Cancelled a day before by HO. Just venting

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
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**UPDATE**

THe HO’s will do a short local trip starting tomorrow, until Sunday. This is all I need to be able to rebound. I am used to short term changes and decisions, but 24 hours was just to short. Now all is fine!

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Original post:

I feel a bit distraught by a situation and need some kind of moral support. I know I can’t do anything about it (I had the basic plan) but I am very frustrated. I am a strong and independent person, and rarely feel helplress. But I kind of do now. After 10 years housestting, this is a first time for me.

We are deep into a cold winter here in Canada. I have been doing back to back sits all February and this one was going to start tomorrow. Between sits, I stay at hotels, or Airbnb’s for longer gaps. So I do have a back-up the budget and don’t rely 100% on sits. But I am also 100% nomadic, with no home base, and basically no family nor friends who can help me.

This sit was a return sit, so all was fine and I knew the animals, house and owners. They where going to Mexico, on the East coast, not the West where the problems are. But they are older and where frightened by the news and warnings. So I understand them, although their decision is not justified since Cancun is still a safe destination.

But in the end, I am the one who is stuck with nowhere to go. Spring break is starting, all hotels are booked or overly priced. No available sits in my area. I can just hope a last minute sit shows up.

This is one major flaw of THS. If HO had booked a paid pet sitter, the booking can not be cancelled within 48 hours unless there is a serious reason, so part or all of the payement would have been lost. Being afraid is not a good reason, unless there is a travel warning issued. Which is not the case here.

HO said I might be able to stay at their place for a few days if they decide to replace their Mexico trip with a short local trip for the weekend. This is to be confirmed today. It would help a lot so I am not litteraly in the streets tomorrow with nowhere to go!

Thankis for reading. I just need your positive thoughts and energy.

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The hosts have no regard whatsoever for the inconvenience and additional financial expense you must occur simply because “they’re scared and decided to cancel”. It’s even more surprising given that you’ve established a “relationship” with them of sorts.

I understand your frustration and can relate. My experience over 60+ decades is that most people are concerned only for themselves and their immediate family- especially their kids.

As far as anyone else goes, all relationships are “transactional”, If someone has got something to gain by working with you for the benefit of both parties, they’re in. But when things go south, most people are going to put their needs way ahead of yours, even they created the situation and you are not to blame.

There are exceptions, some people are truly of an altruistic nature and help others with no strings attached and will consider the negative effects of their actions on others. But those people are the rare exceptions, not the majority.

It’s really a shame that THS doesn’t track and display cancelations, it might deter some of this, because people don’t want their profiles and reputation negatively affected, again it’s about them, not anyone else.

3

I can understand why they would cancel. Cancun isn’t so safe as it is. And the violence could spread. And, having paid 5 figures easily over the years for paid care for my pet, I could cancel last minute with my dog walker if I had to cancel a trip without paying anything, since I had paid thousands already and was a good customer. And in Canada. In Toronto. Having been nomadic for the last year and half, I can sympathize, but that is part of relying on THS. I had a great experience with them, but have had cancellations, have had entitled crazy HOs, part of the experience. I have used this for venting, so vent away, and I bet you find something last minute.

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To all Canadian pet owners, do you fancy a last minute vacation? @Dominique has her link on her forum profile. Get in touch with her, she’s got fantastic reviews from what I quickly glanced at.

I can understand if their stress levels had been getting higher and higher, but why did they hold off until the last minute, and why didn’t they just book another trip for the same period? I bet they don’t realise they have potentially lost a fantastic sitter from returning to them., because you just don’t know when that could happen again with them.

Try the Canadian pet sitting groups on facebook to see if you can find something there. Hope you find something.

5

I would suggest not relying on one platform if you are nomadic. I am from the US and in 2023 doing house and pet sits in Canada before ever joining THS. I was on a Canadian site very similar to THS but was exclusively for sits only in Canada. There were tons of sits on that platform. I did short term sits to travel but lots of long term sits I noticed were looking for sitters. My first sit was not from a platform but came from a friend I was visiting there who posted on Facebook for me. A lot of people replied and my first ever house and pet sit with people I did not know personally came from there. A beautiful house on the ocean with wonderful pets. About a two week sit. Maybe ask the people who canceled if they can post on Facebook. Maybe they can mention you were to sit for them but they had to cancel trip. Maybe a compassionate person would even have a guest house to house you for a time. They can mention you are nomadic. Good Luck

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I do use other platforms, including the one you mention, and do sits on out of platform also. But in my situation it is less than 24 hours notice (sit was to begin tomorrow), so every HO travelling out this weekend is already organised, and every airbnb and hotels in the area are fully booked too at ridiculously high prices (= ski season + spring break).

