I am using THS for the last 5 or 6 years. Before the pandemic I had no problems finding house and dog sitters, but ever since I get fewer and fewer applications and a lot of people just apply and find out a couple weeks later that they don’t want to come. Or it is just not a fit at all (for example, I am looking for two people traveling together and our dogs are not used to be around little children).
I am very much aware of rising airfare and that may be a big issue (we live in Alaska and flying here is expansive).
My confirmed house sitter for May had to cancel and after reposting the sit no-one applied at all. I am getting a little bit nervous and would like to hear some tipps on how to attract more people to a specific sit.
Also: is there any way I can search for potential house sitters who are interested in coming to Alaska?
Hello @ArcticLights it is great to see you back posting in the forum community.
Are you happy to add your THS home listing link to your forum profile so that way other community members can see it and give you helpful feedback and tips?
Alaska is on our bucket list and sadly we are not free for those dates! I had a look at your listing on the website and my feedback would be to have more photos of the areas that the sitter will be using, such as the kitchen and bathroom. It helps sitters to visualise being there and know what the space they will be staying in will look and function like.
Have you considered the sitters having use of your car? If sitters fly to the area and as it is quite a remote location, then sometimes having the use of a car included for food shopping etc can be very attractive.
These are just a couple of suggestions and if you add your link I am sure that other community members will have some other helpful tips.
If you need help adding your link just let me know. Plus who can resist two Goldies!!
Thank you, Carla. I added a few more photos. Depending on the sit, we let sitters use my car, but it depends on different circumstances. It is really weird, I always had many, many people interested.
I totally understand it and most of the sitters were able to use my car. BUT I need to talk to them first AND it depends on whether we need it during that time or not.
Thank you for your feedback. I usually discuss the use of the car once I talk to the potential sitter. It is not always possible, but most of the times the sitters can use my car. I understand you don’t even contact a possible host if this is not explicitly mentioned?
Hi @ArcticLights , I usually assume no car is offered if it is not explicitly stated in the listing, so will not usually apply. I have inquired a number of times when a sit was particularly attractive if a car could be made available and it was only offered once. Often I’ve found this request results in an immediate decline.
Hi @ArcticLights, you’ve had great feedback from some sitters but you also have no feedback from others, excluding 2020 when the sits may not have gone ahead. It might be a good idea to request feedback from those sitters.
Although you have great photos, having one of the toilet as your primary photo is a real turnoff for me! You have a lovely home and gorgeous dogs so using one of them would be far more appealing, especially of the dogs. You have to put the pet photo into the home photos to be able to use it as your first photo though!
You live in a very special location and one day I hope to get there, but not this year.
