I’m wondering where the 22 % in ‘Did you know? Pet parents are 22% more likely to accept applications from Duo Sitters!’ come from. Did THS conduct a survey with HOs?
Hmmm. I seem to find plenty of sits happy to have just myself, & quite a few noting the HO prefers a single sitter.
That said, the more animals there are (particularly dogs/horses/farm stock), the more likely the HO requests or requires duo-sitters — and the more likely I am to leave it for them. 
@weltenbummler, where are you seeing this statistic?
Seems very odd.
Firstly, Duo Sitters has only been re-activated for a brief period. So perhaps statistic is historic.
Second, In last 2-3 years then we don’t recall any THS surveys so unclear how THS would collate such data.
Third, cause and effect relationship seems questionable. Housesitters that pay for Duo Sitter functionality may be more experienced sitters or have another attribute that makes them more appealing to pet parents.
Finally, it seems unintuitive. Duo Sitter feature appears to benefit housesitters. Guess benefit to Pet Parents is that it broadens the pool of available housesitters. But we would guess that Pet Parents would prioritize applicants that are not Duo Sitters, as both housesit persons will commit to listed dates. Duo Sitters may later have ability that one of them arrive late or leave early.
For context, we are Duo Sitters and have perceived no disadvantage in applications. But we have not observed any positive benefit to applications.
I wouldn’t worry about that percentage which yes, I see when considering listings sometimes. Keep in mind that it can also be interpreted that 78% are less likely to accept applications from Duo Sitters so it’s not a great promotion by THS!!
That’s like saying that HO’s aren’t particularly excited to accept Duo sitters…
It’s in the latest newsletter, see screenshot.
The way I see it, the “Duo Sitter” verification is mostly a marketing polish. In reality, homeowners usually decide based on the fundamentals: number of reviews, location, personal preference for a couple or solo sitter, and experience with animals. Those seem to outweigh a verification badge. However I’d be happy to be proven wrong. Has anyone here actually noticed a significant boost in their acceptance rate after adding Duo verification?
The use of statistics improves the chances of selling a product.
Just my .02%
To the contrary. We are not used to being declined, and it happened twice lately even without an accompanying message. Both applications were not for overlapping sits, so we didn’t mention the fact that we are duo sitters (because we were part of the beta group). But then, I have no idea if HOs can see that on our profile.
I am confused. If you a couple, you are a duo sitter, right? Does that mean you could apply for overlapping sits? So technically, you could be on a house sit in Detroit with 2 dogs, take another sit in Detroit with a cat, never stay at the cat house but just over and feed it and empty litter box. But…why would anyone do that? I could see if you overlap a few days and then no hotel costs, but juggling cleaning up a house, taking care of all the pets, just seems onerous to save a hotel night.
@Huronbase It doesn’t work like that. Couple sitters are not automatically “Duo Sitters” That is an extra add-on that sitters can purchase and it was only introduced recently. It allows up to two days overlap- I.e “Duo” sitter couples can split for a night or two to facilitate two overlapping sits.
in the old days before overlaps were banned the scenario you described was indeed possible.
100%, according to surveys.
The Duo sitter feature only permits an overlap of a maximum of two days .
It is only potentially useful for couples who want to do back to back sits and who don’t mind splitting up for a couple of days to make that work . ( Which is only a very small percentage of sitters )
The locations would need to be close enough for it to work logistically for the couple and both hosts would need to agree to the arrangement ( where there is only one sitter staying at each home for the overlapping days)
For example a couple who sits full time finds
2 x month long sits that only over lap by one or two days ( at the end of the first and start of the next) . Then Duo Sitter might be useful for them.
HOs see a text “Both background checked” or “Both ID verified”, but no mention of Duo Sitters or what that means.
Thank you! Good to know.
@Silversitters, precisely. We have used Duo Sitter feature just once so far and it allowed us to apply for, and to complete, two housesits of multi-week duration that overlapped by a couple of days. Pet Parents were fine. Not big deal for us. Worked out.
Would you mind letting us know how exactly it works in practice? Say, you have confirmed a sit with HO1 and apply for an overlapping sit. HO2 confirms. Then THS informs both HOs that you are overlapping which is fine if both HOs agree. But what if one HO does not? Are both sits then unconfirmed by THS? That would mean that by applying for an overlapping sit you risk losing a sit that’s been already confirmed.
I still don’t know how I feel about “Duo sitters” option I am getting a little annoyed at constantly getting push notification’s to sign up for it, they are clearly aware from our details we are a family. My husband does not always come on sits with the now Adults Children and I, I would only consider the Duo sitters to sign one of the Adult Children up so they could start to get their own feedback etc.
I will say, I am disappointed like many sitters, full timers, long time sitters that they changed the platform so you can’t go from one sit straight to another sit, when we were full time if they had of changed it then, I would have had kittens (lol) I understand people were doing the wrong thing and floating between sits for the last day(s) and that’s not okay, however it did penalise us sitters who would leave a sit in the morning and travel straight to the next sit all agreed with both HO’s before agreeing to sits.
Anyways it is how it is.
Happy Travels all.
it’s still possible to apply for sits that start / end the same day as an already confirmed sit ends / starts .
This summer we did a whole run of back to back sits that started on the same day that another ended . We have not yet “upgraded “ to Duo Sitter and are unlikely to .
@Manda our experience also matches @Silversitters We still occasionally do same day changeovers- I.e end one sit in the morning and travel to another in the evening. That’s usually when the second sit is an evening handover before hosts early departure the next day. Recently, due to a site glitch, when I was blocked from applying to a same day sit, I complained to THS and they confirmed that it is was just a glitch and that it is definitely allowed to change sits on the same day. That glitch keeps reoccuring but it’s a tech issue only.
In the old days we did occasionally split up to facilitate overlaps but do not really enjoy sitting separately & it can be stressful. So we are unlikely to sign up for Duo Sitter. At least the Duo Sitter feature makes it a much cheaper option to be able overlap again rather than opening a second account as some sitter couples resorted to. And all the reviews remain in one place.
Ah, good to know, thanks.
Duo has the plus of being cheaper than a whole new membership for sure.
Happy Travels and Sitting