I can’t be the only one who finds this slightly irritating…
What is THS’s definition of ‘Family Friendly’?
We are a family - myself and two pre/teen children. We have been applying for sits that are marked as ‘Family Friendly’ for the host to respond to say ‘Our pets don’t like kids’ or ‘Our home isn’t suitable for children’.
Both very good reasons as to why children shouldn’t be in the home but that to me means that the sit isn’t family friendly?? These sits surely would suit solo sitters or couples - so my question is, what is your definition of family friendly?? And why do hosts mark the sit as family friendly if they aren’t?
Why not ask the HO’s why they have it marked? They may not realize. The host may have just mislabeled it, or maybe their profile hasn’t been updated since those options were added. It’s definitely an HO thing, not a THS thing.
Maybe they thought their home is family friendly but don’t want families for sitters?
I’m with Shafofo. Help the host with a friendly nudge. «You have labeled your listing as family friendly. You might want to alter your tags» or similar.
Can totally understand that it feels like a waste if you have put work in your application.
I think some hosts just don’t think. I recently saw one with that label for a cat, read all the way through it, right at the end it said, I only have a single bed, and would prefer a female, as my cat doesn’t like men. Agree it’s annoying if you’re a family.
Next time I get a message which says it’s not family friendly when their profile says it is, I will do that. I am too worried about coming across as rude though
If you’re not going to sit for them, why does it matter? I mean, yeah, you don’t want to be rude, but pointing out an error in their listing isn’t really rude and even if they take it as such, it won’t really impact you.
Maybe they have older teenagers themselves and so know that one-size doesn’t fit all. So perhaps if your younger kids were slightly older it would be suitable for you. Or again, possibly if someone has a really young baby it would suit them.
Welcome @alibombali it’s likely that these hosts have decided that their home or pets are not suitable for a family with younger children / pre-teens but would be happy for a family with older teenagers to stay .
Don’t give up applying - I would also suggest applying to sits with low applications that don’t have the family friendly tag if you think they look suitable for your family ( extra bedrooms etc )
@alibombali as others have said, homeowners may have selected the family friendly tag because they are open to families with children above a certain age. Or perhaps they only have space for a family with one child, or even just 1 adult and a child.
My children are now teenagers and bigger than me, but when they were younger I would mainly apply to families with children, ideally of a similar age. So I would be checking the photos for signs of toys or anything else that would give an indication of how old their children are, like football goals! I still sometimes do the same thing, but now to make sure the bed on offer for children isn’t going to be a toddler bed!
So last week I applied for a ‘family friendly’ sit, it was declined (fine) but from advice here, I asked why. This was the response I received:
“Many thanks for the application. We actually have just one room available as our kids rooms are all full and locked when we’re away. So apologies, but we were really looking for a single sitter”.
That really is the polar opposite of family friendly i.e. wanting a single sitter.
I’d have thanked them again for the explanation and pointed out that they might consider updating their listing as it’s currently marked family friendly when it’s not. I know that unsolicited feedback isn’t always welcome, but these HOs need to start hearing some hard truths and since we won’t be sitting for them anyway so they can’t impact our reviews, it’s worth letting them know, IMO.
I mean, yeah, you don’t want to be rude, but pointing out an error in their listing isn’t really rude and even if they take it as such, it won’t really impact you.