I just spoke with a potential sitter in a video call, and I know she has read the information about my pet, as she addressed it in her first message. But during the video chat, I asked her if she had questions about Fico, and she said no, but she will re-read everything I wrote in his profile. She did ask about the times she would need to be at the apartment. She is young and travelling solo, and only has two references, no reviews on THS.
On the other hand, yesterday I managed to get a number for another option – a couple who live in the same city as me, and they asked questions via TSH message and again via WhatsApp, very time-consuming. Not sure if they read the listing. And they didn’t want to video call. They also only have two references, no sits through THS, like my other option.
Now I don’t know what to do, as I don’t like the other three applicants and I need to choose today. It is only a 4-day sit. Am I being picky? Should I just choose one and move on? My sit is straightforward.
Everyone has to start somewhere. Possibly your listing is so complete they have no questions. What are your options if you don’t pick one of these sitters?
On the face of it I would assume the single applicant is more interested in a place to stay and your pet is not their priority. I may be wrong and doing them a disservice.
Is Fico a cat or dog? Do you mention the pet’s routine in your listing?
I am an experienced sitter but not comfortable doing video calls. I have done them on a couple of occasions.
I have another person interested, but she is young and wants to bring a friend who is not listed on THS (she said she can provide more information) and has one positive review on THS. And we already have two sisters who want to stay, and they are in their 50’s; they also have no reviews on THS. It’s a one-bedroom apartment with a double bed in the bedroom and a fold-out couch in the living room, which is possible for a short stay.
I feel like the younger one is just laid back; she is Aussie like me, so I know what these people are like. I was hesitant to contact her as she had more pictures of herself and her friends and a couple of dogs. She grew up on a farm and has a ragdoll cat at home, which was a stray she took in along with other strays. She told me this when I asked her about her cat experience during the Video Call. My cat’s routine is very detailed in the description. I hate video calls myself as I am not great on video and come across as awkward, but I feel like people want them; most sitters ask me to jump on a call.
I have another person interested, but she is young and wants to bring a friend who is not listed on THS (she said she can provide more information) and has one positive review on THS. And we already have two sisters who want to stay, and they are in their 50’s; they also have no reviews on THS. It’s a one-bedroom apartment with a double bed in the bedroom and a fold-out couch in the living room, which is possible for a short stay.
A little unusual to not have any questions but not an automatic deal breaker. As you’ve said, your listing is thorough and she seems to have reasonable life experience with animals. It took time for me to develop my own list of questions for my videochats and I likely got the idea to do that from this forum.
Is this your first time as well on THS? I’m curious what would have made you comfortable in a conversation. One person you don’t like because they didn’t ask questions and a couple you didn’t like because they asked too many questions. I find some hosts are not clear in their descriptions of care and confirming what was written I find is a positive . If that is what the couple did that is a good thing. If you really feel they didn’t read your profile before the chat that is bad but I hardly doubt that. Unless they applied to many and didn’t reread yours before the conversation which is also not a good sign. Maybe the young girl felt your profile explained care well enough that no questions needed to be asked. The bottom line is you need to feel comfortable with your choice.
@SarahJayne15 You can decline the 3 applicants that you don’t like and manually unpause your listing to hopefully attract more sitters. This way you don’t have to choose between either of these two who you are not completely comfortable with. Please don’t choose a sitter you are not completely at ease with. Hopefully you have a backup person if you do not find a suitable sitter. Is your Welcome Guide very thorough which will help your two inexperienced applicants should you decide to go with one of them?
Agree on this.
I had calls before, where the cat care was barely addressed (if at all) as all was detailed in the listing itself and the hosts themselves pointed out ther pet(s) were straight forward. In that case it’s really difficult to ask relevant questions.
I know it’s not the same but on the other side, hosts rarely ask much about us as our profile, reviews and life experience (I grew up on a farm) say it all.
We keep the call to max 30 min. We may say that there are no question regarding the pet care and then spend the time discussing arrival, departure, amount of updates, their guide being filled, exchanging stories or whatever relevant comes up.
I don’t typically ask lots of questions on a video chat. To me, it’s more of a meet and greet to get to know each other a little. If I have a lot of questions about a listing because there isn’t enough info in the listing, I just don’t bother applying. If your listing has detailed info on the pets and their routines, what questions are you looking for? You mentioned above that one sitter didn’t ask enough questions and another asked too many so you assume they didn’t read the listing. It’s tough for sitters to balance that. I don’t see a video chat as the place to discuss details of pet care unless there is something unusual. I expect details to be written clearly in the welcome guide.
