It’s the news many of you have been waiting for… We’re delighted to share that we’ll soon be making some changes to the way that reviews and feedback are left on our platform.
Under the new system, reviews and feedback will be kept temporarily ‘hidden’ from the other member, until both parties have had a chance to leave their review/feedback (or until 14 days have passed). This new process is designed to enable a more open and fair review/feedback system and encourage impartial, honest feedback from our members. Additionally, members will have a 14-day window (following a house sit) to leave their review or feedback.
Additionally, and to help keep things simple, we’ll also be making a small terminology change from ‘feedback’ for owners to ‘reviews’. This will mean that both owners and sitters will be prompted to leave a ‘review’ for one another.
The updated review system is expected to go live soon - so watch this space! We’ll be sharing the news via our upcoming member newsletter, going out on Wednesday 30th August. We have also prepared a blog post with some more information which you can check out below:
The new review system has been highly requested and created using insights and feedback from our members - many of whom are right here, on the forum! So, thank you to all of you who have shared your thoughts and suggestions along the way - we hope you’re just as excited about the new and improved system as we are!
WELL DONE! This will be an excellent change, basically mirroring what AirBnB does. Does this mean like AriBnb reviews are not posted prior to the 14 day window until both parties have left a review?
Thank you THS team! That’s exciting news, we’ve been waiting for this for a long time. We’ve always reviewed our PPs promptly within 1-2 days after the sit but we do have have couple missing reviews which are stuck in status “Review requested”. Will those now expire? Will sitters and PPs show gaps for missing reviews?
Hi @Carla, this looks promising news. I’ve read the blog and what you have written. My question is have the star ratings been equalised between owner and sitter as this is also a bone of contention?
@Carla Yaaay! Great news! One question to sèe if I understood it correctly: if one party leaves a review within 14 days, but the other one doesn’t, then the 2nd party can no longer post a review after those 14 days? Is that correct?
@BunnyCat That’s a great question! I might have to collect a few questions that I am unsure of the answers to on this thread and get back to you all once I have spoken to the product team.
Please submit all of your questions and I can get some answers for you
@temba Another great question and one as a sitter I would love, I have heard that this is in the pipeline but will need to confirm as above.
Thank you all for your patience while I get some more detailed answers for you
Yes, that’s correct. I can give you some more information about that:
Members will need to leave their review/feedback within 14 days, otherwise, the review window will close and members will no longer be able to leave a review/feedback. We’ll be sure to email members a few times during this 14-day window, to remind them to leave their review/feedback. While members will no longer be able to leave a review/feedback after this 14-day window, they will still have the opportunity to leave a reply to their review/feedback.
I’ve read the blog and I have a few questions for the product team
Will all of the previous reviews/ feedback still be seen ? ( I’m hoping YES )
Will missing reviews show on both sitter and owners profiles and on both app and desktop ? So will you be able to see that a sit took place but no review left ?
What about the interim if one party has left a review via the old system and then it switched to the new system ? How will this work ?
Will sitters be reviewing HOs on categories as the HOs do sitters (and has been long requested) or will it just be the same as it was only renamed review instead of feedback?
I can help with two of those questions and I will get the answer to the third for you
Yes, all previous reviews and feedback will still be visible on member’s profiles and listings. Everyone has worked hard to earn them so they will definitely still be there
Great question! Here is the information that I have:
When the new system is launched for any reviews where neither side has left a review/feedback, this should switch to the new system. For sits where one side has already left a review but the other has not, this will follow the existing review system (i.e. reviews/feedback will not be hidden). This should only affect a small number of sits during the changeover, and eventually, the new review system will apply to all sits.
@systaran I know this is a really popular request Here is from further up the thread and might help:
If a sitter left a review for a HO but a HO did not leave a review for the sitter within the 14 day window, what will show on the sitter’s profile and on the HO listing on both the website and the app?
Will there be a blank review visible on the sitter’s profile and will the sitter’s review appear on the HO listing? Or because one of the parties failed to leave a review will no review appear on either the sitter’s profile or the HO listing? Will they be blank reviews or will there be no evidence the sit even took place?
I assume after the 14 day window, it will be impossible for either party to then leave a review?
If neither party leaves a review after 14 days, will there be any indication the sit took place?
With the questions arising from forum members already, perhaps sharing the new system in The Trusted Times tomorrow could be a bit premature unless the answers are already covered in the explanation @Carla.
Will there be the opportunity to leave private feedback, a la airbnb? Obviously, we can send a WhatsApp or speak to the HO about an issue that concerns us but a private feedback feels a bit less “personal” and might be easier. This would be left in addition to the review…
If one party doesn’t leave a review for another, it will automatically give the other party a 5 star/positive review on their profile
(it’s not one party’s fault the other didn’t care or forgot, and we all know how much reviews mean to sitters, as often owners won’t give newbies a chance)
This is a very good idea. On AirBnb, and somebody correct me if I’m wrong, if either the owner or the guest fails to leave a review for the other, no review is posted for either party.
My concern re. the revamp of the review system has been that because of this, adopting the AirBnb model would result in many fewer reviews for sitters because of tardy or inattentive HO who fail to post the sitter’s review within the allotted time period. Most sitters have dealt with trying to get a review from a HO who is just not responding to review requests. If failure to leave a review by one party results in an automatic good review of the other party, this will be an incentive to write an honest and timely review and will ensure deserving people do not end up with no acknowledgement of their efforts. But it’s very important these details of the review process be clearly communicated to every member of THS.
