“Stand by” in the sense of “to honor her commitment”, not that the sitter would be waiting on standby.
A regular employee has protection against termination. In Sweden, the most important protection for long-time employees is the “last in first out” rule in case of redundancies. But in my opinion this is not as good as in Germany, where it is more expensive for an employer to downsize the labor force.
So in this case, a sitter wanted to cancel a five-day sit at the end of August. And the owner was inclined not to agree to that, although for most listings with a half-hour commute to Manhattan, it should not be a problem to find someone else.
Personally I don’t see what contracts and employee’s rights has to do with THS.
I am not an employee but I did sign up and agree to the THS T&Cs and Code of Conduct.
A commitment is a commitment and whether I agree to a sit a year or a week in advance my word is my bond and I would not cancel unless it was extraordinary circumstances.
I don’t think it is OK to just say a HO has a month or so to find a new sitter.
I realise life happens and HO also cancel on sitters but at the end of the day all I can hope is that we all treat each other with consideration and respect.
End of sermon 
2 Likes
People even get divorced. Despite rings and blessings and signing the marriage certificate with witnesses, etc.
3 Likes
An ‘emergency’ would mean a very late cancellation, which would be much more difficult for a HO to cope with, so perhaps you should be glad it isn’t actually an emergency situation?
If she seems like a usually reliable sitter, then it must be an important reason. I don’t think that’s unreasonable.
I understand it must be irritating to have to start all over again, but you’ve got plenty of time to get a new sitter.
4 Likes
I did sign up and agree to the THS T&Cs and Code of Conduct.
A commitment is a commitment and whether I agree to a sit a year or a week in advance my word is my bond and I would not cancel unless it was extraordinary circumstances.
That appears to be exactly what the sitter has done so no sermon needed 
@pietkuip - we will have to agree to disagree.
I am not talking about employment or marriage. I am talking about the Terms and Conditions of THS that we all signed up to.
What is the point of planning ahead and then either party cancelling because something better turned up or their plans changed?
I had this case and I have the premium membership .
The bot thingy stated “the premium membership does not cover any hotel costs” I was stupid enough to believe it .
That’s not happened in this case though.
thanks for the off topic response I am in the US we have pretty much zero protections and while 2 week notice is standard its not a required this you can just quit and walk out. so was curious when you m entioned it
@PrincessPetProtector To add to the off-topic topic, the two weeks is the expectation of the employee only. 49 of the 50 states in the U.S. have At Will employment, meaning one can be fired without notice and without due cause. Montana is the only exception.
1 Like
For the U.S., large layoffs can trigger WARN act protections, a federal requirement: Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 - Wikipedia.
We had a sitter just cancel with 3.5 months notice.
Even still, it was a bummer.
2 Likes
And I had a place to sleep confirmed here in Ghent via Booking-dot-com and there was nobody there. It was difficult to make contact, and finally he told me that he was full.
Yes, of course I found another place. Just wasted some time. And I pay a bit more. But all is good, had Belgian beers with the owner and her friend on the street here last night!
3 Likes
@pietkuip Something similar happened to us a few weeks ago in Charleroi. We had an Airbnb booked for a night, but the guy never responded to our messages regarding check-in times & details and left us hanging the day of check in. We even tried calling the guy, no response. Then we contacted Airbnb, they tried contacting him, still no response 
Support helped us cancel & book a new place, and it turned out the owner of the new booking was right there in the shopping centre where we were, was on his way home, and was able to give us a ride straight to his accommodation! It’s funny how things work out sometimes.
P s: We loved Ghent, were there just a few weeks ago - such a pretty city!
9 Likes