I listed our sit which is over Christmas back in August, we’ve had no applications. There’s nowhere to detail that the dates are flexible (as we can get family to help with some, but not all of the sit). As such, I’ve changed the dates multiple times to be able to invite sitters who only have availability on certain dates.
I’m getting a back up plan in place, but it’s quite stressful having no applications with the sit now only 2 weeks away.
Any advice??
@hollymeijones You can say “Flexible dates” as your heading. Try that and repost.
That might get the eye of a sitter!
as @Crosswords_and_puzzles mentioned, if you write “flexible dates“ on your listing, which could help, people who are available during Christmas dates but 1 day (or more) before or after the sit dates you put in the system, won’t even be able to contact you to discuss dates, as the system blocks them from applying. You could shorten the dates as much as you can to let more people contact you, until you all finalise said dates.
You can link your listing on your profile and we can help with giving suggestions to make it more appealing. Christmas isn’t an easy time to find sitters, unfortunately, so it’s important to really stress how amazing this sit would be for them.
If you have people who favourite your listing, it might be an idea to reach out to them. ’Cause they won’t be able to, if a single day interferes with a housesit they’ve already accepted, even when your dates are flexible.
It seems odd that you haven’t had any applications since August. Now it’s kind of last-minute, but I would suggest you add your listing to your forum profile so sitters can take a look and see if there is anything that might be discouraging sitters from applying. It can be easy to make small tweaks to keep it genuine but more appealing. Could be as simple as changing your title or the first photo. It helps to see it from sitters’ point of view.
@hollymeijones
You listed in August and have received no applicants.
Suggest that you devise a Plan B.
In meantime, suggest use magnifying glass to search Forum articles on related topics. Housesitting is a trade between peers. If there are no applicants over multiple months then this states that no housesitter considers it to be a fair trade. This could be due to property, location, pet responsibilities, listing photos, listing content or various other reasons.
Please note that Christmas is a time of extreme excess demand for housesitters. Many Pet Parents want to travel. Some housesitters want to stay home with their own families. Indeed a recent Forum thread noted that there are currently over 5000 listings for Christmas period that are still seeking housesitters. That’s a lot.
Otherwise, suggest add THS listing to your THS Forum profile. And, when eligible, you can add the listing to THS Forum ‘Last Minute Sits’.
Hello @hollymeijones and welcome to the forum.
I agree with others’ suggestions:
1-Your best option would be to contact people who have favourited your listing and see if they are available.
2- linking your listing here might help you not only to improve it but might also help you find a sitter in the forum.
Good luck
@hollymeijones ‘s listing has been added to their Forum profile.
Thank you all for your ideas. I’ve added flexible dates into the title of the listing. Any other suggestions of how to improve our listing are welcomed! And we do have a back up plan in place, it just involves our dog, Monty, having someone different with him every 2 -3 nights and we’d prefer more consistency! There are kennels nearby too, but I know he’ll be more settled at home.
I’ve had to adjust dates to be able to message sitters who have favorited our listing and who have availability within our dates, so I don’t know if changing the dates negatively impacts the sit at all. I’m surprised we can’t message sitters who favorite our listing, just because they don’t have availability for the full duration of the posted sit.
We joined back in August, and I listed all the dates we needed sitters for immediately. We’ve had 4 sits which have all gone well. We have spoken to previous sitters, but understandably they are no longer in the area and can’t help with this upcoming sit.
It might also help if you could make it family friendly. If you can, I think you can tick a box for that but it could also go on the title to attract more applicants.
Similar to many others in this thread. we listed our Christmas sit back in September. Had a couple of possibles and then one actual confirmed sitter. Who have now cancelled! Rural area, no places left in kennels or catteries locally and even then that doesn’t help with feeding chickens and watering the garden. So please don’t say have a Plan B. And of course, our family are gutted that we probably can’t join them for Christmas. And yes, I have emailed some of the more local people who have shown an interest - none of them have even bothered replying. Juts feeling incredibly frustrated and disappointed.
I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Not everyone can have a plan B and some periods of the year are definitely harder to find sitters