I typically start the video chat with ‘tell me about Fluffy’ which launches the HOs into discussing everything about Fluffy. So, I don’t really need to ask a lot of questions. If the pet requires medication, I always ask for more info about that, and for outdoor cats I ask about their routines and predictability in returning home. But for standard sits, I don’t ask a lot of questions about the pets. I do ask about logistics such as their arrival/departure times, type of handover, etc. Those are the things that are usually not in the listing that are critical for me to know. I view the video chat as a conversation about the sit to determine if it’s a good fit.
I’m sorry, but the purpose of the sit is the pet. So, to me, that should be the main focus of the call/video chat regardless of how detailed the guide is. A HO usually wants someone who is interested in and excited about their pet(s). No questions about them is a flag to me.
But what if there just ARE no questions? In 20+ sits, I’ve very rarely asked about the pet during the call/video chat. I regard the initial chats as Get-To-Know-Yous rather than some kind of test; it would be faintly absurd if we sitters had to prove our commitment to the animals by inventing questions to ask, when in fact we were quite happy with the info supplied.
It’s not inventing questions when you want to know more about someone’s pet. I’m always interested in stories about the animal and its behavior. How could you not be? How does it like to be engaged, favorite toy(s), does it cuddle, what doesn’t it like, favorite treats, can it eat table scraps, can it sleep in the bed with you, where are its hiding spots…?
Agree. But just to add to it: Not asking questions about the pet doesn’t mean that the pet doesn’t get mentioned at all during the call, or that I am disinterested. I read the profile upfront, and if there are no questions, I aknowledge whatever the host is telling me about them while we are talking and maybe add a related anecdote.
Maybe it’s cultural, or maybe it’s my straight forward, “data oriented” style of communication, but for me it would feel fake asking questions just for the sake of asking something.
With “low maintainance” cats (using this as many hosts put it in their profiles) it’s often the host that switches the topic with an “Oh, they are pretty self sufficiant” or something similar.
Luckily my communication style doesn’t seem to influence our success rate with getting confirmed after the call.
I see what you mean. Maybe it’s just the hosts we pick, but I see these mentioned all the time in the listings we apply too, especially cuddling behaviour (sometimes with a proper schedule on when the cats will seek attention), favorite toys, brushing, favorite spots…
Listings tend to be super detailed these day. And if not the hosts proactively share these, so I’ll let them chat and aknowledge.
Often the only question I get left is the vet account if not mentioned, but that’s also usually in the Guide.
@cat-ophile No specific questions about the pet doesn’t mean not showing interest in the pet. As I mentioned, I typical start with asking them to tell me about the pet. Then I find out what is important to them by the things they tell me. Typically, the first 10 minutes of a call is about the pet. But it’s conversation, not a question and answer session.
I’ve done almost 80 sits, so my conversational style has worked well for me.
I don’t ask much about the pets since details should be covered in the Welcome Guide and I’ll need to double and triple check the details anyway.
Here are the questions I ask:
Sit Fit Assessment
About The Pets
Can you tell me more about your pet’s personality?
Any health concerns for the pets?
Do you have a credit card on file with your vet in case of emergencies?
For past sitters, what went well and what could have gone better? What would be a successful sit for you?
As far as pics and updates, I usually send a text and pics once per day for the first week and every 2-3 days after that. Does this work for you?
About The Home
Is anyone else living on any part of the property? (THS requires a separate entrance for tenants)
Does anyone else have keys to your home who might come by unexpectedly? Neighbors, family, housekeepers, gardeners? (It is unsafe for us to have unknown people access the home without prior agreement.)
Is there a guest room with at least a double bed available for us to sleep in? (We prefer a guest room to the master bedroom to protect your space & privacy)
Is parking available? Driveway, garage, parking garage? (We travel between sits with many of our belongings in the car, so we need a safe space to park)
Do you confirm that there are no video cameras inside the home? (It is against THS policy to have indoor video cameras. Outdoor Ring cameras are fine.)
How do you feel about sitters using basic spices, oils, and pantry items for cooking? (This tells us a lot about how hospitable the HO is)
About The Sit
Do you have your flights & accommodation booked? (I do not confirm sits until your flights and/or accommodation is booked to reduce the rate of last-minute cancelations)
When are you leaving for your trip? (We usually arrive after you’ve left to reduce additional stress at the start of your travel day, but if we haven’t yet met in person, we can aim to arrive an hour before you leave to do a handoff).
When do you plan to get home? (We leave before you get home so you can relax at the end of a long travel day).
We’re usually booked back-to-back, so we generally can’t accommodate changes in travel dates. Do you have a backup plan in case your return flight is delayed?
While we do have a structured set of topics to discuss in video call then we approach it via a few easy open questions - tell us about [pets]; day in life of [pets]. Conversation provides info that we seek info, hopefully no surprises, and starts to build rapport.
Can you tell me more about your pet’s personality?