There has been a lot of discussion on this subject and the reasons for cancelling are so varied that someone cancelling short notice for a family bereavement vs someone who simply changed their mind is hard to record fairly. As others have said, we’ve had 4 owners cancel on us - 2 fairly, 2 utterly flaky and we have never cancelled on a host. We reported the flaky one to MS as it was for multiple multi country sits and she was later removed from the platform for doing it to other sitters after a warning. Thats your only method of recourse if you think the sitter has left you in the lurch for no good reason. #memberdispute
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We’ve had sitters cancel on us three times in the past two years.
But I think this thread is asking if an individual sitter or individual homeowner repeatedly cancels, what could be done to curb such behavior?
Tracking this would be useful info, for sure. If THS did so, they could, perhaps, issue a warning after the second cancelation, for example.
Just a thought.
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Definitely a good plan to have a tracker system behind the scenes IMHO. My reply was to the more recent poster who’d just had a short notice cancellation and was asking if it was recorded publicly on profiles. #yestoallimprovements
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In regards to THS implementing some way to track cancellations, I say be careful what you wish for. Since I’ve joined (about 6 months before the 5 app policy was implemented ) every single change THS has made to address a perceived problem or to improve something has made THS worse.
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There are multiple cancellation ‘clusters’ though and generally around two reasons:
- The sitter has a major illness/injury (this was me in 2024 and cancelled x3 sits in a Row)
- There’s a major travel disruption (ash cloud 2010) or conflict/war so an area needs to be avoided/circumnavigated, sitters have discussed this on other threads.
I believe all other occurrences are very individual.
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Or sitters? Without doubt, such information would be useful to THS members. But providing that information to members would be detrimental to THS. THS will never provide it. Why?
The answer to your question is that it can be set up but THS will not do it now or ever. Any information on profiles that casts any kind of shadow over that profile’s member increases the friction in setting up confirmed sits. Any increase in friction has only downside risk to membership numbers and revenue.
It’s the same reason THS removed the number of sits completed from sitter profiles. Hosts can see the total number of reviewed sits Hosts cannot see the total number of reviewed plus unreviewed sits because unreviewed sits casts a shadow.
For sure, a community run THS would not be concerned about friction. A business run THS most definitely would.
Worse for the community or better for the business? Some of the changes were yes to both.
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I was absolutely gutted to have to cancel a sit which was taking place in June 26. I cancelled in February, so plenty of notice. My daughter needs heart surgery and although she may have had it and recovered by then we could not take that chance. We live in Scotland and her surgery needs to take place in Birmingham. Her consultation is tomorrow and hopefully a date will follow. It was not easy cancelling this sit through THS, they were very considerate of our situation but they also needed to be doing the best for the HO. I sent over emails to THS showing communication from both hospitals to prove it was an honest cancellation. I would hate that cancellation to sit on my profile without any justification supporting why we cancelled and giving 14 weeks notice. I just wanted to show that THS do investigate cancellations, and to point out why cancellations should not sit on a sitters profile.
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Yes, definitely.
@kcfc hope all goes well with your daughter’s operation 
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Hope your daughter recovers well.
Maybe, serious cancellations could be noted as ‘ serious and unavoidable’
Unproven short notice just noted as ‘cancellations’…(amount)
There are ways, i think to protect both sides.
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I have had to cancel sits that I confirmed since Nov/Dec 25. I plan months ahead. Bought flight tickets and ready for my first sit on 19 April. Suddenly war broke out and my stopover was Doha Qatar. I communicated with my first HO when flights started to be cancelled. Both of us decided on our next plan of action. In the end, my flight was cancelled and hence, the sit too. I cancelled 5 sits as they were back to back. Again giving the homeowners due notice. I appreciate that all HO were supportive but I felt really bad at the inconvenience caused to them. I am now buying direct flights bypassing the middle east for my sit in London that I did not cancel as it is in August. I pray that the world will be calmer by then.
Are the rates of cancellation higher now? Homeowners’ travel plans may get affected too by flight cancellations.
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No. But they should feel they have an obligation. Internal cameras are not allowed and you had every right to walk away from that sit. But if sitters can cancel at the tap of a button, I foresee a lot of Serious Illnesses and Family Emergencies coming up..
‘At the tap of a button’ is exactly as it should be for sitters who need to cancel. It’s certainly not a lightly taken decision. With HOs having the option ‘at the tap of a button’ it’s a question of equality surely?
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The threat of a punishment does not make any already conscientious and responsible person more so. All sitters already feel they have an obligation otherwise they would not have signed up to do this type of exchange. It does not seem the kind of platform that attracts those uninterested in thinking about others, or those who are irresponsible or disorganized in general. Cynicism and distrust is certainly one way to walk through life, but no one can control the actions of others, and using punitive measures as way to do so would literally fly in the face of the essential foundation of this type of exchange: trust, respect and goodwill.
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Having access to a portion of the welcome guide prior to confirming a sit is a great idea. i get not wanting to have more personal information such as addresses, phones and lock codes not out and about for the general public, but certainly those details about pet and home care should be clear and UNCHANGED, available to prospective sitters. The majority of my sits have had information in the Welcome Guides that was either not communicated or differed from what was shared prior to my accepting the sit. Most of these discrepancies weren’t egregious (not like the internal cameras not being disclosed) but might have given me some pause if I had known beforehand. These were things like more detailed information about pet behavior, extra responsibilities in the home, etc. I think full disclosure is in these things is always the best strategy for both sitter and HO. Finding out new or changed information after confirming a sit can feel sneaky and underhanded, even if the intention is anything but.
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I had a wonderful sit with a HO who disclosed that they had an internal camera, showed me where it was, and said I was welcome to unplug it during the sit. I had no problem with this. It is their home, and they have the right to have cameras in their home if they want, in the same way that I have a right not to be creeped on while I am walking around the home in my pajamas. This attitude shows mutual respect and trust, and is a far cry from a HO trying to be sneaky or creepy in not disclosing this, or any other pertinent facts prior to a sit confirmation.
I actually did not know they were entirely prohibited. I’m glad to know this, as I don’t like having the onus of pursuing whether or not a HO is creeping on me during a sit.
I’ve posted on here many times over the years that it would be great if THS added an intermediate step in the confirmation process which would involve the welcome guide. After HOs click the confirm button offering the sit, the welcome guide could be released to that sitter, then the sitter can read it and ask any questions prior to clicking the accept button. They could include an option for HOs who don’t use the THS guide to upload a document or provide a link to their WG. It would probably prevent some cancelations as well as solving the issue of sitters never receiving welcome guides or receiving guides with surprises after confirmation. It’s kind of ridiculous that when sitters confirm we are agreeing to follow a welcome guide that we haven’t been allowed to see.
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I would want the HO to not be able to confirm a sitter without the WG being sent at the same time, via an automated system. The sitter who has been chosen would then be able to cancel immediately if the WG contained information not previously disclosed, or at least they could ask for a video chat to discuss….
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Given such a system, hosts would want to remove important information currently in the WG: address, gate/door codes, … More opportunities
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