I often receive invites too, some are personalised and I always reply to those, some are seemingly batch sent (I still reply but more briefly). Some don’t even come with a message and I rarely reply to those. If a get a ‘thank you’ response back I would consider a future sit if dates are compatible, if I don’t then I never would… These connections are a useful insight.
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The “weed” I am talking about are little, tiny 1" size. The soil here is ALL sand, so they literally “kick out” easily. I’ll have to clarify that. We only ask that the yard be checked every few days is because if they do not get kicked out, then they grow very fast. One trip we were gone for 6 weeks & came home to a horrible jungle!!
Linda
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I would like you to review my listing and tell me what looks unappealing. I just changed my request for sitting 2 dogs rather than my 4 (we will bring the 2 smaller ones with us). a have not had any applications when looking for a sitter for 4 dogs. I invited about 40and all declined. SO please let me know what I can offer better
Linda234
I think I might have seen the problem, finally. Your listing reads like the sitter will have to sleep on a sofa bed, but I don’t think that is what you mean. If not, you may need to clarify. I’m not sure what the limitations are in the amenities section, but it is very important to clarify this for many sitters. Good luck.
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That’s pretty good to know & would be a great add on your listing!
Ok 
- A lot of this can be put into the detailed information you share in the Welcome Guide eg ‘empty the bins’ also discussed at the video chat stage prior to confirmation.
- Be aware that you are inviting a sitter to consider you- so telling them to wash all the bedding/towels is a bit cheeky in your listing. Usually you’ll agree WITH the sitter how to manage this, in our case we strip beds/bathrooms and place in the washer ready to be switched on at the HOs convenience but the point is to discuss and agree with the sitter.
- The ‘tone’ of the listing sounds to me anyway like an employer with a housekeeper giving your instructions not asking or inviting. Do you see the difference and why this might be important?
- Why do sitters need to know about 4 dogs it’s confusing… if you intend to take 2 simply make the listing about 2 dogs, mention at the end you own 4 and are taking 2 with you unless the sitter particularly wants 4…..
- Poop scooping- how to make this sound ok is to tell your sitter about the great scoop equipment you’ve got! Again you sound like an employer speaking to staff rather than inviting a sitter who’s not paid. It must be a balanced arrangement.
Finally try to read your listing with the mind of the sitter and write a list of appealing/unappealing items then make arrangements to mitigate the unappealing things. Best wishes as I think it’s an OK sit that’s simply suffering from poor ‘marketing’ good luck.
Like most THS sitters, I do sits in order to travel to and stay in a place that has some appeal for me. Either because I have friends and family there, or I want to explore it, or it’s just nice (the beach or mountains, etc). I don’t do sits simply to have a place to stay as I have my own home (and it’s nice!).
The sits I’ve been invited to (without my applying) have all been in places that I have zero interest in visiting. Frankly, most of them were in places that few people probably are interested in visiting, as they either were remote or in places that don’t have any obvious attractions – no natural beauty, no cultural events/institutions, etc. I’ve lived in a city, suburbs and in the country. They can all be great, but they have to have more going for them than a roof over my head for me to want to visit.
In addition, many of the sits were unappealing as the duties were beyond the usual pet and house care or the owners sounded either overly demanding or like they were clueless when it came to seeing things from the sitter’s point of view.
The worst example was a man who had a small farm with livestock that needed A LOT of care every day in a remote area with nothing to recommend it. He sent me a message saying I sounded like I might be a good sitter, but he’d have to interview me first! Again, this is not something I applied for - he contacted me after browsing sitter profiles. He seemed to think I’d feel lucky to be chosen to be an unpaid farm manager while he was away!
I think all these people reached out because they weren’t getting applicants. If you aren’t, then take a look at your profile as if you were a sitter and ask yourself why that might be. Or post it here in this forum and ask for feedback.
But the hard truth is that some locations are difficult to impossible to attract sitters for, unless you are willing to pay them for their work. In which case, THS will not work for you.
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Hi, I posted a reply to Linda234 who asked the same question. See above.
I’d love to see your “cut and paste” message for this! thanks.
Here is my ‘ cut and paste’ message for when I get an uninvited approach. I adapt it a little depending on the listing. Occasionally I add that I don’t believe they’ve read my profile….and that they’d see we were not a good match.
“I’m wondering if possibly being very new (I see that you have no reviews to date) that you don’t quite understand as yet how the THS matching system works. Basically you put up a listing and wait for sitters to apply, none of us sitters keep the THS calendar up to date as it’s not fit for purpose so it’s very much a defunct tool.
It’s worth joining the THS App forum to get feedback on creating an appealing listing- as your sitting might have a few red flags for sitters I’m afraid…but we all are newbies to begin with, so over time you learn as a HO how to write a listing that will attract the best sitters. Best wishes B”
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Thanks!! Appreciate you sharing it.
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Thank-you for the suggestions. I will go back & reword better, I hope
Linda
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It’s tonnes better with a way better tone, although I’d lose the note about needing to clean the dog’s water bowls…. dog sitters would do this anyway surely. But if it’s something special about the cleaning of the bowls just put it in the Welcome Guide, otherwise you could sound a bit nit picky if you see how it looks from a sitter point of view. The stuff about the doors equally would go in the WG. You’ve definitely improved the tone. It’s sounding OK now….but could sound brilliant with a bit more work. I liked the details about the location, this is tempting. Best wishes.
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I always reply to invites. Typically its because I’m not available during that time. There have been a couple that were 4 days where I’d have to fly to and pay for a flight and for a 4 day sit, not worth it to me. Was just invited to a sit and during that time my grandaughter will be here visiting, I tell them exactly that, this sits not long enough for the cost of the flight or I’m busy during that time.
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