Kona, Hawaii

Hello, I am new and skeptical of this site. I love to go to Kona, Hawaii in January through February and would love to have a place to stay where I could house sit. How many people have used this site and have been totally satisfied with their results?

Stephen

Hi Stephen - It is a great site but is not a site for booking your specific travel accommodation - you have to be much more flexible with the date and location of your travels than that

Also, I am not sure if you are aware but almost all house sits come with the added responsibility of caring for a pet as well as looking after the home.

How it works is that someone looking for a sitter advertises their location and dates that they need a sitter - then all sitters that are interested will apply. The home owner then chooses the sitter from all that apply that they think are the best fit for them.

Beach sits usually get many applications so, especially as a new sitter, it is really unlikely that you would get chosen for one straight away.

It is normal for new sitters to get some experience and reviews by doing a few sits more local to themselves first.

Colin

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Hi @talldog4 welcome to our community forum and @Colin gives perfect insight into TrustedHousesitters and the why & how of pet and housesitting, if you love pets, enjoy slow travel with responsibility, purpose and personal rewards this is an amazing lifestyle if someone is looking for a vacation experience TrustedHousesitters is not that, it’s much more. This story published by CNN last week will give you great insight …

There are also many member stories on our website blog.

Enjoy exploring the forum and welcome again.

Angel and the team

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Welcome to THS! We love the site and have had quite a few very successful sits.

Most years, we watch for sits in Hawaii in Jan-March but have only applied for one so far. In that situation, we were among another 50+ applicants and we didn’t get the sit. They seem to be few and far between and I suspect it would be challenging to get accepted for a sit in Hawaii if you are brand new to THS and have no references yet. Best to build up to that?

If you are open to travelling in a variety of places, you are more likely to find great sits.

Welcome aboard @talldog4 I am highly satisfied with THS in general. We’ve had 4 fantastic house/pet sat so far. Regarding your question, Hawaii archipelagos is in my bucket list too like in other HS too for sure! Since it’s a most desirable location probably HO are interested in sitters with experience and references from this community. Furthermore, in my case, since we are Italian, might be even more difficult for us to be chosen then USA sitters. But who knows! In the meantime, We are enjoying the amazing house/pet sits opportunities in Europe :blush:

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Stephen
Lots of us would love Hawaii sits but those are probably among the most competitive.
But if you are flexible and open, there are lots of other possibilities - I’ve completed almost 40 sits since starting in summer 2019.
All but 1 have been really enjoyable, but you have to be open to experiences. Among my ‘location’ highlights have been a week in Santa Fe, a week on Naples Island in Long Beach, 2 weeks on San Juan Island in WA, and a week on Jeju Island, Korea.
Currently on the 1st week of 6 weeks/5 sits in the UK.
But you’ve got to be open to trying new things and places out.
Take care.
tom

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