Hi there my fellow pet lovers and wanderlusts! I have two sits that are back to back in Colorado and one of my hosts has had a change in their flights which has caused a challenge with my other sit. I’ve made both hosts aware of the domino effect. They are very hopeful that I’m able to come up with a solution. I’ve found a sitter on the forum in Colorado Springs that sounds perfect for this particular situation if she is available (her calendar shows open) I’m only looking for a one day pinch hit in Manitou Springs. Can anyone tell me how I can reach out to her via email, phone call or on the forum? I’d be very appreciative! Thanks, Tracy
Unfortunately, sitters have no way to contact other sitters directly.
Good luck with your situation!
Ask both your hosts to contact the sitter. Pass on the sitters page details to them with a message from you with your contact details that both owners can copy and paste to the sitter and go from there
I wonder if THS would be willing to contact the sitter and give them my phone number in the interest of helping a homeowner…
That’s doubtful
@1gypsygurl If this person is on the forum, you can click on their name and you’ll see a Message envelope appear for you to send a private message.
For some unknown reason THS has decided to make it very difficult to contact people. Once you agree to a sit you are blocked from communicating with anyone else for the duration of that sit. Say you are booked to do a sit until July 30th and you notice a sit starting July 30th. You cannot communicate with that second sit because THS blocks your communication. You are required to cancel sit #1, then communicate with sit #2 after which you need to get sit #1 to repost their sit, you reapply and get reaccepted. Does that make sense? But if you accept sit #2 you will be blocked from sit #1!
(edited by Forum team to meet Community Guidelines)
Hi @Stefano you can apply to a sit starting 30 July if your current one ends on that same day (we’ve just done it). But yes, agree, THS comms is not exactly easily enabled when we’d all like to talk to other sitters/members/overlapping sits etc #feelyourfrustration
@1gypsygurl in this scenario you have mentioned it’s up to the host who has a changed flight to make alternate arrangements - not you .
Also any solution should not negatively impact the host who hasn’t changed their dates ( like expecting them to have another sitter to cover 1 day of the sit or arriving a day later leaving a day earlier than agreed) . They could quite rightly review you negativity for this .
Whilst the other sitter may show as available on their calendar - IMHO it’s highly unlikely they will be available for a one night sit - what would be the incentive? Where’s the mutual exchange and benefit for them ? Most sitters are against split sits ( taking over from or handing over to another sitter) as anything found to be wrong by the host on return ( dirty / broken / missing ) could be blamed on either sitter .
You should stick to the original arrival and departure dates for both of your confirmed sits and the host who has changed the dates will have to find a solution for the extra day of care .
In any case hosts and ( sitters) should always have a back up plan in place incase of emergencies .
I understand that you are trying to be helpful , but it’s not your problem to solve and it’s not for the host who hasn’t changed their date to solve or have their arrangements changed it’s the responsibility of the host who has a change of flight date to find a solution .
If you think about it - if you were not going onto another sit and we’re flying in or out for the sit - you wouldn’t be able to add additional day to your stay without substantial cost of changing your flight ticket . Or if you had to be at work you couldn’t just add a day to the stay . So an owner can’t expect that you must change your plans to fit their changes .
Of course it’s fine for a host to ask if it’s possible for you to stay an extra day . However if it’s not possible, as in your scenario- you can simply say no sorry it’s not possible as I have another sit confirmed . You will need to make alternate arrangements for the extra day . I will be leaving / arriving on x day as agreed when sit was confirmed. Please let me know who I will be handing over to / taking over from .
#notyourproblem
Not much use for this particular situation, but one of the questions that I ask a HO before confirming a sit is “what is your backup plan should your return be delayed?” If they don’t yet have a backup plan it may prompt them to put one in place, useful if this is a sit you really want to do.
Yup. For me, that’s a natural question as we coordinate arrival and departure times. Having an emergency backup is the host’s responsibility
Yes, we, too, always discuss that point with homeowners while we have our video chat. We make it clear that if they were to be delayed (with their return home), they need to have a back-up plan in place.
We are requiring HO to input their own exact travel plans months in advance to be coordinated with a sitter’s arrival. Some people are at the mercy of airline reservations but many have just guessed when they need to be on the road and have some flexibility, but prospective sitters are locked out by this system.
I appreciate your detailed reply. It’s a bit more involved than I’m able to note to respect confidentiality.
I suppose it’s “not my problem” but I care about my hosts, and would like to be resourceful in finding a solution. It’s out there =).
It’s a simple ask and I’m hoping that someone who is available might agree to help out for the sake of helping others rather than simply “what’s in it for me”.
I’ll keep trying. It’s just who I am.
Thanks again
Thank you for your helpful comment. Would I need to know their “screen name”? For example, I’m listed as 1gypsygurl but when you look me up in the directory, it’s just my first name. Also, just note if anybody else is also reading this reply, I should have mentioned that what is needed. Is somebody to help for a few hours maybe a half a day not even overnight so I was thinking if somebody lived in town and they were available, they might want to go and hang out with his precious pup.
Since it’s a short amount of time wouldn’t the hosts have a neighbor or friend who could help out for a few hours? Seems like it would be much easier for them to ask a friend than for you to try and find someone.
I thought you had already seen this person on the forum and therefore you may have remembered what they use on it @1gypsygurl. Otherwise, it’s likely to be very difficult to find them.
Oh, no- I saw it under the City that the sit is located. Thanks anyway Temba. I appreciate your efforts
Yes, I asked that. They used to have a “girl” who is no longer living there. Thank you
Perhaps a paid sitter might be better in this instance?