A couple of the HOs on the last few sits have asked me how they could enhance their listing to attract sitters. One was a skanky house with a difficult dog, so I tried to be nice and say people really didn’t come to their area unless they had to, like me, with a dental appointment. But the same happened on my current sit. Lovely, modern home in Anaheim. Sweet, easy young dog. Nearby to the city center, we are actually walking to the Packing house for lunch. They are 2 miles from Disneyland, but you really cannot go to Disneyland and sit a dog. How do you respond when someone has a sit that really doesn’t work for most sitters, it just happened to work for you because you were filling in dates or making do for a medical or dental reason?
There’s plenty of reasons away from the stereotypical touristy sitter.
Some of our sits are within a 20minute journey of family, other sits are within a 2hr journey of our family.
So we’re totally open to the type of homes and/or pet personalities etc, it’s not even a barrier at all for us when it comes to our family, and 100% of our full-time sits are with our family’s location/s in mind.
I’m sure there’ll be plenty that work remotely, that aren’t necessarily looking to get out and about too, but are more after a quiet base to work from.
There’s plenty of sitter-types to suit everyone. They just need to organise things in advance, given there would be less applying, that’s all.
This describes me.
I’ve been on more than one sit where the owner repeatedly indicates that they don’t really understand why I picked them. But on my side, I love it and am grateful for the experience!
If a host truly want to know, I would tell them, but ofc in a kind and constructive way.
And even remote workers would like to go to the store, take a walk or go to a café if any, at least for a sit of some lenght.
If one can’t get enough/ good sitters because of issues - try to work around of those issues.
You can go for 4 or 5 hours. But going to Disneyland is a 12 hour thing, to get your money’s worth.
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Yes, you can re-enter Disneyland Park (or California Adventure) the same day after exiting, as long as you have a valid theme park ticket for that day. When you first enter, you’ll have your ticket scanned and potentially have your photo taken. When you leave and want to return, you’ll need to show your ticket and parking receipt (if applicable) at the entry gates. Disney staff will usually remind you about getting your hand stamped before you leave the park.
planDisney explains that all Disneyland Resort Theme Park Tickets allow for re-entry privileges for that day.
If the sit is as close to Disneyland as you say then re-entry is a viable option.
Yes, re-entry has been offered for decades. Like many folks leave and return at night for parade and fireworks.
Yes you can re-entry, but would you trust your dog to a family with a young child at Disneyland? After the rides and stuff, you want to take them to character lunch. When we did Disneyworld at 2.5, 3.5 and 4.5 We left after the character lunch. After getting there at 9 and we stayed at the Contemporary. Went for nap and then went to another park, but that was the world. Not disneyland, which is much smaller and one park, I believe. I wouldn’t trust the family to come back in a timely manner.
Depends on the specific people. I know families who’d be trustworthy, for example. Plus, many kids wouldn’t do well out all day — they need naps.
These HO are very close to a popular attraction. You, like many sitters, have made the assumption that it wouldn’t work with a dog. With the re-entry option (which I would recommend that the HOs highlight in their listing), it would be so easy to return to the home for a dog walk and a mid-day meal (likely much cheaper than the amusement park prices for food). Two miles? Heck, I would walk that easily and I would get back to the park as many are departing for the day. Yes, I would do that in a heartbeat. Many people go to such places sans kids. Regardless, you asked for ideas for the HO and this is what is being provided.
The pet owner would simply choose a suitable sitter, not everyone that visits does Disney, or other theme parks, or attractions, we’ve done enough of those over the years… you outgrow them. There’s an enormous number of sitters that are beyond middle-aged, that see any kind of pet sit as a beautiful experience in it’s own right, it’s definitely not pricey attractions and theme parks.
There’s millions of people in the surrounding area all of which have families, some of which are pet sitters that would love to sit close to them to visit them.
I think the primary reason I decline sits is the length of time of the sit. I pass up dozens if not hundreds of otherwise suitable sits because they are four days or less, rather than at least a week. It is a learning curve to get accustomed to a new home and pet routine, get set up for meals etc. and then have to do a thorough clean at the end. Like others have posted on here, I usually choose sits because they are close to friends or family or just seem like a great opportunity to unwind with a cat. I’m past the point of wanting things like Disney or beaches or whatever - heaven for me is a book and a cat.
Some of my advice to homeowners to make a sit more attractive would be:
- Make the sit at least a week long if possible.
- Say in the listing that the sitter just needs to straighten up but does not need to do a thorough clean when they leave because you have a cleaning service [even if that cleaning service is YOU!] You can be specific in the welcome guide what that means - like, strip the beds but no need to remake. But unless the owners tells me a cleaner is coming in after I leave, I’m spending half a day cleaning and I’m not doing that for a short sit. Being told that a HO has a cleaning service usually means the place will be clean on arrival, too. I’m far more likely to apply to sits that mention they have a professional cleaner.
- Highlight what is odd about the house, location, or pet. This may sound weird but after a while homes start to sound the same, and if there is something unusual it attracts attention. Do you have season passes to the botanical garden? Are you near a food truck rodeo? Is your home near a Yo Yo Museum? (this was a real example from a recent HO!) Lean in to the quirks. If you try to appeal to everyone, you’ll appeal to no one.
Sitters come in as many stripes as pets. I’m going to a very odd location soon because I happen to have a professional colleague who lives within 30 minutes of that location and doing a three week sit there will allow us to have in-person meetings instead of via Zoom. The HOs were so surprised I was interested in their town. **This is one reason I love THS - I can almost always find a sit wherever I’m going as long as I’m patient enough.
I wholeheartedly agree!
This was a discussion I had with the HO. They get plenty of young families that want to stay and visit Disneyland but they don’t trust them to be around for the dog.
So they just need to reject their applications straight away. A lot of owners get many applications from sitters that simply aren’t a good match for one reason or another, they’re no different. They just need to reject them, until the right sitter comes along.
If hosts don’t want X type of sitters, best to specify in their listing. Then if unsuitable applicants still apply, quickly reject them.
In parallel, if they lean toward certain types of sitters, specify that as well. If they can’t get suitable applicants that way, then maybe they’re not offering what those applicants want and maybe they can tweak something. If not, then maybe THS won’t work for them.
About remote workers: Many hosts want us, given preferences for more time at home.
My experience with sitting as a telecommuter is, we can afford to be very selective, especially if we have strong reviews. Just because I can spend a lot of time in a sit home doesn’t mean I want to be required to. When I choose sits to pursue, I avoid folks who don’t get the reciprocal nature of THS sits, including reasonable freedom to leave the sit home. And I don’t want to be required to bring a pet everywhere. If I choose to, that’s my prerogative.
Personally, I have a very nice home and a dog I love. (My husband is a homebody and stays home with him whenever I sit.) I’m not looking for random sit homes just for shelter’s sake.
The point was, how do they attract sitters to their Anaheim location that were not interested in Disney. I just needed the filler dates, hence why I stayed.
Not every host asking this question will actually want to hear an honest answer … If a host asked me I would maybe suggest that the hosts take a look at other listings in their vicinity to see what their “competition” are offering sitters as a mutual exchange .
This may help them see for example uncluttered homes, homes with more amenities on offer to the sitter or with less responsibilities and more free time .
For sits that get few applications, listing dates in as far in advance as they can might help.
If a host ask me similar, I might say I can’t speak for other sitters as we’re all different, so I can only speak for myself but this suited me because of xx reason.
Interestingly, the HOs make no mention of their proximity to Disneyland in their listing. It was the OP that brought it up.