Hello. I have had a sit posted up since May for a sit in August. I have ‘invited’ dozens and dozens and dozens of housesitters but not one has been available or they have simply not responded. My questions are: How many sitters on average do you need to approach? Is approaching sitters ever successful? Is there a way that calendars can be updated so that I do not waste my, or the sitter’s, times writing emails? I have now signed up with two other sites because I admit panic has set in! Thank you in advance for your help.
I sympathise with you. You will see that a similar problem exists for sitters who have applied for a sit but their application, along with the 50-plus others who have applied, remains unread, and even when it is read, it remains without a response from the HO.
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You have a splendid home + animals! It’s also extremely rare that you can sit reptiles. We also rather recommend signing up on several sites and let the THS staff boost your listing, writing to sitters is time consuming and has a low success rate. Not sure if we ever accepted an invite, except for our very first sit. I think new sitters without references might be the ones most likely to accept an invite. PS: If offering a car is an option for you, it might be a lot more attractive to some sitters. Rental prices are supposed to be going through the roof according to other sitters.
Thanks Timmy. It is a full time job!
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@tabithaneville I’m sorry to hear that you’re having such a hard time. I’ve had a look at your listing and felt intimidated by all the instructions about Rhubarb. I probably wouldn’t apply if I was available, because of that . Otherwise your home and animals seem fantastic. I hope you find someone soon 
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Hi @tabithaneville.
I took a look at your listing too.
The positives, you are in a really popular area, your home looks lovely & Rhubarb looks appealing.
The main downsides to me would be the reptiles, as i have no experience & also as the above post mentions there is rather alot of instruction regarding Rhubarb. I’m afraid it would put me off as I would feel my day would need to be planned around this.
Personally I’d suggest, some of the more detailed information could be put in the welcome guide. People may just be moving on to view other sits when they see so much to read.
Also see where there could be some flexibiity. For instance the fact that Rhubarb is happy to travel and go anywhere with you, as a sitter we see that more as a plus than working with a 3 hour window to do things. We absolutely love being able to take the dogs out with us. Also the day is very structured, does the main walk have to be at a set time? Could it work that Rhubarb enjoys a long walk?
The last thing i could suggest as far as inviting sitters is maybe to try newer sitters who may not have many reviews. You may find they could appreciate the experience.
Hope this helps and you do find a sitter.
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Hi @tabithaneville Of the responses you received in another recent post, I’m pleased to see that you have responded to many of the suggestions, which is encouraging. However, I notice you’ve chosen not to change your headline. I’ll just add here how it displays when I do a search:
Your chosen words do not promote your listing. The search already shows that it’s two weeks. I again suggest you consider different wording.
I would also remove your second set of dates as they are for next summer. It’s best to focus on this summer. It was also confusing for me as both start with the same month/day date, so I initially thought it was a system error.
In your reply concerning a car in the other post I think you said a person would have to walk a steep hill in the dark. Many people would have no issue with a steep hill, and no reason to do it in the dark. Please keep in mind that many sitters are living more as locals than tourists, and may be home most evenings. Regardless, they could certainly time their outings so as to not be out walking in the dark. Requiring sitters to have a vehicle limits your pool of sitters, whereas your goal needs to be to lessen as many restrictions as possible.
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Thank you for this. I will review the information I have put about Rhubarb. I thought it better to be as detailed as possible, but possibly not.
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Hi @tabithaneville, We live up the road in Cheltenham.
Your sit is in the school holidays, when a lot of occasional sitters with children may be looking for a sit. I noticed that you have 2 boys, and 2 available bedrooms, but your sit is not tagged as family friendly. You did say that you have a stream in the garden, and I can understand being concerned that this would be unsuitable for younger children. Your garden does sound rather lovely, with all the wildlife!
Many family sitters will search only for sits with the “family friendly” label, so they will never see your listing. If you were open to having older children stay, it might be worth adding the “family friendly” label and then stating in your listing what age of children you feel it might be suitable for. Your sit them might be visible to a wider audience.
Your pets look lovely, the reptiles would be interesting to care for, and you are of course in a great area. I hope you find a wonderful sitter to care for your pets and home.
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We found as owners that listing our dates about 2 weeks before, is a good time frame for us. Earlier doesn’t seem to work as well. Later we would feel stressed because sitters need time to see it and you need to interview/FaceTime them.
We have had 9 wonderful sits in the past two years.