In these tough pandemic times, how are other UK sitters getting on with applying for and booking new house sits?
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Funny how you think a question might be interesting ā¦ and itās obviously not!
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Iām sure this will attract a higher degree of interest when more UK based sitters join the conversation
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Yes @Angela, I really think so. I missed the initial post somehow (sorry @Jon-JWalking) and when I wanted to reply, the 250 character thing was making me 
Looks like I still have the moving banner on this topic too. I think I will āturn it off and turn it on againā, that will fix it!
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I took a year out reactivated my account a couple of weeks ago.
Travel restrictions still in place 
there aināt a lot of postings for the UK. Iām sure that will change gradually over the next few weeks.
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Dire,is my answer. There are an increasing number of UK sits on offer as we gradually ease out of lockdown,but new ones seem to be quickly overwhelmed with applicants, especially longer ones in ā holiday ā type areas. I have been rejected numerous times despite my excellent feedback from 12+ sits. I have to assume itās due to massive competition.
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Hi @Gillyflower itās challenging for sitters in many places at the moment and equally hard for owners having to choose just one sitter from all the great applications they are getting, I recently spoke to a new owner who said āThis is so hard and I really struggle knowing Iām going to disappoint some lovely sittersā
Iām a full time sitter too and feel your frustrations. Sit numbers in the UK are growing daily, owners are playing a waiting game and are so eager to post their listings. Once restrictions are lifted and confidence in safe travel returns, the UK will recover just as quickly as Australia and the USA are doing. Everyone is waiting to know when and how they can travel once more.
What is important of course is being confident that once arranged, travel and sits wont be cancelled, avoiding disappoint for everyone involved. Iām sure you have already done this but creating saved search and tailored alerts will make sure you keep up to date with the latest listings.
The light at the end of this dark tunnel is getting very much brighter, we will get through this together.
Good luck.
Angela and the Team
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@Gillflower it is a bit disheartening. I too have had numerous rejections, One of them after a long conversation on the telephone which seemed to go well. Unfortunately you are left guessing as to reasons for not being successful, you just have to be philosophical about it I guess. I am finding that although I look within a very short time when a notification comes in for a saved region there are already lots of applications.
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Hello Fyfie
Yes exact same experience! I applied late last night for sits spread over multiple weekends 0-3 applicants,just posted, and was rejected early this morning because so many people had applied!! I donāt know how that works. Bit fed up of being philosophical about it TBH - this was my tenth rejection within a few weeks, also in one case after a phone conversation. I really donāt know how to improve things- despite having alerts set up for my free dates and applying immediately I am almost never successful despite 12+ five star ratings.
I suppose loads of people are applying but even so it doesnāt feel like a level playing field.
Onwards and upwards!
Gill
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Itās so tough at the moment, we have 50+ 5 star reviews and are struggling to get anything. We had a two month sit all lined up and then the day we were supposed to go it was cancelled. Weāve now had nothing since the end of Feb.
Donāt be too disheartened - itās a tough market right now but things are starting to pick up!
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Iām not sure how useful the āalertsā are, mine come in between 7and 8 in the evening rather than when the sits are listed, by which time sits can have been and gone, or got many many applicants.
It is really difficult at the moment.
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Itās very competitive. Since last March when things got bad I have had sits constantly until now. I have three months with nothing booked. June onwards Iām ok.
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I applied for my first sit last night after a break of 12 months due to covid.
Itās a 3 day sit not too far from where I live and itās for May when all uk restrictions are lifted
Fingers crossed as I need a change of scenery
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Iām finding that the limited number of available sits are naturally attracting many applications and right now Iām happy to wait until things balance up a bit, I suspect that over the next few weeks confidence will build and hopefully more equal opportunities for hosts and sitters will emerge.
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Hi @Wakey welcome to the forum, thank you for joining. There are many new sits coming to the site every day and as travel restrictions ease, travel becomes safe again and owners regain confidence in plans coming to fruition there will be more and more opportunities. Iām also a full time sitter with no sits for over 12 months ā¦ withdrawal has been replaced by optimism that soon I will be able to re-connect with my three passions ā¦ sorry every TrustedHousesitters three passions, Pets, People & Places!
Enjoy the conversation, thank you for being part of our amazing community and welcome again.
Angela and the Team
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Hi @JackieX
Thank you for your feedback regarding our new saved search system. As this is quite new to the website we only have an email alert set to once a day to avoid sending too many emails. We always appreciate feedback on our website and I will pass this onto our teams.
If you download our TrustedHousesitters App (available in the Android play store and Apple app store), you can set up saved search alerts which give you alerts straight to your phone every hour if there are listings that match your criteria.
Kind regards,
Katie - Membership Service
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I thought it was interesting, but I only joined the forum todayš
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Thanks for the welcome.
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It seems that thereās been less house sits available in the past year. At least when Iāve searched.
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Hi @John83 welcome to our community forum itās great to have you here. Yes there have been fewer sits since the pandemic but that is changing, we are very happy to say, slower in some parts of the world but in others where travel is possible, like the USA things are opening up with more owners posting sits.
Thank you for joining. Enjoy the conversation and connecting with other members.
Angela & The Team