You are so so so sweet thank you for saying that. Thank you so much. 1 million hearts to you
OK⌠I had a feeling⌠I scrolled through your past responses and you were one of the people that said such caring and beautiful things to me and I felt really understood when I made my first post. And thank you so much. I really really, really really appreciate you.
You are so effusive! I thank you for giving me the motivation to do a search and add a new word to my vocabulary!
I wanted to make sure that you saw my reply to you about how to find good sitters. I accidentally replied to the wrong person, but I meant it for you. I wrote a long post.
1 Like
Yes, I got it and I know which of your replies was directed to me because I get an email. I know that the post I quoted about you being effusive and teaching me a new word was not directed to me.
Hereâs a tip on forum posting: You can highlight the part of a memberâs post that you are quoting, and you get a popup that says âquoteâ. When you click it, a reply box opens containing that part of the memberâs post, and you can type your reply under it, this makes it clear who you are replying to.
2 Likes
I think the need to vet homeowners and for homeowners to vet sitters is only going to grow. Itâs a hidden non-monetary cost of the site for both types of users. The new direction on the website overpromises, oversells, and misdirects homeowners. Even when Iâm recommending THS to homeowners, Iâm doing so in entirely different terms than what is now on the site which de-emphasizes the exchange aspect and even the idea that sitters are travelers.
Rather than focus on screening homeowners, I start by screening the listings. Here is a list of questions I ask myself as I peruse the listing:
What is being offered?
Is it enough?
What is being asked?
Is it too much?
Then a look at the reviews: Do the reviews verify the listing? Do they bring up issues? How does the homeowner react to anything negative in the reviews?
Then a look at the homeownerâs expectations based on the reviews they wrote.
If I go ahead and send an application, Iâm fine with waiting for a response, but if it takes too long to get one, I note that and may ask about that during the chat. I will not confirm an offered sit without a chat. (Iâve broken that rule a couple of times with mixed results.) I will politely ask open-ended questions during the chat to both confirm information and to troubleshoot:
Could you tell me more about where Iâll be sleeping?
Whatâs the ambient noise situation? and/or How are the neighbors?
How do you clean up spit up and vomit? (And: How often does that happen?)
How do you clean up when Spot has an accident in the house? (Oh? How often does that happen?)
I often ask about laundry expectations as I really donât like to wash the sheets. It usually messes up the schedule if I need to leave early, and I donât like the idea of using a possibly breakable machine when Iâm at the end of an almost perfect sit. Usually, homeowners get that and leaving the sheets by the washing machine is good enough.
9 Likes
I agree @Marion, the vetting on both sides will be more. We are already very picky, but with each sit you learn a little more about your deal breakers. I definitely think the marketing contributes to the wrong idea on both sides. And yeah âgeniusâ was used sarcastically in my post.
7 Likes
Yes, totally! to everything you say about scrutinizing the listings; making sure that you have a video chat and those are really great questions, how you worded them
1 Like
As someone who is brand new to THS, I really appreciate the info you have shared.
6 Likes
I did a video call for a sitter whose on another similar website. Its the 1st one Iâve done for a sitter and it didnât go well. The sitter became defensive as soon as I enquired about references and said his reviews should be enough.
For someone whose not used the service before it is worrying not just letting someone have the run of your home but also being in charge of a much loved family member.
Incidentally not long after the call he suddenly recalled he was going away himself the same time I was so declined the sit. Despite telling me this he never updated his availability to show he wasnât available these weeks.
Iâm still pondering on whether to go ahead with trying to find a sitter here instead or elsewhere but also very cautious.
1 Like
Few sitters use the THS calendar, because itâs crummy. Maybe the one on the other site is as well?
References are posted, so if you mean you asked for people to contact, that would be out of norms and few sitters would provide them. Personally, if a host asked for such, Iâd immediately skip them, because many, many hosts are more trusting and less trouble.
I have 25+ five-star rave reviews and no references on THS. They werenât required when I joined and I figured they were unnecessary. Iâve had no problems getting sits without them, even right off the bat.
If youâre new to THS, or the other platform, sitters would have to take risks with you as well.
11 Likes
I do have to say. That while I understand your trepidation, and as I said to somebody else, itâs very important to find the right sitter. If you look above, I gave him some tips on how to do that. Mostly it is looking at the reviews and also really with the video call making sure that itâs a good fit. But I would not want to supply references either. And the reviews should be enough. But you want to make sure there are lots of really great great reviews not just a cursory. They were great.
That said, youâre gonna find the most amazing sitters on this platform. But it is an exchange so you need to care about them as much as they care about you and your house. But for example, I work for several companies as well. But just when I was looking for people that I sit for, just to help them when I wasnât available. There were so many amazing sitter on this site.
4 Likes
Once I hear the words âshouldâ directed at me Iâm done. I donât want or need someone telling me what I âshouldâ do based on their interpretation of right or wrong.
Doesnât THS advise to get references on the website?
When you start out you need outside references. But really they count for nothing. Everyone would just get a friend to write one so they are pretty useless. Some people think the THS reviews are comprised too as nobody wants to be mean or the 'âbad guyâ. Vetting vetting vetting, do your due diligence as much as you can
4 Likes
THS has at various times required or not required references. Not when I joined.
And I figured I didnât need them if I produced a strong sitter profile.
If that didnât work, I could always pursue references, but I turned out to never need them, so why bother?
1 Like
âŚ
(You walked right into that one, Steve.) 
2 Likes
The availability calendar only auto-updates if someone confirms a sit using THS. As Maggie8k indicated, people donât manually update or use them for availability, as it just doesnât function wellâŚin fact itâs a bit of a nightmare.
I donât know as references are all that useful imo; pretty much anyone can get a reference from somebody (although if they canât find even one friend to recommend them, I guess thatâs a red flag.) I agree with othersâŚread the content & tone of their past reviews. And go with your gut feelings. People all-to-often ignore this, to their detriment.
4 Likes
To be fair, even if the THS calendar was well designed (actually far from it), most sitters wouldnât use it. Why bother, when most sit only occasionally? Theyâll just do a search when itâs convenient for them.
How you can tell most people donât sit frequently: Scroll through sitter profiles.
With a calendar, consider what usersâ motivation would be to fill them out â primarily for their convenience, so hosts could potentially find them. But how often is there a match? Rarely, because so many variables are involved. And then if you only sit occasionally and have to ask for time off or such, what are the odds? Thatâs most often what sitters would face, use case wise.
Good calendar functionality would benefit full-time sitters most. But theyâre a fraction of the membership of sitters.
3 Likes
Fair. Some who use multiple booking sites might find it useful but, debatable.
I did try to use it once, to help me organize my (extensive) travel schedule, not all of it booked via THS. Thatâs a couple hours of my life Iâll never get back.
5 Likes