Just wanted to make a suggestion that would be helpful for sitters.
It would be nice to have a field for hosts to put in their flight departure and arrival times.
This would help sitters with back to back sits in coordinating arrivals and departures at their next sit.
We often have numerous sits lined up with travel times between locations.We sit on average 6 months of the year. We take pride in the ability to travel between sits without having to arrange alternate overnight accommodation like hotels and BNB’s.
Having flight departure and arrival times
field would be a huge help!
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What does this mean?
“We take pride in the ability to travel between sits without having to arrange alternate overnight accommodation like hotels and BNB’s.”
All members should ofc talk about arrival and departure, both sitters and hosts, but often these things aren’t written in stone anyway and will be a discussion between sitters and hosts.
For my next sit it would be very risky to rely on no alternate accommodation as I will travel intercontinental. Just a small delay or hickup and we might get in trouble as the host also is travelling intercontinental. So I have booked a hotel two nights pre sit (my wish) to look around - and for peace of mind. Some sits the sitter will make it work, other the host will work out something.
But the sit dates are already there. So not sure if that would really make a big difference in general . If it is important to you with specific times and/ or to avoid other accommodation, just say it in your application and/ or in your listing.
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I don’t know if that would be that helpful. Planes are late, or can be canceled. Even if on time there could be a delay on luggage being put on the belt as they may be all occupied by other flights. Then the drive home could be full of traffic.
I just ask the PP what time they would like me to leave on departure date. Usually with a cat that does not need meds it can be more of a flexible time for sitters. I would just find that out from the first PP and discuss with the 2nd one what time you are able to arrive.
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I get where you’re coming from, but this is usually a private discussion that takes place in a video call before sit confirmation. I don’t think many owners would be comfortable sharing their exact travel times on a public listing, and I don’t think THS would make this an option either, as it may breach privacy policies. Probably best to simply discuss arrival & departure times and handover overlap preferences in a call, and iron out all the details together.
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If THS were to add logistics fields, which is doubtful, the most useful would be the time that the sitter needs to arrive at and the time when they’re expected to stay till, with a checkbox for sits that have flexibility for each. That’s because preferred overlaps or buffers vary among hosts.
Having flight times wouldn’t be useful if you didn’t realize that they needed you to arrive early or to leave later. It could actually be misleading to just go by flight times.
But again, THS isn’t likely to add such features, because most sitters have flexibility and can discuss this during a video chat or such. The sitters who are pushing for this the most tend to be full-time nomads who are trying to stack sits and avoid gaps. That’s only a fraction of THS’s sitter membership.
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As @Maggie8K says, there would still be variables that will influence the HO’s preference. What if they’d like a sitter there the day before for a generous overlap? Or if they plan to stop somewhere on the way home and they’d need you to stay at their house until the day after their landing?
Better left discussed in private.
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And not everyone’s flying. If HOs are driving, departure times might not be so cut-&-dried. They’ll get on the way when they’re ready.
Or if they’re driving a long way to an airport and staying in a hotel the night before they fly out, there’s no point in listing flight times.
One of my repeat sits would give some sitters absolute conniptions: hosts flying standby, so they gave me the date they wanted me to be there, and they were leaving a day, or 2, after that. And return days were a surprise as well. 
We just made it work by communicating.
Fortunately they are absolutely lovely people and we had great visits each time. It was like visiting friends or extended family. I really hope, if I can’t sit for them again, that they get a sitter who doesn’t have fits over that arrangement.
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I can’t see the point of departure and arrival times relating to flights. Some HOs live hours from the airport, some are not flying at all, some do not head straight home but stay overnight somewhere else. I do agree, however, that it would be a good thing to have some idea of required arrival and departure times for sitters, to save having to apply to find out that vital piece of information.
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The time they are due back home would be useful when applying, it’s happened quite a few times whereby in our application message I’ve had to say that we would need to leave by ? time, on the end date, it puts a slightly negative tinge to our otherwise positive message. We usually get accepted, so it’s never had an impact for us, but it would be good not having to put something negative or potentially make us appear non-helpful, for no-reason when applying.
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What I need to know is what time they want me to arrive/depart. That is helpful to know before applying. In chats I always ask what time they are leaving and what time they want me to arrive, same for departure. A field for sitter arrival/departure time would be useful. Even just providing morning/afternoon/evening would be nice to know before applying.
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I think it would be very beneficial to have arrival and departure expectations for the sitter. Even if I am in a hotel traveling from one sit to another, there may be a distance, like when I travel cross country and I need to know how close I need to be to the sit for the arrival time when I stop for a hotel.
