What Features Would You Like to See on THS?

THS News & Feedback
64

The ability to find sitters by name - not just by location.

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65

We do sits all over the United States and southern Canada and have been traveling full-time about 3 years so we have no “location” for people to search for us. If you do a search for “United States” it shows the state where each sitter is technically based in but if they travel full-time that’s really not useful information for finding a sitter.

So, rather than just a search finding location where sitters are based or have a “home”, make it so you can search to find sitters who want to sit in a country, area, city, etc.

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66

As @Southernsitter suggests, this would be a great feature – to be able to contact and be contacted by other members on the site. And the ability to turn this feature on and off by the member if they do not want to be contacted. It would make for great networking. Of course this has been brought up in the past but it would be nice if it was reconsidered.

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67

If they don’t have enough photos or description, I simply don’t apply for them. I take the approach that they are either hiding something or aren’t committed enough to put in the effort.

What will they be like on giving a full and thorough briefing and/or meaningful review.

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68

Aren’t these things you can use Google maps for? Given the inaccuracy of the map in the listing, not sure the algorithm will work out those requests too.

For the others, I have a 2 page pdf of questions to the homeowner. I go through this, either on the first video call or if I’m comfortable to continue with the sit, will go through it during the start of the sit with the owner. I generally email it to all HOs as prep. Some fill it out and send it back.

I do encourage the HO to include these points in the welcome pack, so they have it for future sits. The sit I’m currently on, added detailed pics of certain items, printed the sheets out and laminated them :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

There are 2 of the questions I specifically raise upfront, as they need to be actioned in advance.

  1. are the pets collar tags, microchip info up to date? Many people move homes and forget about updating the chip registry.

  2. Contact in case of emergency. Either something happens to me, something happens to them on their trip, or I am in the situation to answer a big question, and need the support of their trusted contact. This is in the event of an emergency or the HOs are not contactable.

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69

For Saved searches, when we go to the main screen that lists our saved searches, show the number of sits that match each search rather than just “View Sits”.

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70

I second this. I would like an opportunity to narrow my field of search by discarding unappealing sits of my choice while leaving those of interest within the scope of the filter. Thanks for listening - and acting! :laughing:

Oh, and an individual site calendar could also prove useful to help sitters block out their active sits and better “read” their openings. Thanks again!

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71

I send the listings without interior photos to customer service and always get a timely response that they will reach out to the homeowner to let them know they need to update/add pics.

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72

As a pet sitter, the main thing I would like to see are sits in chronological order.

If this happened, I’d probably sign up for a life membership :tada:

This is once the other know search glitches are fixed :wink:

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73

The duration filter should not show sits in the results that have multiple dates that add up to the duration search length.

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74

The duration sit filter is not working that well atm.

I have saved searches for 1mth+ and get sits appear that are only 3 days and variations thereof. They don’t have multiple sit dates either.

It’s known by TH and is on their list to fix.

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75

I would like to see a better “saved searches” facility, one that would permit editing a search rather than deleting it and starting over, and one that would permit me to reject and remove sits I’m not interested in. Is it possible to do this?

Thanks for listening!

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76

It seems like they were inserting Christmas sits into every search for a while there. I was searching 2+ weeks in the spring/summer and getting results for 5 days over Christmas and New Year’s!

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77

Seeing how (seemingly) easy it was for THS to add a filter toggle for Christmas sits, I would like a toggle that can be used to see all sits in an area or just sits accepting applications.
Right now, when I search for sits in France for example, the results say ‘there are currently xx sits in France accepting applications’. Ok, but what if I want to see the ones not currently accepting applications? Toggling would make it easy to show what may be available in the future, allowing me to save sits I’m interested in on my phone so I can receive pop ups notifications.
At the moment, it seems the only way I can see ‘all’ applications is on my computer, but if I save them on my computer, I don’t get notifications…you see the issue?

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78

Ooh, completely agree with this. You can’t even edit them! Having more than three searches too please. Although I probably won’t be a member after February if the 5 sit limit is still intact, it’s killing my house sit life.

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79

I third this.

80

@CoolCatAunt If I want to see those currently not accepting applications, I do the search using find a sit (app) or the search bar (website).

I tested it with your example, searching France, and they displayed in both instances.

