If your location, amenities and reviews are great you shouldn’t have any problem. We go away for a week or two every Christmas and have never had any problems finding a sitter for the holiday. Once a sitter had to cancel two weeks before the sit, and within 24 hours I had 4 very solid options and was able to secure a fabulous sitter in 2 days.
We do make sure our sitters have a wonderful holiday and decorate the house fully (including a 13 foot tree) to provide the nicest holiday experience. We are also fortunate to be located in a beautiful beach town in southern California and our home is just short bike ride to the beach. So I guess it really depends upon what your sit has to offer and how happy your sitters have been which is reflected in your reviews.
We love to house sit at Christmas. This year we were lucky enough to have a proper fireplace for the kids to hang their stockings. We don’t have one in our much more modern house!
There really is no perfect time to list a Christmas sit, because all sitters are different. Some like to plan a long way ahead, others start looking in October, and there are plenty of other in between.
We usually start applying for sits around 2 months in advance - so in October for a Christmas sit (like many great sitters @Colin ! ). However if someone invites us to a sit we like the look of, we’ll apply further in advance. We have a sit this summer that was confirmed a year in advance!
Thank you to everyone for taking the time to reply to my query. There doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer so I’m just going to have to take my chances when I think the time is right I hope you all find great sits during the year.
I hope you all find great sits during the year.