I think you’d struggle to get sits without the odd night or two in between some, but don’t give up
Thank you, Carla this is such a relief! When I tried earlier to apply for a sit that started on my previous sits last day it blocked me. I spoke to customer service on chat and they said it was not permitted under the new policy. I guess things are still flushing out and so forth, so I really appreciate the clarification.
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I appreciate all the help and feedback from the moderators on this forum. However, as with the five sit rule, this whole thread is going to fall on deaf ears. The decision has already been made, and is written in stone no matter how unhappy the members are. We have over 50 sits with THS in 5 1/2 years. This past year’s changes has made me rethink being a member. We have loved every experience we’ve had. We are way too old and mature to be stressed over this all the time. Instead of looking forward to my daily email of new sits, I start to get stressed out. Is it really worth the hassle? Maybe not.
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I can just second you, well-said! 
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I have the same feelings with my partner. We are full 5 stars sitters, 40+ sits over the years, sometimes split to cover the handover of the old sit, starting the new sit with overlapping dates. These were always agreed and confirmed by the homeowners, we never let down anyone, neither pets nor their parents. Now this new rule just gives us stress unnecessary, depriving us from sits that would perfectly fit for us and also depriving homeowners to get application of possibly good sitters. We will also review to extend our membership.
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Same here. Happens so many times. now.
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We are a couple so this is not a good news for us at all. The bad sitters will remain bad. No matter how you try to prevent good sitters and good owners finding each other.
We are soon finishing a sit and now I could not apply for another sit starting a day early, just literally a few kms from where we are now. That is a few days sit anyway, and I think they won’t find anyone. Instead I could just go ahead and my hubby a day later. No happy sitters and no happy owners because of a few rotten apples.
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You are so very welcome @Sarah88 I am sorry that you were given that information and I will feed that back to the Membership Services team, as you mentioned as it is a new launch there may have been some confusion so I will make sure it is clarified on their end. Thank you!
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Petsitting dates are a loose range and not entirely accurate. Also we have had occasions where the homeowner approved a lated arrival or early departure as they are happy to have neighbours help out.
So the website saying a sitter is “booked” and not allowed to do an “overlap” on these precise dates is not accurate
Waiting for a homeowner to be certain and alter the dates, and even then they’re still not 100 percent, means other sits are gone at that stage
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I have started doing that as well in recent times - both due to the 5 appl rule and now the ‘no overlapping dates’ rule, knowing that dates are so often not correct:
When I see a sit I like, it’s not at 5 applicants yet, I can’t do the dates, BUT I may like to sit for them in the future, I reach out and get in touch. I’ve always done that, but have started doing it more pro-actively in recent times to give me the possibility to contact the HO once they have new dates even when the system doesn’t allow me via the normal means…
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Same. I really regret not reaching out to homeowners beforehand. Had I known this “feature” was incoming, I would have sent out blanket applicants. Now anyone with an active open sit that I’m not blocked from, I go ahead and message.
I’m only doing this for sits in my hometown, where I go for multiple visits every year. Most of them spend weeks with one or no applicants, so it’s not a high demand area. (Just in case anyone gets their hackles up about my being proactive.)
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@ere Rose I totally agree with your post. Thank you for posting and bringing THS aware.
I’ve been visiting the forum and following this thread much too often. Every time I come back I hope to read that THS has reversed their decision but, we all know that the “trusted” has gone out of trusted housesitters and things probably won’t change.
My husband and I joined back in 2013 when THS was virtually unknown in the USA. People thought we were bonkers but we loved the concept. We’ve been consistently taking care of pets since then. Now that we have more time to travel we planned on overlapping sits more often but we aren’t trusted to do that any more.
Last year we had a couple sits, just a few miles apart, that overlapped by a few days. Both parties were informed and were comfortable with the situation. I ended up staying at the original sit for a few more days when flights were delayed and canceled. Because there were two of us, what could have been a stressful situation was handled and pets were kept safe and happy.
Our goal is to always keep pets safe and happy, and believe it or not, we can do that while overlapping sits.
And, guess what? Both sets of PP have invited us back and are working around our schedules so at least THEY trust us.
I’ll still be part of THS, we have plenty of PP who invite us back and will work with our schedules. But I will no longer sing the praises or recommend THS to anyone.
Rant over. Thanks for reading.
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That’s an interesting idea. Maybe someone will test this and report back? An owner could set up a separate gmail account for this purpose so as not to publicize their personal email. They would also have to put their flexible dates in the body of their text as the dates won’t be visible to someone who is already booked on any of the dates. Probably not practical but a creative workaround— maybe?
But adding a box where owners could indicate their dates are flexible (and that would enable any sitter to apply) would make this unnecessary
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@mars This is what Carla wrote today in Visibility of House Sit - #9 by Carla_C
TrustedHousesitters does not share or show on profiles/listings full names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses or any personal information. If this is found on listings during approvals it is removed.
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But THS doesn’t review changes to listings. Given how many inappropriate first-time listings make it through the “screening” process, their quality control of listings is negligible.
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Hi @Carla
As it seems like this new process won’t be changing is there a possibility to create an enqiry button on each Pet Parents application to ask questions about their upcoming sit? This could help solve a lot of problems that have been discussed here.
Tracey
Cat Lover 
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Same as on Airbnb which doesnt allow it, but there are ways around it. Eg. Mary at xyz dot com especially as changes to sit already in the system aren’t monitored.
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Yes it’s supposed to be about trust which is what the new rule is not about.
That’s a good point at times homeowners are delayed and then you will stay behind and have an overlap anyway another reason why this new rule is just flawed
An enquiry button would help and also adding email dot com on their profile…
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HO’s are asking more and more often for me to return to sit for them outside of THS. It isn’t only sitters who are fed up with all the changes.
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