Deluge of invitations to sit!

Out of interest @Ruckusfan - are they all in similar places or one country or location or are they totally random? :thinking:

1 Like

The locations are pretty random. . . Oregon, California, Texas, Florida, UK, Spain, Australia, etc. The “home” location currently shown on our profile is “None of the above” : )

1 Like

@Ruckusfan , you must be an amazing sitter! If you find out why all the invites have been pouring in for ex, if it has something to do with THS algorithms , will you let us know? I want to know your secret! :wink:

1 Like

Maybe. When we signed up as homeowners in July 2022, we had multiple sitters (3-5) contacting us for each successive sit. However, for the last 3 sits, there has been a surprising lack in responses. I’m wondering if sitters are so severely lacking because most listings have a purple box on the photo saying “LOW APPLICATIONS”. Ours did on the last sit, but on the one posted last night, it doesn’t even though we’ve had zero applicants so far.

We have a great, easy fun cat, a wonderful house in a nice setting, and only the best reviews by and for all the sitters we have hosted. The only thing that has changed since we started posting is we now have a positive history of housesits to share with potential sitters.

So, consider homeowners who have already made vacation plans, and begin to get concerned: “What is no one applies???”

Long story short: THIS MIGHT BE WHY YOU ARE GETTING INVITES…
To be proactive, it is suggested that homeowners contact sitters in our area or who have previously saved our listing and invite them to sit. This is great in theory, but unfortunately due to glitches in the THS software, the filters are clumsy and the sitter’s calendars are not updated or able to be updated properly. And so homeowners may be wasting a lot of time inviting sitters who do not have availability or may not want to sit in the area.

PS Where did all the sitters go???

2 Likes

Hi @AmyNJoe.

Sounds like it takes 48 h before a listing is eligible for the “low app” badge.

Also, if your image gets moderated, it’s because you have to blur out info that could identify other members (e.g. the thumbnail, listing title, dates, location).

1 Like

Thanks!! (I just whited out the locations/dates on the pics!)

1 Like

The lack of adaptability is one of my main gripes as a homeowner. Before I invite someone, i ALWAYS check the calendar of the sitter. The FILTER selects all sitters who are not on a THS sit. This means sitters could be unavailable for a number of reasons like traveling between sits, busy working on another job, sitting from another site, ill, kids in school, etc!

But to homeowners, if a date is white or if it’s green, it still appears as AVAILABLE. the ONLY thing that triggers unavailable is a slash through the date (meaning they are actually on a THS sit).

I think maybe the way it works is that every date is white by default and a sitter must change to green if they are available (if this is possible?!?!?), and it auto slashes when a sit is confirmed. If sitters don’t change white to green, the filter reads this as also available.

I really don;t know if this is the case, but some sitters have blocks of green (which the key says is “available”, and many more have blocks of white (which isn’t in the key). The slashed green is in the key as Unavailable.

i’ve been having the same thing happen recently and i’ve also noticed ppl have at times had 4 applicants on their post. they aren’t happy with what they are receiving and looking to who else is there. whether it’s the answer i don’t know but i never used to get ppl asking and now i’ve had 2-3 a week

Hello @AmyNJoe

Just to confirm this for you and others reading you are correct, the sitter’s availability calendar is white (unavailable) by default.
The sitters manually add the green for when they are available to sit and when they confirm a THS sit the system automatically slashes those dates out.

For me as a sitter, we are guilty of not always adding when we are available especially too far in advance as we are not always sure where we will be, unexpected work/family commitments or what will be happening in the future. We probably would be better off being able to also add when we are definitely not available, but that is not currently an option (it is on the THS suggestions topic)

Here is a topic talking about the calendar in more depth:

We always welcome invites to sit and even if we are not available to do those dates, it is great to connect with an owner for a future sitting opportunity.

