I don’t know if sitters are applying willy-nilly to listings to make it under the 5 applicant cut-off. That’s quite possivle. I do know that in order to make the cut-off, we have had to severely curtail the amount of time and care that we used to put into our applications. As well, we have nearly given up on overseas sits because, as many have mentioned, it’s almost impossible for us to make it into the first five applicants. (We’re on the west coast of Canada, which means a nine-hour time difference with Europe. Most of the European postings come up during our night, so by the time we check - even if it’s at 0500 or 0500 - we’re too late.)
We have always had to respond fairly quickly, but prior to the new policy if we managed to get our application in within the first 24 hours, we could at least be hopeful that our track record would give us a decent chance at becoming the chosen sitters. With the 5-application cut-off, we can’t even get our application considered in the first place. This has severely impacted our sitting.
For example: We’ve made several trips to Europe for sits. Because of the expense of the travel and health insurance, we always try to max out the three-months that we can stay without getting a long-term visa. In the past, we’ve not had a hard time filling the time. That changed last summer. Last June, before the policy came into effect, we lucked into a December dream sit in Venice, and then shortly thereafter we signed up for another sit in Brittany for late February. We then proceeded to try to fill in the ‘gap’ between the two sits. “TRY’” is the operative word. We checked day after day, and there was nothing. We joked that perhaps Europeans didn’t plan ahead. It was only after finding out about the then-new 5 application policy that we realized what was happening. (Note: THS did not inform its membership of the new policy. We found out by happenstance via the Forum.) In the end, we did find sits to fill in our time, but only after we had already arrived in Europe and were in the same time zone.
We also have found ourselves sometimes rushing into sits that we might not have taken before. But that’s a whole other story.
Good luck with finding good, experienced sitters. As you can see from the thread regarding the 5-application policy, many of us are totally fed up with THS’ ignoring the extensive negative feedback. We’re voting with our feet and going to other, more responsive sites. (We renewed only because our contract expired while we were in Europe.)
Hi everyone. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts on this topic. We are temporarily closing this thread so we can discuss this with the Product team. We will come back after we’ve had those discussions. Thanks for your input and your patience.
Thanks for raising your concerns about experienced Sitters. Across the platform the proportion of applications by new and experienced sitters has been stable, with no significant changes.
It is frustrating to hear that these experienced sitters are not applying to your sit and you’re not finding sitters that meet your requirements.
Regarding new sitters, as you say everyone has to start somewhere. As an avid owner of the platform, I often choose new sitters as we often suggest they go to a local sit, and this means you can meet the sitter in person.
Also, the most recent sitter we had went above and beyond our expectations; with pet care, home cleanliness and communication, and this is often because they are very excited about being a new member and want to get a good review, so why not give one of them a go, or firstly meet before hand or do a video call to build up confidence and a relationship with a Sitter.
Not the OP, but I prefer when a couple sits for us. We have three cats and one of them prefers men. Plus, with two people the cats are more likely to get more attention than if it was just one person.
We’ve accepted single sitters before, so it isn’t a deal-breaker, but I thought I’d give you a couple of reasons why a couple might be preferred.
Hi @Shasta, yes - perhaps ‘willy nilly’ isn’t the right word, but sitters now have to be much faster when applying for a popular sit. That means there isn’t much time to carefully read the listing, look at dates, look up the location, check out flights & trains, look at work schedules, and all that before applying.
If I see a popular listing rapidly filling up and I have been lucky enough to still catch it before it reaches 5 applicants and I’m interested, I open the application window as that allows me to still submit even when it’s about to disappear from the listings due to the 5 rule. That only works of course if you’re solidly online. Sometimes I’m traveling on public transport when I see a sit and my laptop ‘oscillates’ between being online, offline etc.
Nonetheless, I feel a lot of pressure to hurry up and spend the least time possible to make my decision whether to apply because of the 5 rule.
Sometimes I resort to sending out a quick ‘placeholder’ email saying that I’m sending them a note just to make sure I make it in before the listing closes; and that I’m still looking at flights/trains and will get back to them as soon as I can. I had an HO recently who didn’t like that - who said that I should have a copy-paste message ready to apply rather than sending a placeholder. I explained to him in return that there was no point truly applying if I don’t even know yet whether I can find an affordable flight. And that if I had not send the placeholder, I would not have been able to apply later on. So yes, it’s an uneasy arrangement sometimes.
And I’m sure I miss many sits. E.g. a few hours on calls for work…who knows which interesting sits appeared and disappeared from the listings during that time. That window to catch up isn’t always there anymore.
So I can certainly imagine that for some their main strategy is to just apply with lighting speed and probably only half read the actual listing in the process of doing so.
@JennyH I can assure there there are more, more, more petsitters who are in this for the love of pets…sometimes the luck of the draw can bring less desirable results.
This statistic isn’t very helpful without more context. Does it mean, for example that 80% of applicants for sits are inexperienced now and this was the same 2 years ago? If so, with the 5-app limit, it means that only one (20%) of the applicants has experience. If the HO can get 20 applicants, then they get 4 experienced applicants. It is still not a lot, but better than one.
Even if the inexperienced applicants are just 40% of the total, that gives a HO just 3 experienced applicants (out of 5), and they may not be suitable.
