Our biggest tip is that you can get the most miles/hotel points with credit card signup bonuses (compared to just putting your day-to-day spend on a credit card).
You can also stack deals, status, and points and get pretty creative. A couple of years ago we had a house sit in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and wanted to see Queretaro which is just a couple of hours away. We ended up doing what’s called a Mattress Run and stayed 41 nights rotating through four different Hilton properties and made more points than we spent (plus we earned diamond status for another year)! We give more detail about it here.
Another example is a recent Hyatt mattress run. Or, when we flew to Europe (San Diego, CA to Dublin) with an overnight ‘rest’ in Boston at an Airbnb that was all in $70 each (flights and Airbnb included).
Hopefully those links help! Always happy to answer questions
Hi @liz we are sure that Canadian listing will grow as travel becomes more normalized, Canada has been “closed” for so long an when it opens there will be domestic and international sits come to the site … Canada is such an amazing country to explore that both sitters and owners will have much to enjoy and beloved pets are getting excited at the prospect of making new friends.
Just curious as to if the homeowner ever responded to you and how things were resolved. In the future if a HO requests that you return for a sit and you want to do so, you can ask them to send you a private invite instead of posting the sit. That way, you are still going through THS, but don’t run the risk that they will select some else after verbally accepting you for the sit. Good luck.
You are certainly showing how considerate you are, and I think I would have the same hesitancy to move on with other plans. I’d suggest you resort to the old-fashioned way and make an actual phone call. A little more awkward maybe but at least you’re likely to get a resolution. If there’s no answer there’s usually voicemail and you could politely give them a timeframe where, if you don’t hear from them, you’ll unfortunately make other plans.
I belong to a site called Milesopedia.com that is all about points and miles for Canadians. The FB group is in French but most of the articles are translated in English. I use Airmiles, Aéroplan, Marriott, Hilton and many points from AMEX or other credit cards. All for traveling.
I Know the site but found out with time that they opt too much for sensionalism . I even wrote 3-4 articles for them before I switched for milesopedia.
I know I’m a bit late on this thread, but workaway.info is another one that might interest you. I used them a lot before I started house sitting, and had some interesting situations (baking pies at a bed and breakfast in Vermont, living with the Native American family and helping out with their store in Minnesota, etc)
we have had 3 sits so far and all three have had change of dates or messaged us to say they had decided to come home early (or late). This is quite a logistical challenge sometimes and I am wondering if this is just a norm that I have to get used to? I just had a month long sit (in 3 weeks) cancel saying that they have a neighbor who is now going to sit. Would love to hear that this is the exception and not the rule.
It is the exception. The past year has been an exception. People cancel because they test positive. People cancel because the rules have changed. People cancel because they are afraid. And who can blame them. The sitters are facing the exact same issues and I’m sure there are as many cancel.
It’ll get back to normal, or the new normal, one of these days. Don’t lose heart. Just keep going.
Hi @isaysowhat welcome to lour community forum thank you for joining and yes this is the story of 2020/21 but hopefully not throughout 2022. One of the reasons members are staying closer to home and taking local sits and local sitters but there are still many other sits taking place successfully. The key is to be flexible, adaptable stay in communication and most of all have a Plan B.
Welcome again, enjoy connecting with members from around the world and sharing each other’s experiences.
