I have invited over 30 people to sit (and have updated profile at the suggestion of one). Many of them show that they are available, but then they say they aren’t. It’s quite frustrating. I’ve also seen posts that it’s useless to invite people. I’m leaving in just over 3 weeks and have had my listing up for over a month. Suggestions?
Most sitters don’t use the calendar as we cannot make ourselves positively unavailable.
Struck through is on a THS sit, green is positively available (this we can do) and white is default unavailable, but could mean either if the sitter doesn’t use the calendar.
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This issue has repeatedly been discussed on the forum. If you search ‘availability calendar’ or ‘sit invites’ into the search bar, hundreds of discussions will come up that will help you understand why invites don’t often work, and why you need an attractive listing that gains applicants rather than sending invites.
Here’s some discussions:
Hope that helps 
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Your question has been posed here on the forum time and time again. The answer is that the calendar is not user friendly, THS sits confirmed on the site update the calendar automatically to show those dates aren’t available but sitters are likely to have holidays and sits booked through other websites that can’t easily be marked on the calendar.
So ignore the calendars and don’t bother inviting sitters as that rarely works.
You’ll just have to be patient and list your sit and wait for sitters to come to you.
What we can do here is give you advice on your listing in case it could be made more attractive to sitters. So post a link to your listing if you wish. Here’s how to do that:
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THS must be creating this kind of misunderstanding, that the HO gets access to some vast pool of sitters around where they live. People that for some crazy reason are doing this for free instead of getting paid.
Misleading advertising!
And I guess then that is also the reason why THS does not add a key or legend to the calendar.
I have received several invitations to sit. I’ve never accepted one. That’s not to say i wouldn’t do so if the right sit was presented to me.
I’ve only responded to one invite to thank them and politely decline their invitation simply because I wasn’t in a position to commit to the dates of the sit at the time.
The rest I just chuckled at and deleted… they all required international travel to rather remote or obscure destinations and expected me to rent a vehicle in order to fulfil their listed ‘sitter’s responsibilities’ (which themselves were quite lengthy).
I can’t imagine any invitation of this manner - where a HO has a long list of expectations and requirements (particularly those that involve significant financial outlay by the sitter) would be successful.
I think HOs need to ask themselves objectively would they themselves accept such an invitation from a stranger to travel (at their expense) to their home and perform the responsibilities they have requested for free. If the answer is no they would not then they need to pinpoint why they wouldn’t and try to fix that issue. If it’s not possible to alter their requirements then maybe a HO has no choice but to hire a professional sitter.
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I’ve recently started sitting locally, but am selective. Like if someone has a cushy high-rise apartment to offer at city center in my area, cool. Or say they have a home near lots of walkable amenities. That’s because my home is in a suburban setting and I enjoy variety.
I don’t know that many hosts can easily predict whether someone might value a local sit. Say some sitters live in roommate situations or otherwise want a local sit, unless they say so explicitly in their sitter profile, there’s no way for a host to tell when inviting them. So maybe they want to make the effort even if odds are low.
It is important though for hosts to know that odds are low via inviting sitters.
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Suzshark, if you put your listing into your forum profile, some of us might be able to provide some insight into why you aren’t getting applications.
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Welcome @Suzshark
Although the platform has a search function “Find a sitter”
this rarely works -
Why? Because there is nowhere for a sitter to state where they want to sit . So I may be located in London but looking for sits in Paris . So even if I’ve updated my calendar- that doesn’t mean that I want to sit in your location. Most sitters have joined for a travel experience ( as THS advertises) and are not looking for sits close to home .
It might help you to understand how sitters find sits - we have a search function “ find a sit “ we enter the location that we want to stay in and the house sits looking for a sitter in that area come up . We choose a listing that looks appealing - nice home and pets and with responsibilities that are not excessive . We then apply for that sit .
We found all our sits this way by searching through listings .
That’s why the suggestion is to create a listing which is attractive , then sitters who want to visit your area will see it when they do a search for a sit in your area .Then they will apply .
As others have already suggested you can add your listing to your forum profile for sitters to see and potentially suggest some improvements.
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I don’t use the availability calendar because my schedule changes too much. That said, I have received a few random invitations to sit likely because the HO saw that I live in their county.
On what criteria have you made these invitations ? Are you not receiving any responses to your post (by non-invitees) ? Try linking your post here in the forum…You never know !
Not sure… have you created a listings or just trying to invite sitters? Can you share the link in your post so we can see?
As a sitter I can understand your frustration; we’ve received several invites but so far have had to decline them all because we aren’t available in the HO’s area for the time that they need us.
I keep our availability calendar (not necessarily a user-friendly thing to do) and the HOs can see that we are available but what they can’t see is that we aren’t available in their area for that time.
We travel fulltime and my profile says I’m in Redmond, because that’s my home town. I know I can update it to say where I am currently but that doesn’t help the HO if I’m there only temporarily.
until THS makes the platform more useful, I would suggest that you create a listing and let the sitter find you. Then watch for sitters who “Favorite” your sits and reach out to them because if the sitter is already booked for a sit that overlaps yours by even just a day, they can not message or apply for the sit.
And as I understand it, it is now blocked from the other direction too.
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ah, man… thanks for the heads up… that coupled with the latest News about THS is yet another reason why I think we won’t be renewing
@Suzshark I think the best approach now would be to see if there is anything you can add to your listing to make it more attractive than it already is.
If you link it to you forum profile members here can take a look. Many times suggests made here have helped HOs find great applications.
Have you had sitters before or just having trouble this time. ?
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What is this latest news ?
I have had sitters, before but I’m just having trouble this time. I have updated my listing with some pictures of my new swim spa and my outdoor amenities so I will try to put a link in here and grateful for any advice anybody can give me.
This is a link to my page. Not sure if there is a better way to link it. (New to the forum.)
Edited and added listing to profile forum.
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Hi @Suzshark sorry to hear you’re not finding sitters. Your listing and cute pooch look easy, there are a few things that would help sitters choose you. What time does your pup wake? How long and how often for walks? On lead, off lead?? How long can she be left for? What time is bed time? What else does she eat other than the shared yoghurt (as it’s mentioned)? Not all sitters like dogs in their beds so that limits you a little. Can you suggest some things that the sitter can do in your local area whilst sitting, attractions, location to some shops, restaurants etc to add appeal? At the moment your pics are all portrait and need to be landscape if you want to show the rooms & house off better, they’re very small (on a laptop display). Does your sitter need a car or are you accessible by public transport would be another useful bit of info. Try adding some of those and then pause and relist. #bestofluck
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How long can you dog be left alone for ? This needs to be stated clearly this in your listing .
Your previous sitter said in her review that she was a constant companion- so that might lead sitters to think that she can’t be left alone at all .
I notice in the photos - ramps / steps to the sofa and bed does your dog need to be lifted during the day how often / up stairs ? These are things a sitter needs to know before applying.
You mention your dog has accidents in the house - this will put off many sitters - how often is this ? At night or during the day ? How do you deal with this? puppy pads ? Please add this information to your listing so sitter knows what is involved with cleaning up these “accidents.”
Also as your location is not accessible by public transport can you offer use of your car ? Would the sit be suitable for a family ?
If it’s possible to offer - these will make your sit attractive to a wider pool of sitters .
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Hey there, I took a look at your listing for you. Overall it sounds friendly & inviting, and your dog is very cute However, I can see where the listing lets you down. Here are some suggestions that might help to boost your listing:
1: Your intro is friendly, but gives no incentive for a sitter to pick your sit & keep reading. Try including straight away why a sitter should choose you & what benefits they will have (besides the spa).
2: Your home & location section is quite minimal, with zero information about what’s to see & do in the area, and very little info about the home except for the spar & sleeping arrangements. Try describing the home in more detail. Also mention if the sitter will need their own car, or if they can use yours. You have listed it as not accessible via public transport, but as you are in a city, are you sure? Is there no bus or train connections nearby??
3: Your responsibilities section is a little ambiguous, and I can see why you would have few applicants - accidents in the house? How frequent is this? How can a sitter manage this? Is this really a fair expectation to have for an unpaid sitter to mange?
It’s not exactly ideal. Neither is a dog that sleeps with the owner - many people don’t appreciate this and value their sleep. Is it absolutely necessary for the sitter to sleep with the dog, or can you give them the option to sleep in a different room? Hmm… sharing a yoghurt cup with the dog. Please remember that this is your dog, and just because you do that, it’s highly unlikely anyone else would and sounds pretty unappealing. I’d remove this and not expect this of a sitter. You also say she needs letting out when waking up, which is fine, but what time is this? If it’s very early in the morning (5 or 6am) it’s not exactly ideal either.
I would include how long her walks are for and how long she can be left during the day (and remember that ‘never’ or less than 4hrs at a time is not reasonable for most sitters). It would be great to mention more information about the dog’s personality - is she playful, cuddly, friendly, good with other dogs, behaves well on walks?
Remember that to gain applicants, your listing needs to be as attractive as possible with a strong incentive for a sitter to want to sit for you. Give them good, clear reasons why this sit is ideal and what you are offering a sitter.
You might want to give this blog a read:
Hope that helps
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