We’re a couple, and I don’t think a couples membership resolves things either, it would just add confusion to everyone’s diaries. Plus a couples membership doesn’t help the huge number of single sitters who could have pet-sat but can’t if their availability is just 1 day out.
It’s unfair to all of us, HO’s will get far less applicants, and both couples and single sitters will have so much less choice to pick from, it makes it so much harder for everyone.
This issue could be resolved if sitters could contact HOs in the same way that HOs can contact sitters.
Just read The Trusted Times, that I received on Monday. They announced this new update/policy.
English is not my first language, so I might be misunderstanding the part higlighted in red by me:
As I understand it, it says that this new update will stop (or help stop) the risk of sitter cancellations. But why would it? It might affect the number of cancellations, but to eliminate them?
@CatsAndDog …you’re right. I also do not see an obvious connection between the no overlap policy and a decrease in sitter cancellations. It seems as though there is an increase in sitter cancellations if one goes by homeowner forum posts.
Personally I think an increase in sitter cancellations is the main reason for the overlap rule.
Previously a sitter could confirm a sit and then later see something they preferred so applied for that as well. Once the preferred sit was confirmed the original sit was cancelled.
That is not something I would ever do but I am sure it happened.
Now a sitter cannot apply for another sit until the homeowner removes the dates from the sitter’s calendar. By the time that happens there is no guarantee the preferred sit is still available.
That is just my understanding and take on things.
Increased income from dual memberships is an added bonus.
There have been examples posted here by owners that literally demonstrate sitters cancelling sits as they have been able to book something else for those dates. If you remove their ability to do this then those sitters would be less likely to have cancelled.
The 5 application limit has undoubtedly led to sitters applying for sits they wouldn’t normally and possibly cancelling later and there will always be sitters cancelling for a multitude of other reasons but stopping sitters from having alternate sits booked for those days they are already committed to will have some effect in reducing cancellations. Eliminations of cancellations altogether is an obvious fallacy but so is saying this will have no effect is also not true.
In thinking about this new policy, it seems THS is taking another page out of the Airbnb playbook. If you have booked somewhere on Airbnb, you cannot book another place for the same dates. This avoids Hosts having last minute cancellations as people decide which place they prefer.
I think in principle the policy of prohibiting a single sitter from accepting multiple sits for the same dates makes sense and I accept THS position that they will not be changing this policy .
However, many of the very valid issues that have been highlighted on this thread relate to sitters now being unable to contact a homeowner to discuss their availability -when this is for only part of the suggested dates .
Even before this update, it was not good for communication that a sitter had to apply to a specific set of dates simply to ask the HO a question, make contact for future sits or to offer assistance for part of the sit .
This flaw needed to be addressed sooner rather than later and the new product update has shone a light on how ineffective it is for sitters not to be able to contact HOs . It once again highlights the discrepancy where HOs can contact any sitter at anytime ( even when the sitter has a confirmed sit )
Also the new update does not prevent overlapping sits - as HOs can still invite a sitter who already has a sit commitment on the platform to apply to their sit even when it overlaps and the sitter can still apply to this direct invitation and be accepted . This has happened to us 5 times since the product update 3 weeks ago.
We’ve been told that these issues are being looked into by the product team but 3 weeks since this new update came into force and these issues reported on day one have still not been fixed and members haven’t been given any indication of the timeline for when these will be fixed.
Here’s a weird consequence of the new overlapping rule that I didn’t see coming. I’m not currently looking for sit or a sitter but it has still managed to affect me!
Someone who sat for me for last year messaged me last night asking if I would help her to apply for a sit that she wants, as she is currently on another sit and unable to apply for it because the dates overlap by a couple of days. She knows I have a joint host/sitter membership and wants me to apply for the sit and find out if the host is open to changing the start date.
I’d feel a bit uncomfortable doing this, and it felt like a strange request, but at the same time I said I’d give it a try. I see why she has been forced to get creative as TH has made things so unnecessarily difficult for her with this new rule. Many dates are flexible, why on earth shouldn’t sitters and homeowners be able to agree on the final dates themselves?
