Over the past few years we’ve done a 4-5 week housesit and always overseas and happy to say we’ve always received lovely reviews but we are curious as we’ve often received kind invitations from local area pet owners through the THS portal.
How do they find us ? We only have Sitter only membership but is there a filter button to allow members with dual Sitter & HO Membership status to search for a sitter with a profile to match their needs? We’re thinking of upgrading to Premium status so if this option is available it would be a very useful tool.
@jennylb, under THS protocols then pet parents (not just Dual sitter/HO) can message any housesitter with active subscription. Unless prior contact, housesitters cannot message pet parents (only submit applications).
Some pet parents, especially newbies, focus on direct invitations to local housesitters. From numerous THS Forum threads, this rarely secures a successful outcome - as most sits are confirmed through listing → housesitter applications → video call → sit offered → sit confirmed.
To our knowledge, there is no relevant incremental communication functionality for different membership tiers. We are premium housesitter members and cannot contact pet parents (unless prior contact).
This is a question that I often ask myself. I understand that it easy for a HO to search for sitters in their area as they can search for that.
However, I receive, like others, invitations from the other side of the world. I asked one HO How did you find us - they said they scrolled through thousands of sitters - a very time consuming exercise as we couldn’t or didn’t want to do the sitting!
Are you saying when you are in a foreign country, hosts that live in that area contact you? If you changed your location on your profile to where you are currently sitting, hosts looking for sitters in their area will see your profile. Hosts can search for sitters in particular areas and if your location on your profile was changed to your current area by you they can find you.
@SeniorSitter1 I expect @Itchyfeet is saying that they receive invitations from the opposite side of the world to where they are based, and that their location accurately reflects the fact that they are based on the other side of the world from the sit.
I have experienced the same and I have never changed the location on my profile. It is set to the town where I live in the UK, and I have received invitations for sits near, for example, Seattle. I also wondered how the hosts had come across my profile, but didn’t ask.
Yes @Debbie
That is what I mean thanks
Any homeowner no matter the status can reach out to local sitters via the “find a sitter” feature. This allows them to invite sitters to apply for specfic dates. The system will allow them to find sitters based on stated location or with other filters. It means looking through random profiles with some filters.
There is no special privilege for combined members in terms of finding sitters. As a combined member, I think there is an advantage in knowing what sitters want/need on a sit and being able to make sure my sit goes well for the sitter. I’m also able to leverage being a homeowner and petowner for “trust points” with many hosts.
This occurs because homeowners may have a specific type of person in mind or not understand how the system works. I had no problem understanding the system when I joined. I also have an easy sit to fill because of location. But based on questions that come up all the time in the forum, it’s clear that THS doesn’t do a great job of making sure new homeowners understand how to fill a sit. I think there is a natural inclination to feel like choosing a sitter doesn’t mean choosing random people who respond to a listing, but actually looking at what’s out there and picking the best possible fit. I don’t think new homeowners fully realize that Susan who lives in Yorkshire but is currently sitting in Berlin and has to go home to start school in two months isn’t ready to pop off to Sri Lanka for a wonderful sit opportunity. Maybe there fantasy is there are a bunch of eager travellers with lots of free miles ready to pop off to exotic and exciting locations and passively waiting for the opportunity.