I’ve now posted my third listing for a sitter and each time I’ve received applications from potential sitters that include their children. As I had checked the box “NO” next to “Is your sit suitable for sitters with children?” I had assumed that these applicants were just ignoring that point, hoping I’d reconsider.
As this keeps occurring, I reviewed my listing and do not see this under the section on my home. The other things I checked do appear (High-speed internet, sitters need a car, etc) but nothing about the sit not being suitable for children. I have now edited my profile to include this, but shouldn’t it just be a bullet point as in house vs apartment? Another suggestion is to include whether sitters can bring their pets.
Last night I received an application from a family of four traveling with their dog. Our four kitties would not be happy. I immediately sent a note explaining that the house was not suitable for children or outside pets. Photos of their cute dog followed for my reconsideration.
Please consider adding this info to the basic listing as to save time and disappointment for all.
Good grief. That is pushy and rude. I would not bother communicating with those people further.
Hi @Suzanne8 I am not a homeowner on this site, so I don’t see the standard options available to the homeowner when setting up a listing. You also don’t have your listing embedded in your username, so I’m not able to view it, as a sitter, to get a better idea of what you’re explaining. As a sitter, I have seen listings showing ‘family friendly’ but don’t remember ever seeing the reverse, with a tag that labels it as not suitable for children. However, given I would not be taking children, it may just be that I haven’t noticed that. Or, it could be my usual explanation, of ‘computer gremlins’. 
I am tagging @Ben-ProductManager , as he will be able to address your questions when he’s next online. He will also appreciate you having shared your suggestion for an improvement.
Francine
Voluntary Forum Moderator
Thank you for the suggestion Francine. I think I have now embedded my listing into my profile.
This was what I was referring to as a bullet point for a HO’s listing that does not seem to be showing up.
Is your sit suitable for sitters with children?
Yes
No
I have clearly marked “NO” , but other than my revised profile, there is no mention of it.
Aside from some other important requirements concerning sitters, I write in my listing right at the top that our house isn’t suitable for children and that my cats would consider each other pet as an intruder. I ask sitters not to apply if they plan to take along children or pets.
Your link is active, and your listing looks wonderful. I see that you already have applicants. If some of those are the ones you will decline, you can do that and it will lower the applicant count. Some people are hesitant to apply for sits, based on a current applicant count, whereas sometimes it not a true reflection of those being considered.
If I’m understanding you correctly, I think you would like to see indicators that show ‘not suitable for children’ and ‘no other pets allowed’. I’ll again tag @Ben-ProductManager so that he’ll be aware of that. If I misunderstood you, please correct me.
I hope you find a good fit for your feline family.
Yes, exactly! I’d love to see those two indicators on the listing!
Waiting for a reply from a potential sitter now!
What a beautiful home and adorable cats 
Your listing sounds wonderful.
If I were a sitter I would apply in a heartbeat!
My guess is that this turns ON the family friendly indication but doesn’t actually show the opposite. So if you’d marked yes, family friendly would likely show on your listing. If it’s an optional choice, then I agree that marking no should indicate that it’s NOT family friendly while leaving it blank should do nothing. Or, it should be changed to a selection box rather than a radio button so you either check it to make it family friendly or you leave it empty.
@Suzanne8 @Snowbird thanks for tagging me in the conversation. Thanks for the sit feature suggestions.
Thanks, Ben
As a family of 4 that travels and sits, I always search for ‘Family Friendly’.
We have once taken a sit locally in our home country that wasn’t listed as ‘Family Friendly’ only because my plan was to stay there alone without my children and just travel back and forth each day taking the dog with me during the day. This was all discussed openly with the homeowner and they were the ones that suggested the dog could stay at our home if we preferred or the children were welcome to stay.
I would never assume to change a HO’s mind on us having the children at their home, especially, if they write it in the description. Whenever a HO writes ‘Couple preferred’ or ‘Not suitable for children’ I always honour that decision and never apply for the sit.
I agree. You can check “suitable for children”, but it doesn’t explicitly show when it’s not. My listing always says in the wording that I look for “one or two sitters”. Occasionally I had the polite request from people travelling with children if I would make an exception. I always just turned it down, mentioning the lack of space in my apartment and that my type of pets, bunnies, doesn’t particular enjoy having young children around. I never considered it a big deal, but it would still nice to have a feature that shows the negative answer in a listing as well.
@Snowbird How do I go about embedding my listings(both HO and HS) with my username?
Hi @NOmtnClowns I’ll add Vanessa’s instructions here:
Adding a link to your forum username
I’m not sure if there is capacity to add both sitter and homeowner links. I’ll tag @Therese and see if she can help on that point.
I absolutely agree about adding bullets / buttons for suitability for children and outside pets.
This would save search time and frustration for both HO & sitters.
@snowbird @NOmtnClowns There are two options for adding links… either in your profile text description (must be the full url) but also in the website link.
If you look at mine as an example, you’ll see a web link in my profile text, and our THS profile link under website. Hope that helps 
@Vanessa_A Thanks Vanessa. I got my HO profile attached. Is there a way to also do my sitter profile too?
Thanks for that info !
Hi @NOmtnClowns … As a combined member you have to go to your THS dashboard and preview your sitter profile to get the alternative url. I’ve now added this link to your forum profile for you, but just go and check in PREFERENCES and PROFILE and change the text to say whatever you’d like it to. Hope that helps All the best.