Hi @HappyDeb
Besides these sits, there are 588 Christmas sits in the UK alone, most of which won’t get filled.
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Hi Carla,
I think the problem which exists for HO as well as sitters would be in the situation where the HO has certain dates up, but those dates are in fact somewhat flexible, AND/OR they are not getting enough applications. There could be nearby sitters – couples who could cover the dates but won’t be able to apply AND there could be single sitters who could cover the dates if they were adjusted. Because there is no “ask a question” feature, there is no way for the sitters to communicate with those HOs whose sits could go unfilled.
Again, I fully understand (as do most of us I believe) that double booking is bad. This is not a question of people being in favor of neglecting pets! It just feels like this change in this way was made by people who don’t understand the way that many sitters are using the site AND that don’t understand that HOs in less competitive settings may need some flexibility at times to find sitters.
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is really hard to believe that this was done to help everyone, because we sitters will have so much trouble right now to get sittings and complete all the dates.
It should get a really quick update in the platform AT LEAST to help the HO AND petsitters to change the dates on the sittings already working, instead of having to cancel them or to contact the platform.
hope anything will be done soon, because I imagine that I’m not the only one here that will have to ask for the homeowners to fix there dates, or else we won’t be able to apply and have a sitting for a couple of days.
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Totally agree, this would be an update that help us that travel as a couple, but the single sitters would still be in a lot of trouble to make it.
#it should be up to what a pet parent wants, not sitters or THS! Let the pet parents decide whats best for themselves!!
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Yes, 588 sits where there are plenty of sitters who would have loved to help, but now can’t, the new rule is totally flawed.
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It is already proving a pain. One of my sits has changed dates but the owners havent amended on site yet. There is a perfect sit I can now do but I cant apply as it looks like there’s an overlap but there isnt. By the time the owners get around to amending the other sit will probably have 5 applications. 
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@Wildcolonialgirl - I had a similarly situation with Homeowners had put wrong date - I asked THS to amend the dates via live chat - I included a screenshot of the message where the owner confirmed the correct dates .
THS changed it for me whilst I was talking to them , I checked my dashboard and the amended dates were showing . It took about 3 mins - once I was speaking to a human and not the chatbot.
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This is exactly what I came here to post about. Wish they would change this new rule. It’s nearly impossible to find sits that perfectly align with each other and every owner we’ve spoken to has understood if only one of us can sit for the last/first two or three days.
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It’s disappointing to see THS doubling down on this flawed policy and may affect whether we return year.
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Why don’t you do as apps with independent contractors do? Establish a cancelation rate and if sitters exceed, say, a 5% cancellation rate then they are banned from using the service due to violating the rules. Why punish everyone? The fact is most people will have to feel the 1-5 day gaps with Airbnb’s (if they can find it). This adds an expense to the entire experience and depletes the value of THS. Please listen to your paying customers and rethink this.
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We have done about twenty Sits over the past 2 years, some through THS and others via alternate avenues. We have only overlapped one time, but I want to share an advantage of overlapping that THS may not realize.
When we do multiple Sits in the same area, we tend to have a “mobile pantry” which I try to keep to one box, but unfortunately it tends to grow to 2-3 boxes and a couple of grocery bags! We also bring our own cleaning supplies, pillows, and assorted other items! There is a funny thread about this concept.
If we have to stay in a hotel for one or two nights, we do not want to leave these items in our car. We might be a target of theft. So we take all of these items into our hotel room. Ugh.
When we had overlapping Sits, it was so nice to get all of these things out of the first house and into the second! It made cleaning the first house so much easier. Our move was incredibly efficient. No pets suffered at all.
Everyone was happy.
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Well from my experience I’ve had HO contact me after we agreed on a sit with firm dates etc asking for flexibility. Or changes. As a sitter my only workaround was apply to other sits with overlapping dates.
It is absolutely about groups as this is not the first feature that makes sitters experience more complicated while it benefits or doesn’t affect HO.
My initial experience on THS was as a HO and I’m not full time sitter, the change is noticeable and so is the support experience. I’m sorry my response was so triggering to you that you “had to reply” despite “being done with this thread”. But it’s a community and we’re all allowed our opinions.
This feature makes sitters experience a whole lot more complicated in certain situations 
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I just booked a hotel due to a sit being shortened by 4 days. There are two low application sits in that city for my open days. Hopefully, they won’t go unfilled while I’m nearby in a hotel, but was unable to apply.
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@systaran ooooh, subtle! 
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The structure of TrustedHousesitters is for the sitters to be present in the home for the duration of the sit, including overnight care,
That is the rules and regulations to use THS. It’s always been this way.(since I joined) If you are making other arrangements with sitters and HO outside of this structure I’m sure THS doesn’t want to be liable. This is what I agreed to when I joined.
These are exactly the situations I’m referring to. If as a sitter you also had the option to change the dates at least you wouldn’t be in this situation.
THS does nothing but enable sitters to connect with home owners. By introducing new rules like this and the unmentionable previous one, they reduce the opportunities for both.
There’s rules and there’s over regulations. We’re all grown up people and we can decide for ourselves if it’s ok that a sitter doesn’t spend ALL nights in the house as long as the home owner is ok with it.
What if the sitters would like to visit family for a night and the home owner is fine with that? THS would never know.
What about unreliable sitters who leave the pets for days without consulting the home owner? THS can’t prevent them from doing so by the new rules.
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@Pawtastic It does more than that. Members can go outside of the rules . If they do THS isn’t responsible if something goes wrong. Any type of insurance will be void. Just as THS can’t prevent members from being unreliable, when you make arrangements outside of the structure of THS things can go wrong too.
Do you really believe that THS is so great about insurance and support? I don’t. Read through the forum about how often they don’t cover anything and how often flagged listings are still there, how often members are left alone with problems. Read through the 1* reviews on trustpilot and see how great they support their paying customers.
They only make sure their a… is covered by writing stuff like sitters have to pay up front (pets or repairs) and ask home owners to reimburse them afterwards. They don’t care about you only about their own insurance.
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Hi @Marion,
I put a suggestion forward with @Carla earlier on in this thread for the possibility to add an ENQUIRY button on Pet Parents applications to ask questions about their upcoming sit.
This could potentially help us sitters with the overbooking issue and other issues mentioned.
Carla has passed this on to the THS team as part of the new ideas thread.