Hello. I’m wondering whether other owners have found that there are fewer applications to sit. We are looking to go away in September but are disappointed in the response so far. This has never been a problem previously and just wonder if it’s a sign of the times we are in at the moment.
Thanks
I can only answer from an housesitter perspective, but after the terrible year we’ve had there are now an abundance of housesits around. Many homeowners are looking to go away at the same time now things are opening up - I guess this might mean there is more “competition” than normal.
September is also still quite far away in some of our minds - we aren’t looking beyond August for now as we are just so unsure of what the situation will be. Again we’ve been burnt from the last year with having to cancel housesits or have housesits cancelled on us - so we are a bit more wary about booking in things further in advance.
Maybe you could share your listing here and see if anyone can help you out.
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I am finding the same thing. Right after the world “opened up” I easily found sitters, but now things seem to be stalling. I finally booked an overseas flight for December, right before the holidays but back in time for a sitter to be able to get wherever they wanted to go in time for the holidays and have not had a nibble yet. That worries me as I have booked air flights. We have been so fortunate with sitters from THS that the one time I had to cancel due to pandemic closure I offered to have the sitter stay here anyway as we have plenty of room for privacy. The sitter chose not to do that as their plans changed too.
My response to you and @SheilaM is similar to @ChrisAndSuzeGoWalkies. I’m in Canada and not looking at too far ahead, or so far away for right now. Ironically, when I do look at sits in December, my preference would be for ones that would go into and beyond the holiday season. We all have different lifestyles. I’m once again noticing a high number of applicants for some sits too. It just shows the diversity of sits, and sitters, on this site. Adding a link to your sit here will bring it to more people’s attention too. Hopefully you’ll find a good fit for your sit, to lessen your concerns.
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Hello @SheilaM welcome to our community forum and thank you for joining. I completely understand your disappointment with the lack of response to your listing on this occasion, especially as you’ve not had this experience in the past, however we are in a very different environment at the moment, which we hope will nomalize as more and more countries open up.
Mid September is a little while away and as @ChrisAndSuzeGoWalkies says some sitters are not planning ahead as much as they used to but once confidence returns that arrangements will not get cancelled things will start to change.
Perhaps address this in your listing, let sitters know about your plans and that as far as you can be sure (we know there is no 100% guarantee) your travel will take place to give assurance, also perhaps add some more images and highlight some of the amenities in the area and if you are happy to open applications to new sitter members who are verified and referenced
I know how important it is for you and any owner to have and arrangement in place as soon as you possibly can but I would not worry too much, you have wonderful sitter feedback, Maisie is obviously adorable and has captured the hearts of of her sitters and we can also post across our Social channels to increase visibility if this is something you would be happy with and you can relist as often as you need.
“The most fantastic people to house sit for and kitty Maisie. I so enjoyed my stay at your home. Hope to see you again in September xxxx” Nikki
Please don’t hesitate to come back if you feel you need some extra support and we will do everything we can to help Maisie have another wonderful sitter.
Enjoy the forum and connecting with other members who have a wealth of experience and are both supportive and helpful.
Angela and the Team
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We are full time sitters and already booking up until the first week in January. I am a very optimistic person and determined not to give up hope about world travel. If it gets cancelled, so be it. I have to mention though that the first thing we check in the morning is the new travel restrictions for that day.
There is no right or wrong time to post your sit. Some people are hanging back, just in case but others, like us, are looking forward and planning new exciting adventures. Have a read of some of the advice about making your sit attractive and appealing. There’s lots of fantastic ideas from house sitters and what they are looking for in a sit.
I would call myself a well seasoned sitter but I have picked up lots of new ideas on lots of things here.
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I’m retired so sort of ‘full-time’ sitting.
Since April, I’ve been sitting almost continuously here in the US, in fact from early June-mid-July was on a string of 4 Calif sits - going straight from 1 to the other. Home now for 2 weeks because a week-long sit scheduled for this week cancelled because the HO got sick.
Aug and early Sept I’m doing a local sit for family. Then from mid-Sept to mid-Oct am booked for 3 consecutive UK sits, assuming the quarantine restrictions get lifted.
And it is pretty much the same through mid-March.
Lots of folks have started traveling again!!
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Thanks everyone for your comments, they have been really helpful to Kevin and I. Some of the ideas are really useful and are making us think. We just hope that everything starts to become clearer and easier for everyone wherever they are.
Keep safe everyone.
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Our C19 numbers are soaring again. We officially ‘open up’ in England as from July 19. ( Wales and Scotland are not) but travel into the UK from US looks unlikely. I was hoping to travel to a sit in the US on Aug 3rd but Biden has not opened up the states for Brits.
If you post the link to your sit in this forum folks may have some suggestions or some of the sitters here may be interested. Also, since you mentioned having previous sitters, have you contacted any of them to invite them back? They may be happy to return or have someone to suggest to you. Good luck!
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I have had the same issue lately. I live right in SF (so a popular destination) and used to get about 12 applications in the first 24 hours. Now I am lucky to get 1 or 2. Last sit I had in June, three applicants got booked up before I had a chance to get back to them. I do tend to have shorter notice so it is stressful when I am trying to book only a couple weeks out. Hopefully more sitters will be back on the site and available soon as my travel schedule is filling up.
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Hi @spiel70 welcome to our community forum thank you for joining us from SF and yes that is a popular location and still is, you are right sitter will start to travel again very soon it’s been a while since travel was assured and you could rely on plans not getting changed or cancelled the one other aspect is that with International travel for most, still up in the air sitters are traveling domestically. To place yourself in the best position try to give as much leeway as possible, no months but a reasonable amount of time.
Thank you again for joining today and we look forward to sharing in your THS journey.
Angela and the Team
Hi, I live in the UK and would love to apply for assignments in the US, but at the moment your borders are not open to people from Europe………. I wonder if this is the reason you have less applicants ?
I hope you find a sitter real soon!
Alison
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Hi. I just did a search for San Francisco and it displayed 56 posts. I then searched the city of Los Angeles (more than 4 times the population of SF) and there were 33 sits. It seems like you may have competition with other homeowners, rather than a scarcity of sitters.
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Where are you located? I agree that there are alot of people traveling…I am booked almost solid for July, August and September with very few gaps in between. Things start to open up for October and November. December I had a lady book me for just over 2 weeks.
Hello Sheila
Sadly I think this is an all too common scenario for house sitters and folk wanting housesitters. So many people can not travel at all. I imagine there are loads of people just like me who cannot get out of their own country. We live in Perth Western Australia. Since early last year there has been no OS travel for aussies unless met strict criteria and again we cannot travel between Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide as they are locked down. Normally we would have gone OS couple times a year. * I am keeping an eye on December onwards sits as feel there is some hope around that timeframe. As much as I would love to travel its not an option.
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Thank you @snowbob the situation is so different across the world, even within countries and is still changing although we are seeing more movement especially with domestic travel. Good luck for December.
I’m a new pet sitter and wish HO would post more pics of the home interior. I would like to see the bedroom that the sitter will be staying .
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Hi @LadyandtheTramp we now have a minimum of images an owner needs to post, including guidance on images.
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I’m also Canadian & restrictions for returning from International sits (incl the US) are ridiculous. Upon arrival back to Canada you are required to isolate for 3 days in a chosen hotel at a cost of $2000 then isolate after leaving for home for another 11 days. Also we cannot drive into US as the border is still closed. So no travel for me for awhile. And many countries are now requiring you to be vaccinated which I feel is discriminating.