Hi there! I am new here and have been looking for listings in South East Asia from November 15 to March 10. I plan on going to several places, depending on where I can find suitable sits. But it looks like pet parents are usually posting them only like one or maximum two months in advance. Does that sound about right? I even saved searches for that time period for the entirety of Asia and there are barely any sits. So am I just too early, or are sits in South East Asia rarer?
How long is a piece of string would be the answer to your question. Also if you search the forum you will find some discussions.
SE Asia sits are infrequent and will be snapped up so best to save searches, as you are doing, and hope for the best. Also join relevant Facebook groups for sits
It varies from country to country. Typically the timescale that shows up right now when you do a search, will be the same timescale for that country no matter what the time of year.
If you’re not travelling until Nov, I would focus on getting some reviews in the meantime by sitting in your own country or closer to home, so that by the time ads start appearing in your preferred place, you’re profile will be more appealing.
Sits in South East Asia I would say are in general in the ex pat community and not «locals» as such, so there are few sits compared to other countries. As they are few they are high in demand and hosts can afford to publish dates a shorter time before sits and still get loads of applicants. The competition for sits would also be high, unless rural. A sitter would need to be lucky to be able to get a string of sits. One sit can be hard enough.
If you are new I would follow the advice of HappyDeb and get a few reviews. A host is less likely to prefer a sitter without/ with few reviews if they have several applicants, so reviews are important.
There’s a cultural component to whether or not homeowners find the idea of unpaid house sitters living in their home appealing. If you look at the map showing currently posted sits, it looks like there are 6000 in N America, 4000 in Europe, fewer than 100 in Asia.
Thank you, everyone. Yes, I noticed that in other parts of the world there are much more listings which is why I was wondering if maybe the expat community is known for last minute listings. Keep your fingers crossed then and wish me luck
I’ve learnt that Australians leave posting their listings until within a month of their trips away…. so I’ve hearted every single Perth Australia sit that comes up. They get applications within hours then straight to reviewing, so disappear very quickly. The time zone thing is an issue as HOs often post a listing in the evening after work is done which is around 11am in England so they tend to pop up then…
