Hello sitters, HO here with a question on lead time. We’ve been THS members for 11 years now.
I usually wait until we are about 4 months out to post an opportunity, but wonder if 6 months (or even 7!) is too far out. The trip is almost 8 weeks in duration, we have our flights booked so very certain about our details. I know some full-time sitters have said they book many months in advance, but we’ve also had marvelous people we’ve booked with less than 4 months to go until a long absence on our part.
I’m always looking but rarely apply for sits (unless they’re local) more than a month or so out because I’m a commitment-phobe and can’t even decide what I want to do next week !
I imagine that your longer sit with clear dates would benefit from more lead time rather than less due to planning required on the sitters’ part.
Can’t hurt to list sooner and then renew if the post goes stale with no takers.
I am looking now for sits at the end of the year. I have locations in mind and I need to be in the UK for a wedding so will definitely be going. I don’t think it hurts especially for a longer sit to have time to choose the perfect person.
It’s a lovely listing @llbarton53 and you are seasoned hosts. It may depend on when exactly your dates are for. Will it be during summer perhaps and more attractive than a winter sit? There certainly are sitters who are looking for longer periods. They also need time to plan, book etc. so I’d be advertising it now. If the response isn’t great, you can easily take the listing down and advertise in a month’s time. With the new booking fee in place, that may be another incentive for sitters to apply for your sit before their renewal is due.
Something not related to your question but I couldn’t help notice in your listing. You provide no information about yourselves in your introduction! It is all to do with your home, location and pets which, as you know, there are separate sections for this information. I know many sitters need to get a “feel” about who they may be sitting for, me included, as part of the trust involved. Maybe something for you to consider.
It also would be a good idea, if you haven’t, to update your listing as there have been a number of recent changes hosts are asked to complete in their listing.
As a sitter, I look for local sits that may be coming up in a week or a month. or two. Just got a local sit for March. For international sits, I look further in advance. The last two international sits I did were advertised six-nine months in advance which really helped with planning and booking flights, hotels. With international sits, I usually do the sit and then combine it with personal travel before or after so it takes more planning and appreciate more time to prepare.
I’ve seen sitters here say they are booked out for a year, sometimes more. So I definitely think you could find sitters who would book that far out, especially for a longer term sit. But if you happened to not get any hits, you still have plenty of time and could just repost later on.
I am a full-time sitter and how far ahead I book out in advance depends on a lot of factors at the given moment, but I don’t know if we have ever been booked out 6 months or more ahead. The most I can think of is probably closer to 5 max.
For example, right now we are sitting in California and are booked almost fully–save a small gap between two sits in March I am sure we will fill pretty easily–through the beginning of June.
Between it being four months out, and the number of sits available in California, I am in no rush to book anything, and probably would not apply for a listing that started then or later unless it really stood out to me for some reason. That was the case for a sit we booked last week that started at the beginning of May and will last until that period in early June–gorgeous custom built home in the woods in a town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which is particularly beautiful and an area of the state we really want to visit.
It definitely can’t hurt to post and see what happens, but again, I wouldn’t worry if you didn’t get anyone yet. If you didn’t see much interest, I am sure it would not be the listing specifically but just that it is so far ahead.
Our experience is that there’s no single “right” lead time — it really depends on who you’re hoping to attract.
As full-time and long-term sitters (14 years, 155+ sits), we often look 6–9 months ahead, especially for longer sits like yours. Posting earlier gives us time to plan routes, visas, and other commitments, and it often results in very thoughtful, well-matched applications on both sides.
At the same time, we’ve also found that wonderful sits (and sitters) come together closer to the date — particularly when we’re travelling more flexibly or already in the region.
If we were posting as homeowners, we’d lean toward listing earlier (6–7 months) for an 8-week sit, knowing we could always pause or relist later if plans changed. From our perspective, that doesn’t rule out more last-minute sitters — it simply widens the net.
In short: posting earlier has usually given us more choice, not less.
There’s no right answer, because it’s based on lifestyle, full-time vs. part-time vs. sporadic sitting, preferences for extensive planning vs. not so much vs. serendipity.
We booked our current 9 week sit back in July for an end of November start-i.e 4 months ahead. And in December we booked a 3 month sit which starts in April. Also 4 months ahead. These are the longest sits we’ve ever done. 4 months out has been perfect for us to make all necessary arrangements.
I’m sure you could list further ahead than that. Some sitters are real forward planners. There is no right or wrong.
I usually look for sits for around two to three months ahead, though many of my chosen sits have been set up in a shorter time frame. I learned the hard way not to plan too far ahead when I lined up a sit six months in advance, only to get a really lucrative job opportunity I needed to take locally that overlapped with the confirmed sit dates. I felt terrible cancelling but also knew the HO had six months to find someone else. She scolded me quite harshly and even made me promise to do the sit if she didn’t get another good sitter. I realized because I depend on sporadic more lucrative jobs locally for my financial well-being, I should never confirm sits too far in advance. It can be a tough balance between finding great sits enough ahead to plan but leaving open the possibility of having lucrative jobs come up, being self-employed. I fancy myself being spontaneous and more carefree than I turn out to be. I keep expecting to jump on a last-minute sit, but so far I’ve been more comfortable planning two to three months ahead. I think it’s wise for you to list it now, as many sitters do book well in advance.
Last week I was working on filling 4 sets of dates for this year, starting in March and the latest being in early November.
I had a few sitters that I had previously favorited, and I also had a few THS forum members in mind. Many of them had already booked sits for those dates, which made me realize that the most desirable sitters seem to plan well in advance.
After striking out with obtaining a sitter from my list, I published the 4 dates (one at a time over a couple of days) and each time I filled my 5 applicant que within the hour, including the one for November. All of our listing dates are filled for 2026.
So from my experience you can certainly book up to a year ahead, and in fact it might be a good strategy if you’re looking for the best sitters.
I booked two long sits 9 and 11 months in advance. That way I could plan the rest of my trip around those fixed dates. I stayed in touch with the homeowners to ensure that plans were still solid to ease any anxiety on my part or theirs. In both cases, the trips were planned and booked and I was confident they would happen.
We recently accepted a sit for May 2027! - It’s a long way off, but it’s in an area we want to visit as we have friends who live there, so worth the wait
Is that important, really, before someone applies.? I get to know the people on video call, or once I arrive. I met the lady from my current sit a few months ago, and the husband just on Tuesday. Turns out he is a REV. Is this important to me? No. Would it have affected me taking the sit? no. I am there for and with the dogs, not the home owners.
@RedLassie Isn’t it great we all can choose which sits appeal to us more than others based on what is provided in the listing? I see no harm in making the OP aware of this, especially as the Introduction does ask for hosts to provide a bit of information about themselves.
