FYI — I’m asking specifically about a restriction in the THS software/calendar system — not about trying to hold two genuinely overlapping sits.
I’ve run into a calendar restriction in the THS software that seems especially problematic for traveling sitters.
Example: My current confirmed sit ends on October 8. I’ve found another sit I’m ‘interested in’ that begins on October 8. However, instead of allowing me to apply or even initiate a conversation about whether the timing might be workable, the THS software displays:
“You’re busy with another sit. Know someone who’d love this sit? Share this listing.”
That is the part I find particularly restrictive for traveling sitters. The software is looking only at the calendar dates and determining that I am already “busy,” when those dates alone do not tell us whether another sit is actually feasible.
A departure date from one sit and an arrival date for another are transition days. Whether another sit ‘might’ work depends on many things that the calendar software cannot know: What time are the Pet Parents returning? What time do the next Pet Parents need the sitter to arrive? How far apart, distance-wise, are the two sits? Is the sitter driving, flying, or perhaps doing both? Are either of the arrival or departure times flexible?
In my current example, I can’t even contact the Pet Parents for the October 8 sit to ask those questions. The software has already decided I’m unavailable before any of us can even ‘determine’ whether I actually am.
And I think the issue is broader than this particular same-day example. Traveling sitters often need some flexibility around both the arrival and departure boundaries of confirmed sits simply to explore what might be possible next. Being able to contact someone does not mean a sitter is committing to an overlapping sit. It simply allows both parties to exchange enough information to determine whether the sit is feasible in the first place.
I wonder whether THS could build some transition flexibility into the software — perhaps allowing sitters to communicate with and apply for sits within a limited transition window around the beginning and end of an existing confirmed sit, while still preventing anyone from actually confirming genuinely conflicting sits.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting that THS should allow sitters to confirm genuinely conflicting sits. THS can still protect against conflicting confirmed dates without preventing a sitter from investigating a potentially workable sit. Allowing an application or conversation is not the same thing as allowing a confirmed double-booking.
Even allowing a one-day transition window on either side would be much more workable than completely preventing communication based solely on the dates.
For those of you who travel from sit to sit, have you encountered this? How do you handle it? Is there an existing THS feature or legitimate workaround that allows you to communicate with Pet Parents about a potentially workable sit when the software currently considers you “busy”?