Ben, can you answer her inquiry? Referring to stats without providing a before-after the “5-application limit” context (or comparison) doesn’t really answer the key point that people are discussing here.
And can these stats compare the before-after the advertising blitz in which THS framed pet and house sitting as “free vacations?”
We hope you can provide more context. Those of us watching this thread look forward to it. We like stats.
@Bluehorse With all due respect, I think willy-nilly describes the situation perfectly for some.
If you are telling me that some people don’t read the listing all the way, not looking at the dates, the location, checking out flights and trains to see if they can actually make the trip…That is “Yikes” for an owner.
I totally get the reason why sitters feel the pressure. It still doesn’t make it right to apply to a sit that you don’t even know if you are a good fit for or can actually commit to. I suspect this has also been causing what it feels are increased cancelations. I know that I have had about 5-6 this year alone. Sitters are kinda having buyer’s remorse as they weren’t fully committed to the sit in the first place.
I travel for business so I need sitters who are fully committed to doing the sit and taking care of my senior dog. I don’t have the time to entertain people who didn’t even read the listing or not even sure if they can do the sit. They are taking up prime real estate for the people who would be a great fit.
I do appreciate your honest perspective. It has given me plenty of insight. It makes sense as I have had sitters during the video call ask me all these questions like they haven’t read the listing at all.
Again, I understand the reasoning, but sitters should not treat applying for sits as it is The Hunger Games. This is what leads to unqualified sitters and/or sitters who aren’t really there for the pet. It’s really not fair to the pets or the owner.
Hi @Shasta - I’m totally with you, which is why I do NOT apply for sits that I’m not committed to or for which I don’t know for sure that I can get a suitable train or flight.
Although it does mean sometimes quickly putting in a placeholder these days (I’ve read of other sitters applying this strategy since the 5 application rule was introduced), to ‘buy’ myself time to do all these things that determine whether I can and want to do the sit.
As per the example, I’ve noticed that HOs don’t always appreciate the placeholders. However what am I to do instead? My options are more or less 1) reply very quickly to be with the first 5, although before knowing whether I actually can and want to do the sit (‘opportunistic’)
2) send a placeholder with the first 5 to maintain the ability to be in touch with the HO (otherwise I can’t contact them), then figure out if I truly can and want to do the sit, subsequently follow up with a proper message. And hope the HO doesn’t take ‘offense’ with my placeholder
3) spend the time to figure everything out (‘committed’), then go to the sit, and realise I’m now too late to apply
Yes, but this only works if you have time, there and then, to sit down and do the research. If you’re at work or on the road, then you just don’t have time at that moment, and you know the sit will be gone by the time you get back.
I know I would appreciate a placeholder personally.
. I definitely don’t want people applying when they aren’t sure. I respect the placeholder personally because at least it gives me the heads up and that’s communication vs false pretenses.
Either way, I’m sorry that your experience recently has been stressful
I will have to say that there has been this huge migration towards being a nomad and such. Personally I find someone who has a fulltime job or who is retired as there are costs that do occur and not all nomads will be able to deal with that issue. Also, choose someone who currently holds a visa for your country or is in the country. It can be tedious on both ends but just delete those that do not meet your basic expectations.
Intrigued @teresaottesen - why would a nomad not be able to incur any costs whereas a retiree or full time worker would? Speaking as full time sitters & part time digital nomads, we are always prepared for incidental costs. It comes with the lifestyle.
I am also intrigued by this comment , what are the costs that you refer to ?
All sitters will need to be able to pay for their own travel to the sit and their own food on a sit . Aside from those, what costs would occur on a sit that would be the sitter’s responsibility ? Any medical emergency for the pet and any emergency at the home (plumbing, electrical ) would also be covered by the Pet parent .
We are nomads by choice - digital nomads - we work from home whilst we sit . It’s a lifestyle choice that many are making By combining both work and travel we don’t need to wait until we retire to travel .
For us this means we have more disposable income to pay for the unexpected as we have no mortgage or rental commitments.
@teresaottesen A nomad is simply someone who has no fixed based. It does not mean they have no money or source of income!
All sitters need to fund their lifestyle both on and off a sit. It is a lifestyle choice. Some nonads are retired & living on pensions as they travel, others are digital nomads working as they go and we, for example, have rental income and prefer to live freely wherever the wind blows!
Most regular travellers would also be well aware of visa requirements and restrictions when applying for overseas sits.
We frequently organise sits from overseas. As long as you build a good connection and trust each other to follow through there is no need to restrict yourself to a certain kind of sitter…etc
But ofcourse in the end its all your choice how you choose your sitters!
Hi @botvot yes, exactly that happens to me as well: I may be ‘lucky’ to catch the sit before it reaches the 5 application limit, but I may be ‘unlucky’ in the sense that I’m on the road or likewise and don’t even have the ability to go and read it and shoot in a placeholder. And yes, it will be gone ( = closed) by the time I’m able to get to it e.g 1 or two hours later
Could the cost of living crisis mean that some sitters have had to look for paid work which may not be compatible with a nomadic lifestyle? Payment in kind may be difficult to sustain in our current economic climate. Just a thought. No idea if that is the case.
Is this figure separated into home owners and sitters published anywhere as it might explain the reported shortage of experienced sitters v sits listed ?
