I don’t believe they are thinking at all, they’re just following the cues given by THS, as they are either too restrictive, as walking time and time left alone, or too wide as arrival and departure times, they just choose whatever they think would be best for them and forget that it may be inconsistent with what they had written before.
I do wonder what the genius behind these “improvements” are thinking
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And don’t start me on the have to have three meals a day, morning night and evening, plus minimum two hours a day walking! Yessum masa! One yesterday was two large dogs can’t be left alone 24/7, plus lengthy walks. No wonder I am noticing such a huge change in number of sits going unfilled, I agree these new additions are causing HO’s to either blatantly rort the sitters or are purely unaware of the new listing additions, both possible.
@Newpetlover So this means the hosts will arrive back at exactly 10 pm? 
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Suggest replace the arrival/departure times with options of:
- morning
- afternoon
- evening
- anytime
- to be agreed
Use of exact times creates paid tradesman expectations for Pet Parent; probably is spurious accuracy (really need exact timing?!?!); and quite likely needlessly reduce the number of applications (listing data different to video call data). Seems a solution that, while probably well intended, misses the problem.
From our 60 housesits, zero Pet Parents have set exact arrival or departure times. Heck, forget timings, many of our Pet Parents have indicated openness to the day of arrival (feel free arrive day/… before sit) or day of departure (feel free stay day/… after sit). As full-time sitters, for now, we simply adore Pet Parents that offer flexibility (day + time) - precisely the opposite of THS new listing function with exact times on specific days.
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The dog walking times are hard to understand also because there is so much that can affect it. Does the “walk time” include a drive to a dog park? Does it take 10 minutes to lure the dog into its harness? Or the opposite, the pet parent counts only the minutes the dog is on its walk? 1h can mean a lot of things.
In the end avoiding hosts that might not be great fits is good: human is happier when it has less choice. When I feel sorry for the hosts who would be great but fail at the THS hoops, mainly I just want THS to change their system and use the hosts as a tool to convince THS - for me as a sitter it is good to be able to look at a listing and to quickly find something I dislike.
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Or 22:05 if they don’t want to interact with “the help”!
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I see a lot of inconsistency between walking time in the description and walking times being filled, same for time left alone. Before you had the description and you aligned with the host, now it’s just messy.
With the new fields being added for existing listings I wonder what was the default time for time left alone (existing listings, not newly created), did we receive information on that I have missed?
A lot of listings just keep me guessing now, usually with those I won’t bother.
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@Debbie Ah but remember the pets can’t be left alone so the five minutes gap could dock them a star on their review. Maybe the help uses the back entrance to leave once they hear the owners coming in the front door. 
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With 174 comments on this new feature, it is very clear that this “improvement” is actually creating more problems, not less. Definitely not making sits smoother! Hosts are losing out on attracting sitters with unreasonable/unrealistic time frames as sitters are just passing on applying for them. Therefore, the communication that used to happen between host and sitter on working out a time to suit both parties is now rarely happening.
This “improvement “ is certainly having “a big impact” but not in a positive way.
I hope @Mark_B that what is being raised on this thread is being fed back to those responsible for its implementation.
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Arrival time
Mon 24 Aug 26:10 AM
Departure time
Mon 31 Aug 26:2 PM
Well that is what you call clear expectations!
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Clearly better to avoid such a host.
Just saw a listing with arrival time 12am, departure time 12am.
And, of course, you immediately applied @systaran
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I think some people still confuse 12am with 12pm. Easily done by mistake if not careful when putting dates into sites.
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I for sure am confused. I would never say something starting at 12am or 12pm, I will make it 11:30 or 01:00, just to avoid confusion.
THS does not really understand how diverse their customer base is…
I doubt anyone is asking someone to come at midnight, but I have seen some 6am sits, and even applied with questions, and the host did not mistype and they do not do cold hand overs 
I have woken up at 4am in order to catch a train to arrive at 8am, but that is my choice of where I sleep the previous night - I would not do that for a host who seriously thinks it is ok to expect me to travel (at least within the city) before 6am.
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I assume the 12am arrival/departure is meant to be 12pm. I posted about another one that had a 3-5am arrival time. Probably meant to be 3-5pm but I don’t know. Maybe that’s time time they need to leave for the airport. Given all the am/pm confusion it would make sense for THS to change it. I agree with @GotYourBack that morning/afternoon/evening would work much better since that’s really what is helpful to know prior to application.
