Hi everyone, I am a new member in Hampshire, UK and was very excited to find THS. We have a beautiful home and the right person could have a beautiful Christmas in the Hampshire countryside but - have so far been unsuccesful to find a sitter for the Christmas period yet - so getting a little nervous and dont know what I could do to find the right person …
Am I doing something wrong? I am on a standard membership and it seems I can only invite one sitter when another has declined. How would I find the right sitter who is free for the dates?
Hi and Welcome @Orkus
You have joined at a very busy time of year - lots of homeowners wanting to get away and less sitters available. Most members have already made their arrangements.
You can invite as many sitters as you like but it is not a very good strategy.
Create a fabulous listing - lots of advice on the forum. Just use the spyglass at the top.
Your success in securing a sitter will depend on many factors, pet responsibilities, dates of travel, length of sit, location, available amenities etc etc.
Welcome @Orkus. Unfortunately, THS’s marketing is giving new owners the wrong idea of getting a sitter. Inviting sitters rarely works! The idea is to create an attractive listing (think real estate listing) with clear photos of house, especially rooms sitters will be using; why sitters would want to sit for you, especially over Christmas; clear and specific responsibilities in relation to your pets and property.
There are in excess of 800 Christmas sits currently listed for the UK so there is much competition! It’s also a period when fewer sitters choose to sit or do paid sits through other sites.
You need to sell your listing and be considerate of your start and finish dates too. Sitters do not want to arrive right on Christmas and finish New Year’s Day, for example, especially if dependent on public transport.
All the best.
Many thanks, yes I realise I left it quite late…and your kind reply confirms this. Thank you. I will try and heed the suggestions and fingers crossed. Best wishes Andrea
Thank you - that is very helpful. I was concerned leaving it late but did not know the invites would be kind of ‘hit and miss’ and the competition so strong. It makes complete sense. I shall explore other ways too! Thank you and best wishes Andrea
Hi Actually contacting sitters directly rarely works though it does sometimes! What you need to do is actually ‘post’ your dates. Take into consideration if you would like them to stay the night before and host them and if so make this clear in your dates and mention this in your profile.
Once you have completed your listing and you are happy with how it reads and that it makes clear to potential sitters what your home and pets offer and what the routines you want them to follow (including how long the pets can be left alone) then re read it form a sitter’s perspective to see if you think it looks like an attractive prospect for others. Make sure you show photographs of your pets of course but also where your sitters will be sleeping. As it’s Christmas think about if you are willing for them to have family members visit?
Once you have done all this you can attach your listing profile to your forum post and I’m sure sitters/hosts will jump in to take a look and advise you if they think anything can be improved.
Once you are happy with your listing them post it as open dates. This allows a max of 5 sitters at a time to express their interest. Look at their profiles and if you think any of them look like a match for you then contact them to discuss further and to see if they continue to be interested in the sit all being well you then offer them the sit but remember until they confirm formally on the site it’s not a done deal.
As you reply to other sitters to decline them this automatically opens your dates for more sitters to apply to the max of 5 until such time as your dates are confirmed by a sitter.
I think this is all correct I’m sure someone will jump in to correct me if not! I’m a host and not a sitter…….!
@Orkus I have found your listing so here are a few suggestions to perhaps improve it.
Do you normally decorate your home for Christmas? If so, a photo of how it will look could be very appealing to sitters and could be your first photo to grab sitters’ attention.
Your outside photos do not depict what it will be like in winter to give sitters a realistic picture.
It’s good you’ve mentioned how long you walk Chiara twice daily. Are the walks straight from your home? Off or on lead? Recall? Where does she sleep?
The biggest drawback is Chiara not liking staying at home alone as sitters generally expect roughly 4 hours of free time to enjoy the location minus pets. I notice you mention she’s happy to go in the car with sitters but I don’t see you including your car for that purpose. It should not be assumed sitters will take her in their car, especially in wintery weather where she’s likely to get dirty.
Do the cats have a cat flap?
Would you be open to sitters having guests eg family visit on Christmas Day as often sitters look to be near family over the festive season?
Hopefully these suggestions will give you food for thought.
This is correct. I suppose this is not an issue with all hosts, moreso those who get such a high response rate that they fill the application buffer before selecting a sitter or declining all of the applications.
Forgive, I am having real trouble finding my profile to attach and the help given does not correspond to the functionality on the site. I do not seem to have a ‘your profile’ button when I click on my picture or a ‘boost’ button when I try and click on edit dates. I have spent hours and am really grateful the forum is so helpful. Any suggestions? Thank you again!
Christmas period is a time of significant excess demand. Many Pet Parents seeks to travel. Some housesitters want to stay home. Having Christmas as your first housesit is not ideal as good reviews from prior housesits helps to attract applicants.
Great features of your listing
Significant number of photographs, without clutter
Lovely property
Flexible dates
Open to family visitors
Use of your vehicle (subject to insurance)
Collectively the above list is commendable. Most of it is stated upfront - excellent. Should frankly attract housesitter applicants - be patient.
Consider improvements
Vito photo. this shows dog plus 2 cats. Understand this is all pets. On first scan then i thought pets incremental - my bad. Consider simpler Vito profile photo of just Vito
Clarity on walk time. “Morning and afternoon walk with the dog c 1hr”. Does this mean 2 x 1hr walks? or 2 walks of total time 2 hours?
Chiara separation anxiety. Listing implies that Chiara cannot be left alone at all, other than in the car. Suggest ensure language accurate. Many housesitters are not drawn to listings where pets cannot be left for a limited period (our minimum is four hours) to allow for no-pet trip to supermarket, restaurant or local area.
Thank you - so much. This is all very helpful and again shows how engaged and knowledgeable members are! I will make further changes and will reconsider the posting. Thank you again!
As this is a Christmas sit, I’d change the title to something like: Christmas in an Historic Country Home and most definitely have the snowy pic as your first image, followed by Chiara walking in the snow, then the Christmas tree. State whether the house will be decorated for Christmas.
Petersfield is a lovely area and the market at Christmas is very festive.
Many thanks for your comments on this. I feel I will be well equipped when I relist. It is a real pleasure to feel people care about the community. Best all round A.
