Arrival / departure times

Owner Questions, Advice & Chat
1

Hi! I have rarely seen preferred arrival / departure times on listings. It would be helpful for travel planning to know if a sitter is needed for full days on the first and last days of a sit. :blush:

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2

I discuss this in the video chat, for example one HO confirmed sit is leaving at 4.30am so we will arrive 8-9am as we’re only 30 mins drive away and will text each other that morning re flight times if anything changes…they get back 9 days later around 9pm so asked if we could walk the dogs then leave around 6/7pm which suits us. It’s harder to stay over as it’s a big family so probably a more complex leaving/returning process.
We will visit for a dog walk and house ‘recce’ this summer and do the handover long before the sit in the autumn.

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3

You usually have some form of communication with the HO prior to being accepted, this is the time to ask these sort of questions.

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4

Welcome @Sar
If we need to know before applying ( for example if we will be travelling from far away ) we will use the “apply” button to initiate a conversation with the owner and ask the question.

We’ve done this on several occasions- sometimes the answer means that we won’t apply ( they need a sitter early in the morning and we can’t get there until the evening) and on many occasions the answer means it will work for both of us ( owner and sitter ) we’ve then applied properly and been accepted .

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5

When we have a video call with the owner before accepting the sit, we always ask what their travel plans are and if they would like us to arrive the day before they leave. The answer is usually yes, though on some occasions we have had owners that cannot accommodate extra people in the house while they’re home and we’ve arrived either shortly before or even after their departure. We are fine with either, and stay as flexible as possible with owners and their travel plans :blush: There have been times where we have stayed for a night both before and after the owners depart and return, and also times where we were unable to meet the owners in person. It just depends. But yes, it would be helpful for them to include this info in their profile. I guess sometimes owners don’t yet know the specifics of their departure & arrival times, and some wait to book their trip until they have secured a sitter.

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6

@Sar We include this info in the first few sentences of our listing. We are sitters, too, and know it’s a very important detail needed for planning.

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7

We need an overlap of 2 nights at the start because there is a lot to show the sitter and we have ample room for them to stay. In the listing, right at the top of the profile, we state that the start date shown is the day we want the sitter to arrive and the end date is the day we return. In the video call we explain that overlap at the end is optional.

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