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.
I am in a similar situation as I have a sitting booked and there is a new one that overlaps for one day only. It clearly says that dates are flexible.
I enquired with the Support team and I’ve been advised to contact the PP with whom I have the sitting booked and ask if they could postpone the starting date by one day. This would be only temporary in order to allow me to apply for the new sitting.
This is solely at the discretion of the Pet parent.
Hoping this can help anyone.
Thanks for the advice. However, by the time you’ve settled with the PP, the other listing has probably been closed due to the five-application rule.
I know what you mean, however it also depends on how prompt is the reaction of the PP and how appealing is the new sitting.
In this case it is still open, despite being a lovely opportunity, it is not in a very high demand area.
I still wish there was some more flexibility within THS, but I see this is out of the question. At least there is this tiny chance.
I hope you get a prompt reaction. Good luck!
That seems like strange advice … so MS are suggesting that you bother the PP who doesn’t have flexible dates , ask them to change their date on the system to end a day earlier than it actually does ( so it would not be correct on the system and neither of you would be covered by THS ) in order to be able to contact the PP who does have flexible dates ??? What strange advice from MS .
I can see that this is the only possible work around because of the way that the system is currently designed… but it’s a solution that doesn’t work well for the first PP or sitter …it could also make the first PP start to doubt that sitter will stay until the originally agreed dates and they may choose another sitter … it all seems to create more problems than solve the one problem which is how to contact a HO that has stated that their dates are flexible.
Strange advice. And what if host then decides that they are happy with one day shorter sit? And don’t want to change it back? Could ofc also be an option to discourage sitter from the sit they first agreed to as the sitter is now considered “a risk”. The host might accommodate a shorter period and then later think that it was odd and want a way out.
I agree with you 100%, but this is an advice coming from THS support no matter how strange it may sound.
To be honest I wouldn’t feel comfortable in asking this question to the current pet parent, I feel like I would put myself in an awkward position. As a matter of fact, the new sitting is still there, but I have decided not to go ahead.
Still I wanted to inform you all in case it might not be a problem for somebody.
I still think that there should be some flexibility and/or some tool that allows sitters to apply or contact the pet parent when dates are flexible. I suggested for PP to tick a flexible dates option when posting a new sitting, so that all sitters can apply. However, this suggestion was ignored.
