I am wondering how many Hosts (pet/home owners) are planning to post early for Christmas listings?
We have never done a Christmas/New Years sit but this coming winter we’d like to - but only somewhere warmer than where we live (Rochester, NY). Particularly Spain, Portugal or Italy. Since this means booking flights, I am a bit anxious about how early pet owners will begin looking for sitters - flying that time of year means booking pretty early.
I wish there was a specific place on the forum to discuss holiday sits far in advance. You know, like “hey anyone in these countries thinking of traveling over the holidays, please DM me and I’ll send you our profile to consider us” kind of thing. We have 26 (on our 27th) sit now - all 5 star - and would love to be already be able to dialog with owners in those countries…I know it’s a high-demand time for sitters so it would be nice to start the “matching” early.
@carpediem16, we find that listings in Schengen area are typically listed much closer to housesit dates than in North America or UK. Suspect cultural difference.
Yep, I’m watching a few areas in the Schengen to get a sense of what HO’s do, they are still posting sits for March, so not much advance planning. We will be in the area anyway (family wedding) and I’d love to pick up a couple of sits. We had a fabulous 6 weeks in Spain over the winter prior to THS.
I don’t know about Spain or Portugal but there are already a lot of Christmas sits posted in the UK and US. There will likely be far fewer in Spain and Portugal.
Why don’t you join a Facebook group for housesitting in those countries, in addition to having saved searches on THS?
There’s a few Xmas sits starting to emerge for Australia, but tbh even there it’s unusual to list dates this far out. As sitters we’re not really looking atm as we’ve not as yet decided where we’re going for the winter months (we’re in England).
I’d advise buying your flights now- as you can then include this information when you apply for sits in Europe as it shows intention and commitment to the location.
Typically, Christmas sits in Spain are advertised much closer to the dates. I don’t think you will have any problems securing a sit but you would probably need to book the flight in advance, especially if you’re willing to pay for some accommodation.
Although some sits are advertised well in advance, they tend to be the ones that are harder to fill or very long sits, sometimes split, where one sitter hands over to another sitter.
As you have plenty of time before applying, I would suggest doing a bit of research about different areas in Spain as we have different weather areas, sometimes very close to each other. People tend to think that all southern Spain is warm but it isn’t. You can go skiing in the morning in Sierra Nevada and then drive down to the coast in just over an hour and go to a sunny beach.
We’ve been booked in spring for New Year/Jan sits in Spain.
Yes you need to book flights early, which are very pricey, but it’s not fair on the owners if you don’t, plus you’ll want to know where you’re definitely spending Christmas/New Year anyway. But the flight prices get reduced dramatically nearer the time, but you simply can’t take a chance in them selling out.
This of course is not a common issue, but I personally would be worried that “something came up” if the sit is half a year to the future. With Christmas time this is not such a risk - Christmas is a sitters market, so you should be able to find a sit even last minute.
I think you could risk it, take flights to the area where you want to be, and then just wait. Either you get a sit that is there, or if nothing pops up, you can plan to take a cheap bus to the other side of the country. As long as you dont want to be in Rome, you should feel secure that you will ged a sit in the are you would like to. Take a cancellation insurance for your flights, just in case, and if you can afford couple of nights in a hotel, make your visiting period as long as possible.
From someone who sometimes first chooses where to go, and then seeks out the sits, be picky. There will come a better one, dont let the fear of ensign up with nothing make you apply for a sit that is clearly not a fit.
Thanks. My ideal location is Seville as I have been longing to return since our first visit a few years ago.
I think we will have to buy fully refundable flights and see what happens. We are in Europe often (husband is French, daughter lives in Nice) so we know how expensive flights can be - but we won’t go if we don’t land a sit somewhere sunnier than Rochester (or Paris). And yes, we would pay close attention to what the weather really is.
I know there will be tons of sits in the UK but that’s not on our radar in winter!
I wish there was a place for HOs and sitters to discuss possible matches by country within the forum. Some people will plan trips based on sitter availability. One of our past HO’s literally told us “just tell me when you want to come to Switzerland and I’ll plan my travels around your dates” as did another HO in Los Angeles we used to sit for regularly (not via THS).
I’ve never joined a “free” pet sitting platform. I know they exist and some people have had success with them but they make me way too nervous. Not enough skin in the game for people - anyone can bail at anytime and nothing is verified. Too risky IMO.
I recommended this, but it is risky. Search a host you like, and who has been away every christmas in past years. Write them a message by applying to earlier dates (and immediately withdraw your application), and explain your situation. Many hosts have the experience that getting a Christmas sitter is a struggle, so they could appreaciate a sitter offering. At the same time it is possible that this specific host makes Christmas plans last minute and doesn’t appreciate. So my advice is very risky, and I doubt many will try it.
You mean to search this on a FB pet sitting group? I just submitted to join one - “worldwide pet sitting” - it has 268k members so I’m willing to investigate but man is it risky! With THS we have premium membership so if we get stuck we are covered. But I am curious so I requested to join and we will see. I wish THS has more transparency between sitters and HO’s for communication. I wish members could opt in or out receiving private messages.
@carpediem16, there are alas few schengen area listings. Flexibility in location is important to success in securing sits. If you are very keen to visit a specific location, for extended duration, then consider exploring paid accomodation. Off-season (winter) may be less expensive than you expect.
I would search for Seville and save the search. I would go through all the sits in Seville, even if they are not active, and favourite the ones I thought would be good for me. Like that, you will get alerts and be able to message the owners. I would also check, as @anon42303101 suggested, that they have been away for Christmas in the past.
This strategy has helped me in the past. I shared my experience in this post
Oh yes, @Newpetlover , we have done this multiple times in the past few years and I just updated again “saving” any new ones. I do find that “saving” (or “favoriting”) sits only gives us a slight advantage - oftentimes by the time I get the alert they are already “reviewing applications”.
My experience is that the notification for “favorite” comes just couple of minutes before the notification for “saved search”. If you tap immediately, you get the advantage. If you dont, it does not really matter if you see the notification or not. Those sits are gone in minutes.
@Newpetlover, for low-volume listing locations then we also favourite. If siper popular, distant time zone then still challenging. But helps.
@carpediem16, re Seville we’d encourage create two saved searches - one for spain, one with custom map for SW Schengen area. Perhaps listing appears in relatively nearby Algarve, Portugal that meets your needs. Greater flexibility increases probability of securing sit.
I don’t know if there’s any difference in time. The reason I suggested favourite is because this way they can previously filter the sits that are desirable and the ones which seem likely to have open dates for Christmas. Like that, they can perhaps get in touch as soon as a listing opens even if it’s not for the dates and then withdraw their application. I bet HOs won’t mind to have options for their Christmas sit.
I don’t believe there is any difference between “favorite” and “saved” - to my knowledge anyway. As a sitter, once we click on the little heart it is put in our “favorite” list - I don’t see any separate place for “saved”. Not on the website platform anyway. Maybe the mobile app looks different but I am on THS mostly from my laptop, not the app.
