We are two months away from a two months sit we posted earlier this year. We had a sitter confirmed back in June but they unfortunately had to cancel due to an injury. We reposted our dates and we have had some interest in the form of a lot of favouriting and a few applications. We had to refuse the first proposal as the sitters wanted to bring a dog which our lease doesn’t allow and anyway I’m pretty sure our cats wouldn’t appreciate. A couple that was promising as sitters changed their mind a few hours before our scheduled video call. Finally a sitter that was interested hasn’t been responding to our messages. I am still very hopeful we will find someone but my wife is beginning to stress a lot.
It is our 7th time posting a sit and we were very fortunate to have repeat sitters for the first 6 times. They couldn’t come this time but may very well come back in the future.
We would like any advice to help us better our profile to find the right sitters. It’s a very easy sit as our 2 cats are 3 years old and pretty independent but we understand it can be more difficult to find someone for a long sit just 2 months ahead of time.
@gchampagne Doing a quick read, these thoughts crossed my mind:
I’d put your header/title in English. Doing a basic search, sitters may pass you by thinking French is required.
Perhaps mention whether it is easy to get by with English only. Keep in mind applicants may not be Canadian.
Confirm whether your pets are indoors only. I’m guessing they are but best to be clear on that.
Given your condo is on the second floor, is there an elevator? If so, mention it. If not, give some idea of the number of steps and access conditions.
You mention an air exchanger, which I don’t think is common is many homes. Perhaps a short explanation of its use would be helpful for some.
Are there any condo rules sitters should be made aware of, such as being a non-smoking building perhaps?
It would be helpful to add details of places to see and things of interest to do in the area. How close are you to ski areas, for example?
How long do you comfortably leave your pets alone (# of hours)?
Where do they sleep at night? Some sitters don’t want pets in their bedroom or on their beds.
Your listing is showing two applicants. Either reject them if they’re not suitable, or connect with them as soon as possible. I notice you have messaged one and have not received a response. If they don’t reply in a reasonable amount of time, that would concern me.
It’s a lovely listing @gchampagne and disappointing your sitter had to cancel. Great you’ve taken onboard Snowbird’s suggestions. I do hope your applicants respond positively soon.
Having the one sitter repeatedly can act as a deterrent because sitters may think you’ll be going with them again. I know I hesitated about applying for a sit 12 months ago where owners had only had the same sitters. It got the better of me and I applied; the regular sitters were already booked for another sit so I did get the sit. Perhaps at the start of your listing you could mention regular sitter not available.
Fingers crossed for you. Remember you can always remove your dates then re-post them to make your listing New again.
As a sitter unfamiliar with your location . I would like to know more about the things that I could do / visit in your area during winter .
If you add this information to your listing under the location section and maybe some photos of the main attractions that might help attract some more attention . Then sitters can picture what they can enjoy doing there for two months .
As for your wife stress , it’s always recommended to have a back up plan in mind in the event that the sitter has to cancel due to illness accident or an extraordinary circumstance. Having a Back Up plan in mind might ease the stress levels .
Change your title, there’s only the first 6 or so words taht are easily readable so they need to be the most attractive.
You’ve got:
Cazuela & Chico between Québec and Montréal.
But Cazuela instantly says you may not speak English, so a chunk of sitters will click away. Plus Cazuela and Chico are not ‘selling’ points, they are simply pet names, and 100% of owners profiles include pet names, so that doesn’t tell a sitter anything different to the other 99% of profiles, it doesn’t entice them.
Instead use descriptive words about either your home or the place, such as beautiful, pretty, charming, attractive, stunning, etc, words that entice sitters.
Thank you all for the great suggestions. Here’s hoping the changes stimulate interest. We do have a plan B and a plan C but it wouldn’t be the same for our cats as having someone living here while we’re away.
Agree that you need to lean on where you are….I’ve heard lots of fabulous things about Quebec but have yet to visit that area…..you need to highlight those things……I’d also want to know what to expect for weather during that time period. Granted I can google search that information, but would be nice for you to state what it is like there during those months.
I love your apartment, but I think the most important thing is to sell trois rivière, because it’s not a very common location on THS so a lot of people might not know what’s to visit there. I would go sit for you, (I’m from Mtl) for the kitty cats and the comfort of your modern condo. Maybe tell people what’s so fun about the town: is there skiing nearby, is there gyms? That might help! I leave out the absence of a phone line as most sitters rely on WhatsApp (wifi) to communicate when abroad so don’t worry too much about not having a landline. Another possibility is a student at UQTR who would loooove to stay away from their family for a couple months, or could save money by only paying for a part of the lodging during university semester. You can leave an add at the university (quick, the fall semester is almost over!) and see where it takes you. Locals (or local residents) might be your best bet, and you could develop a relationship with them, the way you did with Rachel, so they might come back for future sits. If I was a student, I would jump on the opportunity to have a quiet place to study, surrounded by cats, away from roommates. Keep renewing your listing, promote it as being between 2 airports, and close to winter activities and you could get a few serious applicants. Don’t hesitate to add pictures of Trois-Rivières!
That’s a great idea. We hadn’t thought about the university students. We are located about 20 minutes from there by car. Also we are relatively new to Trois-Rivières and wouldn’t know exactly what to put forth as the best activities. It isn’t Montreal or Quebec although we are about 75 minutes from each. I’m sure there’s lots of interesting things to do in winter. There is cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. There are museums and several musical venues and lots of nice cafes, bars and restaurants. We will try and modify our profile accordingly.
You could ask AI for suggestions of things to do in your location in the winter months . Check it for accuracy . Before pasting it in to your listing , edit it to the way you would write it .
@gchampagne great that you reach out for feedback! Profile looks good, a couple suggestions:
I would rearrange your title from “Winter in Trois-Rivières between Québec and Montréal” to “Winter between Québec and Montréal in Trois-Rivières” as it leads with more recognizable places
Your pets are adorable, but I would put a nice photo of the house as the first picture (this is what sitters will see as the cover photo in their feed)—everyone on THS has cute pets, so this is how your listing stands out. E.g. I personally would be enticed by the current 3rd picture (living room) or 7th picture (bathroom), so I would put one of those first.
As to the two applicants we are still waiting on responses from them.