Indeed. I applied for a Rotterdam sit a couple of weeks ago and the guy went for someone based in Amsterdam. I have more than 15 five star reviews, and sent out 10+ applications with no success. Most of them don’t even reply. The rejection I feel on this website is eating me away
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Please don’t feel down. It’s not rejection, it’s someone fits better than you. There’s nothing wrong with you or your applications. There are so many reasons one person is chosen over another. We know it’s hard when it looks and sounds perfect and all you get is a no, sometimes your well thought out, perfectly spelt application hasn’t even been read but look at it as a practise run.
There is someone out there that will be perfect for you. It just takes time to find them.
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Thanks. I think I took it better when I first started. I didn’t expect to get turned down so much even after I “paid the dues”, if you know what I mean. I am telling you, even after getting 15+ five star reviews, getting sits remains an uphill struggle. I guess it’s not just the rejection, but the whole power imbalance between HO and sitters that really annoy me. Most HOs know it and abuse it. Sitters often have the “beggars can’t be choosers” mentality. And there’s nothing I can do about it. I can either suck it up or give up.
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I know how you feel. The effort always seems to be very one sided. All us pet sitters can hope for is that we have hit a chord or the pet owners are suitably impressed with “something”.
I used to take it to heart but learnt very quickly it’s not worth my mental health. I apply and move on. My philosophy is I’ve done my best now it’s up to you. However, when I get a rejection from some of the honey pot sits we have applied for I do get a twinge of regret.
Being an Airbnb host as well helps. The expectations of some of our guests is above and beyond unreal. No Prosecco glasses? A normal sized bath towel is too small? The 1000 piece jigsaw only has 999 pieces? I have to say that would have annoyed me as well. Some people just want perfection and we all know that’s impossible.
We all just keep trying and hope someone somewhere likes us enough to give us a chance. We have 50 plus 5 star reviews and still get that no thank you. Don’t question it, just accept it and move on.
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Agreed. Way too often.
I came to the forum specifically looking for this topic. I find that I’m getting approached by a lot of local owners. The issue is that I do sometimes sit locally for a fee, and some of these owners would be happy to pay that fee because of the situation they’re in or because of their own personal ethics, but of course I want to abide by the terms of THS, which specify that we don’t charge for sitting. I haven’t figured out an ideal way to address this situation, and I’m curious what y’all think.
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@Kelly14 -I think you have answered your own question. If a home host contacts you via trusted house sitters then they will be expecting not to pay for your services, and you definitely should not be asking for payment.
If you find sits from elsewhere then you can charge if you want to.
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Oh then I’ll clarify–my question is the part about “I haven’t figured out an ideal way to address this situation”–meaning, invitations to sit locally. So, for example, a few options might be:
- Decline the invitation without explanation.
- Say something like, “Thank you for the invitation, but I typically charge a fee for local sits, and THS is built on a free exchange of services for housing, so I need to decline.”
- Say something like #2 and add “If you’re interested in paying for a house sitter, you can find me on x other website or contact me privately at y.”
All these options have pros and cons, and none is ideal. The one that’s most useful for the homeowner and the sitter steps on the toes of the THS owners. So maybe folks have a vote or another idea.
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I think you can just put something in your profile: “No local sits, thank you. When I house-/pet-sit through THS I prefer longer distance sits so I can combine looking after pets with exploring a new/unfamiliar area. I only offer local sits through [name of service] which is a paid-for service.”
Then you can decline as your (1) without explanation because you have explained and they should have read your profile!
It seems quite common for sitters to be on different platforms eg THS and Rover. I’ve certainly seen Rover profiles linked to a sitter’s THS profile.
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I don’t think THS would be happy with anyone advertising their paid for services on the THS platform and hence, directing them away from THS.
Maybe @Vanessa_A or @Angela_L could clarify the policy on that?
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@Kelly14 @Colin has a valid point. I am tagging @Therese from membership services who will be in contact with you when she’s next online. She can clarify this point for you.
