As of tomorrow, the policy changes. This is from Carla C’s post #10 in this thread, “ Yes, that’s spot on you won’t be able to apply for any sits that overlap your sit dates apart from the start and end date.”. I recommend that you read her whole post. It answers a lot of questions.
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This is important @Carla. I’ve had this happen too, a conflict detected but there was none. The current system lets me click through and apply for the sit dates that don’t conflict because I am smarter than the system. Kindly pass this on to those responsible and delay any implementation until this problem with multiple sit dates is accounted for.
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Aaah ok thanks for the heads up
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This will have a huge impact on us. We sit as a couple and often overlap (with HO’s permission of course) to cover gaps between sits.
With current marketing aimed at attracting a new type of sitter seeking a “travel hack” of “free vacations” it appears that apparently, many don’t take this responsibility seriously. Now we’re all being punished for the behavior of a few.
Oh well, completely wasted beath here. THS continues to fix things that aren’t broken, meanwhile processes that are severely broken go untouched. I dread the day that the new review system is released! I’m sure that it will be mass confusion and a giant “clusteryou know what”!
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Isn’t it obvious? THS wants both of you to pay for the membership 
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@Pawtastic Quite obvious! But not going to happen from this member! I’m not giving them more money after they take away access that I’ve had for 6 years!
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I am sure there is going to be a workaround
@Carla Also, we currently have two overlapping sits booked in the future. One in December and one in January. My husband and I are splitting up to cover these. What impact will this new process have on these sits that have been booked for weeks?
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Overall this seems like a positive change but there are issues with it pointed out above.
For me (solo sitter) the biggest problem is that there is not an easy way to update dates of an existing commitment. Can that be worked on? Also owners sometimes post overlap dates and sometimes add them later during conversation. Can that be made consistent and clear in listings? And applying for dates that are flexible is also key.
I appreciate the work that went into this change. It might have been helpful to THS to gather input prior to the change. It would be great to see more of that collabiration and focus grouping. We are here for that.
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@Carla will this new Product Update also block homeowners from inviting sitters when the sitter already has a THS sit confirmed ?
This happens to us sooo frequently and is a waste of everyone’s time. After confirming the sit that we are currently on we subsequently received 4 additional private date invitations that conflicted with this sit.
And just this week we received an invitation for overlapping sit dates where we already have a THS confirmed sit in the calendar for 2024.
For each of these I took the time to send a personal decline message with an explanation. Several homeowners were perplexed since they had searched for sitters using the date function so naturally assumed that it meant we were available.
I’ve not seen a homeowner mention that they get a pop up to advise them that the sitter already has a sit and is therefore not available.
Can product team please confirm what message a homeowner gets if they try to invite a sitter for overlapping dates ? If a homeowner sends an invitation to several sitters at once for the same dates and one has a confirmed sit - will the homeowner be able to send the invitation to all or will it be blocked ? @Ben-ProductManager , @Lizzie-ProductManager @Jimmy-Product_Manager
Thank you
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Once again I am flabbergasted.
It is as if THS are on a suicide mission, creating ridiculous rule after rule without a hint of consultation with their members. Only to punish long-standing, outstanding sitters, who, don’t forget are ambassadors of the company!
All because, allegedly, a tiny minority have abused the system.
I am furious. I don’t believe anything that THS tell us anymore. Give us actual, honest, figures - prove to us that this is a big problem that needs fixing.
If this is seriously an issue wouldn’t a simple compromise be, to add a surcharge onto the membership fee of sitters who wanted the option to overlap dates? This way THS would have a record of responsible sitters that were doing this and that right could be taken away at any time if it were seen to be being abused.
It is not rocket science to think of simple solutions to small problems.
Very large sledgehammers are never the right tool to crack very small nuts.
By the end of this year, we will have overlapped 17 nights and yet still have a clean sheet of only five-star reviews.
Our overlapping of dates has been beneficial to us, the home hosts and to the pets. No one has suffered - No one!
Overlapping dates can be a very positive asset. Having the ability to split up gives the home host total flexibility in what time of the day or night they leave and/or arrive home.
No company in the real world would be able to treat its workforce with such disdain and utter contempt and continue to trade successfully.
Who in their right mind will still be recommending THS to anyone after this latest stab in the back?
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@Carla - Could I respectfully ask you to remove the word ‘good’ from your post.
This news is not good, it is bad.
