@GotYourBack I understand that your a great sitter, and homeowners want you back. I understand that they are "reaching out to you on or off the site to ask about your availablity. It’s what happens after that that I am confused about. I can only think of 3 possibilities:
- They invite you for a sit that isn’t “official” through THS. Nothing wrong with that if you both of you agree on everything! But no protections for either of you if something goes wrong, and no possibility of reviews.
- The homeowners could give you a headsup that they’ll be posting dates and you can apply. This means that other sitters will also have the opportunity to apply.
- Once you agree that it works for you, the homeowners are creating a private date in order to send you an invitation to apply. If you are recieving a message from THS that “So and So is inviting you to a sit on such and such dates” that is a private invitation.
So it is possibility that even though you think it’s a smart idea to get rid of “random” invitations, if THS is going to “de-emphasize” the invitation system, they may be cutting out one way that most sitters get invited back for repreat sits that are official THS sits.
It would be great if we could hear from someone involved in the product update to learn more. It would be wonderful if the moderators could pass on the feedback – but I know from previous experience no matter how unpopular an update is, they won’t back down.
@Jenny
Can you confirm , will hosts still have the option to send private invitation ?
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Yes, it still seems to be working, @Silversitters . The only problem is the very un-userfriendly inbox 
With too many archived posts finding the sitter you’d like to invite is not too simple, if their last message was “some sits ago”.
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I agree with all of your comments.
We receive lots of invites it takes a moment to decline if they are not a match.
Our favorite sit which we have been back to multiple times was via an invite.
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It’s great to see that you find the option to reach out to sitters directly so useful, and it totally makes sense when asking previous sitters to return - you’re still able to do that.
What we’ve found is that the majority of sitters prefer to apply for a sit, rather than being contacted and we’re testing ways to find the right balance.
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But Mark, can you explain more about what the “right balance” means? Will people be able to invite sitters they know and want to invite or will everything have to be a public listing. I live in New York so if I have to list publicly when I want a particular sitter, it will require that I not only reach out to see if they want the sit, but then I would have to coordinate with them the exact time the listing goes public and I will still probably wind up have to explain to the other sitters that apply why I will not actually be considering them for the sit and I’ll probably have them not being very happy with me!
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Hi Marion,
Yes, as outlined above, you can still do that by contacting a THS sitter you’d like to return directly via your inbox.
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Have you adjusted the the job-like wording too, in terms of ‘Application’ and ‘Apply’ as well? Which from the outset, is a language framing the arrangement as something it isn’t , leading so many - especially new members -to mistakenly believe it’s a employer/employee relationship, a paid, professional setup with THS compensating Housesitters etc etc
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It’s just that I know that’s what you can do NOW. I wrote those steps in my own words earlier. I’m wondering what the product update will do. So my question is: When the product update is rolled out, will I still be able to invite a previous sitter privately? What about someone I was in contact with who didn’t get the sit previously, but I’d like to offer it to at this point? If it isn’t elminating that ability, could you tell us more about what this 'de-emphasis" looks like?
@Marion
Thanks for following up, ‘the right balance’ refers to design tweaks.
In this case, making the features that most members find most useful most prominent.
To confirm, you can and will continue to be able to invite directly.
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I’m sorry, but does it really make sense to move (or remove) functionality because some people don’t use it much, even though others clearly do have very valid & specific use cases for that existing feature?
While I can understand that some users may dislike uninitiated invites, it seems to me that a better solution would be to create an option or preference for those users to opt out of cold-calls. Preferably, they could also select whether they’d prefer not to accept “cold” invites from previous sits as well.
I understand it’s being de-emphasized vs removed, but I literally just had a conversation with a (favorited) HO who didn’t know they could have initiated an invite to me, but were delighted to hear this was a feature they could use in future.
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There was a scientific survey? There was a survey? It was a feeling?
Reads as, “We took one of the few features that was easy and made it different and convoluted. “
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seems like the app is now blocked HO’s from viewing other sits too now…sigh, this is a poor upgrade!
there is a sit currently listed, who under AMENITIES, have WI-FI, and that’s it, no other amenities listed at all. bizarre.
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@RedLassie, alas there are many listings that only state ‘basic wifi’ under amenities. Ironically even this data is pointless as “basic wifi” specifications are high subjective - an objective number of Mbps (ideally with verified speedtest) would be better.
Topic mentioned on various THS Forum threads - THS does not require Pet Parents to complete the amenities section. In all likelihood, Pet Parents with poor listing content may receive fewer applicants so time savings may well be moot.
I didn;t apply for it, as the rest of the house looks cluttered and untidy. It is a castle style home in Scotland with great reviews, but I wonder if those are maybe based on the fairy tale idea of staying, having stayed, in a castle? the 2 dogs certainly seem lovely though.