If the purpose of this was to ‘start every sit with clear expectations’ as per the title of this thread, why not change it since it obviously is having the opposite effect. But, as is usual for THS, when new policies or ‘improvements’ are not working, they just dig in their heels. Not the best approach for running a business, changes should be evaluated to ensure they are working and if not, adjustments should be made.
I just skip listings that are not clear. If a weird time is listed, I just scroll on. I’ve looked at sits that I might have applied to, but then saw odd arrival/departure times and just kept scrolling.
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I can think of lots of improvements to this “improvement”
1 - Just eliminate it and perhaps advise HOs to mention it in the listing if they cannot be flexible. Otherwise it’s understood that both HOs and sitters will come to an agreement as we have always done with no issues.
2 - If THS decision makers can’t see that this is making the process more confusing and certainly not setting clear expectations, perhaps they might see that there are some ways to make it a bit less confusing and unfair:
- set a minimum of flexibility. How can anyone expect that someone arrives at 11.30 sharp? If sitters arrive in public transport, are they supposed to wait outside the building with their luggage in all weather conditions until his lordship deems it appropriate to receive them?
- set a limit of reasonable times. How many sitters will be willing and able to arrive at 11pm, 3am…? Why does THS consider that all and any pets shouldn’t be left alone longer than 6 hours and that should be discussed with the HO but sees no need of limiting arrival and departure times to the period most people are awake and public transport running?
- At least use a 24hour clock to avoid misunderstandings.
Can HOs confirm if the selection of time is an open field where the time is typed or is it a scroll down selection? If it’s a scroll down, then perhaps 12am is not a mistake.
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Maybe I am too German, but if I agree with host that I am there at 11:30, I will be there at 11:20 and wait, be it rain, be it shine 
At the same time with most hosts we agree on which train I will be taking, and then it is in the hands of DeutscheBahn [train company] if I make it, which we both understand. I´ll text the host once I am at the closest train station, and they mentally prepare for my arrival as fast as the public transport does it.
I do respect the exact times, and I am not bothered by them. I am awkward socially, so I dont want someone coming surprisingly early or late. I need to get to the mind space. At the same time I have done as long as 3 day handovers if needed.
I recently read a review left to a sitter. Host docket stars because the sitter was 1h late, and their day plans were compromised due to this. Sitter responded that they were only 30 mins late, and it was due to an issue with their child that was unavoidable. I think hosts should have plan b for the arrival, and should not put it on the sitter if their plans fall trough - I think up to one hour lateness or earliness is normal, as we are in transport and anything can happen. With one hour buffer the host can also leave their home as soon as the handover is done, and are not left with hours and hours to waste before they can start their trip.
I recently did a sit where during the video call the host said that they leave at 4 am, and I can arrive any time during the day. The day before the sit, at 3pm, I receive a message “we are about to leave, you can arrive any time tomorrow”. Now I am left to wonder if I misunderstood the 4am/pm in the call, or if their plans changed a lot Well, at least the cat was fine. …I had secured a one night sit for the previous night, and would have appreciated if they let me know earlier, so that I would have just arrived earlier. But the one night sit was magical, so no hard feelings. Just to show that communication about times is really not “clear expectations”, no matter what one does.
I’m not German. Not even a little 
but when I agree to be somewhere at a specific time, I do everything in my power to be there, which usually means arriving early and waiting if necessary.
Regarding sitting arrival and departure times, while departure can be easily handled in most cases, arrival is not as easy, particularly when using public transport. My point is that I don’t see any reason for an HO to expect a sitter to arrive at a precise time. I am not at all suggesting that it’s OK to come unannounced.
My suggestion is to offer a reasonable span of time. So far, All 38 HOs I have sat for have shown more than reasonable expectations. I have always let them know how the travel was going and exactly at what time I would get there. In a couple of occasions, I arrived earlier than expected and I just had a drink somewhere near the house.
If I see arrival time 10.30 or something like that I just don’t apply. I don’t have any issues with punctuality but I do expect an empathetic, flexible attitude, which is exactly my own approach to sitting.
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I’m also wondering if the new Arrival Time field is making HOs more demanding?
Suddenly I see a lot of catsits listed where an arrival time of e.g. 9 am is required.
In my 11 years on THS, it has always been the ‘unwritten rule’ that:
- Either I arrive the evening before
- Or if that’s not possible, I arrive some point during the day & we organize key handover
To arrive at 9 am is usually a) not feasible for me cause I travel by plane & train, and b) seems to have the HO assume that alternatively the sitter is going to pay for a hotel the night before. No, I will absolutely not!
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