We are hoping to find a sit/sits in Europe during September this year. We have a search filter for the countries we are most interested in but there are very few opportunities available. Should we just be patient? Are these sits very competitive?
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Given the popularity of the region and the fact that there aren’t a ton of sits in Europe compared to places like the UK or the US, it can be more challenging.
While hosts vary in how far ahead they post sits, the vast majority don’t really list that far ahead, so the amount of listings you are seeing now for that time period really aren’t fully representative of what could potentially be available.
Another thing I have noticed is that many of the sits in particularly popular countries like France, Italy and Spain tend to be in more rural places rather than hot spots like the capitals and other areas with lots of that typical tourist appeal. Of course, you may be interested in staying in places like this, but I imagine most people envision their Europe sits in places like Paris, well-known beach towns and such.
Not sure how you are planning your trip, but if you were looking to get a sit or two booked ,and then head over and expect to book some more along the way to fill the time you have planned there, that strategy might not pan out and you would have to consider if you have money to pay for gaps in your schedule. If you were sitting somewhere like the UK, that is something you definitely could do.
It is always best to check the site more frequently as opposed to relying on the notifications.
I am currently doing a sit in Europe–just started a two week sit in Amsterdam today. I have also done a sit in Prague. It is only fairly recently that I started doing sits in this region, and I am interested in spending more time here.
I am heading to the UK in two weeks for at least 6 weeks but am open to coming back to Europe and checking this region pretty frequently, there are definitely a decent amount of opportunities , but nothing like the UK and US.
So just keep checking, and again, most people looking for sitters for September and beyond wouldn’t be posting quite so soon.
One thing I have noticed as well is that many sits in high demand areas tend to get relisted numerous times–in case you weren’t aware, hosts can only receive 5 applicants at a time before a listing gets automatically paused, and if they don’t find a suitable match in that first batch, they can keep relisting as much as they want.
If you look at sits not currently seeking a sitter for a particular country, ‘favoriting’ ones that look good to you that are currently listed as ‘reviewing’ could be a good idea. This list of sits will not show up however if you set a filter for specific dates or duration of sit.
These sits are most likely to be newer ones that could potentially be reposted again, and from what I have noticed a couple of times with my own searches, is that ‘favorited’ sits seem to come more in ‘real time’ than sits that match a saved search notification.
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As @KC1102 it would probably depend on what locations you are looking for.
It seems from my saved searches that many in Europe publish days for one vacation at a time - currently mostly spring/ Easter (March-May). UK has many summer-sits already, but other European countries not so much yet. I would guess that the summer sits will emerge more in April/May.
September is back to school in many European countries, so I would presume the available number of sits would be somewhat lower than in summer, and probably couples/ seniors.
It seems as KC1102 says that if a more rural sit is appealing you will have more options. Those sits also usually take somewhat longer to fill up and they are «visible» longer before they go into reviewing mode.
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Are you interested in rural France? (see link in profile). We will need a sitter for about 10 days during the first half of September. But I hadn’t thought about listing it yet. Maybe I should. I’m just wary of looking for someone this far out because a sitter we lined up in early December for April just had to cancel.
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You could also try Nomador - they have a lot more sits in Europe rather than the UK, most of them are in France but there’s also some in other EU countries. There’s also Mindmyhouse, which has EU sits (but that site has grown rather quiet lately). You can also try local pet sitting Facebook groups for different countries, and there’s also a Dutch website called Huisdierenoppas.nl where you can occasionally find sits in the Netherlands (we managed to bag a month in Amsterdam with that site). But definitely set up a saved search on THS too, and be sure to check regularly.
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Hi I’m not sure if you received my previous message but I am definitely interested in rural France!
@Krickie Just saw it now and replied.