My host missed the 2 week deadline for giving feedback - and now can’t. What a terrible shortcoming in the functionality of THS. What’s this all about?
The 14 day deadline is a relatively recent introduction as is the blind review system.
The homeowner should get reminders from the THS system and another one when you left your review of the sit.
Did you review the sit in the timeframe and if they are not new members did they leave reviews of past sitters?
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No, it is not a shortcoming. A deadline is needed to make the blind review system work. Before, there was the problem of (the fear of) revenge reviews.
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Did you post a review for them then send a review request? Sent a friendly fillow-up message? Reviews are important and you’ve earned it, so sitters shouldn’t be afraid to prompt pet parents who are slow to reciprocate.
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It is only on the first few sits that it really matters.
Nagging an HO risks irritating them. You might get 4 stars!
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Sounds like a shortcoming in the HO to me. There are multiple prompts and reminders to review - which they repeatedly ignored. The blind review system is a HUGE improvement and now allows people to be honest about bad experiences without fear of retribution. In order for it to function there needs to be a time limit.
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Pet parents who can’t be bothered to leave a review would irritate me 
! And anyone who views a friendly reminder as ‘nagging’ clearly doesn’t deserve to have sitters.
I’m sure we’ll receive a 4 star review one day, @pietkuip but it hasn’t happened yet. The longest we’ve waited for a review is a few days.
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@Davidlux You can still ask the hosts to write you a reference . We did this when a host missed the deadline .
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Really? You think so? The HOs we sat for were very accurate in reading all of our reviews, even from the beginning! I realized when one of them commented on a former dog we cared for by name. 
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True, but when an HO did miss writing a review, other HOs cannot see that.
It does not matter whether a sitter has twelve of fifteen reviews.
When HOs do not write a review, they may have a reason (like “a piece of pasta in the kitchen sink”, “pillows in disarray” or even “missing ice in the ice cube tray”), you never know. Better not to trigger a four-star review 
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But, if a pet parent wrote such a review, it would surely say more about them than about the sitter?
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When they instead only write: “They left a dirty kitchen sink” or “took food from the freezer and did not replace it” or “the couch was a mess”?
Or just nothing, only deducting some stars?
Yup. Got our review in (it was good).
The HO was also fairly slow/unenthusiastic in their communications during the sit (e.g. most HOs gush when photos sent etc, this one didn’t react at all). I figure they just couldn’t be bothered to do the review.
Agreed. Yes, indeed. Did all that. HO just didn’t care/couldn’t be bothered, I guess.
As a sitter, I check prospective hosts’ history of writing reviews for previous sitters and I avoid ones who don’t do that consistently. There’s no guarantee, of course, but your odds are better with such hosts.
With that practice, I’ve not had to chase after any hosts for a review — they just do it automatically.
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I also do this! 
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If that’s their style, it makes sense that they didn’t. However if you still want to nudge them, ask them whether they’d like to write a review in the spot reserved to the reply to your feedback.
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Good idea.
This time I waited a little bit longer (about a week, apparently till after the HO wrote it) to see how and which kind of reminders I would get to write the review. (Emails, pop ups??)
Well, I got no reminders.
This. I don’t sit for hosts who aren’t impeccable about timely communication and who clearly don’t take the reviews seriously based on their previous history.
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