I cannot find any sitters with active calendars. What’s up?
There’s been numerous posts in the forum about the calendar. I originally posted one myself as I find the calendar is not user friendly to maintain. Many other sitters agreed with me so I think a lot of sitters on here are just not keeping it updated. If you do a search for “calendar” you’ll see the discussions. If a sitter is confirmed for a sit, the system will automatically block those dates and show the sitter is unavailable. As a sitter, I tried for a while to block out the dates I wasn’t available when I was on my own personal travel but it was much too onerous a task. I’m hoping the calendar can be made more functional.
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We don’t complete the calendar, as it’s stuck in the dark ages, and unless an HO reads the key to interpret it then it is very confusing and misleading, and let’s face it, no-one thinks of reading the key to a calendar, it should be straight forward and obvious how to interpret it, like every other calendar. It’s a huge bug-bear of a lot of sitters.
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Yes unfortunately the calendar system is pretty unusable. It automatically blocks out dates that a sitter is booked with another THS sit, and shows all other dates as ‘available.’ However, just because a sitter is not booked with another THS sit doesn’t necessarily mean they are ‘available’ to sit, ana it’s tricky to figure out how to manually edit the calendar - most don’t.
I am assuming you are looking at sitter’s calendars to try and send invites? If you’re struggling to find sitters, usually the best way to secure a sitter is to have a really attractive profile that gains applicants, rather than sending invites - unfortunately invites have a rather low success rate (sometimes they work out, but invites rarely match a sitter’s availability or interest).
If you want any feedback & support with you listing, you can link your listing to your forum bio for members to view. Here’s how: How to add a listing or profile link to your FORUM profile
You might also want to check out this blog I inspired for THS about mistakes to avoid when creating a listing.
Hope that helps!
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I have literally looked at over 100 sitters in several states and a few abroad and I have found only THREE with green calendars. It takes hours to go through all these people.
If they are not active why not pull them off until such time as they want to resume?
That’s why gaining applicants rather than fruitlessly sending invites & checking calendars is the most successful way to get a sitter. Have an attractive profile and you should find that the sitters who are available & keen to sit for you will come to you! 
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The sitters are “active” it’s just that they don’t use the calendar feature which is not compulsory.
It is not very a useful feature for either sitters or homeowners as it is currently designed as it can’t be linked to the locations that a sitter wants to do sits .
(I am a sitter who does keep my calendar up to date)
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I’ve noticed that a few new home/pet owners are under the misapprehension possibly that the way this works is that they get to pick and choose from a list of sitters, it’s actually the other way around. HOs write an appealing listing (often asking for and listening to advice on how to optimise their listing from experienced sitters here in the Forum) and it is the sitters who use the search tools to find sits- so in effect it’s they who ‘pick and choose’ before making an application. This creates a very different dynamic I think you’ll find.
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The calendar is the issue @Jl1953 as it can only deal with blocking out THS booked sits and nothing more. (& even then the calendar is the wrong way around on colour palettes IMO) If you sit on other platforms, travel as well, only sit part time & so on it can’t cope with that. Always best way to get sitters is to post a great listing as per @Nagy26’s excellent blog tips and wait for applicants, invites rarely work. #bestofluck
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When you post new dates, notifications go out to sitters that have your area as a Saved search. That could be several hundreds or more. That is the efficient way of getting a sitter.
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I’m a sitter and I have an active calendar…
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I just realized how deficient my listings was and went through it and refreshed it to show more of where we live and how we live. I am so happy you are “active” as I feel really discouraged at the inactivity listed on THS
I have ask them to add a way to show active members only because inactive members are cluttering up the site and the confusing calendar could be simplified.
Edited to meet posting guidelines.
There’s no such thing as an inactive member, if they’ve paid dues for the year. They can sit as much or as little as they like, and they can use the calendar or not, as they choose.
It’s sitters’ choice whether they apply for sits, so best to make your listing as inviting as possible, so you’ll get applicants, from whom you can choose among. How you’re approaching it — trying to find sitters by inviting them depending on their calendars — has slim chances of working.
Most sitters don’t use the calendar. That’s because there’s little incentive to when we can just apply for sits when they potentially suit. Personally, I don’t care if I get unsolicited invitations at all, because there’s slim to no chance that there will be a match on location, dates, pets, etc. I don’t plan to ever use the calendar feature and yet I’m quite an active sitter.
There’s no chance that THS will do as you’ve asked, because they want all sitters’ membership fees. And they can’t force any of us to use calendars if we don’t want to.
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Over the last few months there have been quite a few (possibly new) HO’s on the forum who believe that reaching out to potential sitters is how the system works.
I wonder if this is part of the problem as it states “find sitters “, maybe it’s interpreted as “look for a sitter” (see below).
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Yes, I hope that we can edit the calendar, as we are full-time travelers, but parttime sitters. Following for tips.
Yes @Peonie19 , I think that really is a big part of this problem. I just wrote in an other thread a couple of days ago:
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As @Maggie8K says, they’re not inactive they’re simply part time, sitting elsewhere, travelling, working, active on other sitting platforms or not interested in that particular sit. It will never work @Jl1953 to delist inactive sitters, it’s way too much work for THS. @Peonie19 is right, the “find a sitter” marketing is misleading, there is no bank of sitters waiting for invites, that’s simply their current location. Out of interest, where are you looking for sitters? #backtoagoodlisting
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That works great for you as an active sitter but as someone looking for a sitter it really doesn’t help. I was told by THS to not contact if calendars were white
The other thing you can do if you’re still struggling is add your listing & dates to your forum profile @Jl1953 and gather feedback from experienced HOs and sitters to make it stand out and attract the best applicants. You may even find one on here! #forgetthecalendar
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The entire point, repeated many times, is that HO’s don’t really gain much by CONTACTING the sitters directly. The best way to secure a sitter is to creat a strong, solid posting that will attract them and have them apply to your ad. Then you choose the person/people that looks most suitable and have a call with them.
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