? How often is normal for pet or house sitting communication.

This is our first experience with a longer site,a shorter one we did years ago went smoothly so we did not really have to think about this before.

We don’t want to come across as nagging, but knowing what’s standard would help us feel more comfortable. Any advice or personal experiences would be appreciated.

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They definitely should respond to your texts. You never met them, they arrived late and now you can’t get a hold of them. This does not sound good and I would be concerned. I would call them and if it goes to voicemail leave a message. Ask them to return your call. If you don’t hear from them ask someone to knock on your door to check up on them. Have them tell them the PP has been trying to reach you. Are you receiving their messages?

When I sit I of course return promptly every text from the PP. Most PP ask for a photo every other day or few days. I send a photo or video with a note. If your friend never finds them at home to see why they are not corresponding with you, I would contact TH. I hope someone has a key to your home to check your pets.

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If it is a short sit, i try to send an update everyday. If it is longer, every other day or few days - whayever i have agreed to with the HO.

Yes, they should have responded to your messages by now. I would be a bit concerned. When you do get in touch with them, you need to agree on messaging frequency.

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I usually send a picture and short message every day. Perhaps a bit less on a long sit. Its quite worrying that they haven’t responded to your message and you haven’t even met them. If they continue to not respond, get THS involved.

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5

On a sit with no direct hand off, I would always send a message confirming I’ve arrived and met the critters. Is it possible that you or the sitter does not have dependable cellular coverage while traveling? They may be unaware that you have tried contacting them and may have attempted to send you updates that you haven’t received. Either way, as others have said, having someone stop by to make contact would be my next step.

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What’s the platform you’re using to communicate?
1.THS messages?
2. WhatsApp?
3. Other?
What was agreed between you regarding communications?
Personally I send a WhatsApp photo daily, the HO hearts it.

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The communication should be agreed on before the sit starts. Idealy it should be mentioned in the listing. I rarely travel for more than 2 weeks at a time. I have aging cats at least one of whom has a chronic condition. I ask for a “proof of life” text with a photo of at least one of them daily. I don’t require cute captions just a line like “Everyone ate today!” would be fine.

Some people are fine with less frequency. Longer sits like your a couple of times a week might be reasonable. Again, this all shoud be discussed in advance. I too would feel very uneasy if I hadn’t heard from my sitters at all. Is this a Trusted Housesitters sit? What was your communication like before the sit? Did you do a video?

I’ve found the app which is basically an email system, useless for communication. I always make sure the sitter has my phone number and my partner’s phone number and usually we use WhatsApp especially if we’re out of the country.

If you are trying to communicate with the sitters only through the app, they may not notice the messages. In your shoes, if you don’t hear from them soon, I would have whomever did the handover check in and let them know you are trying to reach them. Maybe give them your phone number if they don’t have it. Have a conversation and tell them what you would like. Alternatively, you could contact THS and let them know that you can’t reach your sitters and are concerned.

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It depends entirely on the prior agreement you made with them

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Speak up now and ask if they sitter can give an update each day.
I think their response will speak volumes on whether you should worry or not.
If they act like that’s too much I’d be looking for my plan B.

Our dogsitter we use when we leave for close to a month knows we like a daily update and has no issue providing that.

When I do sits I send a photo and short text every day. The length of sit makes no difference, that’s just how I like to provide updates. (I do THS sits and paid non-THS sits).

You may also ask the sitter what is their preferred way to communicate? Email, text, THS?

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Are the sitters experienced and well reviewed or are they quite new?

How do you communicate? Not everybody have notifications on THS and/ or check daily. Many use WhatsApp, it is also good to exchange phone numbers.

If you can’t reach them, contact Member services and explain the situation, they might have other forms of contacting them (phone for instance).

If nothing is agreed I send a message at arrival, daily texts for sits up to two weeks. For longer sits I would say daily the first week and then a couple of times a week-ish unless the host would like daily.

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If no in person handover then a photo immediately after arrival hopefully with pet. After that ever morning depending on the time zone our host is in.

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We are sitters , before the start of the sit we ask the host what their preferences are for updates .

Some have wanted daily and some don’t want to be disturbed with updates unless there is a problem .

We would always reply to a message that we received and even allowing for time differences that would be within 12-16 hours .

