Hi everyone, I have been a full-time House sitter for the last year and a half here in Australia.
I recently joined TrustedHousesitters as I am going to be travelling for two months in Europe around May, June, July. I was a little disappointed to see that there are next to no housesitting jobs over that time in key areas that I’m looking at eg- Spain, Greece, Sorrento, Paris etc. I’m wondering if I’m searching too soon and need to keep an eye out for opportunities closer to the dates?
Has anyone had any experiences housesitting abroad without meeting the people and pets in person first? I would always meet mine via FaceTime and on the day at minimum, but this scenario may be a little different. I’m looking to spend short or long periods of time in one area. I’m very open to lots of different places but it’s been difficult so far in the last week since I’ve signed up, so I just wanted to get everyone’s feedback if you’ve had a similar experience or any tips and! Thank you so much, Emmank
Sounds like you’re looking at prime holiday spots. Those are going to last about 5 minutes or less before reaching the 5 application limit, or the owners can list the a few weeks ahead when they know their travel plans and still get a sitter.
We spent spring/summer last year with near back-to-back sits in France. A couple of points: Most were homes owned by English expats/immigrants, and most were pretty rural, so having your own transport is hugely advantageous.
As mentioned, sits in Paris and other tourist hotspots do come up - but the 5 slots fill up very very quickly, so the time difference of being in Oz might impact your chances.
@Oztravels, we’d wager that 95%+ of those sits are UK rather than Schengen area. Both part of “Europe” - many THS Forum threads have encouraged THS to introduce a schengen area search capability (clearly already exists as canada/provinces and us/states so why not europe/schengen)
@Em03, you are quite right. Vast majority of Europe listings are UK. Schengen area sits are relatively few and highly popular. Listings go quickly - if you’re many time zones away then need lots luck.
For context, we found very difficult to secure Schengen area housesits from Western Canada - likely due to many listings appear and reach five applicants while we were snoozing. But we’ve spent last few summers in UK and used time there to secure many Schengen housesits - still not easy; we’ve had relax some criteria; and we’ve taken opportunistic mindset but doable.
First of all you’re not as yet this side of the globe so owners would have the worry that you’re not within a few hours travel, secondly it’s a long time out and people haven’t as yet maybe booked summer holidays. Thirdly there are many many sitters available for those locations, and as a traveller you may expect to be out and about as a tourist most days so you’ll compete against the other more favoured groups (WFH nomads, retirees etc). You’ll need to mitigate against all of these things if your profile/application is to stand out. A few sitters change their ‘home location’ to where they intend to sit to give themselves an advantage.
In addition to your chasing after sits in high tourist areas, as someone new to THS you don’t have any reviews as yet? If so, you are at a huge disadvantage even if you are successful in submitting an application. Reviews are sitter’s currency on THS. You probably want to do some THS sits in Australia to build a reputation. Your Australia petsitting is relevant and valuable but not so valuable as a string of positive THS reviews.
Depending on which countries you are looking at, you may be looking too far ahead. In the UK we plan waaaay in advance. But we’ve found Spain, Netherlands, and many other countries don’t organise their trips until a 6 wks - 8wks beforehand.
The exception to that would be if we’ve sat for an owner before, then we get to know their plans much earlier and get invited to return.
Hello @Em03 & welcome . Most of the locations on your list are very competitive. If you can open up to pretty much anywhere in France, Italy, Spain etc that will help. If you are a bit more adventurous then add places like Turkey, Morocco, Egypt & Tunisia to your list as there are sits in all those locations especially in summer when it’s super hot so more hosts leave to travel. There are also very few sits for that time period right now, you’re simply looking too early. Change your location to somewhere within your search area and when you apply, tell the host the date you arrive in Europe to give them confidence in your commitment. Nomador is a helpful site for France & Italy. #dontgiveup
Make a Saved search using the map to get notifications of new listings. But I doubt you would get a sit in a location as specific as Sorrento. Be open to all of Italy, put your map selection over all of southern Europe.
