Hello, new here, so apologies for any faux pas. We have had a few sits that have gone beautifully and been really pleased with everything, all around. Recently we had a sitter back out after committing, due to health reasons, which is entirely understandable… but left us looking for another sitter about 6wks prior to the sit, which is closer to the dates of travel than we would ordinarily like, for logistical reasons. Since then, we have had two sitters commit and then back out for this sit because flight prices were too high for what they expected. I understand that everyone has a budget, but we are surprised that this has now happened twice… after they have committed. I am not blaming anyone for their budget, but wondering what we can do to avoid this from happening again. We have been clear in the listing about the location and dates, but is there anything else we can say to make sure people are looking into such details before they commit? Ideally we advertise the listing many months in advance, but with the first sitter backing out for health reasons, did not have control over the timing this go-round. Thanks in advance.
Welcome @ebs_finland .
You could discuss with the sitter if we confirm you as our sitter we would like you to buy your flight tickets within 24 hours - and show us your booking confirmation- would you be happy to do that ?
If they aren’t able to do this , look for another sitter.
You could add this to your listing as a requirement. If this important to you .
Do you have flexibility with your dates - could the sitter arrive a day or two earlier if the price of flights would be cheaper ?
Thanks, appreciate the idea, that is something to consider.
Hi @ebs_finland
You mention that you have been clear in your listing about location and dates. If you haven’t already done so, it might be worth doing a bit of research on behalf of potential sitters so that your listing also gives an indication of the cost of a taxi/public transport from the airport to your home so that they can factor that in to their budget, or alternatively mention whether you’d be willing to collect/drop off sitters at the airport.
The ‘5 applicant rule’ tends to make sitters apply quickly for an attractive sit, without having a chance to fully research the logistics of actually getting to and from the sit. Maybe this is what’s happening?
Applying for a sit isn’t seen as a firm commitment by most sitters - more as an expression of interest and an opportunity to ask questions, perhaps do a video call, and make sure that both parties are happy with the exchange. At this point, if I were happy to proceed as a sitter, and a home owner wanted to accept my application, I would ask for X number of hours to look into flight costs before confirming the sit. I would also want to know whether your trip involved flights, and whether or not you had booked those - it reduces the liklihood of sit dates changing etc. if so.
Once a sit is confirmed (rather than just applied for), sitters shouldn’t really be backing out due to the cost of flights. As a home owner, I would be looking for clear signs that a potential sitter had done their research, or simply ask them directly, before confirming them.
@ebs_finland
I notice that you do not have the correct start date on your listing - if you want sitters to arrive and stay from 15th - that should be your start date not the 16th .
You should delete the dates , correct them and republish .
U.K. has the most sitters on THS - Looking at your location and dates there don’t appear to be daily flights for example from London .
Do you have any flexibility with the dates ?
For example if a sitter found that an international flight would be considerably cheaper if they arrived a day or two earlier would you be able to accommodate that ?
Had they really confirmed the sit? Or did they withdraw their application?
For me as a sitter - I check airfare already when I apply, before a host reaches out. For sure I would check (again) when a videocall is scheduled. But it seems sitters that apply to your listing don’t actually check.
It is so easy nowadays to check airfare. Maybe you could ask them to check when you reach out the first time, and ask them to prepare this for your videocall?
«We would like to discuss travel plans in the videocall, and would kindly ask you to check your possible travel before our chat. Our plans are departure at approx. AA.BB. and arrival home DD.EE.»
I’ve also seen listings in distant locations with limited travel options that says something like «please check if you can afford to go here before you apply, as travel can be long and expensive to get here».
These are sitters whom we had a video calls with, discussed arrival dates and details on the call and via messages before, verbally committed on the call and then backed out in the next 24hrs, unfortunately.
Yes, good point. Our dates (including early morning flight arrangements) were made in collaboration with the first sitter who then backed out for health reasons last week, so we cannot change the flights at this point and did amend the description of the listing. We discussed the arrival dates with both parties via message and on video calls, so I do not think that this is the reason that they backed out. I do think that ticket prices have gone up a lot in the last month as flights have become more limited (since we originally booked the first sitter), so understand why it’s difficult to pull off, but just wish sitters had looked into this before they had a video call and verbally committed.
Thanks, these are helpful suggestions!
I think that the 5 sitter rule is likely influencing people to apply before looking, yes. We usually get to the 5 applicant mark within 30 minutes and then the listing is paused. And just to be clear-- these are not applicants withdrawing applications (have not seen that yet) but rather people we have messaged with about dates, details, etc. and had video calls with. Thanks for the suggestions!
