Seen a lot of these types of listings. Not always short although I did see one that was literally 10 one night stay over a series of months. I get the impression that they want local as they expect to be able to just get them back when they need another sitter “as they’re only just down the road so it shouldn’t be any trouble”. They do always seem to find sitters though so you’ll see more of them.
I personally think a 1-night sit is super cheeky and I believe I’ve received feedback from TH that this is not encouraged. That being said, this is a relatively open marketplace and if someone wants to do it, they will apply for the sit and do it. Even so, I can still see a use case for a 1-nighter and a 2-3 night stay some place local would absolutely appeal…
Some immediate use cases that come to mind:
- One of our sitters actually said that they’d love to be a repeat sitter, as they’re travelling/living in EU via HS and would love to have a reliable sit to come back to in our city.
- Short and sweet sits are really great for sitters looking to build up their review history in a relatively low-effort way and in short amounts that may make HOs more comfortable to try someone new…especially since if it’s a short sit like that, chances are they aren’t going that far. This is also a great way to experience different animals or breeds, etc.
- Local sits are also great for people who just want a break from their day-to-day without having to do a big trip. Even with TH, travel is expensive. We absolutely consider local sits that are a couple hours drive away from us because it would allow us to do a weekend away or explore a nearby town or city or take advantage of local attractions without requiring us to take an entire week off of work…in fact, we could just go and have a change of scenery without having to take off work at all and invest a ton of money in a trip.
- I have also even considered local sits in my own city just to try out a new neighbourhood, etc. and would potentially do a short sit for this reason, just to get a break from my home.
I think it’s really important to have empathy for the fact that people’s lives can look very different. Not everyone has the means or the set up to be able to do a 3-month sit across the world…some people are more than happy to just explore something closer to home and short sits enable that.
We used to list that it would be great to have someone that would want to come back again in our listing but took it out because it’s whatever, but let’s be honest, it’s absolutely better for most animals to build relationships and trust with people who aren’t just in and out. At the end of the day, It’s all about finding a balance that works for everyone.
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We like to find sits within driving distance - up to 3 hours from home - but only apply for those in very desirable locations and with pets we think we’d enjoy and nice homes. We live in a beautiful home with a pool in a resort style community ourselves, so we aren’t too motivated to go stay in a space that isn’t very nice, with a breed we don’t love, or in a location that doesn’t have much to offer. The biggest turnoff is unreasonable pet parent expectations - ie, my dog can’t be left alone for more than 3 hours or my dog needs 2-3 walks of at least 1 hour each per day.
In the other hand if it’s a beach cottage, or a location we enjoy spending time in, we like the pet breed, and the owner’s expectations are reasonable and allow us to enjoy the area a bit, we are happy to do a sit in a home that isn’t as nice as ours is.
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Agreed that everyone has their own needs, preferences and circumstances, including finances.
Personally, I live in a region where there are loads of things to see and do, and a lot of variety of types of housing, so maybe I’ll come across something unique that I can’t resist even for a night — maybe an experience I couldn’t match by just renting something, for example. Even though I haven’t come across such, there’s still fun in looking at listings.
All of these use cases are great! I have no issue with one-night sits! I just think it is a bit cheeky to post ONLY one-night sits and then expect for a local to want to return to these, in an area that seems suburban, far from any attractions, in a perfectly normal middle-class home.
Like I said, I suppose there is a “sit for everyone,” but I still fail to see why these HOs feel entitled to a local, regular sitter for what they’re offering.
Yep! We stay in Budapest on Pest side. I’d love to do a stay on the Buda side just to see what it would be like without having to rent something or pay for an Airbnb/hotel. A short house sit would totally fulfill something like that.
We’ve also started to make a short list of day trips or short trips we’d like to do that would get us out of the city for a couple days, like for instance when a bank holiday falls in the middle of the week which there seem to be a lot of this year for the Hungarian calendar.
