Does how long the sit has been advertised affect your decision to apply?

Username checks out :slight_smile:

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Welcome to the community forum HappyWanderer. So exciting to hear from someone who has international travel booked for later in the year!

I think you are right about people who are committed to longer term international travel plans looking well in advance, especially in countries with less density of sits. It’s how we used to plan before Covid, which has created some very unusual circumstances for sitters and owners over the past year and a half.

We’ll look forward to living through your travels in the forum when you set off to Japan. Thank you again for contributing to this topic, and enjoy your time here connecting with other world travellers, house sitters and pet lovers!

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Agree totally Martin

Thank you for posting in the forum Ali and sharing your feedback. It’s good to see new forum members contributing on this topic. The pandemic has certainly upset the apple cart in terms of any long term planning. I think for the UK (where Foldor is), lots of people were waiting to hear more about which countries they can travel to and how the traffic light system would work. Now that’s been announced hopefully things will become more fluid. Finger’s crossed! Are you managing to find sits at the moment?

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We just applied for our first sit since the lockdown but so have 30 others! :rofl: Looking forward to getting back out there! Thanks!!!

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Fingers crossed :crossed_fingers: for you

I found the list hilarious as Oz & Nz are on it :sweat_smile:. Ok, if you’re a Kiwi trying to get home it’s a smidgen easier now with the bubble freeing up a heap of quarantine spots but it’s not cheap :grimacing:.

Happy in some way our borders won’t open til next year. I get jittery when 1 covid case pops up…

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I know… it was a very strange list… Not sure how many have the Falkland Islands top of their summer travel list … I imagine that’s a little outside the budget of most families! I don’t understand why anyone adds countries where you aren’t allowed in. Portugal looks like the winner in the first round :joy:

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Is inter UK travel allowed? Can you say…take a train from London to Aberdeen then fly to The Orkneys or Shetlands?

I’m sure there are some nice far flung corners of the UK people may have not seen before & now may be a chance?

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I’ve just checked on the visit Scotland website and it looks like you can, but there are still some restrictions in place in different areas and lateral flow tests needed to get to some of the islands. Looks like further easing by June.
Anyone travelling should check the official gov websites to make sure they have the most up-to-date info, as it will change frequently as UK comes out of lockdown.

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Martin,
Great to hear about your experience. I am trying to understand why owners leave people hanging. This should really be a win-win situation. Sometimes I see opportunities with “31-40 applicants” and it sits that way for weeks/months. I understand being busy, but owners should realize that it is a lot easier to screen 10-20 applicants than 30-40. I feel frustrated by this!

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Martin,
I did not know that you can see if the owner read your application! Thank you! That is a great tip!

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What if THS set limits on applicants? Would that be better or worse for sitters? I always have a hard time choosing, all my applicants seemed amazing, so I can’t really imagine an HO needing more than a dozen options.

I always pause by 7 now, and recently I paused after the first because he was perfect for our three month sit and I was afraid I’d end up with too many good options. I hate having to turn great people down.

Maybe some HO’s get overwhelmed? Or maybe they are just inconsiderate and perhaps THS needs to be nudged follow up and encourage them to respect the program. :thinking:

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Martin am 99 per cent sure they can read it.

Hi @Shafofo we are constantly looking at ways to improve the communication process and limits on applications has been discussed. Thank you also for being a diligent owner.

Some owners, especially new ones are unaware that applications can be paused, giving them time to review and answer sitters, we do send nudges reminding them to respond to all applicants in a timely manner … what do you think could also help? It is always interesting to get an owners perspective.

A post was split to a new topic: Managing Sitter Applications

Hi Shafofo
I think your item 4 is a really good one, they can still receive more applicants but only if they actively review and reject.

That will set the developers a challenge! :rofl:

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Hi Shafofo, thank you for taking the time to prepare such a comprehensive reply … I’m going to move this to Feedback & Ideas where it will come to the attention of the Product Team.

Thank you again, sharing your thoughts and ideas highlights the value our forum represents for both members and the TrustedHousesitters team.

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That’s another sit I have just withdrawn for July…

Application made and read 10 days ago with not the slightest acknowledgement from HO

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And I bet you then receive that annoying auto message “Sorry you have not been successful this time”

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