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I think it’s been suggested before. As a host (who also sits sometimes) I add a paragraph at the beginning of my listing with this information, giving ranges for sitter arrival and departure. It makes sense for both parties so I don’t go down a road with someone who won’t be able to arrive till later in the day then needed or will have to leave too early on the last day.
Writing about it in the forum, however, won’t do much good! (I know as I’ve mentioned it before!) At most, a moderator will offer to bring it up to the products team.) I’ve also tried writing to member services directly with suggestions like this but rarely even get a reply that doesn’t read like a form or AI. I’ve kind of given up on THS changing stuff except when something really bad happens in reaction. I think we all need workarounds. Unfortunately, your workaround is probably to write an email after an application or in your application asking for more precise timing.
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A simple field in the hosts welcome guide to fill out departure and arrival times would be beneficial for sitters
The welcome guide isn’t sent to the sitter until after they’ve accepted the confirmed sit @Driven so wouldn’t be very helpful. #addtovideocallquestions
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As nice as it would be for both the sitter and HO to have exact (or at least morning/afternoon/evening/red eye) arrival and departure info when setting up the sit, unless you are within 4 to 6 weeks of the sit date, we are at the whim of the airlines with schedule changes, weather, etc.
I always ask the HO about this before agreeing to a sit, but unless we are both driving, know that can change as the sit gets closer.
The HO and sitter just need to show consideration for each other and provide notice of changes as soon as they are known.
And if possible, accept last-minute changes and if not the HO and sitter must work together to resolve issues.
I’ve had a few
- returning from a sit on Jeju Island, South Korea - my flight was connecting through Shanghai on the day that Shanghai airport shut down intl flights for covid. Fortunately, Delta AL managed to get me on a flight through Seoul (which was crazy that night) with a subway connection from Gimpo to Incheon. But the HO offered to let me stay on for as long as I needed to.
- Two with HOs returning from ski-trips and weather postponed their flights by a day. In both cases I was able to stay an extra day, but if I hadn’t been able to, the HO was prepared to ask a friend/neighbor to fill in.
- Another where the HO got notice of a family emergency at the airport on departure. She had to completely cancel the trip, and I went home from a 2 week sit on the day after I arrived.
Maybe I’m being too accomadating but working together should be a the center of our exchanges, right?
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@toml I think most sitters and HOs try to work together as much as possible to accommodate changes from the initial plan. But there has to be some initial plan. I can’t make any travel arrangements without knowing when the HO would like me to arrive. I appreciate when hosts include in the listing if they are planning to leave in the morning or later in the day. If the listing indicates they will be leaving in the morning and I know I wouldn’t be able to arrive in the morning, then I don’t waste my time (and theirs) applying for the sit.
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When I help owners with their listings on the forum, I always suggest that they add when they would like a sitter to arrive & depart, and what they expect for handover overlap time (do they want their sitter do stay over the night before they leave, for example). It would definitely be helpful for THS to add this as a prompt when owners are writing their intro, rather than then simple “tell us about yourself & why you need a sitter.” Some of the prompts are really vague/unhelpful & could really be updated to create more attractive & informative content that sitters are actually looking for.
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Many sits are arranged with less than 8 weeks. Personally, I never post a sit until AFTER I know at least approximately when I would be leaving whether by plane, train, or car. Of course things can change, and that’s why communication is important, but often my choice of who gets the sit – when there is more than one suitable person – comes down to the logistics and who can be there at the right time without keeping my cats waiting too long for dinner and leave at the right time without keeping my cats waiting too long for dinner. Even someone not filling in the form or saying: Flexibile or “Not set yet” as an option would tell sitters something about the sit.
As a sitter there are sits I don’t apply to because the host has some timing requirement mentioned that I know won’t work. EG: A rural sit that would require my driving three hours in the dark or finding some place to stay the night before and the options are too expensive or awful.
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@Driven, as internationally-minded full-time housesitters then totally understand your perspective. I rather doubt that THS would add such fields to platform.
We find that the solution lies in clear questions in video calls. We then keep track of PP flights.
- Is the trip booked? Details of flights/travel plans gives comfort on confirmed travel plans.
- Departure date? When Pet Parent has long international flight home then they often request that we stay an extra night, to cover risk of delayed/cancelled flight. We try hard to accommodate … provided details known well in advance … confirm in video call. When we have return flight details, we check flight status and can message Pet Parent that everything looks ok, pets ok, etc so gives comfort.
- Often the dates on THS listings require clarification. Does the listing start/end date reflect dates of pet parent travels, date of preferred/required housesitter arrival?
- Even ballpark time within day can be helpful and ensure reasonable expectations.
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