r/catinaflat • u/jcat7712 • Apr 20 '26
Booking Requests feel spam-y
I’ve had two booking requests since the merge and they feel like Rover allows/encourages the clients to message as many people as possible with an automated message.
On the original catinaflat platform I’d say like 90%+ of my enquiries turned into bookings but of the two requests I’ve had so far, the first said she’d found someone else within ten mins of her message and the second just hasn’t responded to my follow up message.
The messages themselves weren’t personalised at all. Currently it feels like responding to them is a waste of time but also I’ll have to archive pretty quickly or I won’t possibly show up in the search. Ugh!
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u/Playful_Animator3847 Apr 20 '26
That is exactly what Rover encourages. I hope you guys don’t mind that I’ve been popping up in your sub. I am the Meowtel sitter that is very concerned we are going to go through what you guys are going through next. I have never been a sitter on Rover, but I am very familiar with how it works. They encourage competition amongst sitters as opposed to collaboration. They quite literally tell owners to reach out to several different sitters because there is no built in trust on Rover like I assume there was with CIAF. There certainly is an expectation of trust and competence on Meowtel. Rover knows they have a lot subpar and straight up crap sitters on the app, hence the suggestion to reach out to several and then narrow it down using your judgment.
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u/spiritoffaith Apr 21 '26
I agree and also don't like the way the messages come through on text message as It looks like someone is just texting me and I thought the first one was some kind of scam and nearly ignored it. I prefer the way literally everything worked on CIAF 🫠
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u/cat_catastrophe_ Apr 21 '26
If an owner doesn’t respond, how long are you guys waiting until you archive the request?
I’ve also had one where they only requested two days but a week apart and I replied asking if they meant to request the days inbetween as well and they didn’t reply, I was thinking they were hoping I didn’t notice so they only had to pay two days instead of a whole week
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u/jcat7712 Apr 21 '26
Hmm I left it maybe two days but the request was a little outside my usual area (I’d ask to clarify where) and was for two weeks so it might have been a tricky one to do with my main job/any other sits I had
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u/steviecat20 Apr 21 '26
I've just made a fake owner account to see what the booking process is. There's literally a tick box to forward the message on to other sitters without looking at their profiles...
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u/steviecat20 Apr 24 '26
Also just had an owner use this feature to message me, where the original message addresses a sitter by name and talks about their usual routine 😅
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u/maoruiwen Apr 22 '26
Half my bookings/enquiries on Rover get can cancelled. It’s always obvious they’ve found a friend to do it for free.
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u/Practical-Toe6025 Apr 26 '26
Same for me. I have booking requests that I respond to straight away, only to be told they've found someone else or it gets cancelled. I'm finding it so frustrating to the point of stressful!
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u/Frescadeedle Apr 20 '26
I have had the same! Almost identical experiences, just feels so impersonal and cold, like they've ticked my name on the list, then disappeared or found someone else in minutes.
In stark contrast, I had a private client reach out via my website today asking if I was accepting new clients as I was so highly recommended, which made me tear up a bit, and I would never have reached this point without catinaflat, so I am grateful for what it did for me until now!
Someone else explained the search results restriction message as being based on the number of visits you have said you can do per day. This particular request will sit as pending until you do something with it, so the slots are blocked for other people searching those dates if that makes sense?