This is a likely unintended consequence of the new policy, but an inevitable one, and something I can see getting pretty annoying quickly if it starts to happen more. Had anyone else had a similar request?
I have not, but think it’s pretty clever. If any of my past sitters asked me to do this, I think I would. I’m not a full time sitter and haven’t encountered this issue, but I’ll keep this in mind in case I do.
I think it’s clever as well, and I told her I’ll give it a try, but it’s clearly not ideal for anyone - her, the HO, or me!
All of these work arounds would not be necessary if THS made it possible for a sitter to message a HO in the same way that HOs can contact any sitter at anytime.
They could also have an opt in button so that a HO who selects this option says that they are happy to be contacted .
I just looked at a different, unfortunately much smaller, platform, put up my listing and clicked on “flexible dates”, which means that any interested sitter can write me a message. Since this morning I have been in contact with 3 potential sitters so far, even though I didn’t post ANY date. I now know that one is close to our town in January, the other is currently staying with friends in France but is very flexible and can travel through Europe doing sits and the third is a couple also not far from us. This actually blew my mind! How wonderful to be able to chat with sitters without the need to invite them or putting up dates.
Why on earth isn’t this possible on THS?
This is something that I, as a HO and sitter, have also considered doing. A sit that I could have helped with has been languishing for over a month now, and I had no way to get in touch with the owner.
I opted to join another platform instead of giving THS additional income. Very much doubt this person will find a sitter for Christmas.
Pet parents can contact sitters but not the other way around.
Wow, that sounds wonderful. I’d love it if there was an easy option on THS to get in touch with willing HOs who are interested in building up a pool of sitters.
Of course, not every HO would be keen to do so, but that’s something you can build in, as per what @Silversitters is suggesting.
It’s quite weird that an HO can contact any sitter, but sitters cannot contact HOs. Especially as HOs who start contacting sitters, often contact those who live near them. Those might not be the ones that would actually be interested in sitting for them.
Years ago I used to be a member of another site, and regularly would have HOs in my vicinity reach out to me. The problem was: I mainly signed up to do sits in other European countries, not my own.
Thus there’s no real way for the HO to know, when reaching out to ‘random’ sitters, which ones might be interested in them except if the sitter has already marked them as a Favourite.
But… the only way for me to favour an HO is to actually ‘catch’ the listing before it goes to reviewing status, because with map search (which is the only meaningful way for me to search sits since there is no Europe filter), those sits that have already filled up to 5 applications are NOT being shown in the listings. This means many favourable sits will never make it to my Favourites.
Hence as a sitter I’d absolutely love an option to easily contact HOs who are open to that. Would make the pet sit searching life a lot more efficient! Right now finding a suitable sit is often SO time consuming , even more so since the new rules, due to the need to daily and preferably constantly be on & refresh the site
I saw a HO putting her emailadres below the listing.
She wrote that, since she is a bit flexible with the dates, you could contact her through email, if you were interesteda nd have overlapping dates.
This also bypasses the 5 application rule.
People will always find a way to circumvent irrational rules. Yes, it would be nice if THS didn’t implement this rule without ALSO addressing some way to account for all the valid issues that have been presented. But, they did not. So, people will find a way to work around it., unless/until they implement other solutions. Let’s hope that instead of trying to figure out a way to thwart the work-arounds, they actually build solutions to support the real, valid scenarios that house-sitters and home owners face.
@Bluehorse You can favorite listings which do not currently have dates. Look into the section of listings BELOW the listings with dates. There is a whole section labeled “not currently accepting applications.” You can browse and “favorite” these listings anytime.
Dear @PVGemini - doesn’t work with map search. I always search for Europe, but just tried out your suggestion, searching a part of Germany instead. No listings at all with “not currently accepting applications”, while there must probably be hundreds of those for Germany alone…
