Your help needed to improve the Welcome Guide

There is a section called “Heating, Water & Electricity” but no prompts to provide energy-management tips. I never thought of that. It’s a great idea if electricity rates vary like in your example.

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@Lassie Here’s an example of where I live, and you’ll see there’s a significant difference between off-peak and on-peak rates. Hence the reason most people set their dishwashers to run in the evening, and do their laundry on the weekend. There is a summer version too, but I can’t remember the difference. We can elect to have a flat rate, which works better for me now that I don’t go out to work every day.

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Interesting. Ours doesn’t have any peak rate difference although I’ve heard some talk about maybe starting it. I do laundry and run the dishwasher any time I think of it. But if I was aware, I could easily change my routine.

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We have a significant difference in France as well … I always set the dishwasher (when I occasionally use it) to run overnight, and in the home where we pay for our electric and have the electric car we charge that overnight too, makes a huge difference. But right now I’m very pleased Ian invested in a solar system which we run at our renovation project !! He had great foresight there I have to admit (or as he keeps reminding me :rofl: ) It charges a freezer, our electric bikes and more :slight_smile: Every little helps these days so I’m all for your suggestion!!

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Hi everyone! Have you all gotten any questions from your sitters that you did not even think to put in your home guide but seemed important in retrospect?

I want to make sure that I am including all necessary information in my guide that will include potentially important info that I did not think to include since I know that people will be coming to sit from me from all parts of the world!

Of course, I will also be very accessible to my sitter but I want them to feel prepared.

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Hello Arjuna, we are HOs and sitters. So in regards to the Welcome Guide, here are key things that, for the welfare of the pets, MUST be done or included.

  1. Send the Guide as soon as a sit is confirmed. That way, if the sit appears different than what was discussed in the video interview, a sitter can cancel right away.

  2. Always include local emergency contacts. If the HOs can’t return on the agreed-upon date and the sitters cannot stay beyond that date, then someone has to step in to take care of the pets.

  3. List the good and the bad about your pets so sitters can be prepared.

  4. Always include address of the sit.

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Are confirmed sits visible to HOs when they check sitter profile? It would help new sitters who have now/few reviews to secure more sits. Some HOs reject new sitters because it looks like they are inexperienced.
Add prompts to each section as a guide for information to provide. i.e bus/train numbers to get to sit.
Walkability rating 1 -5, are there sidewalks, parks/green space to walk or hike,
Accessible by public transportation or not

I wouldn’t know any numbers, because I never use public transport. Sitters who regularly get around without a car are a thousand times more experienced to find out about this than I am.
With receiving the address this really should be doable by the sitters themselves.

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We are in a time where just about anyone can find and figure out independently how to plan a route. The internet is an unlimited tool. It will show driving, bus, train and walking options.

With Google Earth I have been able to “walk and see” many routes and what a neighborhood looks like from halfway around the world.

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As some of the sits and sitters are international I’m surprised there isn’t a section (maybe provided by THS) listing general emergency numbers and which services they provide, as this is not the sort of thing foreign visitors will always know. Here is the UK it is 999, for Police, Fire or Ambulance, but will, I think, connect you to the Lifeboat and Mountain Rescue as well. Also worth a mention is 111 for non urgent medical advise and treatment.

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Emergency Vet info…I found myself entering this information twice, once under Emergency Contacts, and also under the Vets details as it wasn’t clear where this information should be.

A lot of home owners put it in the Welcome Guide I think.

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Those are just suggestions not required. If you don’t know, then perhaps links, websites,… These are improvements to make the platform more user friendly.
Eva

No, I don’t agree. By giving a location I expect that the sitters are capable of researching themselves how to get there. You know, there’s also a lot of work on the HO’s side to do in order to make the house most welcoming for the sitters. I actually have a to-do-list months ahead of our time away and I do not have to provide everything.
In case the sitter(s) arrive by train or plane we even pick them up. So I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect some homework from them as well.

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Travelers today have all the relevant information they need at their fingertips (Google) and there are forums like ours where if you ask the question you are sure to get helpful answers.

Only truly bespoke and very costly tour companies will provide extra services and information when requested, but even then there are many aspects which remain the individuals responsibility whether traveling 100 or 1,000 miles.

Sometimes it’s difficult for an owner to envisage just what is in their home area that sitters would like or need as they are so familiar with everything that they overlook to mention what might be of interest (or not) to the sitter. "Familiarity and all of that …

I had sitters for 3 months who when I arrived back raved about the waterfalls close to my home, I lived east of Vancouver, Canada “Waterfalls, ah yes so you drove out to Bridal Falls on Hwy 1?” “No these are in the Provincial Park 15 min drive away” I had no idea.

Owners responsibility is to provide the necessary and relevant information on pets and homes so that sitters are prepared and knowledgable enough to manage the sit to the needs of the pets and the needs and expectations of themselves and the owners, many owners do go above and beyond to provide local information and other extras.

I arrived at my latest sit yesterday and have all sorts of “additional” help, information and surprises from my hosts, they simply cannot do enough for me and this is my 5th time with them. I have to say that over the years this has been my overriding experience of owner care and hospitality.

And here’s Angela’s Mini Bar courtesy of my delightful hosts, pet Mom & Dad and THS friends … … not sure who would be sitting who though after two bottles of Hendricks :rofl:

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I am a HO and sitter. As a HO, I really dislike the Welcome Guide format for many reasons:

  1. The formatting that I use when entering info online doesn’t transfer to the the printed version. Text is run-on without paragraphs, making it harder to read.

  2. I wish I could cut and paste the entire Welcome Guide into a Word document, so I could organize the document as it makes sense to me. I can cut and paste from the pdf, but that requires lots of reformatting.

  3. The sections for local recommendations are clunky to use. I don’t want to have to create a new entry for each restaurant, grocery store, etc.

Given my dislike of the format, I will be creating my own document that I can share with sitters. I’ve had a few HOs do this when I have sat for them. I definitely want it to be searchable, so that sitters can find information by key word easily.

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I always had a sitter Welcome Guide I did myself because I felt it was so easy to read. I started with all pertinent info such as our name, address, phone numbers, etc., followed by emergency numbers, including vet and vet hospital. Then followed up with needs for our pup (when to feed, what to feed, etc.), then info about our surroundings with directions to grocery stores, restaurants, attractions, etc. We also always left a small welcome basket with things to get started, such as a bottle of wine, bottled water, tv snacks (popcorn, candy bars, etc), and easy breakfast snacks for the next morning. This gave them the opportunity to settle in without having to run out to the store right away. They could relax, cuddle with our baby and get to know the house much easier.

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I tried to fill out the welcome guide, but like you, I gave up.
I created my own file as a Pages Document for myself to edit each time anything changes, and which I send as a PDF to the sitters.

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Many owners have told me they don’t like the Welcome Guide and write their own, However, it’s helpful to use the Welcome Guide as a guide to include all the information, and any more you might think of, requested.

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That’s right :+1:t3: