How can identify sitters who have availability on my dates?

Owner Questions, Advice & Chat
1

This is my third time using THS and each time I have had to search for suitable sitters. What I find frustrating is that there does not seem to be a way to search for sitters who have said they are available on my dates.

It I enter my dates in the search it still brings back people who have not specified that they are available, which wastes so much of my time.

Any suggestions?
Many thanks
Kay

2

Yes, that is a waste of time.

The way THS works is that you post your listing to the world. Sitters that have your area as a Saved search will then get a notification. They may then decide to apply.

Local sitters in your area are probably not so interested. They could work for a paid service instead if they wanted to sit in the same town.

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3

Hi Kay,
I think it’s probably the exception rather than the rule that sitters keep their calendars up to date. It’s true that the preferred mode for most home owners is to post, probably a month or more out from the bed, and far before that if it’s a long sit … but occasionally you may need to invite a sitter … what we do is:

  1. Start with previous sitters.
  2. Move on to sitters that have favorited our listing.
  3. The look at sitters that are based 2-4 hours drive away if it’s a short sit or 4-8 hours away if it’s a week or longer sit. In the summer we target southerners who might want a cooler spot and vice versa in the winter.
    We invite about 3 at a time and then wait a few days or until all have declined, whichever is first, and then repeat until we get a good application. We never look at availability due to the hypothesis that it’s mostly inaccurate.

Hope this helps! :slight_smile:

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4

The struck-out dates should be accurate. Those are generated by THS when the sitter is accepted and confirmed on those dates.

5

FWIW - We set ourselves as always available. I think THS strikes out days we have confirmed sits. But otherwise we ignore the calendar.

6

It’s time wasting for both HO and sitters. I am constantly getting invitations for dates that clash with a confirmed THS sit dates . I can just decline by clicking a box, but feel it’s polite to send a message explaining why I am declining, it all takes time and is unnecessary since THS calendar already knows that I am already committed to a sit on those dates.

One way THS platform could solve this problem would be not to include unavailable sitters in the search results .

Another way would by for the system to block the HO from sending an invitation for dates when a sitter already has a THS sit . ( with an automatic pop up -“ You are not able to send an invitation to this sitter as they already committed to another THS sit for these dates“)

As I write this comment, another invitation arrives in my inbox for dates that clash with the THS sit that we are currently at !!!

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7

Instead, THS has started bothering sitters with such pop-ups and warnings against overlapping dates.

It is getting more and more obvious to me which side is prioritized by management.

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8

We get homeowners reaching out to ask if we’re available for their dates. But we book out 6 months in advance so I get your dilemma. Your question makes me think it’s worthwhile to include our available dates in our profile and update it as we book sits since it’s quick to update. Thanks and good luck.

9

It is only accurate for THS bookings. It doesn’t include sitter’s personal travel plans, or that they are planning to stay home and have no interest in sitting.

10

It is also not an on/off thing, especially “interest in sitting”.

There are dates that I could be tempted to travel by some offers but that does not mean that I am interested to sit in an ordinary cluttered apartment in a drab suburb of some nondescript industrial rainy city with a herd of unruly rescue pets.

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