What is the typical length of time it takes to fill a sit request?
I have a nice place in CO but I’m not sure what a realistic expectation on timelines are. I posted a job online and had 50 applicants in 48 hrs but not a single hit on my stay in that same length of time. Is there something I should do to make my stay stand out more maybe there’s something else entirely you could recommend…
(Listing added to member’s profile by the Forum team)
I’m a sitter, so I’ll let other HOs weigh in on typical timeframe to expect, but I do think it can vary a good deal by location and sit duration. I will say that several others have been posting recently about slower-/lower-than-normal applications. Seems to be a “sitter’s market” at the moment.
Looking at your listing, it seems like a lovely stay!! A few things you might add a little more detail on…
Can you explain what you mean by “applicants” and “hits”? My guess is that you mean “views” and submissions. If that’s the case, 48 hours isn’t much time to give it. Also, your dates are short notice (less than 2 weeks until the first date) and the first 2 sits are short. Keep in mind that THS members are global so most sitters have to make travel arrangements. A 2 or 4 day stay limits sitters mostly to those local to Colorado Springs or passing through the area between longer sits. That narrows your pool of sitters quite a bit. You might consider reaching out directly to some of the 187 sitters from Colorado Springs rather than waiting for someone to find your active listing. Sitters with 0 or few reviews are often interested in local and/or short sits to build up reviews on their profiles so it could be a win-win for both parties. Good luck.
What is CO?
Colorado 
Colorado
So sorry, but the choice of words in your post and headline confuse me a bit. What do you mean by “fill a request”? What kind of job did you post that got 50 applicants?
Was it a paid position related to your home or something entirely different? Just curious how it campare since this is travel-based exchange and matchmaking
It sounds like she posted a completely separate and unrelated job on a job board at the same time that she posted her THS listing and is simply commenting on the stark difference between the two. 50 applicants on one, 0 on the other…
You seem to have misunderstood. Posting jobs related to people’s livelihoods has little or nothing to do with posting a THS sit.
Very few sitters “must” sit, because we sit voluntarily, and most of us have homes of our own and/or have resources to travel and stay elsewhere, pay for hotels or Airbnbs, etc. THS sitting is just one possibility or option. And most sitters do it only sporadically. (You can tell by checking out sitter profiles on the THS platform.)
Many of us have pensions or other retirement benefits, investments, income from businesses or good remote jobs, etc. That means most of us could stop sitting or skip sits for however long we want to. Like I’ve significantly cut back on sitting this year out of choice.
If or when we accept sits, there must be mutual interest from sitter and host, and what seems to both like a fair trade. And since THS sitters pay membership fees and lay out for our own travel expenses, most of us are discerning about sits.
Along those lines, you might want to check out the sits offered in your area within say a couple of months of your listing. That’s because those listings are your likeliest competition for (good) sitters.
Overall, sits outnumber good sitters, so some sits go unfilled. The better your sit is compared with other sits in your area, within a similar timeframe, the more likely you’ll get applications. But applicants aren’t guaranteed. Some locations are flooded with sits.
Yes, must be it, just doesn’t make much sense to compare a paid gig with something voluntary. (..although many do)
Free exchanges like this are a bit like people volunteering at concerts: the better the headliner, the bigger the interest.
Your listing has a lot of personality and is very inviting. I see a number of listings around the springs with similar dates, all with low applications. If the summer months are more popular at higher elevations, perhaps you could mention accessible day trips, Cave of the Winds, Cheyenne Mtn zoo, Rainbow Falls, the North Pole, the Cog Railway, zipline adventures, etc and include a couple photos of outdoor attractions to show how beautiful the local area is.
hi you can always search up sitters and invite them
I had someone reach out from several states away and I actually went!
Maybe that will work
Welcome to forum @ColoradoLady !
To be able to enjoy THS, it is important to understand the dynamics. Sitters come in many forms - from full time nomads to holiday sitters like myself, who have a full time job where I live, a nice home and a dog.
