I am a new HO on the platform and I am going through our first set of applicants and one of the recent sitters brought up that they would like to see some references for us. I realized how one directional I had been and felt like they were making such a great point! As a new HO it would be great to be able to send a link to folks who are not on the platform so they could submit a review of us. We used Rover a bunch over the years and I plan to have sitters from there write up some reviews, but it’s really going to be on the honor system since I will be the one sending these reviews to my potential sitters. I plan on putting some of these reviews into our profile, but again, folks will have to trust that I didn’t write these myself. Just a suggestion to the TH dev teams. Thanks!
Hi @zflanagan13,
It’s good to see you back on the forum my fellow Land of Enchantment homeowners! You bring up an excellent topic and one that has been discussed on the forum before. I think the main point members tend to make is that “we all need to start somewhere.” So a new homeowner member doesn’t have reviews in the same way a new sitter does not have reviews. Sitters do have the opportunity to add their LinkedIn and Airbnb accounts, so I think adding a link to your rover on your profile isn’t a bad idea.
I’ve been in the situation where I have been a first time sitter and a first time HO looking for a sitter for our young puppy. Our very first sitters were a couple that were also new members and we felt they were best suited for our sit after having video chats with all our applicants. We didn’t have too many for our first one but there were sitters that had many reviews and we decided to go with the couple that were also first timers to the site because we had an immediate connection with them. Now we get applicants with tons of reviews and some with none.
We have now chosen first time sitters on more than one occasion and I know they appreciate the opportunity as much as I did as a first time sitter. After looking at your profile a couple of times now and knowing the area I can say with a certain degree of confidence that I think you’ll get a great sitter! and as you mention it all starts with a little bit of trust on all parties involved.
I hope this helps as you start the process of looking at applicants.
Kelly & the Forum Team
Thanks @Kelly! I totally agree with everything you said. The bummer was that even on Rover it’s one directional, and since we haven’t done any hosting on AirBnB we would not have that option. But I completely agree that we all have to start somewhere. So far, we’re having a lot of luck with three sits Aug, Sept, Oct. Very excited to be on this platform!