Hello! We joined Trusted Housesitters in October. We have a 4 year old kitty and an almost 1 year old Australian Shepherd. I have a listing for Christmas time and have not yet found a sitter. I have 2 questions… when I get a notification that someone has saved my sit, is there an easy way to see them in chronological order (or at least the most recent) because I have no idea who saved it a month ago and who is looking NOW.
Also, when I put “search for a sitter” and add my dates, most of the sitters that come up do not actually have availability listed for the period that I am looking for. Please help as I am trying to filter out those who are available and there are 100s listed that are not a match. Thanks in advance!!
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Welcome Erin. Unfortunately just because someone has saved your sit doesn’t mean they’re actually looking now. It potentially means they like your sit and want to know about future dates you list. Also unfortunately, the sitter availability functionality on the site is cumbersome to use to the point where many don’t use it. I know I stopped using it a long time ago. I would suggest contacting support and asking them to boost your sit on their social media. That worked for someone recently who was having a similar issue. You might also want to add your location in your message above just in case someone in that area is looking and happens to see it.
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Thanks for the advice. I wonder why the availability isn’t kept up to date… it seems such a useful tool for all involved. I will modify my title to include Edinburgh, Scotland. Thanks again!
It’s cumbersome to use. putting in when i’m available is way more difficult than putting in when I’m NOT available. i hope at some point they reverse it so that you’re assumed available unless you mark yourself unavailable. I will say that I’ve had HOs reach out to me regardless of my availability on the site. So you might try that. And you might just try contacting people on the list of ones that saved your listing, just in case. If someone saved it months ago, they might still be interested in these new dates. I love edinburgh. If i were not already scheduled I’d totally consider it. 
Good luck!!
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HI Erin, a very warm welcome to our community forum and to TrustedHousesitters! You have adorable pets and a lovely home. I see you have had applications already and I’m sure there will be more as it’s still early and Edinburgh is incredibly popular with members.
To help manage your expectations this year is different to any other, there is still an air of uncertainty around travel which is resulting in a little hesitancy but we are noticing it starting to change
With your membership tier you do have the ability to boost your listing and so I’ve included the instructions here https://support.trustedhousesitters.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4408919157777-How-to-boost-your-Listing-
Welcome again and if you need any further help please ask our community they are incredibly helpful and supportive.
Angela and the Team
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Hi @ErinM , you may want to read my thread that I posted a couple of hours ago under the title Impossible to delete availability dates on my profile. That explains why I don’t keep my calendar up to date
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Thanks. I didn’t put this under the Christmas sitting because the question was more about sitter calendars (availability) and also if there is a way to order your “saves” in a way that shows most recent. Another poster suggested I add the location to post and then it got away from me.
Hi @ErinM thank you I have repositioned your post.
I agree with Colin. I’ve saved many sits, actually starting before home owners had the ability to see them. My main reason for saving/favouriting them is so that I am notified when the home owner posts a sit.
However, in my opinion, it doesn’t really work the other way around. Even if I have the dates set as “available”, I may not be prepared to go to a sit when a home owner sends an invite. Almost all of our sits are planned well in advance and are made as part of a longer trip to a specific area. It’s rare that I would be able to accept a sit I was invited to.
The fact that a home owner can now see who has favourited their sit might be useful information, but it’s unlikely that you could rely on it as a method of finding a potential sitter.
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I also do this and was unaware that owner members could see who favorited. At the moment, I have put into my profile in the comments area my availability (next year) as I am pretty much booked and just looking beyond to new adventures with people, pets and places.
I’ll add another point about the calendar that can be confusing. I do keep mine current, but the dates I am available are in green, whereas those I am not are just blank white. To my way of thinking, it should be the reverse.
It has repeatedly been stated on this forum that we would like the option to block out dates when we are NOT available, unrelated to THS sits (which have a line crossed through the date, once booked). It can be done, but it’s far less convent. Hence the reason many sitters don’t bother.
I use the favourites feature and I find it really useful. I get notified when a homeowner lists a new date. I already know that I’m a good fit (my opinion anyway 
), so I quickly review the date and put in my application, if I’m available. I think that’s good for homeowners too.
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Apologies if this is a very stupid question, but I’m searching for a sitter and putting in specific dates (they match my listing). The majority of results are sitters who show as white on their calendars, meaning they’re not available. Is there anyway I can search for just those who are green on the dates I’m looking for, or do I need to click in to each profile and scroll down to view?
TIA 
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Hi @red_thread and welcome. Definitely not a stupid question. If you use the forum spy glass and search the word ‘calendar’ you’ll see it’s been a topic of conversation, with many voicing that there’s certainly room for improvement. You’ll also see that some choose not to keep theirs current, because of its shortcomings.
What you can be sure of is that those dates on a sitter’s calendar that have a line crossed through them is when they are on a booked THS sit.
My personal opinion is to not spend too much time checking people’s calendars. If you are searching so as to invite people in a certain area, I would go ahead and do that and see what responses you receive. You are not limited to doing that one at a time, but just be respectful to notify people, when you have made a selection.
Given I’m a sitter, perhaps homeowners will give you other suggestions. I hope you’re successful in your search.
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I would recommend not bothering with the calendar at all. Based on previous threads it seems that most people don’t use it because it’s so difficult to use. I know I haven’t even bothered to try updating mine in years because my first experience was so frustrating. It’s something they’re working on.
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Thanks @Snowbird and @CreatureCuddler - much appreciated
We are both sitters and home owners. I’ve just posted new sit dates, then looked for sitters to invite. I filtered on our state, the dates we need, and those with Dog experience. Many of the results do NOT show availability through the dates in the filter. This is happening on the mobile and desktop sites. So now it entails opening each sitter profile to see if their dates are highlighted for being available.
Admin - any thoughts on this search behaviour, and if it can be fixed?
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Hi @Breezylake This is a topic of ongoing discussion. However, your best chance of success in finding suitable sitters is with a stellar listing. I suggest you take a look at Angela’s top 10 tips and see if you can make any changes that will better promote your listing.
You can embed your listing in your forum username. Here are the instructions:
How to embed your listing into your forum username/profile
Or you can post details of the location as shown in the listing and the date range. Forum members can then provide constructive feedback.
If you are viewing sitters’ calendars, I suggest you only rely on those dates with the line through them, as they are confirmed THS sits.
Francine,
Voluntary Forum Moderator
Thank you @Snowbird got it.
We have 9 reviews for our home (and 29 reviews as sitters) so I’m confident in the strength of our listing, and in what a sitter is looking for. Have already coached someone that declined yesterday in how to update their calendar; they didn’t know there was different functionality on the mobile vs. desktop sites.
I’ll keep looking, we have time yet. Now I better understand how we get sit invites when our calendar shows us as unavailable. Thank you!
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Hello There!!
I’ve done a few house sits, and I was just wondering how many home owners actually reach out to you when you put your availability on your profile?
Hi @KoriStephens, welcome to the forum!
We’ve been on THS as full time house sitters for nearly 5 years and always keep a full open availability. We get invites occasionally and it ebbs and flows. Sometimes a couple in a week and sometimes we go a month or two with none.
We tend to mainly get ‘local’ sit invites, meaning from owners who live in the same city that’s listed on our profile (however, we go a year+ without being in that city). Occasionally we get invites from other areas.
To be honest, we’ve never had an invite from an owner we hadn’t previously spoken with that worked out for our dates and travel needs. So, we rely mostly on looking for and applying for listed sits.
Hopefully that helps a bit
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