@temba, love your curious mind 
Interesting. Does make you wonder what portion of such PP are newbies, and how many refunds THS give out.
Your striking data seems unquestionably to motivate PP to sharpen their efforts.
You have flexibility, because it doesn’t sound like you need pet or home care or flights. Driving can be good that way.
We might take our dog and RV on a road trip to visit family over the holiday season, but we can decide that at the last minute, because we don’t have dependencies this year.
By contrast, if we needed pet care, that would be different. Since we would rely on others in that case, we’d think ahead or risk not getting such help.
@Mark_B, enjoy the festive travels. If you are seeking housesitter(s) while you travel then it seems that you have considerable competition!
I posted a bit ago about having received an email from THS in mid-Nov (I think) about starting to think about holiday sits, which is of course way overdue. I wonder how many of the new listings are from first-time HOs.
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Right, that’s a reality for many travelers to recognize. Whether someone is new(ish) to THS or not, they should realize that holidays are busy for many people and pet care needs to be arranged earlier or it can end up dicey or not available. Like we never use THS for sitters, but we know that we can’t wing pet care at the last minute even if we’re willing to pay a lot. We realized that responsibility well before I joined THS as a sitter.
Some folks might have no clue, because they’ve never had pet care to consider before while traveling, especially during the holidays. But they’d be the exception.
Thankfully I’ve got lots of support and it’s only a 4 hour drive (in the UK that’s pretty far).
I changed my plans after speaking with some relatives over the weekend, and remembering that as people in the family are getting older I should prioritise spending time with them over anything else.
Incidentally, I can’t quite believe it’s December already - it’s definitely getting faster each year - I think that’s why I’ve left things so late this year.
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It’s great to have lots of support. That gives you flexibility that many folks lack.
It’s also easier with fewer pets or pets that are low maintenance. Maybe they can get by with a drop-in for a couple of days away. It’s also easier to ask friends or family to take say one dog or maybe check on a cat or fish.
Some folks have a menagerie or other high-maintenance sits and, I figure they post at the last minute, thinking they can cancel their travel plans if they can’t get a sitter. Driving helps that way.
Plus, maybe if you use travel rewards for cancelable flights or have other refundable tickets. That offers greater flexibility as well.
It’s good to recognize that none of us can count on longevity or good health. But some folks do visits and just avoid holiday travel.
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We are thankful for our friends who live in the Spanish Pyrenees (we’re on the French side) even more remotely than we do. They have no running water (because of drought) or car and are a 10 minute walk from a road. He is a teacher and has 2 weeks off at Christmas. So housesitting for us is like a luxury vacation.
@Mark_B, hat off to you.
You touch upon a core reason why we commenced housesitting. We wanted to support aging parents in a different continent. Not easy. There’s a limit to duration and frequency that you can stay in house of aging parents (or in-laws)! Retiring early has a cost impact. Housesitting has enabled us to pivot, reprioritize and increase the quantity and quality of family time. And to mostly enjoy a great deal of pleasurable experiences. Choices.
Hope that you enjoy wonderful family time over the festive season 
.
Start actively thinking about the life experiences you’d like to have, and the number of times you’d like to have them. The experiences can be large or small, free or costly, charitable or hedonistic. But think about what you really want out of this life in terms of meaningful and memorable experiences.
— Bill Perkins - Author book “Die With Zero - Getting All You Can From Your Money And Your Life”
The book “5 Types of Wealth - A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life” by Sahil Bloom is another thought-provoking and relevant read. Author - successful US investor - pivoted whole life plans after realizing that they would likely only see parents 15 more times. On basis of parents age 65; average life expectancy 80; annual visits.
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@GotYourBack thanks for mentioning both of these books, have not read either but have been recommended “ die with zero”.
We too retired early due to husband’s cancer diagnosis, he decided if he didn’t have that many years left he didn’t want to spend them working. Treatment has gone well and it appears he will have longer than initially thought but you never know what life holds for you particularly as you age. Make the most of each day.
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@Cathie, very sorry indeed to hear of your husband’s diagnosis. You are absolutely right to reflect that “you never know what life holds”.
