The site requires that we have a fixed location set on our profile. The problem is that the fixed location on my profile is just a random city in Europe because that’s where I do most of my sits even though I was born on a different continent.
Like many sitters, I don’t have a fixed home. I travel full time and have done for well over a decade. But, I had to choose a city, so here we are. The problem is that, especially during covid, not all owners react well to non local sitters. I could be 10km down the road from the sit, but my location says i’m 1500km away, which impacts my chance at getting the sit. I’ve had more than one home owner comment on me not being local and I now always include my current location and where I will be prior to their sit when I apply.
It would be lovely if we could have the ability to set a “current location” and have it be something general like “Traveling in Europe” vs a specific location.
I get that a location is required for the background check (if someone does that) but in the day to day implementation, I think having a fixed location required for sitters is a negative. Why does it matter that I’m from Chicago if I’m currently in Rome and applying for a sit in Florence? Trying to make people have a fixed location on a site that is dedicated to being somewhere you’re NOT from seems very counter intuitive.
Thanks for the reply @anon36831737. I know there is definitely a work-around, but I apply for sits all over the place at the same time so changing each time isn’t really feasible. I’m currently passing through Croatia but in the last day I’ve applied for sits in 5 other countries. I think if you’re going to stay in a specific country for an extended time and are only applying for sits there, changing to a city in that country makes sense. But especially in Europe where you can be in a different country in a couple hours having to choose a single city is pretty limiting.
We also change our location from time to time, since we’re also nomads. We’re happy, though, to do sits in the same area again and again. Not sure about having no location in your profile at all, since you might not be able to do a last-minute sit in Australia when you’re currently in Iceland. In the heading we sometimes write where we are right now and for which countries we accept sits at the moment.
Yes, it’s less about having no location at all and more about having a broad location vs a specific one. Like “Europe” vs “London”. Maybe differentiate by making two fields: Lives in x city, Currently in y region.
Hello @CreatureCuddler (great name!!) - welcome to the forum and I see you’ve had some good feedback here from other members already on this topic. We also are nomads and although settled at the moment because of Covid on a long term sit, we’ve had to use “work arounds” for this situation in the past by indicating our current travel patterns in our profile. Nomadic living has become a norm for more and more over the past decade but I find on many platforms (not just TrustedHousesitters), our lifestyle choices aren’t really catered for yet - supply and demand I guess
This is good feedback that I’m sure the product team and manager @Ben-ProductManager will find interesting and take into consideration for future updates. The forum is a great space for really understanding how all types of members use this service as we are all so different in our approaches and the outcomes we would like.
Thank you for your contribution and we look forward to hearing more about your house sitting and nomad journey here in the community
I do understand that, which is why I think being able to list a region is a better solution than changing city locations every week as you apply to different sits. Surely having a “Europe” location would be more comforting than constant changes? Or being able to have a “Lives in” and “Currently in” option.
Thanks Vanessa. Yes, as someone who has been location independent for almost 13 years, the “Location” question is always a tricky one to answer since my location today is unlikely to be my location in a week. When people ask I generally joke “home is where the backpack is”.
I would love to see THS lead the charge in starting to adapt for people who are location independent, especially as it would be a relatively low-effort change and provide more clarity to all interested parties. I also think that the pandemic has potentially permanently altered the way things will work with regards to being in a fixed location as more people will have the option to work remotely for extended periods or go full nomad (though I think few have a desire to really live this lifestyle). So I think sites will have to start accounting for that at some point. Thank you for listening.
If it makes you feel any better, I don’t even glance at the sitter location, just the review. Likely because I know that many sitter’s locations are not actually fixed so there’s a good chance it’s not accurate anyway. So I really doubt many/any sitters would think twice about it or draw those conclusions.
I think you are right. I’m really interested to see how nomadic travel and location independence evolves over the coming years in terms of the rise in remote working (me a case in point returning to work), and how that will work alongside travel options/possible restrictions, visas and “nomadic residencies”. There’s a lot going on!
That’s been our mantra too! We’ve always found homeowners fascinated by our lifestyle and when asked, “where is home then?”, we often say “here for now”
All the best!
Yes, I’ve stayed in touch with many hosts over the years just because they find my lifestyle fascinating (though generally not something they’re remotely interested in doing). It works for me because then I usually get first dibs on repeat sits!
When I apply for a sit, I’ll provide the HO with some details regarding our travels plans. In an effort to set their minds at ease, of our intention to honor our confirmation to sit. Also, my profile indicates that we will both be fully retired in the spring, and are seeking sits in various countries. As we move around in 2022, I’ll adjust our profile to reflect the changes in our location. With everything that’s still affecting travel around the world, HO and sitters alike have to be very fluid with expectations. It’s all about trust, and adjusting our lives for of all who live this lifestyle.
In some countries eg Italy there is a requirement to let the police know if you have someone staying over a certain length of time who is from a non EU country. As a homeowner I don’t mind where someone is from but I do need to know if they have a non EU passport
Hi, I don’t know if there is a better spot to locate this suggestion, but I’ve been thinking that it might benefit both sitters and HOs if sitters could post a “temporary” location.
For instance, I’m traveling in Europe for about 6 months (largely in England). While I do look for sits as I move, I’m not always on top of it, and I sometimes see HOs commenting on the forum that they’re having trouble finding sitters. At the same time, I’m receiving requests to sit near my US home and feel badly declining.
Maybe it’s not doable, but I’d love to see a kind of temporary check in, like « traveling through England between such and such, accepting invites. »
This has been discussed somewhere here, don’t know under what category but generally, full timers especially, will change where they are from to indicate their present location.
I make mention in my profile that I am travelling and only accepting sits in the UK.
@Edith We change our location regularly to areas that we want to visit and hence are much more likely to be able to accept invitations as these almost always come from home hosts living in the area that your location is set to.
This is another question that was asked well over a year ago. I’m currently housesitting full time (having rented out my house), the second time I’ve done so, the first time having been curtailed due to the pandemic. I asked in 2019 if we could have a roaming location but sad to see still nothing has been done. So my location is listed as Cheltenham (where my house is) which means I get owners local to Cheltenham wasting their time asking if I can housesit for them
@Smiley@CreatureCuddler - If you go to your dashboard then EDIT PROFILE/ABOUT YOU/WHERE ARE YOU LOCATED? - you can put there any location you wish and change it as frequently as you want to. We change ours often to the areas we intend to visit next.
