In these uncertain pandemic times do housesitters, especially fulltime ones, have a backup plan if their booked sits get cancelled at short notice due to owners no longer being able to travel?
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No home. We travel and housesit full-time so have no option apart from trying to book sits and places to stay.
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No home and fortunately a daughter with a vacant Airbnb cottage … since March 27th @Jon-JWalking We always have a plan B but for this “emergency” one needed more than a Plan B.
These are such challenging times for both owners and sitters, for our Plan B and peace of mind should a sit get cancelled and knowing there is limited availability, enough funds to secure alternative accommodation which could be an extended period. We are also very fortunate to have wonderful friends, many through THS. who will (and have) opened up their homes (and hearts) to us.
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Not anxious at all @Provence just part of life’s big adventure. It’s what life is all about isn’t it, adapting and changing plans to take what life throws at you. And we have actually found that home owners are very sorry for the cancellation and always try and help as much as they can. In fact several have offered us accommodation until we sort the issue out. Always so helpful.
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You’ve hit the nail on the proverbial head @Angela_L . You certainly need funds to support hotel or Airbnb stays and of course an extended friends network to help you through. It’s a real challenge isn’t it but one that just takes a bit more planning and requires us to be more adaptable at short notice.
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Yep us too. We have been very fortunate to keep sitting.
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We’ve had so much kindness offered to us from previous HO’s. The latest is - an owner we keep in touch with is going to visit her friend for last 2 weeks of November, pretty sure she is visiting her pal just to give us a roof as she knows we have had 4 cancellations. How kind is that!
We’ve decided not to go for any more last minute sits, too risky, instead we’re extending our road trip to Brighton and Cornwall until mid November and then we have a Sit in Wales December, xmas/Jan - repeat sit which will go ahead.
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We’ve been very fortunate to continue to find house sits during these uncertain times. And, rather than cancellations, most of our sits have been extended because of Covid or emergency family situations. Anywhere from 1 week to 2 months. We’ve also had an owner come home early when the state issued a stay at home order, but she graciously extended an offer for us to stay through the entire original sit.
Our plan b has been to house sit in cities where we have family as a backup. We’ve left open the possibility of going to house sits in other areas if they’re longer than a month or two (so that we’re not traveling often). We’re also aware of where the homeowner is traveling. For example, we’ve opted not to apply to a house sit that was nearby because the owners were planning a trip to a state that had strict travel restrictions that were supposed to be lifted, but kept being extended. Looking back, it was a smart choice because that state still has a travel restriction in place several months later.
As @Angela_L said so well, we also know that we have a community of friends and loved ones that will help us if needed. We have many homeowners that we trust would open their homes to us if we asked. We also know that if we needed to, we could rent an apartment or stay at a hotel or an Airbnb if it came down to it.
And as @Jon-JWalking said, we also don’t have a home and do this full time. But it’s the adventure we love and it’s part of life. So we’re not anxious or worried.
We’ve had many people over the years ask us how we live a life like this. Aren’t we afraid we’ll fail? End up without a place to go? Loose clients and work? And so on. But we’ve learned to accept the uncertainty and thrive in it. When we started this adventure four years ago, we liked to have 2 to 3 months planned out in advance at all times. Since then, we’ve become comfortable with much less. We once didn’t have anything planned less than three days in advance and all turned out okay (it was still too close of a call, but in the nick of time we found a house sit!).
In addition to being okay with the uncertainty that comes along with our lifestyle, we’ve also experienced amazing love, kindness and help from strangers and people we’ve met along the way. We also know that we have friends, family and loved ones that would be there for us if we did run into problems. 
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@ScrewTheAverage Couldn’t agree more, it’s all about being flexible and having a positive outlook that things will work out. Like you we are constantly surprised and delighted at people’s kindness.
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@Julie How lovely to be offered somewhere to go when the home owners are away. They often become great friends don’t they? Wales sounds great.
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I was wondering @Angela. Could it be possible to put a section for members ready to help by opening their house if needed for a short time ? No obligation of course but a possibility for example for a couple of days between two sits. I would sign-up as I have an extra room.
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HI @Brigitte thank you and your suggestion is worth discussing
It will be really interesting to hear what other members think of the idea?
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@Brigitte this sounds like an amazing idea, especially during this time when sits are getting cancelled at such sort notice. Sometimes we are feeling really isolated in our search for something and it would be lovely to know there are people out there that may be able to help.
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Another sit cancelled due to travel restrictions. Left us high and dry in the New Year unfortunately and with no home to go to we have no backup plan whatsoever. Panicking may help I guess?
You are in UK, I guess.
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Yes, currently halfway through a sit down in Kent.
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Maybe send a MAYDAY MAYDAY among our members ? @Angela_L; any possibility to put the situation in the newsletter ? I would have been happy to open my house but I am in Canada.
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Ah thanks so much Brigitte, I’m sure we will sort something out but it’s proving very difficult and could cost us a fortune.
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It happened to me once with an Home Exchange site. The swap had been signed months before but the exchanger forgot about it and sold his beach house. Euh… I learned it one week prior departure while I reconfirmed my arrival. Plane ticket non refundable with that short notice.
The Home Exchange site (Homelink) put the situation in their newsletter and I received some offers from others members. So, why not with THS ? Who knows.
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Je me suis désabonnée pour cette année. J’y étais depuis plusieurs années.