Hi! We have a home that has a completely separate, self contained (full kitchen, living, bedroom, laundry, etc.) living area with its own entrance for use by guests & sitters. We think that offering the free use of that area for X days before and after the firm sit dates we have would be a potential incentive for sitters. Helping to bridge gaps between sits would seem to be a good thing, right? There are no requirements or expectations for interaction, no cost, and certainly no responsibilities, it is literally just an open invitation to use the area if helpful with your scheduling.
We’ve noted this in the ad itself but it’s only visible after you’ve clicked into the ad. My question is this - how do I highlight it in the title and/or introduction paragraph so it’s readily visible and catches attention? I shy away from the term ‘flexible’ as it seems to imply our travel plans aren’t set, they are. What term or phrase would catch a potential sitter’s eye but not make them think our plans aren’t solid?
The shortest I can get it to is “Happy for you to arrive early”. I’d just miss out “and leave late” bit as that’s waaay too many words, and they may think they can arrive late.
But personally I’d just leave it out of the title, as there’s only so many words that are visable on both mobiles & laptops. So it just confuses your whole ad, with a lot of words.
I can’t think of a shorter way of writing it… I’m sure you’ve already tried .
Or do something like “Flexi dates!”. And then you explain that your days to go off are fixed, but you can accommodate people to come earlier, leave later etc
My upcoming sit in France has offered me to stay as long as I want, before and after the sit. So now it’s five days before and ten days after, between two sits, and they absolutely INSISTED that I do this, no further discussion needed. Soooo grateful, there are certainly some wonderful homeowners out there. @trottter you are a dream come true for some sitters who really need such kindness and generosity between sits, bless you
It’s difficult to predict what aspects of your posting will interest different potential sitters.
Your location, dates, home and pets will be appealing to some sitters & those sitters will click on your post to read more about the sit.
You could include: “Flexibility on arv/dept dates” in the announcement, explaining this in the body of the post.
Flexibility can be critical for sitters coming from a distance, as a sit of, say, 5 nights could actually represent 7-9 nights of stay.
We have taken sits because a host was flexible about arrival/departure dates and coming from a long distance meant both sides were more confident about arrangements.
The reality is that some hosts and some sitters don’t like over-lap nights.
But that is as personal as the type of home, the type of pets, etc.
“XYZ [animal type(s)] in home with Private Quarters that allow extra days for your stay!”
“Extend Your Stay with XYZ [animal type(s)] & your own Private Quarters!”
“Extended Stays with XYZ [animal type(s)] & your own Private Quarters!”
“Private Quarters allow for extended stays with XYZ [animal type(s)]”
I would also then open you welcome section to discuss this particular perk and any others about your pets and location before breaking down more about who you are.
Marry me? As a full time sitter I think it’s brilliant of you to offer this. Especially being aware of the fact that the sitter might not necessarily want to spend time with you in this scenario.
We have two dwellings on our rural property — a small farmhouse and a renovated barn. We require a 2-night overlap at the beginning of the sit and offer a flexible overlap at the end. So the dates we list reflect the period when the sitter’s presence is required. At the top of the intro we put: “ Optional multi-day overlap in private quarters as our guest on either end of sit”. Further down we specify that the dates have an initial 2-night overlap built in. It didn’t occur to me that somehow signaling this option to stay on in the title could be a draw.
We always offer our sitters to come and stay in our downstairs apartments for a few days before or after. As long as they like really. Our sit is hard work as you can’t really leave the dogs alone so it means that the sitters can stay before and after a sit and explore themselves without any interaction or requirements if they want to. Some do some don’t. We have people who ask to come back and ask us to go away so they can come here so I guess we are doing something right.
Yea, when we were sitting full time there were definitely instances where the homeowners required overlap with our respective arrival/departure dates and there was an implication that we needed to spend time together (we’re fixing dinner, etc.). We accepted it of course and often enjoyed the interaction quite a bit but there were other times when it felt somewhat forced/awkward or we were just tired from travel and wanted down time. We’re fine with whichever way the sitters want to go and try to emphasize that before and at arrival.
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