Grr! Why are there so many disparities in how homeowners are treated differently than sitters on this website?
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Actually it’s not much use for a HO to favorite sitters if they haven’t favorited the listing of the HO as well. You might think that a HO finds the sitters he has favorited somewhere easily, but that’s actually not the case, at least I don’t know where this feature could be hidden.
We still have to scroll through all sitters to find those we put the little heart sticker on. So even if you don’t know that you are one of a HO’s favorites, what’s the point if you are not in a saved section somewhere?
Correction: there is a favorite section! I just found it.
Can hosts contact sitters if they see a sitter has them as a favorite?
Hi @dhott415
A very warm welcome to the forum.
To answer your question, yes, PP/owners can approach any sitter who has saved their listing. They would initially need live or private dates to do this.
I hope this helps.
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Hi Mel. As other sitters have said, I will favourite listings when I am interested in doing a future sitting but am not available for the current dates. Or when I want to travel to that part of the world but in a different season (such as Mexico in Winter or Maine in any season but Winter!). That being said, I never mind when a host reaches out, even when I’m not available. I’m flattered they’ve looked at my profile and wanted to consider me. Also - I’ve had many hosts reach out again to check with me regarding other dates and have happily been available.
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@MelH I absolutely agree with your reasoning behind favoring and not getting upset when PP reach out to see if we are available. It’s a great way to connect as who knows…we might have missed the posting and end up being available!
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We frequently receive invitations from hosts we’ve favourited. I used to be surprised thinking it was a cooincidence until I discovered hosts are always notified when we favourite them!
When you, as a host, want to invite sitters the most logical place to start is with those who’ve already checked out your listing and favourited you. They are already potentially interested, but not necessarily available for your listed dates. But it does give you a head start & maybe someone is actually free! We’ve actually accepted a couple of favourited sits when the host has reached out showing mutual interest.
But you can also invite anyone at all whose profile appeals.
We favourite any listing that pops up that we might seriously consider applying for either for the current trip or a later date when they list new dates.
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As an owner I’ve had sitters mark my listing as a favorite. This discussion tells me that when I put up my next listing that the sitters who marked my listing as a favorite get a notification so they know about it right away. But I’m curious how that works with the new 5 app limit on what a HO sees. It seems marking it as a favorite loses a lot of its benefit under the new rules. I may never see an app from one of the sitters who saved my listing as they have to be fast enough to get into the first 5 applications. Right? I know I can reject sitters and get additional applications but that’s not the same as knowing a sitter who saved my listing wanted to apply but didn’t make the 5 limit cut. So is there still an advantage for the sitter to being notified when it seems like a lottery to be lucky to get in the first 5 apps on a popular location? Now that I understand what favorites mean to the sitters, I may consider reaching out privately to the sitters who marked me as a favorite if I like their profile. Do I understand this correctly?
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Hi @Trudzie , I think you’re right. If you want to make sure one of your preferred sitters has seen your listing, contact them privately.
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I couldn’t agree more. I love the animals I care for but unfortunately would not be able to have one of my own. TH provides a great opportunity to support other like minded people who love their animals but need a break. A super site
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Trudzie, you are totally right. The majority of the listings I have favoured in popular locations (including ones I have sat before) are often showing reviewing applications by the time I receive/see the alert especially if there is a time zone difference. I can’t even see what dates they had posted which is very frustrating.
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@Gilly2 
Obviously, we love animals, and hopefully we’re also motivated by a desire to help people. Little points of light.
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HO, I say why not contact those who have favourited it, that sounds lovely. Sure, many will likely be unable to do the dates you need, but personally I’d love to know that I might get a chance at a favourite (one I’ve seen before and thought it would be a lovely sit or an ideal fit). The race to be one of the first five to apply is incredibly frustrating and disheartening, and makes the application experience feel rather fraught… so I’d be thrilled to be asked by a HO, even if I can’t do it on that occasion.
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Hi @Trudzie
We often favourite listings when we are putting a trip together and juggling dates-in order to access them again easily. & Sometimes we favourite listings for future dates, when we can’t do the current ones, as a live listing is usually the only time you can see the sit.
Sometimes hosts do reach out to us if they see we’ve favourited but only on a couple of occasions have we been able to actually accept the dates. But it does open up a dialogue for future dates.
We mostly get invited by hosts who’ve found us by scrolling sitters and they feel drawn to us. Again the dates/location don’t usually align. But sometime you do get lucky and find a match! A few years ago we got an invitation out if the blue to an autumn sit down in Provence, South of France. 3 weeks in a beautiful villa with pool 2x dogs, 2x cats & use of car! We were available so flew down especially and it was absolutely worth it!
Reaching out is good- you have nothing to lose!
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I like to go through new listings each day, and add to my favorites for possible future sitting opportunities. We typically know a year in advance what our travel plans will be, so I consider my searches as simply research. It’s been the best way to see a new posting, soon after it’s listed. We have been contacted by favorited pet owners, in the past, and are happy to consider their offer to apply, if we are available.
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We would welcome contact.
I’ve finally worked out how to put a message on this forum after a year’s membership! My question is: lots of sitters have saved us as favourites but we get very little or no response when we publish holiday dates.
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Hello @Sit4myDog and a very warm welcome to the Community Forum, it is lovely to have you here and joining in the conversation
To answer your question, many people save listings as favourites but unfortunately a lot of times the dates don’t work for whatever reason.
For example, I saw one of our favourites come on last night but we are already booked for the listed dates, so unfortunately we couldn’t apply.
Also, for reference you can also add your TrustedHousesitters profile on to your Forum profile by following the attached link, should you wish. This will then enable others to offer you helpful advice and feedback and will also give your listing extra exposure!
If you are unsure how to do this, or if you have any questions at all, do not hesitate to ask, we are all more than happy to help.
Also, remember you can use the spyglass symbol at the top of the page next to the TrustedHousesitters logo and search for any questions that you may have as they have most likely already been answered on here and of course if not then please just ask!
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Hello @Sit4mydog,
As a sitter, I’ll offer my thoughts. When a sitter has saved your listing, it is a bit of a shot in the dark. I have many saved as favorites as I have reviewed the sit and find it to be a good match if the timing would work out. The likelihood of me being available at the time you might need me is low. Other people may be in different situations, but we are booked up through the end of the year so unless it’s for a sit quite a ways out, we would likely be booked up when I get a notification of dates. If it happened to be a time I wasn’t booked, where I happened to be in the world would impact my ability to apply as we travel full time.
I think the ability to indicate favorites is good as you know the sitter has already reviewed your information and we mark them in hopes for a future sit especially with the 5 application limit. And of course holiday times are when a lot of people need a sitter. We made our plans because a sit we already have planned in June on Crete posted another sit for the Christmas/New Years holiday. We found out right away because we had them marked as a favorite.
Dan and Nan