My guess is you are viewing results in your saved search, in which case those currently not accepting applications don’t show, at least that’s the case for my saved searches (app or website).

1 Like
81

I’d like to request the following features:

:warning: Priority (for me at least)

Search and availability

  • Edit Saved search - at the moment you have to delete the existing search if your dates change slightly or want to update some preferences.

  • Remember search filter preferences - if the sitter only wants to sit dogs in the countryside, for example, can the search filters be set to ‘dogs only’ in the ‘countryside’, so we don’t have to enter the same parameters/filters every time we’re doing a search in different locations or for different dates?

  • More search options and filters:
    Search by:
    Continent/Region,
    ‘Anywhere Except: [List of Locations]’

  • Save search for multiple locations within one search - e.g. I’m flexible and looking for sits in Germany, Paris, Denmark or Zurich between dd/mm - dd/mm) so I’m only notified of the new sits in those places.

  • Sort results by: Distance, Length of sit, Starting date

  • Last minute & Longer term sits categories

Location information

  • More precise location - It doesn’t have to show exact location, but for those using public transport it makes a difference to know the 2km radius at least. Perhaps show location in search results as [Village/Town, 15km from Madrid] or [Village/Town, Region]
    Often I see a listing in the ‘X’ city, but upon reading the listing information, it’s actually in a remote village (relatively) near the ‘X’ city but I’d need a car to get around.

  • Accessible by public transport/Walkable -
    Perhaps adding a ‘Sitter doesn’t need a car’ (especially since you already have ‘Sitter needs a car’ tag) because it’s walkable/accessible by public transport, and adding ‘Walkable’ option if centrally located from local amenities). I don’t own a car and am trying to travel by public transport as much as I can.

  • Nearby/amenities distance - Distance from the nearest bus stop/railway station/grocery store, names of the nearest stations (so people can see how easy/difficult would it be to get

  • Public transport map overlay (like on Google maps) to see the nearest stations/stops

For confirmed sits

  • Save/share sit to a calendar/app - once the sit is confirmed, I can easily add the dates and location to my Google Calendar or forward the information to my trip planning app (TripIt, Wanderlog etc)

:soon: Additional features

  • Sitters in the area - either by sitter ‘checking in’ to a certain place, or by IP location tracking. It would make it easier for owners to find someone last minute or for their next sit

  • Last minute alerts - sends out email/push message to people in the area (if the location is tracked as suggested above)

  • Sit details - for confirmed sits, include owner names, address and number with booking confirmation/under Sits.

  • Wifi speed test (like Airbnb has)

  • Filter favourites by recently added

  • More house amenities listed - similar to Airbnb for example, listing if there’s air conditioning, washing machine, specifying whether the bills are included (for longer term sits, for example)

  • An option to add itinerary/travel plans to Sitters’ profile (where and when you’ll be next) - so owners can tell if this sitter is planning to be in their area

  • (Save) Message templates - for introductions, ‘thank you for your application’ etc, that members can customise

  • Video chat option - some owners/sitters are not very tech savvy, so offering a built in video chat might be useful. Or perhaps to offer a scheduling tool that will use third party tools like Zoom or Google Meet.

  • Response rates (%) - 70% of the owners don’t respond to applications, not even just ‘Application declined’.

Affidavit

It would be also nice if TH platform generated a confirmation/affidavit of sorts, confirming in the local language that the sitter has a right to be there, with owners’ permission, in case of police inquiry or nosy neighbours or family members, saying something along the lines of:

E.g.

[Sitter name] will be staying at this property [from-to dates] as a guest with [House owner] permission.

No monetary transaction is taking place during this arrangement.

[House owner] can be reached on [number, address, email] in case of any enquiries.

[Date, Signatures]

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82

Hello @TomorrowTamara

Thank you for taking the time to comment on this thread and add valuable feedback to the tech team. What better way to get ideas from members that are using the platform and have such great insights!

There are also other forum topics that can be found using the spyglass - such as product updates, where you can see any new updates posted by the Product Manager.

There is a recent update that looks like it is in line with one of your suggestions.

Thank you again for contributing to this thread. Best wishes Carla

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83

When searching for a sitter, for “location” it would be good if something like “Nomad” or “Anywhere” was an option as there are sitters who are truly nomads.

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