Hi @Ilovechris you are not missing anything - there is no way to contact HOs at the moment. This has been discussed by lots of sitters who have said that they would like a way to be able to do this .
https://forum.trustedhousesitters.com/t/contacting-owner-in-advance
You can change your location to the city that you be visiting….it’s a strange work around but when a homeowner does a search for a sitter their local ones come up first … so by changing your location to their city they will see your profile at or near the top of the list . You can also add a line to your profile stating I will be in xxcity during xxdates “
There is also a thread where you can make suggestions about features that you would like to see maybe suggest your idea here
https://forum.trustedhousesitters.com/t/what-features-would-you-like-to-see-on-ths