It’s harder to find a sitter when dates are not current or appear current but are actually incorrect. Pet parents rely so much on the accuracy of these dates. THS: is there a way to have sitters who have recently sat/updated their dates to the top? There must be a better way. Appreciate THS so so much and want it to be effective for everyone.
Well, I am not going to do that.
And you may not know, but I never even see my calendar. It is not shown when I click “Profile preview”.
So complain to THS instead.
Or just post the dates of your listing, and I will get notified if you live inside an area of my Saved searches.
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Please do a search for “calendar.” It’s a common topic. The basics are that it doesn’t work as it should and is pointless for people who are not doing this full time.
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@ert38 I am one of the sitters who keeps my THS calendar up to date . Just today in the last 3 hours , I have had 3 different PP send invitations for sits on dates where my calendar shows that I am not available/ already on a THS sit.
I don’t know why the THS platform even allows a PP to send an invitation for dates where I already have a confirmed sit - it’s not even an overlap -it’s right in the middle of an eight week sit .
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I have my calender updated but owners are still contacting me for dates that I’m unavailable.
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But you were new here! You don’t have reviews from THS!
So that was surprising.
I know! I’m just as surprised as you are.
I’ll repeat what’s been said. The calendar is not user friendly or easy to understand. I’ve been invited when my calendar shows me not available because the HO misunderstood it as reading that I was available. Not their fault. It’s a lousy calendar and could be an asset if THS was interested in making it functional.
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A small legend would help.
That would require just a tiny little bit of code.
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We gave up on the calendar soon after we started sitting. Unless it has changed, it doesn’t work unless you sit back to back. If you have commitments outside of THS there is / was no way to block those dates off.
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Our calendar is up to date @ert38 and invites usually come for the dates that we are not available on there. I think THS need to change it for a new system, it’s not the sitters.
My calendar is up to date but people don’t understand it. Cross dates are actual sits, blanks are unavailable, and highlighted dates are available. I frequently get offered sits the majority I turn down. They have been sent to loads of people in desperation probably. They haven’t considered the sitter or how they might get there or the amount of pets and work involved. I am often booked a year ahead, I like to choose where to go and research the area and travel. The Calendar as it has been said many times does need to be user friendly and is long overdue for change
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@pietkuip - thank you for bringing this up. I have requested it several times. What is the point of a calendar without a key/legend?
I will not be updating my calendar other than blocking out the whole year. I begin my profile with my availability (or lack of). It was the first thing homeowners saw but no longer as the order of headings has been changed by THS. Experience now comes before Introduction.
We had the same experience last year. Our very first THS sit was the result of being proactively contacted by a house owner looking for a sitter just two days after we joined THS. It does happen and we considered ourselves very lucky
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I know I’ve said this many times before, but what we need is a system where sitters can enter the dates they are available and the location (maybe region) they are looking for sits. And then, of course, a way for HOs to be able to search by date and location.
I used to update my calendar, but I stopped bothering because I get invites frequently for dates that I already have confirmed THS sits. So, I assume HOs aren’t checking the calendar. Even if HOs check the calendar and see available dates there is no way for them to know where that sitter would like to sit for those dates. It would be nice if HOs were able to search for sitters effectively.
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I won’t be updating my calendar, because it’s pointless when everyone uses them inconsistently or doesn’t even know how to use them without a key.
Plus, typically people are motivated to do extra admin stuff when there’s incentive for them to do it, not just because it could theoretically benefit someone else (whether HOs or otherwise) — that’s part of any business like THS to figure out, not for users to fix for them. I say that as someone who works for companies with similar responsibilities — we don’t expect users to solve our problems for us.
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Even if I kept my calendar up to date, (I did for quite a while!) I was getting invites for confirmed & booked dates.
HOs have no “key” to decipher, so it doesn’t seem to be worth the attention anyway.
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Dude, I’ve been trying. I’m 5’3" apparently that’s not small enough.
We have set our availability to absolutely nothing, and we still get offers of sits.
We don’t mind this though.
Our availability is set at zero as we have a busy few months coming up, in case anyone is puzzled why.
Same! The calendar being updated, and a legend in my own listing, plus written out availability, plus a detailed list of where we want to go at what time of year. all ignored.
So now I just ignore the calendar