Hi there, we are new to THS after being recommended by some friends. We have listed our house in the hope of getting a sitter for our two daxies over Christmas and NY. We are away for 3 weeks and so far have not had any viable applications. We have invited a few that have favourited our profile but that has not been successful either. I wonder if anyone has any recommendations for making our profile more appealing as we are worried that time is running out to find someone!!
Thank you
John & Natalie
(edited by Forum team to confirm that John and Natalie have put their listing in their profile if anyone wants to check it out!)
Welcome! I checked out your profile and it looks like a lovely sit. We are in the U.S. (Arizona), so I am not familiar with where you live, so something that would be helpful is how to get to your house. It looks like you checked the âaccessible by public transportâ option, but there is no description on how to reach your place. This would be very helpful as there are many sitters without cars or unfamiliar with your area.
Lexie and Raggie are super cute, but they have very different energy levels. This would0 be a great sit for a couple as it might be nice for Raggie to have someone to hang out with while Lexie is out on an adventure. Is it possible to take them both out at the same time or do they need separate walks due to different energy levels?
Also, sitters like to be able to explore while they are in new areas. Are Lexie and Raggie able to be left alone or should they tag along? Are they able to tag along? If they are able to be left alone, for how long?
Just a few thoughts to help you find awesome sitters Good luck!!
Your listing looks really nice and Lexie and Raggie are adorable. My grandparents always had daschunds and I have a real soft spot for them. Personally, Iâm not planning to sit over Christmas but if I was there are a few of things that might put me off applying for your sit:
Your listing has three applicants already and has presumably been up for a while. This would give me the impression (perhaps wrongly) that youâre not responding to applicants quickly. If these applicants are all unsuitable you should decline them.
Youâve marked that the sit is accessible by public transport, which should be a plus for many sitters who donât have their own car. I suggest you add some more details about the frequency etc. (especially over Christmas and New Year!) so that sitters without a car get a better idea of how easily theyâl be able to get around, get groceries etc.
You donât mention how long the dogs can be left alone or how often they should be walked. I know that THS has check-box for this but itâs not actually shown on the listing so best to spell it out so that people know your expectations.
I also wonder if your sit would be suitable for a family? Your dogs are used to kids and presumably you have the space. Marking your sit as family-friendly could potentially attract more applicants and given your two dogs differing activity levels, it could mean more company for them, one or two to take Raggie out and one or two to stay home with Lexie.
Good luck! Thereâs loads of great sitters on here but thereâs a lot of demand over Christmas and New Year.
It most likely doesnât have anything to do with your listing per se, and more to do with the fact that there is a very small number of sitters who are available over the holidays.
There are SO many sits I see Iâd like to do - and Iâve had a number of people reach out to me, but I canât over the holidays - family obligations and all.
In your place, Iâd check out some other sits posted in your area and see how competitive your sit is versus those. Why: Whenever there arenât enough sitters, youâre essentially competing for any that are interested in your area, especially for the holidays. The less competitive sits will tend to not be filled.
In general, sitters have leverage even normally, because there are more sits than sitters (easy to see when there are so many sits with low applications and various hosts post and say theyâre not having much luck, including ones who used to not have trouble getting sitters in years past).
If they want to go to a specific place, theyâll look at all the listings in that area and see which is best for them â doing comparing, because thatâs logical. If so, then your sit has to stand out to get picked.
The holiday season is even tougher for most hosts, because more sits get listed for the same period. And some sitters wonât sit, because they have personal holiday plans. Or some sitters who are also professional sitters will be doing paid sits, taking them out of circulation for voluntary sits on THS.
During holidays, you can see sits that would normally be snapped up more quickly sometimes sitting unfilled. Thatâs because thatâs when the sitter shortage is most acute. The exceptions are hosts with popular and rare locations. They tend to be able to get sitters much more easily than other hosts.
It is a friendly and warm tone in your listing. However, you need to be the listing chosen. Invitations rarely work, they are too much of a hit and miss, so it is important to work on the listing and also handle the applications in a timely manner.
Try to put yourself in the shoes of a sitter. The intro. should be your poster that describes why a sitter should read on and apply for this particular sit and not the others. Thereâs not much there for a sitter at present.
Describe how to get to your home. You mention train ride to London but not how far to station. Many sitters travel internationally, so public transport is a good thing and we need to know what airport/ trainstation/ other to check out. If applicable - can you offer to pick up at the station? Or is it walkable? Can a sitter without car get to you, get groceries - is shops/ restaurants in market town also walkable?
What are the specifics of the responsibilities? Meals and when - walks - when and how long? How long can the pets be left for?
+1 to all that. One of the advantages to checking out listings in your area is, you can see what other hosts are doing to make their listings clear and appealing.
Like if someone else mentions transportation, amenities, pet details, etc., and you donât, then youâll see that you need to up your game. And they mightâve already done some of the work for you. Like if they list a bunch of tourist attractions and your sit is nearby, presumably youâre near those attractions, too, and you can even add more in your listing. And so on.
Remember that when sitters can choose only one sit at a time, youâre competing for that time.
Hi John and Natalie
Nice listing. Unfortunately Christmas and New Year sits are competitive with many sitters already booked or like me donât sit during this period for family reasons.
Keep your fingers crossed but a backup plan may be sensible tbh.
@jwpwhite Your listing is very appealing to me but unfortunately not during a chilly winter in the UK! We are booked for a Christmas sit in Kuala Lumpur! (Tropical babes here!) However in spring/summer weâd definitely consider sitting for you!
Just one thing- what is the bed size? Your listing says âdoubleâ which- if it is a standard UK double- would be too small for us. But the picture shows a bed that looks more like kingsize or even superking! So if it IS actually bigger than a standard double do mention that! (pref with sizes in cm for clarity) Good luck. I hope you find great sitters and have a fab trip back to the old homeland!
I applaud you for coming into this forum to get feedback. I agree with everyone who has let you know the holidays are extra rough for lining up a sitter, as many of us sitters have family traditions already or are professional pet sitters and extra busy during the holidays. I would take a look at your profile but donât know how to! Anyone willing to give me instructions? Thanks!
Press the forum name - here @jwpwhite - and you get to the forum profile. Here you will often find the link and can just press it to be forwarded, but here I had to copy the link-text and paste it to my browser.
Not much I can add, we are/were new here, I listed our sit and despite getting a couple of bites, no confirmation. We were getting worried.
Then about 5 weeks before we got a perfect couple.
So donât despair, I know itâs getting close but hang in there, perhaps get a bit worried beginning of December.
Good luck!!
Invitations rarely work, they are too much of a hit and miss, so it is important to work on the listing and also handle the applications in a timely manner.
) However in spring/summer weâd definitely consider sitting for you!