Francine
Volunteer moderator 
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Thank you @Colin and @Snowbird … @Kelly14 Therese from Membership Services will connect with you directly.
Just for clarification we do not allow any members to advertise or promote any paid services through their TrustedHousesitters profile whether pet care related or otherwise it is against our terms of service, Therese will no doubt expand on that.
Choosing to sit locally or not is exactly that your choice and if an owner invites you to do a local sit decline with an explanation that you are not available for local sits.
Putting this information into your profile as @Ketch suggests is an option but owners wont necessarily read your profile when inviting sitters through a local search outreach.
For pet loving sitters local sits can be really rewarding. You are helping another member, you will build up reviews, we advise new members to always start locally when possible. When applying for sits owners look at reviews and references during the selection process and THS reviews feature high on most owner’s preferences (survey data)
Sitting locally also allows you to experience parts of your home town, city, location that you might otherwise never see … my first sit was literally 10 mins from my home on Vancouver Island.
I spent two weeks with an adorable Spaniel enabling Mom ( young and very recently widowed) to attend an important conference in Toronto … I had a different home and back yard to enjoy and pet love is the same 5 miles or 500 miles away.
Hi @Kelly14
Thank you for your question. As you know, TrustedHousesitters has a strict policy of no payment for sitting in place, and @Ketch and @Colin have offered some excellent advice both for your profile and in your answer to Homeowners who invite you to sit locally. You are certainly under no obligation to do local sits. It is important however, that you do not advertise that you do paid local sits on your profile as we do remove these.
‘‘I think you can just put something in your profile: “No local sits, thank you. When I house-/pet-sit through THS I prefer longer distance sits so I can combine looking after pets with exploring a new/unfamiliar area’’
I hope this helps a little.
Kind regards
Therese
We also do paid sits through different platforms but we simply decline invitations on THS that we wouldn’t do for free. We use our THS profile as one of our references for paid sits, though, and it has also happened that HOs would join THS later on (if we weren’t available to sit for them anymore).
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I split my home time between Washington, DC and Chapel Hill, NC and in both places I’ll do mostly shorter (up to a week) local sits. Chance to discover a new part of town - different walkable coffee shops and restaurants.
tom
Perhaps I can add another reason to the others already posted. We live in an apartment in a large city and have though about a local sit in the Summer with a nice garden which would give us access to outside during warm weather, as well as a pet to look after and spend our time with, without having to make a long journey(s) to different sits. Haven’t done it yet but we may do at some point.
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I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who’s suggested wording! You all have helped me figure out how I want to phrase my responses to local inquiries. And if others visit this thread and have additional ideas, I’ll welcome those too!
For now I’ll save those words for responding to inquiries rather than posting them in my profile, since I do occasionally sit locally for free–every situation is unique, as everyone’s stories attest. But I appreciate Ketch’s and Angela’s suggestions of mentioning it in my profile–I hadn’t thought of that, and I may end up doing that down the line.
Angela and Therese, thanks for answering Colin’s policy question–it sounds like my intuition was on target, but it’s good to have the official word. And Angela, like Debbie, you always describe your local sits so beautifully! I’ve found your words and stories touching.
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Don’t be discouraged, I don’t think its personal !
As a world traveler I occasionally come across those who prefer local sitters and that’s ok. Just move on to the next possible sit. In my experience the right sit will be the right sit. Have fun and enjoy the journey.
As for the work 
well perhaps there is potential for earning a few bucks while you sit? lol . They can’t possibly be serious or if they are it cannot be part of the sit as it stands on this group. lol - I would take it as tongue in cheek. - I have been asked to re-organise and pack a cupboard for one sit which I laughed about and simply declined.
Thank you @Kelly14 and like most you will find what it is about our amazing lifestyle that is right for you … the beauty is there are so many different opportunities it is not one size fits all and that goes for owners and sitters … pets are just happy being able to stay home with lovely sitters 
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Agreed but it’s happening a lot. Especially in NYC. Which sucks for us sitter travelers because we lose out on those possible sits.
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