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You say No one has suffered (and I don’t doubt you for a second) the only potential ‘sufferers’ are those that didn’t get any sits while you got two.
I just think it’s quite interesting that the justification for the five applications is to enable more people to get sits. This would almost be a justification for this change, but they haven’t actually used it!
Some testing shows the following behaviour for me:
If the start or end day overlaps with a booked sit I am still able to apply.
If there is any more overlap than that then the option to apply is removed. You get a warning popup but the available dates then show you as “booked on another sit”
For those worried about owners posting multiple dates where one overlapped with a booked sit I was able to get the option to apply when there were multiple sits and one overlapped - I could still apply for sits and interestingly could even apply for the one that overlapped.
I see comments about wanting this changed back so you can overlap sits again. I don’t see this happening for 2 reasons:
1 - THS don’t seem open to rolling back any change even if it is obviously bad (and this isn’t obviously bad). The 5 application limit is is a good example. Every sit I have done since it’s implementation the owners have hated it (hated not disliked) and have said they have messaged THS about their displeasure. It’s apparently very successful and loved by owners according to THS. Maybe it’s a cultural thing at THS. I don’t know but I don’t see anything ever changing back.
2 - Like other changes this will obviously only negatively affect sitters who do multiple sits. I don’t believe these sitters are the target market for THS so I don’t expect their concerns to be high priority. They benefit most from sitters who do 1 or very few sits a year. As long as owners get their dates filled by suitable sitters they’re happy. Sitters who pay and never get a chance to sit don’t renew so to ensure there is enough to go around high usage sitters are a drain not a benefit. That’s just basic logic.
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This is an absolutely joke and I’m very concerned on how we will manage this going forward now.
We sit as a couple, it’s easy for one of us to split for a couple of days to prevent overlaps and it gives more flexibility for everyone involved.
We are capable of managing our own schedule and keep everyone informed. Why are we getting penalised because a very minor amount of people choose to break the rules?
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I see an easy solution for THS to implement for couples with overlapping sits.
Currently THS permits couples to sit, for the same membership price as a solo sitter. There’s a tick box to select that you sit as a couple and both names and ages are added to the profile . However currently only the primary sitter is ID checked.
THS - Create an option for a couple to register jointly - paying a slightly higher membership fee . Not as much as the cost of two memberships, just an additional charge to cover the cost of an ID check for the second person. Allow couples that have this membership where both have been ID checked to apply for overlapping sits. Keeping one profile and all reviews .
It’s a win/ win no additional cost to THS, reassurance for the homeowners and works for the sitters.
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Sooo many changes, so little time. I am positive that if every paying member of TH were to read this Forum, read some of the threads with so many changes to the platform for little to no benefit, issues and problems that people obviously despise, they would run a mile and never look back. But most will never know and problems will continue to occur because of it all. The changes don’t fix things that happen, they cause things to happen.
I used to enjoy TH and depended on it, now it’s just getting all too hard. What was once easy to navigate, relatively easy to find a sit, without really any changes, life was simple. Now it is becoming more difficult for both homeowners and sitters to do what was once a simple task - advertise a sit, sitter applies, accepted, done deal. Now all these hoops to jump through and rules and blocks and psychedelic colours etc etc etc All too hard, I’m tired 
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I second this comment ^
I am a solo sitter so I do not have overlapping sits like many couples do but many of my 46 sits so far have had date changes either at the start or end of the sit and the HOs rarely change the date on THS because they say it is very difficult to do. Sometimes they did it when the end date was moved forward and I insisted they adjust the sit dates so that it was clear to us both what date I was going to be leaving.
I would appreciate it if THS makes that process easier for HOs and then all confirmed sits will reflect the correct start/end dates.
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Hi everyone
I just wanted to jump on and let you know that we’re collecting your feedback so that we can come back to you with answers wherever possible, please bear with us for now!
Just a reminder that our product managers aren’t part of the forum team. Any feedback about product updates will always be collated by the Forum team, passed to the relevant team (and product manager) and then any responses will be shared with you by @Carla and I.
Thanks for your patience in the meantime.
Jenny
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Exactly!
As a homeowner you have to cancel the (confirmed) sit, post the actual dates, the sitter(s) have to apply, the homeowner has to confirm and the sitter(s) have to accept again.
Why isn’t it possible to simply change the dates and the sitter accepts them? If the sitter isn’t notified beforehand he doesn’t have to accept.
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