But yea @pitcherplant, I completely agree that 1 night is super cheeky. Unless I found someone local who just wanted a night with my dog repeatedly, I would not bother listing to TH for something like that and instead use a local sitter or just leave with a friend…I would potentially list for 2-3 nights cause that’s basically a weekend getaway for someone but we do generally require an orientation day for a new sitter so it would still mean they’d have minimum 3-4 days with us unless they were a repeat. 
Anyway, just one set of examples/opinions!
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We love HO’s who want us to return. Because we sit near our family, some of which are close to our home town, and some are overseas. We love returning to pets that know-know us!
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We have started seeking out rural weekend sits within an hour of home. My older son is studying Astronomy at school and got a telescope for Christmas. We live fairly close to the town centre in quite an urban environment with lots of light pollution. A rural sit in a quiet village might allow him the opportunity to get a better look at the stars and planets from the back garden of the house sit - if we are lucky enough to have clear skies!
We did a sit just under an hour away last weekend, but the skies clouded over as soon as it started getting dark. Ironically it was a clear night as we were loading the car to leave! We have another sit half an hour from home on the first weekend in February, so we’re hoping for clear skies one evening.
I guess we are proof that sitters can have all sorts of reasons for choosing housesits!
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That’s lovely Debbie. Please let us know on another post when your son gets lucky! 
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@ Debbie we are currently on a sit in UK where they have two telescopes!
You are probably already familiar with dark skies sites but here is a link for anyone who wants to know more
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@Smiley I will do! Hopefully he’ll get a few photos I can share.
@Silversitters we have a regular repeat sit where they also have 2 telescopes. It’s also close to a dark skies site, but last time we were there it mostly rained! Maybe we’ll have better luck on our next stay.
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Yes, dark skies might also for me be a reason to take a sit in a village nearby. I want to see the aurora, but at my own place the lights of the city are north of me.
On the subject of astronomy: on April 8 there will be a total eclipse in North America:
(but that won’t get anybody a consistent sitter)
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Hi @pietkuip you might want to have a read of this article here in which experts say 2024 will bring the best Northern Lights in two decades. 
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I live in the path of the total eclipse in Texas. We are very excited about it! Rooms in the more rural parts of Texas on the path are already booked or astronomical (!) prices.
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Coincidentally, the hosts I just sat for in Seattle invited me back. Among their upcoming travel will be RV’ing to various national parks, etc., and seeing the eclipse in Texas.
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We have done 1-2 night sits as well as longer local ones.
Who would want to do local sits for free???
There is a pool of sitters available for local sits but it would definitely be a much smaller pool than normal.
Sitters who want to build up reviews
Sitters who live in a small apartment and want some space for bit
Sitters who have a relative or friend near the sit that it makes it easier to visit them
Sit is just very nice so it’s like a mini holiday - pool, billiard table, whatever floats your boat
Sitters desperate for pet time and would have their own but can’t because of where they are living (renting, no garden etc)
I’ve done local sits for some of these reasons but none of them were looking specifically for local sitters. I feel the owner who wants local sitters wants to use THS as a convenient personal sitter on speed dial for free. And I can’t blame them for not wanting to vet more sitters and stick with someone they know but at some point it may verge on harassment 
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Plenty of people want to do short local sits for innumerable reasons. I myself have some very long posts on this very forum to that effect!
Maybe someone comes to the area weekly and is flexible as to the day – I had one applicant who needed to be on site at her new job 1/day / week. If that could sync up, then sure, that’s mutually beneficial. A quick weekend getaway to a nearby locale makes sense, and can be a recurring thing for a variety of reasons.
I went and looked at the listing again, and two of the sits are maybe three days apart, for one night each.
One and two night sits can be great, no doubt. But asking a local person to come over twice in the same week, unpaid, in, again…A TOTALLY AVERAGE SUBURBAN AMENITY-FREE HOUSE…??? Find yourselves a local teenager or single parent trying to supplement their income, is all I’m saying.
I’ve done local sits for q change of scenery and pet company. Most of my sits are a bit further away, but I don’t rule out something very close if I have a good feeling about it.
I also love repeat sits. In a few days I’ll go back to mind a wonderful dog I met last summer, a 2 hour drive away… the location also happens to be gorgeous, but I’d go just for the doggie in this case 
