It is not rare that homeowners state in their listing that dates are flexible. However, if the dates they post coincide with one of my confirmed sits, I have no means to contact them. That’s especially annoying if there is an overlap of just 1-3 days. Is there any way this can be remedied?
Edit: Extraneous link removed
You can pay for an extra account if you’re a couple, so you can use the extra to contact hosts with dates that conflict with a sit you’ve accepted. Or you can ask another member to contact them on your behalf. (Assumes they don’t have conflicting dates as well.) The latter is a pain if you’re repeatedly asking.
The simple answer to this @weltenbummler, is no!
Hi there
The primary reason this change was implemented was because of reports of sitters taking overlapping sits and leaving animals on their own. While these instances were probably rare, I am sure THS did not want to risk it becoming more commonplace–think of a potential host reading reviews of the service and seeing multiple accounts of pets being abandoned because the person left to start another sit before theirs ended.
I also imagine that this change helped cut down on cancellations to some extent.
So, given the primary reason for implementing this change–the safety and well-being of the pets-- it is highly unlikely they would reverse it.
I’m aware of all that, but obviously THS did not take flexible dates into consideration. So my suggestion is: Why not create a new category ‘flexible dates’ for homeowners where they can post their listing and invite possible sitters to apply for dates which would suit them. I’ve actually seen one listing where a homeowner posted just one day, asking sitters to apply if they were available around that date.
Piggybacking on your suggestion, THS could have a “flexible?” check box beside the dates fields and then, if checked, allow sitters with overlapped dates to apply. They can put whatever earnings they want up but should still allow it.
The only problem with that is that many Sitters have filters set so that they only see Sits that are at least 1 week or more, so they won’t even see that Sit opportunity.
Otherwise that is a pretty good idea to allow more Sitters to apply.
Tangentially, it might be useful if hosts knew that X percent of sits of X duration get chosen or not. I say that, because some hosts might lengthen their sits if they knew that could make a meaningful difference in their sits getting applicants or not.
Personally, when I see short sits, I wonder how many of them get filled.
I think they mainly get filled by new sitters who need to build up a history.
I didn’t know that. Does not make any sense.
How could we proceed to get the attention of the decision makers in this matter? I know that it’s no use to send an email to Support. There must be a way to officially propose a new feature to the website.
@Maggie8K I just had a conversation with a host that supports your hypothesis .
We have a two day gap between sits . We plan to use this time to visit some friends. We’re happy to stay in a hotel for this period . However, I happened to noticed that a sit is listed for one night only in the area we want to visit. I contacted the hosts ( by clicking the apply button ) and asked what responsibilities are expected since it’s only for one night stay ? The hosts replied with the information and said that they would stay away an extra night if we are available to sit .
Hope that worked out for you, @Silversitters. If not this time, maybe for other sits in the future.