Our experience is that European HO don’t post in January for May, June, July. That’s four-six months in advance. There are so many sitters in Europe who can travel within Europe easily & quickly that posting sits anywhere from 2 weeks to a month in advance isn’t uncommon. That said, I’ve noticed a big drop off of European sits in the last year. Where in late 2024, early 2025 the UK might be 50% of the sits listed, now it’s more like 75%. There has also been much discussion of bots being used: have set alerts set for Paris, Spain, Italy yet even if I click within 5 minutes of the alert? HO is already “reviewing applicants.”
In a week, I’ll be hitting my 4th sit in Spain since mid-Dec. All of them were posted 2-3 weeks before the sit. Depending on how expensive flights are when you get closer to your dates, you may want to get a flight now and start applying for available sits before you get to Europe.
Also, as someone suggested, get some sits under your belt first. 2-3 5-star reveiws would be invaluable. If you’re including dogs in your sit profile, you really shouldn’t have too much trouble. Good luck
@Em03 don’t fall for the marketing. It’s not likely you will be able to plan a European itinerary and have sits all fall into place where and when you want. I’m not saying give up but you do need to be realistic and careful regarding immigration laws.
Thanks everyone for your feedback. I have about 15 reviews spread out over different Australian house sitting sites and have recently had one through THS. I’ll likely base myself in a few key destinations over there and go from there. Thanks again
I am sitting more or less full time (mainly on THS and with the occaisonal 1-2 week break) in the Shengen area for more than a year now (17 sits, 5 booked). And there are very few hosts compared to UK or US.
In central and easter Europe with the cost of membership getting higher and higher, growth seems to be very slow, especially in parts of continental Europe where income is not that high. Based on my experience the majority of hosts here are expats.
A search for Sorrento gives you one host for example. Seaside sits in Spain are gone within minutes. Greece doesn’t have that many active users. Checking on desktop you will see many profiles that didn’t have a sit offered in years. I am actually not sure if these still pay for their membership or are being displayed just to give you the impression of offer.
It’s difficult, but it’s not impossible. The more flexible you are the easier it gets. And at least for me it takes some proactive work and sometimes you may have some downtime between sits. Then even here from time to time I have some back to back sits.
Beside what other people on this thread mentioned (especially setting up searches in the map as we are not able to exclude UK from Europe searches), in very popular cities or areas, that I want to travel too, I search upfront, pre-screen the profiles and add the hosts to my favorites. This way I can send in the application ASAP. It’s a bit of work, but it gives you a couple of extra minutes. And even then, applying within minutes from the first notification, I often get a “All applications were great and we will go with the frst one” reply - if they reply at all. So it helps to be fast.
If I am working on my desktop I sometimes refresh my searches manually. As sits will show up earlier than notifications will go out. I got lucky like this before.
Hosts in the south tend to post quite late - especially seaside or more desired properties, where they know they can fill their sit within minutes, litteraly. Then there are always exceptions. I already have a sit booked for Sept/Oct in the Algavre and in Greece from end of April till July.
That’s very true. We’ve done about 10 I guess in Germany, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland and Holland, and as you said that am not sure even one of them was from the sit homeland, all were a selection box of expats. #mustbeareason
I think local people would have a larger network (friends, families, neighbours) to rely on for pet care compared to ex-pats. Also, I think it some cultures it would seem unusual having someone in your home.
Another reason could be that in some cultures pets are not quite as ‘spoiled’ as they are in the UK - spending more time in the yard, sleeping outside etc, therefore requiring less hands on care.
. Most of the locations on your list are very competitive. If you can open up to pretty much anywhere in France, Italy, Spain etc that will help. If you are a bit more adventurous then add places like Turkey, Morocco, Egypt & Tunisia to your list as there are sits in all those locations especially in summer when it’s super hot so more hosts leave to travel. There are also very few sits for that time period right now, you’re simply looking too early. Change your location to somewhere within your search area and when you apply, tell the host the date you arrive in Europe to give them confidence in your commitment. Nomador is a helpful site for France & Italy.