In the past few days I’ve been contacted by two owners offering sits I haven’t applied for. I’ve replied politely saying I’m not available and have had pleasant responses back. Neither owner was shown on the site as looking for a sitter. Is this usual?
2 Likes
Hello & welcome @janestheone. Yes, it’s normal & lucky you as you have been invited to apply for these sits, often because you are local but other reasons apply too.
1 Like
Welcome @janestheone.
As you build your sitter feedback it’s not unusual for direct HO approaches to sit. They are usually wanting you to sit based on your feedback before posting to TH listings.
I also get previous HO sits approach me to do another sit via whatsapp (the app I use for initial sit video chats).
1 Like
Thanks for this. I wasn’t sure if I was being scammed.
Take it as a compliment @janestheone . Your profile and reviews are attracting attention from homeowners who don’t want to make their listing public but obviously see you as trustworthy.
I have heard that some owners of very high end luxury properties for security reasons only issue private invitations .
2 Likes
Ooo, @Silversitters that’s a new one for me. A whole “elite status” section of THS! Even more reason to buff up one’s profile and really stand out from the ever increasing pool of sitters.
I like a challenge!
4 Likes
It’s quite normal I sometimes get offered several in a week. People don’t check or understand the calendar and will have written to a lot of people. Some set up a standard request one of mine referred to a couple and not me. I like to apply for sits, it will be somewhere I want to visit, have friends etc. I don’t really accept random requests to go somewhere when I have organised my sits and I am booked up a year ahead.
Hi, I’m a newby as well, a May 2023 joiner, i also received a message through on THS saying i showed interest in their listing? and would I sit for them, this happened twice, I’m not sure how that worked but looked at their listing and we are now doing one of the sits end of october and replied to the other one that unfortunately we will be on a housesit for their dates but hopefully in the future we could possibly sit for them, they did reply back with a lovely message as well…
I received a similar invitation yesterday @janestheone. It had obviously gone out to other sitters as it was not personalised. Owner had not read my profile as they had 4 dogs and I state I only look after maximum of two; it was not in a country I have listed; and my availability had not been checked as I am booked for their dates. The reply came back saying she had set her parameters and I came up in them!! How interesting!!
It is, isn’t it?
I understand HO’s are keen to get a Sitter in place, I think some forget some of us have limited sits we can apply for on dates, locations depending on our travel schedules.
When I get a blanket email, I have a quick look at the listing, I usually send back quickly “Wishing you all the best, I’m sure you will find great Housesitter(s)”
Often they don’t have the room for 4 of us so usually it’s straight away a no for us.
Maybe on the THS on the Travelling with, it could be a bit more obvious for the HO viewing your profile quickly, Solo sitter, Couple, Family with how many Children and Ages, I’ve never seen more than a Family of 5 on here. My Two are nearly Adults and sharing a room isn’t something they wish to do anymore as a Brother and Sister.
It’s a interesting that a HO application closes after is it 4/5 applications so they can review, I have had the listing come back up and as soon as I see the notification on my phone, I check it, it’s already “reviewing applications” again, clearly the locations I have saved are very popular and don’t have lots of listing so everyone who has it saved like myself gets the notification. It would also be great if THS did advertising and got a bigger pool of HO for Europe, Turkey etc, though I am sure they are working on this, being World Wide would put them at the top of the Housesitting sites. x
From the HO side, HOs are allowed to post “private” dates. They haven’t made the sits public yet, so other sitters can’t see or apply for the dates. Or maybe they have made the dates public, but aren’t satisfied with the applicants. They can invite whomever they like for those dates. It does NOT mean you have the sit confirmed. It does mean that there was something about your profile that interested the homeowner. It could be they are looking for local sitters, or sitters with experience with a specific kind of pet, or something else. If the sit interests you, the next step would be the same as for a sit you applied for publicly – a video chat or other further exchange of information.
1 Like
And just over 2 weeks later…I think I just had one of those invitations! Unfortunately we are already booked & can’t do it.
I have sent private sit invitations in the past before listing my dates publically because either it was super last minute trip decision or really liked a couple of sitters I had before. Unfortunately they were unavailable so I had to list my dates publically.