We’re new homeowners on THS and have a two-month sit available this spring in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, in a very safe neighborhood with amazing hiking and nature nearby.
So far, we haven’t quite found the right match and are wondering if we should adjust our approach.
Sitters—would you be more interested in a full two-month stay, or do shorter options (2 weeks or 1 month) work better for you? If you’ve done longer sits, did breaking them up make them more appealing or harder to fill?
I’m also a bit concerned about splitting it up in case I end up with gaps—HOs, how have you handled this?
Would love to hear thoughts from both sitters and HOs!
(Listing has been moved to member’s Forum profile by the Forum team. It can be accessed there.)
As sitters (currently on our 43rd sit of almost 4 months duration), we much prefer longer sits. In fact, we’d never agree a split-sit, since it adds complications (lots of previous threads on this, which you can check out by using the spyglass).
One sit please, a lot of experienced sitters won’t do split sits because of all the potential risks to all parties. Go for the whole 2 months as a listing. #ourtwocents
Definitiely one sit. Many would avoid split sits, and probably experienced sitters more than newbies.
You might be better off working on your profile to be attractive. Just on the top of my head - the Intro. is a lot about you and not much on what there is to experience/ explore for a sitter. Tell us why we should want to open your tabs and read your listing and not scroll on to the next listing from the start.
You say the neighborhood is family-friendly - are you open to families sitting?
You need to say something about how long the dog can be left for the sitters errands and exploring. One can’t expect a traveller to stay at home for two months. Most would expect to be able to leave for at least 4-6 hours. Even a remote worker needs groceries, a trip to a pharmacy and out to have a meal. If that is a problem - consider offering a dog-walker or similar 1-2 times/ week or something.
You need a better photo of the bed. Bed size and quality is very important to many sitters, especially for a long sit. If might help to offer the main bedroom as an option.
If key factors are not in place, experienced sitters will pass on your listing. Which you maybe have experienced.
Hope it helps. You can open a topic and ask for feedback should you wish to. Best of luck!
@kena
You state in your listing that you are looking for someone who will spend the majority of their time with Strike - two months without leaving a dog alone is a long time - perhaps you can clarify - can be Strike be left for several( x no ) hours a day or week ? - can you offer to arrange some alternative care ( dog walker ? / neighbour ? ) during the two months ( once or twice a week ) so that the sitter can go out alone on occasion ?
One sit please. It’s just a thought, but you have possibly had a lower number of applicants because your main/first image does not ‘sell’ your place in the best way, so swap your main/first image because at the moment it’s a photo of your sofa, and we get a sofa at every house we go to, so it doesn’t make you stand out at first glance against all of the other sits in your area, whereas the photo of your house exterior would be much better.
Thank you very much for your feedback. For me personally interior would be much more important than the exterior, but I appreciate your feedback and I will get a better exterior image of the house.
You mention in your heading that you’re near hiking & skiing, yet you want the sitter(s) to mainly stay in with Strike. Why mention skiing then? I think this may be your main problem in finding sitters.
What a gorgeous house… and dog! May I suggest that your first photo is not the one of the bathroom?
How about starting with the sun-kissed Strike or Strike by the water?
Hi @Kena Your listing looks lovely- well presented home, lovely neighbourhood, cute doggy!
You do nention in this forum thread that Strike can be left for up to 6 hours. This should be mentioned in your listing as currently the implication is that someone needs to be at home pretty much all the time, or take Strike with them.
Is a car needed for the sit? Or are you able to offer one for sitter use- to attract more applicants. What are the public transport options, if any?
The bed in the guest room looks rather on the small side-for a couple- you say its a Queen but that means different sizes in different countries. If you could add the dimensions in cm that could be helpful.
And definitely do not split the sit- especially not for your first sit with unknown sitters! We’ve done split sits 3 times- the first two went well and the last one was a disaster- never again!
Many sitters love longer sits especially as they becone more experienced and travel weary! A longer sit can be very relaxing. We are currently on a lovely long 6 week sit in Malaysia and the hosts have left us their car too. Perfect!
You definitely want to add that he can be alone up to 6 hours bc right now it still feels like the sitter is expected to be home “most of the time” - so that is a big ask for a 2 month sit.
@lockstar
a queen bed in the US are all the same size.
A simple google search would give someone from another country those dimensions and they can get them in CM or inches that way.
@carpediem16 I am not from the US. I was talking about the different sizing of Queen beds between different countries. Obviously within one country I’d expect Queen to be the same size!! If the host writes the measurements in centimetre (and also inches if they like but cm is more universal) it is just more helpful. It makes my life as a sitter easier if I don’t have to look up every bed size when it is unclear from the picture or description.
For example our current hosts said the bed was a UK kingsize. I am from UK and know that this is 150 x 200cm. However when we got here we were very happy to find it is actually 180 x 200 cm which is actually Superking in UK. But sometimes it could go the other way- a bed that is too small for us.
That’s why measurements are helpful and save time & further questioning especially now in this competitive 5 App limit world!