1 Like

WAIT! You say white is the default, but you mention it means UN-Available. When I as a homeowner do a search for a sitter for a certain time period, any sitters with white OR green are picked up as AVAILABLE; the only time someone is UN available is when they have a slash through a date. That is the flaw in the search/coding…

Hello, @AmyNJoe I have just tested this with my sitter’s profile and if I filter for dates that I am unavailable (in white) then I do not show up as an available sitter in my location. But if I filter for dates that I am available (in green) in my location then I do show up.
However, I am keen to help in case something else is happening for you so I will DM you now.

You’re kind. Thanks!

No clue yet about why the “deluge”. THS has not provided any helpful information either.

Again another unintended consequence of the 5 applicant rule. Homeowners are probably feed up with just receiving 5 mediocre applicants so now instead of weeding through applicants 5 at a time they are reaching out to sitters instead. If was a homeowner now I would use this strategy to actually pick a quality sitter rather than who applied first.

10 Likes

This is a good idea.

I think THS should make this a feature in the app - as HOs have dates, and if you could block your calendar, then you simply wouldn’t come into their view :slight_smile: - I have made this suggestion to the HQ, but now joined here (forum), this is another place to do it.

Hi @Ruckusfan
I can understand you sending a curt rejection to invitations without a message.
However, there is a blip in the system when sending out an invitation with a message which affects both HOs and sitters,
If any of us send a message and then send out an invitation at the same time the message will disappear. We have to write out the message and press send. Then the writer needs to ensure the message has gone and then send out the invitation or the rejection.
If I receive an invitation with no message I ask the HO if they did actually write a message out. Sometimes they ignore me but on quite a few occasions they say that yes they did send a message which they now understand has disappeared. Some of the HOs have then been mortified that they could have seen to be rude by sending no message.
I have raised this on more than one occasion with THS but nothing has been done

5 Likes

Hello @Itchyfeet Thank you for the reminder of this one and for previously raising it. It is a small glitch in the system and the tech team are aware and have it on the road map to be fixed. Thank you for yours and everyones patience.

1 Like

Yup. I found the same since I began sitting in Oct lat year, peaking in April and also over the summer months. Sometimes as much as 4 in 12 hrs on several occasions.

This may be because i usually go for very remote locations, where i work from home and there is no sightseeing to do on the whole… (my current sit though is not remote, with plenty of sightseeing, has a tiny kitten who can’t be left alone for more than an hr or so. But I’m content to stay mostly with him and already know the area…)

My invites are from all over and sometimes a long way in advance and for different times of year. I put the waves down to it’s when a lot of people might plan their trips and the savvy ones want their choice of sitter…?

Ultimately it meant my original thought of just doing a couple of sits after my pets died, has become hardly going back to my apartment for a year. I don’t like saying no! THS has changed my life in ways i never expected and really appreciate what joining it has given me…

2 Likes

It would be great as a sitter to be able to update the calendar from our end. I sometimes have to chase HOs for them to convert the application to an acceptance, as I still get other offers over their dates that don’t show on the THS calendar. (One lovely repeat host took 7 months of chasing as she kept thinking she had done this but the app did not show it). A lot of HOs are asking me for help with using the APP, but i have to explain that we see a very different interface from them and so i don’t know…

Does anyone know if a sitter can change/update the calendar from their end?. Apologies in advance if this is really easy, as tech & THS app is not my strong point

@LynKinn, that’s a good point. Probably what is happening for me too, as I noticed they tend to already have several applicants when receiving their unexpected invite. I really don’t mind at all…

I often have invites but I normally refuse mainly due to being booked up well into next year. One lady told me she had written to 200 peole who had mostly said the same thing. The calendar as it has been said many times before, is very confusing and I have explained the ‘key’ several times because sometimes people say 'it says you are available ’ because its white and I’m not, I do other things with my life . Also I don’t really want to go to a random place that I haven’t researched or don’t really like the look of the listing. I have helped fairly local people out occasionally if it fits in. I think there is a general shortage of sitters I know people who don’t travel much any more, that may add to it. Also the cost of flights has soared so trying to get someone in the same country/area might make owners think it’s easier and more reliable