@Silversitters, we’ve done the same thing, reached out to home owners we could assist for part of their dates, and they’ve found a few days of coverage until we could get there. In ALL instances, the home owners have been incredibly grateful. Now I’m no longer able to do that, and what a shame that is. We now miss opportunities to help someone every week, and those sits are empty.
Someone mentioned this was like using a sledge hammer to put in a tack. Yes, seems like every time there is an “update” this is the TH response.
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How frustrating, how completely needless.
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Even Airbnb allows you to Contact the owner for questions even if their accomodation is already booked for dates you are seeking. Please try to make your app work more like the ‘big boys’ and stop making everything so difficult and controlled. Most apps allow more flexibility and functionality with every new release.
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It is a much different functionality to not allow double booking vs. not allowing an application. You can allow sitters to apply / contact a potential overlapping sit but not allow them to be invited to the sit if the dates are not altered. THAT is the functionality you are trying to achieve.
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well put Silversitters…This why the current version of THS needs a tweak.ie by all means pop up a warning of an overlap but dont prevent it
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Flash up a warning of an overlap, but dont block it would be one massive improvement on the current system
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Why can a sittter not initiate a date change? That would only make sense as sitters use the app more than HO’s and of course are more familiar and comfortable with it, and in general are a bit more technically inclined.
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Hello everyone,
I’m posting for the first time, and I’d like to share my thoughts on how the new overbooking application process is impacting my experience and, in my opinion, the experience of the Owners. Additionally, I’ll propose some solutions that I believe could be easily implemented.
Currently, I’m in a situation where I’m booked for a house sit until December 9th, and my next sit in the same area begins on December 14th. Ideally, I’d prefer to find another sit between the 9th and 14th instead of opting for an Airbnb, hotel, or staying with a friend. Presently, there are 12 people looking for sitters between December 8th and December 16th, with 8 of them being last-minute postings.
The problem lies in the fact that there’s currently no way for a sitter to message an owner unless they previously applied for an application with them or have had a prior sit with the owner. I believe it would be mutually beneficial if Sitters could message Owners they haven’t sat for before, expressing flexibility with their dates. This could potentially lead to arrangements where I could sit from the 9th through the 14th. I argue that, in last-minute situations, many owners might find a family friend or neighbor to help out with the days I’m not available.
As of now, Owners can reach out to Sitters and invite them to sits or put flexible dates on their listings. However, as a sitter, I’ve experienced owners requesting me to sit for dates I’ve already been booked for. While my availability is listed on my profile, I believe owners may often overlook or not notice it.
I propose a simple fix that could benefit both Sitters and Owners, potentially increasing the success rates of Owners using Trusted Housesitters. Currently, there are 12 sits I could potentially apply for and assist with if owners were flexible with their dates, but I have no way to communicate this to them, as I have not sat for them before.
Implementing this solution could be approached 2 ways:
- Owners could have an option in their post to turn on or off is there are open to applications with alternative dates. For example, this option could be turned on if they haven’t found anyone for their desired dates a week prior.
2.Regulation of this option could be based on the number of completed sits and reviews for both owners and sitters. Membership plan tiers could be related to the availability of this option, potentially serving as a selling point to upgrade membership plans. I don’t necessarily want to see it linked to a higher tier plan but often that is how companies see a good or bad idea.
Personally, I plan on pet sitting until spring and upgraded my membership before I left with the goal of utilizing the service as much as possible. However, since the implementation of the new overbooking process, I anticipate having to secure accommodations more frequently than initially expected. It’s frustrating to find accommodations when you as the Sitter see 12 potential listings to help the Owners but don’t have the ability to message the Owners and let them know that you couldn’t do the 8th - 14th but you could do the 9th -14th.
(Note: Apologies if any of this has been discussed in the forum; I spent half an hour reading and felt like I barely scratched the surface of the posts.)
Sincerely,
-Blake
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Welcome @Blake_Van_Blake and thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Many hosts and sitters will agree and the result of the new restriction means that many listings will go unfilled over the Xmas period. The change was intended to deal with a minority of irresponsible sitters but is having an unforeseen impact on all members. I personally never overlapped sits but it does have an impact on the ability to contact hosts, especially if you are a sitter planning back to back sits.
I am not sure where you are looking to sit but currently there are 1965 USA listings and 692 UK listings accepting applications for the Xmas period.
If sitters were able to contact hosts and discuss their requirements I am sure with a bit of flexibility many sits could be filled.
I anticipate a lot of disgruntled and disappointed hosts in the New Year.
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And just over one third of all Aussie listings are Christmas sits @Twitcher (98 out 262).
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Or worse still that they ask someone (neighbour or friend) who they only think is reliable but they only pop in for 2min to put food in a bowl and walk out again.
I am attempting to apply for a sit but am not allowed as THS says there’s an overlap. The listing has 2 sets of dates, I’m trying to apply for the first set of dates which does not overlap. The second set of dates, which I’m not trying to apply for does have an overlap. This is just plain ridiculous. Admins: please help so I can apply. I tried contacting you via Chat and got an automatic message saying they couldn"t answer my question then the bot ended the chat!!!
(edited by Forum team to meet Community Guidelines)
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@Wildcolonialgirl In this case there should be an ‘I agree’ button to click on, then you should be able to carry on with your application
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The Forum team can’t deal directly with Membership Services issues, but I checked and can see you’ve currently got an open ticket about the issue, so you will receive a response from the team with more information.
Hopefully you’ll hear back soon.
Jenny
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@colin there wasn’t. But I tried a couple of times and finally it allowed me to apply.
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@Wildcolonialgirl its all become very strange.
The other day we favourited a sit for dates in February- when we become available again. The next day those hosts invited us to sit for them for 3 weeks over Christmas when we are already fully booked till mid Feb! They clearly didn’t check our availability calender.
I’d already noticed they also had Christmas dates listed with a message below that blocked application ‘You are busy on another sit’
But clearly rules are different for hosts. Sitters can’t apply if they are booked elsewhere even if its only a one day overlap yet hosts seem to be able to invite any sitter for any dates regardless of their availabiliy!
What’s wrong, THS, with allowing us all to be responsible adults with the ability to manage our own schedules successfully- as we always did before… -whether overlapping on not?
This ridiculous and restrictive no-overlapping policy is going to end in tears…
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@Lokstar not only can a host invite you when you already have dates booked - you can actually apply and be confirmed as a sitter from their invitation even though you already have a sit confirmed that overlaps - Not even overlaps it could be for the exact same dates !! There’s currently no block on that .
Since the new overlap rule was introduced we’ve had three invitations from three different owners to sit for dates where we already have a sit confirmed.
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@Silversitters ,
Also if you apply to a listing that has multiple dates it looks as if you can apply for any of those dates, even the one that is an overlapper
Where is the roll the eye emoji please 
@Lokstar @Silversitters @Colin
It’s great that we can all come here and vent and THS does have an agent watching these forums but seems they are not connected straight to the developers. I think to really get our message across we need to be logging help tickets for every issue and problem that comes up so that the messge gets closer to the people who actually can fix the app. I have already logged 3 tickets of various nuances of issues stemming from this change to the app.
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