As people seem to like to organise themselves well in advance, I like to list things at least 2 months ahead. But it seems to be impossible to freeze that sit and list another one. I have a dog and cat, and the sits vary depending on whether I leave the dog or not. It is very frustrating to pay for a year’s membership and not be able to use it every time. Is there a way around this?
Hi @eadams 
I’m a little confused about the issue here. A homeowner has one owner profile, and that profile can be used to create multiple sit listings with different dates.
For example:
- Sit 1: April, dog + cat
- Sit 2: July, cat only
- Sit 3: October, dog + cat
Each of those can be a separate listing, so you don’t need to freeze one sit in order to list another, as long as the dates are different.
The only limitation I can see would be if you are trying to list two different versions of the same dates, for example “dog and cat” versus “cat only” depending on your final plans. In that case, the platform may not allow overlapping listings.
If the concern is simply being organised and listing future sits well in advance, multiple future listings from the same homeowner profile should be possible.
I am not sure if the problem is that you can’t have different versions of the same listing active at the same time. If that is the case, the easiest work around is to list as many dates as you want and then write a note saying for sits X and Y only responsibilities regarding cat and house apply.
Hi - this is very useful thanks. I prefer my profile reflects the sit - but presumably people just navigate around this. I had a bad experience once, so tend to be over cautious, and want this to be fully transparent.
Thanks so much - I’m uncomforable with the profile being a bit confusing if there is unnecessary information on it for a particular sit. But clearly people navigate around this easily enough! Thanks
Seems like you’re making things unnecessarily complicated. Sits don’t need to be “frozen” to list another one, and since you’re obviously going to do the sits in consecutive order as your trip dates come and go, consider doing it as we do.
We travel multiple times per year and sometimes take our pets with us. So, for example if the first sit will be a “dogless” one, we explain that in the first section (and subsequently clarify it during the video chat). After updating the profile, the dates are listed, we spend a few days to a week taking applications and confirming a sitter at which point that listing is automatically closed.
Then we list the next set of dates, after making an adjustment in the first section (or just removing the part about the dogs being with us so the profile is back to it’s “default”), and repeat the process.
We’ll do that up to a half a dozen times well in advance of our planned trips. We do not remove the pictures and descriptions of the pets we are taking with us from our profiles.
You didn’t ask but one thing to keep in mind that although there are advantages to confirming a sitter well in advance there’s a greater chance that something will happen in the sitter’s life that will cause them to cancel the sit, which is way too easy to do on this platform as there are literally no repercussions whatsoever despite the huge inconvenience that may be caused.
This example works well. I would put that quite near the start of your listing (not the headline though). Then just reinforce during your videochats with the sitters to ensure they have interpreted correctly.
Apart from everything that has been mentioned, you can always have two versions of your welcome guide in the format of your choice and send the one corresponding to each sit.
I am finding more and more hosts that have a version of the welcome guide that they are willing to share with sitters even before confirming in order to
and make sure the sitters are fully confident with everything requested from them. The full version, which includes more private information is only shared after confirmation.
Yes, this is what I do. It doesn’t seem to be possible to capture the information given at the time, in case of future misunderstandings. I agree this shouldn’t be necessary, but…
Hi, thanks again. I am unable to see how I can set up 2 different welcome guides (one as cat only, one as cat and dog). This would indeed be very useful…
Just make sure when you speak to the potential sitter you say, you’re aware that these set of dates are with both the dog and cat, right? Don’t assume they read those set of dates correctly with animal count.
You don’t have to use the THS one. You can create your own document(s).
I would not have any issue with using a THS Welcome Guide that included the care instructions for both types of pets even if I was sitting for only one type.
Just disregard the superfluous content for the pet that is elsewhere.
I get it - I update my listing for every sit, reflecting the time of year, specifics that might be going on , etc. But I haven’t had to list more than one sit at a time (yet). I think clarifying the dates/pets as suggested above, and maybe tailor the listing for the first sit and indicate that’s what you’re doing - you can go over any other differences with potential sitters in the video call.