The importance of keeping your availability calendar up to date

As our house sitting community continues to grow, we’ve noticed an increase in homeowners contacting us saying they have messaged sitters whose Calendar shows they are available, however when the sitter replies they say that they’re not.

At Aussie House Sitters, we pride ourselves on the prompt and friendly communication of our whole community and wanted to take the opportunity to remind our sitters of the importance of keeping your Availability Calendar up to date.

Your Availability Calendar is located in your My Account menu under Sitter Profile. Please remember to check your Availability Calendar and enter any dates that you are no longer available to ensure this is displayed on your profile for homeowners to easily see. This not only means homeowners don’t waste time contacting you, but it also means that you shouldn’t be contacted unnecessarily by homeowners for house sits that don’t match your availability.

Your availability not only refers to when you are booked for house sits, it’s also for those times you are unavailable because of other commitments such as Christmas with the family or you’re simply taking a break from house sitting.

All unavailable dates need to be included on your calendar. In your calendar beside the date box, you will see the tick beside House Sitting. If your unavailable date is not due to a house sit, please untick the check box. 

There is no limit the number of dates you can add. Simply click the + More Dates tab for each dates you aren’t available. To remove any dates from this list, simply click the X next to the relevant dates.

We also recommend that you check your Preferred Locations using the link in the account menu under the Sitter Profile to ensure this information is also up to date. Please note: If you update your Preferred Locations you may also need to check your Alerts to ensure you are receiving notifications for house sits which are still of interest to you. With so many new opportunities being advertised it is important that your whole profile is up to date, especially any dates that you are no longer available. 

Of course, we do understand that there will be house sits where you are available, but they just don’t suit you for whatever reason. In this instance it can be helpful to the homeowner for you to briefly explain why. It may be that the owner doesn’t have any photos on their ad, their location isn’t of interest, or the type of animals or gardening jobs are not suitable.

Being tactful but honest can help homeowners refine their search to sitters better suited to their requirements. 

Alternatively, rather than simply replying ‘Not available sorry’, you have the option to send an automated decline message. When you click on a message from a homeowner and click the Reply tab, in the message box that opens you will see a Decline – Auto Reply button. Click here and you will see the reply that will be sent on your behalf. See example below:

Our Aussie House Sitters team shares the values of respect and trust while promoting friendly connections between the amazing members of our house sitting community. We listen to all feedback received from our members and actively encourage our members in making our wonderful house sitting community the best it possible can.

Happy house sitting from the team at Aussie House Sitters!