Thanks all for the suggestions. For the next sit we will amend the listing to ask folks to look into flights before applying, and then again before a video call, and set a time expectation for having flights booked, to make sure there are no surprises before or after committing. Given that we live in a small country, where flights are limited, this probably poses more of a challenge here than in some other more populated and central locations-- and the relatively short time frame, which we could not control this time around, made it more difficult to find reasonable fares.
Hi @ebs_finland
It sounds like a frustrating situation, and is no doubt becoming more stressful the closer it gets to your departure date. But it also sound as though your sit is a popular one, so at least you have that in your favour.
From a sitter’s point of view, until a home owner has clicked on the button to confirm me as their chosen sitter, and I have done the same to accept the sit, nothing is set in stone. Are your potential sitters actually getting to that confirmation/acceptance stage, or are they having the conversation/video call with you, and then pulling out once they go away and research flights?
If the latter, it’s unfortunately all part of the process - listings do not generally include detailed enough information for sitters to know exactly which flight to book to accommodate their needs, your needs, and your pets needs. They can only really get that information by having a conversation with the home owner.
All I can suggest to speed up the process is that you put as much detail into your listing as possible (I am unable to see your listing by clicking on your profile, so apologies if you’ve already done this). Let people know when you will be leaving, but also give a window of when you would like them to arrive, which should allow time for a good handover. And likewise for the handover and departure at the end of the sit.
Be specific about whether they need to make their own way to your home within that window, or whether you’d be able to collect them from the airport. That way, you could ask that all further applicants include their proposed flight details within their application, so at least you’ll know they’ve done some initial research into travel logistics.
Good luck!
I’ve seen listings that state that flight confirmations needs to be provided within a couple days of confirmation the petsit
@ebs_finland appreciate your frustration but I think you’re missing a few key understandings of how most sitters use THS.
The sit is not confirmed until both parties have accepted the sit through the app. Video calls and discussion are for checking everything lines up, that we get on, that there won’t be any surprises etc.
We don’t necessarily know the ins and outs of your arrival and departure times before that and everyone’s ads are so sparse it is hard to get a handle on the full picture. Only after that would we be researching in depth, exact flights and timings afterwards. That’s the only logical way.
We exclusively fly between all of our sits full time. You can’t anticipate every sitters situation and putting time limits and restrictions will make it worse. Any responsible pet sitter with multiple 5* reviews does not need such level of micromanaging and it comes across demanding. There’s just as much chance that you cancel if the date is a few months into the future so we never rush to book flights as it would put us significantly out of pocket and have zero impact to you.
Remember people are not committing to your sit by sending an application message and having a video chat.
Thanks for the response, appreciate the insight. Judging from the varied responses here though, it seems like there is not just one way that most people use the site-- for example, we have yet to have sitters (who completed a sit or have accepted a sit) that use the platform full time. Of course a few sits and a few acceptances for this sit cannot be representative of what most people do, but neither it be said for the opposite. It may be that we end up self-selecting who ends up applying, and eventually sitting, by how we create our listing. And perhaps that is better for all, assuming we are getting plenty of interest each time. If someone finds that putting a time expectation on something like booking flights is too demanding, then it is just not the arrangement for them. It hardly seems like micro-managing to have a clear expectation of the timeline. And again, if that does not work for that sitter, they can just not apply, no harm done.
Do ensure that the listing dates are the dates that you want the sitter to arrive and leave .
These seem like reasonable sitters . They let you know that they wouldn’t be accepting the sit within 24 hours of being offered it , and as soon as they realised the flight prices for your specific sit dates.
For context , I can do a broad internet search for flight to Finland but until the exact dates and arrangements are confirmed with the host I won’t actually book a ticket - I may then find out that there are no longer tickets at that price available - especially when the sit is not far off . Or where there are limited choices of flight to that destination. I might find that there are no direct flights daily during this season or none at all with seats on that date and I therefore need to arrive two days earlier and have the expense of hotel accommodation on top.
In contrast for a sit located close to London there would be multiple flights options that would get me there on a specific date , but for a destination like Finland , flights options are much more limited .
That is really not up to the homeowner, sitters should be researching all of that before they even apply, or right after they apply and before they actually speak with a homeowner! Public transport from an airport or rail station to their home is one thing, but all of the rest adults certainly can and should manage on their own!
@marshmish
But a local person will have access to that local information more easily than someone who has not visited that country before .
If a friend or relative was visiting from abroad and I couldn’t pick them up from the airport , I would tell them about the best public transport options and how to get a ticket . I would also tell them about the ones to avoid ( overpriced / unreliable/ slow ) .
If a host is struggling to find a sitter then local tips and information which helps a sitter get to their destination will benefit both host and sitter .