I’m slightly confused about the wording of a question in the HO listing form:
How important is it for you to meet your sitter in person, before the sit takes place?
Does this mean meeting well in advance of the sit (weeks) or a few hours or a day before I leave for my trip?
I believe it means, how important is it to do an in-person handover, as opposed to either a keybox or some other handover that could take place after you have departed.
I don’t believe sitters see your response to this so it’s probably just THS data gathering and you could interpret it either way. You should spell out you expectations about either a hand over or an in person meet as part of the decision/confirmation process in your actual listing so sitters know what to expect and can choose to apply on that basis.
As mentioned by another, i think this is about data collection by TH.
In practice,
It is very helpful to call out your expectations explicitly in your listing.
This along with a few other new questions aren’t anything they are doing anything with at the moment, and unfortunately it’s not exactly clear what THS’s ultimate plan is regarding gathering this data.
As someone who has experienced disasterous changes in websites and apps I’ve used to get gigs and for other purposes, I’ll admit in not trusting the process.
While I can easily imagine a future in which some of the quesitons like “how long can pets be left alone” could lead to better more accurate listings and maybe ways to filter out homes where the sitter is practically on a leash, I can also imagine being ruled out as a sitter by homeowners who want an in person meeting before they confirm.
Thanks for your replies. I do specify in the listing that we need overlap at the start. The wording of this question confused me when I saw it during an edit of the listing because I had originally assumed it meant meet in person at time of handover but someone on this forum mentioned a HO wanting to meet them in person weeks before the sit started.
@KChev Some Sitters may not feel comfortable spending the night at your home (if that is what you mean by overlap). If it is convenient, we try to meet with the Owner before the Sit (could be a few days before or a few weeks before) to meet them in person and meet the pets and get a home tour.
Would this be an acceptable alternative to “overlap”? You might have a broader choice of Sitters if you could have this flexibility.
Our home is in the mountains, in France, and there are a lot of quirks to the houses (a small farmhouse for guests and a renovated barn where we live), we heat with wood, plus our dog is free-range, the road up to us is a single lane but two-way. So we insist on having the sitter stay at least one night so we have time to show them how everything works. They can stay in the farmhouse. We just had our first sitter through THS and she was here for 3 days before we left and 2 days after we arrived back. She was working remotely and had the farmhouse to herself and it worked beautifully. This arrangement is specified in the listing. Our place looks fantastic in pictures so when we first listed we got a lot of applicants but with most of them, we could tell they would not enjoy themselves here.
I hope the TH admins read through this thread. I too am confused about how to interpret these new questions, and how they are being used. For me it’s very important to speak with potential sitters, but doesn’t have to be a video call. A voice-only call is fine. So I wasn’t sure how to answer that question. As for meeting in person, I definitely need to show sitters around the house in person before I leave, but that can potentially happen the day the sit starts if I leave later in the day. If I leave earlier in the day though, I’d want to meet before. I do say something to this effect in my listing.
You phrased it well @belluca. If that’s truly what TH means, it would be good for them to reword. The devil’s in the details 
Right now it’s just data collection. I don’t think it’s anything you have to worry about. I can’t remember if they let people comment or if they just ask questions. I have no idea what changes the company might be planning, but I have a feeling the current system of allowing sitters to read listings, and apply for any sit is not going to change anytime soon.
We also always do 1-2 day overlap at start to ensure our HS are set up for success and usually 1 day at the end for just in case we run into travel issues.
Typically though, we are also happy to accommodate HS for a bit more time before or after if it will help them connect up to their previous/next engagement.
As an HS, two out of my last four sits I’ve asked if I can arrive early because of travel connections and it hasn’t been a problem.
As HO: We just spell it out explicitly in our listing and then as HS: I ask on the video chat if it’s an option…hasn’t been a problem in either case.
I can see how it may not work for some people, but then it’s not going to be a match. no biggy