Although the question is primarily to homeowners, it would be very much appreciated also to get insight from sitters for the best experience:
For a long sit duration, I wonder whether it is a good idea to put up the listings as multiple sits - for instance for a three month/week vacation, put up the sits as 3 x 1 month(week, or similar.
Although it is of course advantages with having one sitter, it can also exclude sitters with the long durations, as it is more likely to be overlaps so people canât apply. With one sitter the responsibility will be clearer, and fewer to communicate with. There can be facotrs to consider regarding handovers between sitters as HO is away.
What is your experience with this? In what circumstance could it be a good - or a bad - idea? What should one think about? Any stories to share?
As a sitter, I wouldnât feel comfortable picking up from another sitter midway through a sit. Even if the Welcome Guide is extensive, I usually have more questions once I arrive at the home and meet the animals.
Owners know their animals best, and it has also been invaluable to actually go on a dog walk together, or bring the horses in together, and just observe the interaction between the animals and their humans. It gives a good indication of how responsive they are, what a dogâs recall is like, and often throws up little âquirksâ in behaviour or routine that home owners may not think to mention, but which make my life easier as a sitter now that I know about them.
There are plenty of horror stories on split sits @Garfield - weâve done it twice on three month sits and survived. We were very robust with the new HOs (we were helping them out) & the other sitters on details and took pictures to protect ourselves. Itâs ultimately more stressful though so wouldnât do it again. Many experienced sitters will skip your listing altogether if you split it. Also tougher on the pets & less settling. #dontsplitasit
Yeah, most wouldnât opt for a split sit. And many sitters enjoy longer stints in one place - more time to see an area, and provides sitters with the opportunity to be in one place for a while if theyâre full time travellers, rather than always being on the go every few weeks!
We have a 5 month sit booked in Holland next year that weâre really excited about! For us, the more time in a place to soak up the culture and environment, the better; you canât always see everything you planned to in just a few weeks, especially if you want to take day trips to different places! For sitters who want to visit Norway and all the incredible nature & mountains it has, 3 months would be awesome!
One sitter is best! There is no way we will do any multiple sitter sits anymore, simply because of the 2 week review system. We can not rely on an HO who is overseas to write our review within the 2 week period while they are busy enjoying themselves. Responses to our pet photos via whatsapp is one thing, but an HO having to go onto their THS account to write a review is another thing entirely. We wonât be doing split sits anymore.
@HappyDeb - I understand your reasoning. I did not know that homeowners were so sloppy when it came to providing the currency sitters need (reviews). Since Iâm online all the time, and a review can be done in five minutes, this never crossed my mind.
As homeowners, we would never split the sit. Please review links to Forum threads (kindly provided by other posters here) in which this topic has been discussed. Itâs risky for numerous reasons.
As sitters, we would also reject the idea of sharing a sit with other sitters. No bueno! LOL
With a split sit, what if the first sitter leaves before the second sitter arrives?
The sitter coming behind the previous sitter could walk into an unkempt home and the latter sitter could be blamed and docked in cleanliness. How would the HO determine what sitter did what?
Sharon - which is probably the wise thing to do. I (HO) would also only ask for this kind in an emergency, and if I didnât have any kind of fallback.
Most of my offered sits have been 4+ weeks. I have had no problem getting great sitters for those.
The only time I would even remotely consider a split sit would be if a prior sitter that I had an exceptional experience with was one of the sitters - but even then, Iâd prefer to find one person to do the whole thing.
We have done two split sits now, just completing our second one. In both instances, we arrived to a fairly clean home, but the floors were filthy! We meanâŠwe had to sweep, vacuum and mop just to be able to walk around barefoot. In our opinion, this might seem as an oversight of sitters when they know that they are handing over the house to another sitter and not the HO, âOh, the next people will clean themâŠâ. There was also some damage to the home (scratched up carpet, hole in door, paint on floors, etc) that we let the HO know upon our arrival (because they hadnât been home in two months). Thankfully, all that damage the HO knew and said was there for a whileâŠbut we have learned that on split sitsâŠalways let the HO know of any damage asap when you arrive because they might not know about it and you might get the blame if other sitters werenât so forthcoming.
Overall though, everything went relatively smooth. We definitely prefer meeting the homeowner and doing a walk through together, etc.
If I were you, I would post it as well in advance as I possibly could for two reasons:
because full time sitters, who are the ones most interested in long sits, usually plan their calendars with more anticipation.
this would also allow some time to reconsider the situation and split the sit.
You could also state in your longterm listing that you could consider splitting it.
As a sitter, I could apply for a three month sit but would not apply for a split sit. If I were a HO in TH, I agree
but I would add that the sitter I know and trusted should be the one starting the sitting. That way I would be confident that the pets and house were in the same conditions as I left them and the new sitter would have a bit more pressure because of the review. In that case, I would ask for a personal handover back from the last sitter.
There are many full time sitters on here who would probably jump at the chance of a longer sit. Iâm a sitter but not interested in sits of that duration nor would I like to do an overlap sit with another sitter. I donât think youâll have a problem finding one sitter for your timeframe. Good luck!
Youâre right. A handover could be zoomed, but itâs not the same. Iâve only done one sit where I never met the home owners in person. Itâs actually one of my favourite sits, as the house was a stunning, architecturally-designed, mix of old and new in a beautiful location, and the dogs were really adorable and also so well-behaved. The owners left me some money for petrol, and the invitation to eat whatever was in the fridge, and a lovely lady came in and cleaned mid-week (although I also made sure everywhere was squeaky clean before I left).
Not meeting the home owners definitely put me in the hired-help bracket, and Iâm ok with that. In my day-to-day work, I havenât met several of my clients in person, despite having worked with them for years. We have built a strong working relationship, based on mutual trust and respect. Likewise, it can still be a successful sit even if sitter and home owner never meet, but meeting each other in person definitely adds another layer to the experience.