Noted books - and there are others - challenge conventional thinking of working endlessly towards an idyllic distant future retirement. In reality this is not always possible, for various reasons. The book Die with Zero is not about literally spending all your money but rather about psychology - a mindset of proactively enjoying today; of building memories; and related topics.
Wishing you & husband every joy. Take care.
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The reason for your change of plans is understandable @Mark_B. Hopefully your plans will fall into place.
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Hi @Rhe I just counted the first timers for the Australian listings. Out of 172 listings, there are 69 first timers. Some of them, plus ones who have used THS before, have advertised early but just not attracted sitters. Unfortunately, owners are not made aware that they can make their listing new again by removing their dates briefly then re-posting them.
@Smiley And no, I’m not going to check all 5179 (2 Dec total) Christmas listings to see how many are first timers 
I’m off out!
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You’ve been busy @temba!! I too like doing stats (and just realised its time to do our ‘Housesitting in 2025’ stats too!)
Re Christmas sits we confirmed ours-( in Perth, Australia)- back in July- whilst on a sit in France. Its a long sit of 2 months- (we’re already in the first week of it!) The HOs are first timers and, understandably, for such a long sit and with 6 animals (2 dogs & 4 cats) they wanted to be sure to have enough time to find the right sitters. (Us!! 
)
Last year was very different. We were invited for a Christmas sit in KL in the September but we were still procrastinating, and not ready to commit, so had to let it go so as not to keep the nice HOs waiting. A few weeks later in mid Nov we finally got our plans sorted and ended up in KL after all! But on a different, last minute, sit, very similar to, and probably equally as good as, the original one!
It’s a good thing there are advance planning hosts & sitters as well as last minuters! Some of those last minute hosts might still get lucky and find a good match!
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Two different Christmas sit scenarios you have experienced @Lokstar just highlighting great sits can be secured well in advance or much closer to the time.
I only secured my Christmas sit a couple of weeks ago as wasn’t sure whether I’d sit or not so hadn’t applied for any. Then I spotted this one in outer Melbourne close to family and friends with no pets - that’s a first! Looking forward to it.
Enjoy sunny WA with your dogs and cats and catching up with past homeowners. 
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I see a lot of brand new homeowners posting for holiday sits, so I bet as the holidays are approaching and they’re feeling sadder about leaving their pets they’ve decided to join THS. Or, this time of year word of mouth endorsements of the platform multiply as friends and family talk about their plans.
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For the past 2 years our New Year sit in the sun has been booked around 8 months ahead of time.
But this New Year (because we’re staying in the UK) we just made plans a couple of weeks ago, because we knew there’d be such a huge amount of sits to pick from.
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@HappyDeb, happy hunting. Guess plenty of choice. Hope find listing that yields wonderful festive period.
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For those homeowners looking for advice to help secure sitters during holidays in this thread too, here’s a few items:
- if you can offer a vehicle, do. The cost of holiday travel is so high, renting a car on top of that can be unaffordable.
- Make your dates flexible- be willing to get a friend or pay a service to cover a day or two front/back end of the sit- the price difference flying from one day to the next during that timeframe can vary significantly.
- Speaking of back-up coverage- be sure you have something in place no matter what in case of flight delays.
- And/or be flexible for the sitter to arrive and stay early with you to ensure they are there before you leave.
And while many people think of sits as their own holiday break not with family, note that there are also sitters (like myself) that use sits as a way of being back home, but with our own space for sanity and an animal to cuddle. There’s all kinds of reasons people housesit.
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Thanks for the book recommendations. I’m similarly faced with aging parents (84 & 87) and looking at traveling less and spending more time with them. I have this wanderlust and desire to spend long periods in other countries tempered by the reality my parents may not be around much longer. I only live 2 hrs away I’m looking for a rental in their town so we can bring our kitty and visit longer. 3 days in the same house really is the max for everyone’s comfort.
I guess most people go through this at some point, and it’s somehow both simple and complicated. I can use all the wisdom and support I can get!
(sorry, not Christmas related, but a timely conversation for me 
)