Next week we will mark 1 year of non-stop Sitting! Never would we have anticipated how life altering and incredible experiences these past 12 months & 22 sits could have been.
Along the way Jodi and I have made so many new friends and cared for great pets! Traveled the world and we are already booked through mid July with a few returns and booked time in Europe of September.
Reflecting back a major THS Process update we would like to see revolves around Confirming Dates. I know some times travel plans may still be in flux but if you are committing to dates - people should stick to them. We have had two HO’s slide dates- we were fine but it felt like we had no other choice. Loved the home and pets - not a big deal but defining will reduce these instances.
I truly believe that when you are offered the sit it must include the Home Owners departure date / time, return time.
Next simple 3 box field detailing the expectations on start expectations.
Stay over night for meet and greet with orientation / handoff.
Meet ahead and not stay
Virtual meeting and walk through and arrive cold (won’t do this ourselves but others may)
Since we book back to back most of the time we need clarity on transition / travel time and I believe defining the itinerary up front helps everyone.
@JoYa I agree. Advance notice (on the listing) of departure/arrival details would be super helpful. Would save unnecessarily applying then later finding out timings and/or handover details don’t work etc
This has been discussed a lot on the forum. I would say don’t accept the sit until the owner has their dates confirmed. It’s common sense to have a conversation about exact arrival time, handover and whether you can stay the night before if the owners are leaving early and/or if they’re returning late.
Agree that what you suggest would cut out unnecessary applications. I wonder, though, whether a decision was made to limit the number of steps in creating a listing, because usually the more steps there are, the more users will end up frustrated. And THS prioritizes hosts over sitters — its rationale is that without hosts, there wouldn’t be sits.
Plus, most sitters aren’t full time. Like because I sit part time, it doesn’t matter if I apply and it turns out that I need to show up one day early — I don’t stack sits. And that’s the case with most sitters.
More steps may be an issue- but they already have the calendar integrated into the system. Just add a couple of drop down fields on the orientation expectations and that will go a long way. If you are part time and if you travel to a sit its always best know before you commit based on everyone’s schedule.
Personally, I always discuss at the outset what the host’s travel dates will be and what our overlap will be — that seems like a no-brainer. But as a part-time sitter who doesn’t stack sits, I have loads of flexibility scheduling wise. It doesn’t matter if I apply and then find out the sit date needs adjusting to cover a handoff a day or two ahead, for instance. I don’t buy airfare till that’s settled.
The reason why I mentioned such: This isn’t a problem for many sitters. That’s because many folks just discuss dates and handoffs during video chats and such.
For hosts, it’s easier to partner with sitters with more flexibility. Like on my current sit, my hosts asked late whether I’d be willing to stay a day longer. They’re covering my airfare, so that’s not a concern. And because I didn’t stack a sit right after this one, I said sure.
I discuss this in a video call, and I ask if the travel plans are firm and whether they have booked tickets or not. Or a trip can be months or a year ahead, and things change.
Still life can happen and there can be issues both for hosts and sitters, as this is only a matching platform for a voluntary exchange.
Tick boxes - will they really help? If someone hasn’t booked tickets or firm travel plans then things might change. Like I looked into tickets before a videocall and everything looked fine - and some days later after videocall the prices had tripled, and I didn’t take the sit offer.
I see a possible risk that some - for instance because they travel a certain route in full time sitting - take on sits that aren’t optimal. Travel plans aren’t firm, tickets not booked, plans change, life happens. I’m not sure tick boxes would fix the need, it is a contingency plan you need.
@Maggie8K I don’t think this is something that only affects full-time sitters. Anyone can have other obligations or just other plans. It would be helpful to have at least an approximate time of day for arrival before applying. Are they looking for someone to arrive in the morning, afternoon, evening? That info would be helpful to know ahead of time. It’s also good to know if their expectations are something like an arrival time of 6am with no offer to stay the night before (no thanks).
I also discuss that with the owners but I see no harm in having that information or, at least, giving the HOs the option (tick boxes, suggestions, etc) of doing so.
I don’t think THS is going to make it happen, though.
Yes, it can be useful for a variety of folks, just depends on how much flexibility they have scheduling wise.
As I mentioned up top, I wonder whether THS has intentionally made a choice to not add steps to creating a listing. Of course, there’s no way for us to tell. I’d guess in any case that this is low priority (if a priority at all) for them.
@Maggie8K yeah, I don’t expect THS would add extra steps in listing. It would be nice if HOs would add information to their listing and some already include the times they are leaving/returning. I would love to see that become more standard.
Hi, congratulations on 1 year of constant sits! How many days out of that year did you not have a sit, and have to use a hotel etc? Or maybe it was none!
I only ask out of curiosity, as I am a (nearly) full time sitter, with occasional days staying with family.
Thanks- believe me have that down- as we usually do and align ahead of time but always have to go back and double check emails and texts. Would be just easier if everything is in one spot so you can switch between a committed stay and one your considering applying for.
good points… not sure how they test any app mods. Expect they have a Beta group to optimize the changes. Happy to be part of one if they do. Have many ideas…
Thanks Rhe… been a journey! Last year we had * 292 Calendar days
234 Sit Days, paid for 26 Hotel rooms.
For 2025- we are booked through beginning of July
180 Calendar days, 163 Booked, Longest nonstop time 63 days
18 days alternative lodging Longest streak with no sits 3 days.
Only 2 hotel nights through today.
I would wholeheartedly agree with this suggestion. We rely on flights to get to our destinations and the flights might not be everyday. So it would be really useful to know when the HO intends to depart/return and if they have flexibility on this. It would save us a lot of time researching flight times before applying only to find out it wouldn’t suit the handover times.
Unfortunately, many ideas have been compiled and ignored. For example, there has been a huge thread previously where users were asked to add functionality/feature suggestions for THS consideration and nothing has happened. Apparently some suggestions have been requested for years by multiple members.
Absolutely! That’s a great idea. As an almost full time sitter I’d appreciate knowing in advance what the arrival expectations are. It would make it easier to schedule back to back sits.
Just popping on to say that I reached out to @JoYa privately to confirm that I’d passed their feedback over to the team.
I know it must be disappointing when feedback is shared on the Forum, but not implemented, but please be assured that we do pass along any feedback we get. We’ll always do our best to platform member ideas to the team wherever there’s an opportunity - and if we can improve on how we do that in future then we absolutely will.
For now, here’s to @JoYa - wishing them another non-stop year of fantastic sits!