What we have in common is using THS for travel - and we are paying members just like hosts are. Full time sitters it seems often have their travel planned up to a year ahead, securing «anchor sits» really early (anchor sits usually being a long (several months?) and in desirea area, building up other sits around that. While holiday sitters like me - a little more short notice, often shorter sits, but still 1-2-3 weeks.
I travel internationally and also intercontinental for my sits, and I’m very choosy (but could be a simple home - I just have several criteria for what is interesting to me). I use a lot of money for travel, as do many. So a petsit must be enjoyable. And I have the option of other kinds of accommodation, usually as a hotel.
So many sitters are not interested in additional spending on top of travel, like a rental car, while others use a car or campervan as main means of travel.
Your two shorter sits are just three days. It is not very likely that a sitter like me would travel far and expensive for such a sit. Many sitters would find such sits too short to be worth it also in regard to getting to know the pets and in regard to end cleaning of the home. I will just be able to arrive and open my suitcase before I’ll need to start end cleaning, re. my usual routine.
This sound negative, but is key to understand your target group. For your shorter sits in summer, I would think sitters with a car
-that is passing by and could like a short sit
-sitters with local connections that could want a mini break. Either living nearby or having family/ friends in the area they would like to visit
-families looking for a shortish vacation experience
Your Intro says what you are looking for, and nothing about what I as a sitter am looking for. Why should I consider coming to your area and doing your sit? What is there to do for me that I would find enjoyable? Why should I continue reading your listing in full and not scroll on to the next one? Tell me about why I should want to come in this section.
Mention how long the animals can be left for outings, very important!
Mention how long to drive to grocery store, to restaurants, shops. «Quick» is ambiguous. Time to drive, for instance. Sitters will need to shop.
Mention bedrooms sitters can use and actual size of beds. This can differ between countries, so «double», «queen» etc. is not very accurate. Sitters appreciate comfortable bedrooms, some couples prefer separate bedrooms etc. It is also an asset to be able to choose bedrooms if that is an option.
To me a 420 friendly host is something that would be offputting to me, but at the same time it is good to mention to get a good match, especially if some user material might pop up in the home, better to be up front.
I would normally advice considering open the sit up as «Family friendly», as a shorter sit with bunnies and chucks would be appealing. That might well be older children - 12+ - and also opening up you still have all powers to accept or decline any sitter. In that case it is extra important to describe available bedrooms and beds.
Your listing comes across as nice and friendly. It is still somewhat lacking in things I look for in a listing. Small tweaks can make wonders. Put yourself in the shoes of a sitter and write a little about what a sitter might be looking for.
Hope some of this could be helpful. Best of luck!
I would want to know how long your pets can be left alone so that I know that I will have time to go and enjoy the places you have mentioned in your listing . It would be helpful to add this information to your listing .
For your short sits ( 2-3 )days it will be more difficult to find a sitter . These will most likely appeal to someone local who doesn’t have to travel too far . However, not many sitters do local sits as they want a travel experience away from home. Are there any special events in the area on those dates that might attract a sitter to come and spend time on your area?
Your first sit is just over a week away - once it becomes 1 week to go you can add it to the last minute section of this forum.
@ColoradoLady
Looks like you have received applications and are reviewing them for the sit that starts this Friday ?
Yours is a reasonable question from a new joiner, lots of people in this Forum have been around the block a few times so will nit pick the language. It’s a very confusing world to join- I’m pretty switched on and even I found the THS culture hard to break into. It took me a long while reading forum threads to learn about the tribes of sitters and where I fitted, and the tribes of home/pet owners and how I could relate to them. It’s certainly not easy at the beginning, then suddenly like learning a new language or doing a new job it ‘clicks’ and makes sense.
We only sit in locations where we have family and use THS to visit them, so never accept invitations, and don’t use it to go on holiday as caring for dogs/horses isn’t a holiday…
A year later I ‘get it’ and am able to explain it to others. The ‘it’ being the THS model. It’s certainly a steep learning curve and many fall by the wayside … including retired couple of friends who have never been able to get through the initial weeds.