A two way street?

[1gypsygurl]

As an active sitter, I’ve been thinking about how great it would be to have the opportunity to communicate with hosts that are open to the idea. I receive quite a few direct requests from Hosts asking if I’m available and interested in Sitting for them. My plans are typically booked out several months in advance so this doesn’t generally work out- however, I appreciate being asked and always reply warmly to these invitations.
On the other hand, Sitters don’t have the same opportunity to reach out to Hosts. I would especially love for this option when I’m planning International travel which requires me to plan many months in advance. For hosts who are interested in making themselves available to receive messages, we could reach out to the listings that show Sits not currently available and let them know we’ll be traveling near their home during a particular time frame and would like to invite them to a phone/Zoom call if they are considering time away but haven’t posted it as yet. This idea needs more thought work and coordination but I’m wondering if it peaks any interest.

[Silversitters]

Yes this would be great and in line with THS T&Cs

“3.2. The services we provide for Sitters are:

3.2.5. the ability to communicate with Pet Parents via the Platform’s messaging service”

The majority of the issues being discussed on the overlap thread are not about wanting to book sits that overlap but rather about wanting to make contact with the homeowner and being unable to do so.

https://forum.trustedhousesitters.com/t/contacting-homeowners-via-ths

There is a thread where the product team are asking for suggestions to improve messaging you could make your suggestion on that thread too

https://forum.trustedhousesitters.com/t/messaging-applications/

@Silversitters

his is not an original idea , it’s been suggested many times but I’m not sure if it’s been picked up on by the Product team . Directly related to messaging and applications .

Idea
Option for homeowners to tick that they are happy to be messaged by sitters - this option is available for external referees but not THS members.

Improvement that you would to see

•Reduce the number of unsuitable applications homeowners receive.

•Fill more sits that currently go unfilled.

Top frustration that you have
There is currently no way for a sitter to contact a homeowner unless they apply to a listing that has live dates.
There are numerous valid reasons why Sitters may need to contact a homeowner before submitting an application ( e.g. need to find out exact location / ask about something that is not covered or is unclear in the listing/ sitters that can’t do whole sit but are available for part of it ) •If homeowners have the option to opt into this no one who doesn’t want sitters contacting them will receive messages .

[pietkuip]

@1gypsygurl

hosts who are interested in making themselves available to receive messages

THS is not going to make this an option, it would circumvent the limit of five etc.

Hypothetically speaking, there might be workarounds and hosts could try to make themselves available, but it is against the forum rules for me to suggest how.

Anyway, I believe that the proportion of HOs that are active on the forum is even smaller than for sitters. And few of them would be interested in such schemes. When they do not get applications I guess they will just try other sites.