Hi, we are about to list a sit for December but before going public I wanted to reach out to a few sitters who applied last time around. This will be our third time. The first two times we were flooded with applicants and kept reaching the applicant limit within a day or two each time it opened up again. So it’s fair to say our listing is in demand.
But when I looked at the list of sitters who have favorited our listing since we first joined about 6 months ago, I was surprised to see that the number of sitters on the list had dropped from what was 175 to about 100.
I’m wondering why that would be, all I can think of is that they left the site? If so, that’s a rather large turnover.
As a sitter we don’t bother using the favourite button anymore as it’s rare for “the stars to align “. Maybe other sitters feel the same way and that’s why the numbers are down?
It may also be that those sitters no longer want to travel to your location, perhaps because they succeeded in getting another sit there and not yours. I’ve removed Favourites for this reason.
Also, I find the chances of me being available when a Favourite is listed is slim so I now prefer setting up a Saved Search which works far better for me.
Why would many housesitters invest the time to unfavourite a listing? Not make sense.
We have accumulated great many favourited housesits. If listing meets our preferences/criteria but dates do not work then we - mostly my spouse - favourites the listing for future reference.
Recently we briefly discussed unfavouriting some listings. Partly as our housesit and travel preferences have evolved. But there is no easy way to filter, sort or organize favourites. There is no maximum number. And so there is no meaningful motivation, other than once-in-while notifications, to unfavourite a listing.
Good question. THS does not publish data on members (number new, left, etc). But it seems possible, if surprising, that almost half of favourite members have left THS in last six months. Only other idea is geography, which is not stated in your THS profile and OP. From THS Forum threads then some portion of international housesitters have stated intent not to housesit in US - could some international housesitter have unfavourited US listings? Darned if we know, but it’s possible.
175->100 favourites seems remarkable. We don’t recall any data on whether confirmed sits originate from favourites or non-favourites. So difficult to impose cause - effect on #favourites and #applicants. Good luck!
I have unfavorited loads recently because I was flooded with notifications from locations I either no longer have an interest in going to (for me that would be destinations/ sits in the USA in general and also some other specific listings because I actually travelled there but they were only on the basis of me staying there - not going back) or because I’ve prioritized other destinations now.
For instance I planned to go somewhere next summer, and have since changed my mind and booked my flights to another destination. So i unfavorited some and favorited others.
I have both general searches (as in :country: or :city: ) in addition to listing-favorites, and the notifications were so many at a point that I’ve experienced not seeing the “gems” in the stream of notifications before it was to late. So hence the time invested.
I don’t know where you’re based but earlier this year I removed all favourites that were for the USA. I’m a Canadian sitter. Ironically, yesterday I also went through mine to see if any no longer interested me, for various reasons, and removed those. Perhaps others do a similar ‘spring cleaning’ of their favourites.
Hi @idocsteve. Just to say I regularly go through my favourites and delete some that no longer appeal.
Your current sit will be for December so I am just wondering were your previous sits in the winter as well? I am sure Greece is still lovely at that time of year but I guess flights are less frequent which may deter sitters from abroad.
I use favorites when I’m looking at specific sits I might want to apply to because they work with my current circumstances. Favoring them means that I can find the sit quickly again to apply or when I want my husband to look at it. Once I’ve applied or ruled it out, I unfavorite it
I also favorite sits when I’m traveling in a specific area. I was travel in South America this past year. I had lots favorited. But now that I’m not longer in SA and won’t be going back any time soon, I have taken them off favorites.
So who knows if it is turnover or just people using favorites in a different way.
Hi @idocsteve That sounds very appealing! I wouldn’t worry too much about lack of ‘favourites’, as not only do people use this button in different ways, but are also looking for different things at different times of year etc. so it’s unlikely to give a fair indication of how popular your sit would be. I would have thought it would be in hot demand!
We are in Greece, no issues whatsoever with nonresidents and citizens of most countries staying up to 3 months in a 6 month period, as with most Schengen countries.
We have only been members for 6 months so no, we haven’t looked for sitters in the offseason/winter months but regardless I wouldn’t think that has anything to do with the drop off in sitters who favorited te listing.
if you’re interested when I publically post the listing I can report back with results. I am just waiting on a handful of sitters I contacted that had shown previous interest.
@idocsteve, that’s a lovely part of the world. On our radar. Don’t understand fall in favourites at all. Suggest don’t worry - great listings with reasonable pet care in appealing locations should have no difficulty in finding housesitters through normal listing process - even if flights become more tricky off-season.
FYI, we’ve completed three housesits on Crete and are booked to return for a 3-4 week sit Nov/Dec - yay. if your intended dates had been earlier, say mid Oct to mid Nov, then your future listing would have featured on multiple of our searches regardless of whether we had favourited listing
We’ve recently removed a large number of favourites because, having visited those areas, we’ve now turned our attention elsewhere. Time of year can also be a decider and may influence sitters who have previously saved your listing.
Yes that’s correct the first 2 times we had a high number of applicants and had no problems getting sitters. That was during the high season and we have a pool and nearby beaches which won’t be a draw when the temperatures drop.
Yes I’m quite happy with the number of favorites and the high response rate for our 2 prior listings. We already got a sitter for this next one from the private invites I sent out over the past 2 days to sitters who had expressed interest for those earlier sits.
I was just wondering why the number of sitters who favorited our listing dropped so much and in a relatively short time.
When we first registered about 18 months ago I went a bit mad favouriting sits. As time has gone on & we’ve got a better understanding of what’s a good fit for us I have a regular sort through my favourite list & unfavourite those that no longer fit us. Nothing at all against the sit but makes sure I only get notifications on those I’d really like to apply to.
- favourites the listing for future reference.