(1) How do you manage sitter availability on the calendar? I have ignored this in the past, but have been getting a lot of invites for dates I am not available. I am using the website and see where it says “manage availability” and added in future start and end dates, saved it, but it still shows I am available from now up to the dates I entered. I do not see a way to block off dates I am not available. I know other folks have had issues with this tool as well but wondering if I am doing something wrong?
(2) Is there a way to delete or archive older applications and/or older conversations? I do not see any easy way to do this and it is clogging up my inbox area.
(3) I know there is a way to favorite sits which is fabulous, but wanted to put out there for the technical team a way to “dislike” sits that obviously would not appear to the HO, but would keep them out of your future feed. I have found sometimes I am looking at the same sit (listed several months apart) that for some reason I am not interested, but do not always recall that until I read them in detail again. Seems this would be a very helpful feature for sitters.
Oh thank you! I was obviously reading the calendar wrong and did not realize available dates appear in green. I assumed non-available dates would be grayed out or have an “x.” I am guessing homeowners are misreading it as well as apparently my calendar has shown I have no availability and I keep getting invites.
Yeah, it takes some figuring out, doesn’t it? There has been quite a bit of chatter on the forum about the calendar so the powers-that-be are now well aware and looking for solutions, no doubt.
I’m not sure many Ho’s actually read sitters profiles. Mine specifically says that I have no availability for 2022 but I still get requests on a weekly basis!
Hi @Freebird I’ll try and answer your #2 point, as @Kelownagurl has nicely covered the rest. Many of us find that the trick with the inbox is to only keep whatever you feel is a current conversation there. For me that means confirmed/upcoming sits, and those I’ve applied for but nothing is finalized. Some sitters move the applied ones to archived immediately and don’t give them another thought. You’ll have to find what works for you. You can’t delete any entries from the archived area, so there’s not parallel to an email’s ‘trash’ option.
The issue you may be facing is that any entries where the homeowners are shown as ‘currently not active’ can’t be moved from inbox to archived by the sitter. That’s one reason to keep your inbox cleaned up. I’m going to tag @Therese who will check in with you next time she’s online. If that is your situation, she will assist you.
OK, now your questions are getting more difficult for me.
I use an iPhone and in the inbox, if I swipe left on the top tabs there is one for Archive. I clicked on a message in my inbox and there were 3 dots and I clicked on those but didn’t see an obvious ‘move to archive’ type thing. I don’t want to test it any further on mine as I may mess up my inbox. Hopefully @Therese can answer that question, or perhaps another forum member.
Thanks for your questions, as it helps the rest of us learn too.
I just tried archiving on my iPhone and I think I figured it out.
I go to my inbox and touch and hold a message that I want to archive and a message pops up asking me to click OK to archive. It seems to work on inactive home owners as well.
I was definitely misreading it. I’ve seen dates highlighted in green, x’d out, or no marks…I assumed that x’d out meant they weren’t available. If there was no mark on the dates, I thought they also had availability. For the ease of things for both parties involved, I think the availability calendar options should be x’d out or highlighted in green.
It also would help if sitters updated their availability calendars. I’ve emailed about 40 sitters today alone. i used the filter for the search with my dates for the sit. 99% of them had my dates highlighted in green, but they have told me that they aren’t available…
Have they said that they aren’t available at all, or perhaps just not in your area? We get invites to local sits all the time, but we only sit in Europe most of the time.
Because of your point that many sitters don’t update the calendar, I will still invite if the dates are left in white. I found a couple of last minute sitters that way. Those sitters did have the availability (even though the dates weren’t marked in green) - they just didn’t update. So sometimes it’s not a matter of owners trying to ignore a sitter’s wishes, but with the circumstances, we are desperate lol
Gotcha, well they definitely shouldn’t be showing green if they aren’t available. I can actually see people not bothering (or knowing how) to put in their available dates, I don’t understand why people show availability and then say they aren’t. Too weird.
I want to edit my last statement. The majority of people are saying that they aren’t available, but some are saying they can’t commit to the dates yet as they don’t know what there plans are yet. I mean, I get it, but it’s still frustrating and time-wasting as a HO that is trying to find a qualified sitter.
Hi @Catin88 I notice your listing is for July and you show 4-7 applicants. I would suggest that if any of those are definitely unsuitable, that you decline them. It has a two-fold benefit in that the applicant gets a definite answer and can move on, and hopefully your count would move down into the 0-3 range. Some sitters are discouraged when they see numbers past the 0-3 range and choose not to apply.
If one or more of those applicants are possibilities, I would suggest you contact them and arrange a video chat or whatever next step suits you.
If you have a standard or premium membership, you can boost your listing once, so also keep that in mind.
@Snowbird The 4 applications are from couples even though my profile specifies only solo sitters. 2 of the applications are from qualified sitters. I haven’t declined them because they might be my last option, but I understand where you are coming from. I have already boosted my listing.