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Thank you for the call out! Canada is huge, I am currently in the Sherbrooke area (Eastern Townships, in Quebec). I will check that group, I haven’t even thought about check if there was a group of FB.

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The Canadian government has issued “Exercise a high degree of caution” for Canadian travelers for the entire country of Mexico.

I’m sorry you are caught up in this, and I hope the other suggestions here result in a new sit for you. But this is something all of you are caught up in.

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@Dominique, really sorry to hear of your sit cancellation. Hopefully an alternative sit turns up.

Given above statement, envourage that you consider Premium membership. THS Sit cancellation insurance has some major limitations but it is better than nothing. We’ve had two last-minute cancellations by pet parents - one of which was eligible for suit cancellation insurance and covered approx US$1000 alternative accommodation cost.

10

Cancun has been experiencing problems as well. And it’s not your place to decide whether the hosts feel safe or not to travel.

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You might want to check out Host a Sister groups on Facebook. People in those groups often help out travelers in a jam, by offering free shelter.

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I am just venting about a situation I find difficult.

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Hi @Dominique

I’m really glad to see your update on the post - it’s great the hosts were able to work with you on a solution.

Please feel free to keep posting here, and let us know how things are going.

Take care,

Jenny

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Glad to see all is sorted. You could mark as solved now unless you want the conversation to continue

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To be fair, the situation in Mexico has been changing quickly, so I could see the reason for a last minute cancel. The homeowners have offered the sitter the option of staying with them a few days. I understand the sitter’s frustration.

I have had two paid cat drop ins change/shorten due to the weather here in the NE. My paid sits are all for neighbors I don’t have a deposit policy and just try to maintain a good relatonship if something goes wrong, which works out in the long run. I don’t take any of it personally.

I think with THS it’s similar. It’s not personal. I wouldn’t judge the homeowners as being inconsiderate. They have offered to let the sitter stay a few days. They might not be aware that the sitter is out for the travel expenses, doesn’t have premium, nor are they necessarily aware if the sitter is full time and literally has no where else to go and will need to find some other place to stay. If the sitter wants something else – eg money to pay a flight cancel fee, money for a couple of nights lodging until they find another sit, or something else, they can certainly have this discussion with the homeowner.

Because this could always happen, and because things can always happen at the last minute whether due to weather, illness (human or pet), death, and all kinds of other circumstances, it seems that the burden is on sitters to have Plan B if sits are cancelled.

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I’d like to reiterate what @Maggie8K suggested: try one of the Host a Sister FB groups. There’s Host a Sister and Host a Sister-over 50.

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I am currently in Jalisco Mexico. This situation popped up very unexpectedly. There were flights on their way from Canada to Puerto Vallarta that were turned around. I was scheduled to fly home from Guadalajara on Monday, the airport was open, but, the roads were unsafe. Things have settled down and I’m going home on Thursday.

While I can understand the frustration of a last minute cancellation for a sitter (I am one), I totally understand the home owners position in this case. I can’t imagine a more valid reason for last minute cancellation than sudden unrest in the destination. ‘

I think in this case their action was very understandable, and, they were thoughtful of the sitter by making other plans that they could. Expecting someone to replace a two week trip in a day is not very reasonable.

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:pleading_face: I do agree with the other sitter to consider upgrading to premium. I was worried about a pet sit cancelling a few months ago and upgraded. The sit went ahead but it gave me peace of mind.

All the best I hope something good comes out it for you :hugs:

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Upgrading to premium membership might solve future problems like this, but even with premium membership there are requirements that must be met in order to get THS to pay for other accommodations.

In your case, I’d be quite unhappy that the owners cancelled their trip last minute. Of course it’s their choice to determine the degree of risk they’re comfortable with, but Mexico is a huge country and Cancun is on the opposite coast from the recent trouble. Im currently in Mazatlán (Sinaloa state), and all is “normal” here.

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It works both ways. Some petsitters cancel just before a sit and just like for the homeowners, sometimes circumstances can’t be helped. I don’t know what it’s like to have no home base or to book back-to-back sits. I think it would feel quite precarious. It would be worth it to go beyond the basic membership to have some coverage and not be left out in the cold.

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Before I accept a sit, I always ask the homeowner if they have a plan b in case something happens to me. Both parties need a plan b.