You wouldn’t necessarily need to monitor reasons. You could for instance say, if someone cancels X number of sits, they’ll suffer consequences. The consequences could range from being blocked from sits for X amount of time or losing your membership, for example. Or it could be noted on your profile, like this sitter canceled their last three sits.
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It’s not always possible but sometimes a sitter or homeowner will state the reason in their communication.
In which case it can be monitored. Also if a sitter or homeowner repeatedly cancels / curtails then it would be clear to see that there is a pattern of cancellations and unreliability .
Yes, I would have to agree that if a sitter constantly cancels sits, within a certain period of time, consistently, then that would warrant some kind of repercussion, agreed. Like three strikes and you’re out, within a certain time frame. Very political issue.
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I’m standing by my suggestion of escrow!
Use the magnifying glass/ spyglass to search, and I bet you’ll find it! 
Is it against the terms or whatever, if a homeowner makes changes that affects the sitter’s pre-arranged travel and incurs expense, then the homeowner should be responsible for paying the extra costs?
(That would come out of the escrow)
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@MissChef I guess people will argue for it both ways (sitters will want an escrow and the owners will argue for one too, in case a sitter cancels and pets have to be boarded). Then we’re back to square one.
Or actually not, come to think of it! It won’t go both ways for one sit, right? The cancellations/amendment either comes from a HO or a sitter, so the other party gets to keep the escrow. And if no changes, then each gets his money back.
Maybe it could work. How much would you suggest? If too little, people won’t care to lose it and the arrangement might have no impact as it will barely cover expenses. If too much, it becomes unattainable or impractical for many…especially if they do many sits and, as we know, payment might takes a while to be released (think the insurance claims we’ve all read about!). And which bank accounts? With users all over the world, the bank accounts or arrangements must be able to handle any bank account in any country/currency easily…
Things to think about.
Exactly! That is the crux of it.
If someone is incurring expense, then that person gets reimbursed from the escrow. It could be a percentage of the number of days or something, including a factor for the distance of travel.
I know I’m not the first person to come up with this idea for such an exchange, but escrow is a global phenomenon that people have used forever. No need to reinvent the wheel, I’m sure there’s a benchmark out there somewhere.
And if TH can accept payments from owners and sitters in every country, then that seems sorted already.
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For those of us who sit a lot that could be a lot of money tied up. I currently have my next 8 sits scheduled. I certainly would not be willing to have THS ‘holding’ hundreds, possibly thousands, of dollars of my money.
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Can’t we just have a system that marks cancellations against both HOs and sitters and once they hit say 3, they’re flagged and if they reach 5 then they’re off the site permanently (or similar). No money just penalties for not sticking to the agreement made. 
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They don’t all have to be escrow. Maybe the 1st year or 1st 5 sits whichever comes 1st
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I’m all for it! That, and the review system, I’m looking forward to both of those happening, and hopefully soon.
Whenever I have had to cancel for personal reasons I always find my HO a replacement asap. They have been so lovely about it. I don’t think it’s okay to leave them in the lurch.
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We’ve just been asked to pick up a sit where the sitter has bailed halfway (the owner is many countries away) because the walk up the hill to the house is too steep. The dog doesn’t even need daily walks 
. If you commit then you commit.
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@Cuttlefish, was there maybe a physical problem with the sitter?
If a sit has an active pet(s), a puppy, a steep hill, a bunch of stairs or such, the HO should note it in their listing. It saves everyone grief. Not everyone has the same energy, physical strength or mobility.
Leaving mid-sit without good reason risks a sitter being bounced from THS.
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@Cuttlefish was first sitter THS member ?
It’s always hard to know if you are getting full story if you only hear one side - could there have been other issues that the homeowner isn’t mentioning?
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Yes they were @Silversitters . The HO isn’t cross just disappointed and dealing with it from a distance. It’s made them look for a sitter not from THS is the impact hence the mention. Always two sides as we know, just sharing a thought or two with you lovely lot 
They’re in their 70s @Maggie8K The listing did clearly state it was just on a steep hill but you could use the HOs bike or motorbike and they’ve chosen to do neither. She’s pretty disappointed with THS is the shame of it.
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That’s a shame, @Cuttlefish. If they had notice and options, and left mid-sit without extenuating circumstances, I’d expect that THS would expel them from the platform, since those are posted guidelines.
@Cuttlefish so very disappointing to hear that homeowner has been let down by sitters mid sit .
I personally would be wary of taking over the sit in case there were other issues that I was not being told about . Maybe that’s because we’ve had unexpected issues with a sit recently so I’m coming at it from a different perspective.
I would expect that any sitter who abandons a sit without extenuating circumstances would no longer qualify to be a THS sitter . If such sitters are allowed to continue then it will result in reputational damage to THS .
BTW even though there were issues on a recent sit - we did not at any time even consider abandoning the sit or the lovely pets .
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We hear you @Silversitters - we can’t actually help out as we’re already managing our own tricky sit (interestingly enough) but as you say, it should always be the pets first & our two lovely woofers here are keeping us going. Onwards and upwards 
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Can you DM me with the info so I can get Member Services involved please.