Here I go again. 5 weeks out from my sit, no applicants, boosted posting, a few saves. It’s getting so frustrating not getting applicants.
I had some great tune ups to my listing last time, and not sure if there’s anything more I can do. I’m always open to suggestions though. I’ve been told it’s a great listing, in a nice town (Denver, CO suburb), with easy pets. It seems like a desirable sit.
I think it’s that it starts the day after Christmas, making travel difficult, and then goes through the new year. Is it going to be too hard to get a sitter even though it’s been posted for awhile with no applicants?
THS used to be such a win win for owners and sitters. I don’t understand why it’s changed this much.
I know everyone sits for different reasons, but for us a sit starting the day after Christmas wouldn’t be what we would look for. One covering Christmas and the New year would be far more attractive.
@Spaceboy
JackieX is right - the day after Christmas is rough. I’ve sat over the holidays a few times - but always starting before. Your sit is good because it is about 2 weeks. But I’m already sitting in Australia Dec-Jan.
The only suggestion I have is to maybe remove the comment about wanting to meet the sitter in advance. I fully understand why you would want to, but it might keep someone that isn’t local from applying. Get the largest pool of sitters to consider you, and then see if there is someone suitable that is also local and can meet up.
Yes, the starting date would definitely be an issue for us. There was a post recently from someone in a different location and the same problem. If we sit for Christmas at all we’re looking at at least 22.12-6.01 (preferably a bit longer so we avoid the most crazy traffic / transport prices). But as always: we recommend being on several platforms, especially since there still seems to be a high demand for sitters after the previous 2 years of lockdowns and restrictions.
Yes - as a sitter, I do have to agree with the other posters. Regardless of how appealing the sit in itself looks, the 26th December date would entirely put me off. . . . Even beginning Christmas Eve would be problematic for me, due to travel issues. I could be swayed by 23rd December for festive sits, though. Hope you find someone!
Hi @Spaceboy (cool handle)
Agreeing with what has already been shared by my peers, the dates could definitely be an issue for travel and timely arrival.
Looking at your listing, the specific times of when you expect a sitter to arrive and leave also seems a bit inflexible at first glance. Not sure if that is your absolute latest expectation or if there is flexibility there as well, if there is, I would indicate that and discuss the “must be” times in detail in your conversations. Allowing the sitter to come early or even stay later (leaving late in the evening could also be a deterrent) may open you up to more applicants. Is it possible to have some overlap with your sitter?
And in looking at your reviews, I was not able to see any reviews by your last two sitters. Might be a glitch on site but that could also be seen as “hmm…” If that is the case, can you follow up on getting those reviews?
I think I answered you before @Spaceboy , but we are sitters on the other side of the coin: Our month-long sit, which is starting soon, ends on 26 December. For the life of us, we can’t find a sit in our preferred location starting on/around 26 Dec! All sits seem to be from 20 Dec for 2 weeks!
So my message is, keep faith. The right sitter will come along looking for those dates. They might want to spend Christmas day with their family and then start sitting straight after.
Thank you everyone for your perspective! My suspicion was right about the dates, and totally understandable. And like @botvot said, it just takes the right sitter. In fact, I had someone local apply a day ago, and we’re meeting tomorrow. It’s a perfect fit for both of us. This would be their first THS sit, but their references and background information are quite suitable, and chatting online has been good. We’ll see tomorrow during the in-person.
I do appreciate the feedback about the wording on the in-person walkthrough. I thought that the wording was okay in that it said “if possible” but I did add another sentence about that we’re happy to walkthrough virtually too for clarification.
Fingers crossed for tomorrow! When we get back I’ll already start advertising for our July 2023 trip.
We found the best sitter! We are very happy to have found them Thank you everyone for your help and following my story. I hope it gets easier for 2023 as travel gets back to normal for sitters and owners.
That is excellent news @Spaceboy we are thrilled for you and your sitter, thank you for the update and the comment of thanks and appreciation, “Team Work Makes The Dream Work” and so does connecting with the right sit and the right sitter.
Have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy and “normal” 2023 …
@botvot care to come to Seattle We’re in the same boat as @spaceboy was (congrats, glad you found your sitter!) and are taking off AFTER Christmas and through New Years. We only had one application that fell through (due to dates) and tools for searching for sitters have not been too helpful, I find.
Hi @David888, that’s unfortunate your one applicant fell through. As @Karen_E has suggested, it’s a good idea to link your listing to your forum profile as members are great at suggesting advice and improvements. Currently you are competing with 97 other owners looking for sitters over the festive season in Seattle so taking time to make your listing clear and appealing with great photos of your home and pets, and a catchy thumbnail heading is so important. All the best.
Hi @David888. Any chance you live in a suburb of Seattle and listed that, instead of calling it Seattle? For someone that isn’t local, it might be easier to not look up the unknown name when there are a number of listings that show Seattle (and then indicate that they are in xyz suburb of Seattle).
Good luck.
Your sit looks great. I’m about to leave Seattle, sadly, due to ailing parent. I will bookmark your sit for future reference, however, as I’m not done with this beautiful area.
First time THS owner using the platform and getting worried about not having any applicants for a holiday sit. Would love to hear any suggestions to increase the attractiveness for potential sitters. I have my listed in my profile (but for some reason it requires copy and paste). One recent update that was recommended was to change the nearest city to Seattle, which is more recognizable to overseas sitters.
I also realize I have some inherent challenges:
The dates are not ideal, asking sitters to come after Christmas and stay quite a while after New Year’s ( 12/27-1/7 )
I’m not exactly in the city of Seattle, but a suburb North.
Your listing looks great @David888. Well done on the effort you have made. I see you already have one applicant and I hope they are suitable. Otherwise I hope you receive more applications as it looks such a lovely sit.
We’re in the same boat as 
I had bookmarked your listing for possible future dates as well.