Are you using the same channel to communicate that you did before the sit started ?

Can you see that the messages have been delivered and read ?

I can understand your concerns especially as they were late and you didn’t get to do an in person handover. Did they provide an explanation to the third party of why they arrived later than arranged ?

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Sitter here - honestly, as the host, I think it’s fair of you to request the frequency you want and make that clear out of the gate. Like, on your listing and in the interview.

As a sitter, I assume daily or almost daily and typically that is right on the mark. Sometimes when people are overseas in very different time zones, it’s more like every other day, but in general I’ve never had a complaint.

But as a host, again, I think you get to set the standard you want and filter sitters through that. I am sorry you are having this issue with this current sitter. Perhaps, you can schedule another call/video chat to check in and formally request updates every other day or something like that. To make sure that you and them connect intentionally again now, and to make sure that they received the “memo.”

Sitters who don’t know how to communicate or send regular updates should not be sitters! Sorry this is happening to you!

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14

@moe313, like @Silversitters and @Garfield then we establish clear communication expectations at the start of a housesit. Pet parents have materially varying needs/preferences - from daily activities content to period “all ok” to no-communcation-is-good-news. There is no right answer.
WhatsApp seems far preferable to THS Messages.
Despite sit already active, suggest that you engage with housesitter (via support@trustedhousesitters.com if needed) to set clear expectations for remainder of the sit. The housesitter may currently be oblivious to your personal preferences.

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15

We’re sitters, and do longer sits too, longer sits are no different to shorter sits, because the frequency of updates is whatever is discussed between ourselves and the HO, it can be whatever you want.

More often than not, it’s 2-3 days, and sometimes once per week after the first week.

We’ve never arrived late, but the one thing we always do if we’re arriving without the owners being there, is to send a photo/video within an hour of arriving, and we send it with 1 clear intention, to show the HO’s that their pets are relaxed with us, so the HO’s can switch off and unwind.

Usually that photo is taken straight away before we’ve even taken our coats off, so the HO’s know we’ve arrived at the time we said we would, but it can take longer anxious pets.

If they don’t respond within a reasonable time, try ringing, or contact THS and ask them to contact them.

Also, if you’re messaging them via THS, don’t do that! THS is fine to send messages when you’re organising a sit, but not during because there’s a time delay with THS and they won’t be on the platform all the time, THS send us emails to say we’ve a message, but those emails are mixed up in million other THS emails.

Instead, we swap to using mobile numbers a couple of weeks before a sit starts, usually whatsapp, because then any images as well as updates can be sent in the same way, so all messages are kept together.

In theory, they haven’t done anything wrong if nothing was discussed, but I totally understand you being concerned.

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16

At the risk of sounding too dramatic, if I were in your shoes I would be freaking out! I’m a sitter and if I had arrived so late that I couldn’t meet the homeowner, I would have let you know immediately that I’d made it fine, the pet(s) are fine, and how nice your home is. The fact that you’ve been trying to reach them and haven’t gotten a reply is not okay! If you’re using the THS messaging system only, it goes “off” during nighttime UK time. But if you’re contacting them via their cell phone or email, as long as everyone has decent service they should be answering you. I would be worrying that the sitter had an emergency and thus are your pets ok? I would have that person who met them go back and check that all is well and certainly let them know you’re worried that you haven’t heard back from them. I hope the sitter comes through, and I’m sorry you’re facing this stress!

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I’d ask the person who handed over the keys to call round.
I wonder if this is an international sit and maybe their phone isn’t working properly? We once arranged international cover for a 6 week trip to Canada and then found our phones wouldn’t work and we couldn’t contact our provider either as the phones weren’t working internationally! We reverted to emails as WiFi was available. (we were compensated once we came home but it didn’t make up for the stress!)

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For a two month sit, I would be nudging the home hosts to accept updates twice weekly.
If they wanted more my heart would sink.
There are only so many cute pet pics one can take!

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19

We always ask. But even on longer sits we typically communicate every 2 days at the least. Usually daily..often just an ‘all good here. Hope all is well with you,’ once weve established were settled in the home and the pets have connected with us and behaving as expected.

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What’s the latest on your situation @moe313 as you’ve received plenty of advice from members who will be keen to know what is happening?

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