Hello everyone, new here to the site. I was wondering as a (sitter), if I know I’m traveling somewhere months in advance, If I can post the place I will be, so owners can contact you for sitting, instead of waiting weeks or a month. Just for better planning. Thanks.
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If you mean can you post it as your home location then yes it is possible to do that and I believe that many sitters use this method.
However invitations are rare and are usually for sits that are difficult to fill, which means they may not be ideal. Of course once you are there you may pick up some last-minute sits through invites.
Generally though sitters acquire sits by applying in advance, sometimes months ahead, but if you know for sure that you are going to be in that area then that may be a big plus for you. Make it clear in your application that you will be in that area, it removes the concern about delayed or missed flights.
I hope this helps and that I have understood your question correctly.
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If you know you are travelling somewhere on specific dates just set up a search for that location. You can set it to notify you as searches come up, I seem to have lost that ability so I just check my saved searches regularly. Some places have lots of sits. Some have almost none, depends where you are looking to travel.
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@Donnovan, welcome to TrustedHouseSitters and the THS Forum.
Your THS profile has a calendar availability function but it seems pretty pointless.
Please not that Pet Parents do not typically contact housesitters in regards housesit opportunities. While some Pet Parents can message/invite specific housesitters directly then this is typically a waste of time.
Rather the onus is on you, the housesitter, to search available housesit listings on THS and to apply for one or more. Listings vary enormously, including in terms of their dates (e.g. next week vs next month vs next year). We encourage you to fully complete your THS profile and to explore the THS Search and THS Saved Search functions - really useful tools. If you like a listing then apply.
https://support.trustedhousesitters.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360000233725-How-does-it-all-work
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As a sitters, no you can’t. The best you can do is set up a search in the area with the dates you are travelling so you can get alerts as soon as sits are advertised. You can also set up a search for just the area with no specific dates, and as sits are advertised you could message the owners and let them know your dates you are available in case they are in need of a sitters. Just be aware that some owners are not keen on this as you are taking up one the 5 application spots. But you can immediately withdraw your “application” as soon as you send the message but explain this to the owner.
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Another thing you can do is a search for the area you would like to visit, and in addition to any active listings–if there are any-you will see sits that aren’t currently in need of a sitter.
If you favorite those (clicking the heart), you will be notified of any new listings. But it would be any listing–you can’t set it in any way to only show specific dates.
But the only way to see these ‘inactive’ listings is if you search for just the city, country, etc… without any filters in place–no specific dates, duration and such.
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Where do you live?
Where would you like to go?
Forum members can probably give you more specific advice if we knew the answers to these questions!
We are also members of Home Exchange, and they have a “Bucket List” section in which you can list your preferred destinations, with or without detailed dates and notes. It would be great if THS had something similar so that Owners could do a “reverse search” for sitters who want to visit their area, especially for less popular areas.
Otherwise, inviting sitters is a bit like “trying to find a needle in a haystack.”
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Thanks for the replies. Im down in Whistler a lot. So I figured I could post dates in advance that I will be there for pet sitting.
Oh I wish.
We have asked for this facility on the site but it doesn’t look it will ever happen. Best you can do is to inform sits you have had already when you will be available and they might work around the dates.
A lovely lady we have sat for before sent us upcoming dates she needed sitters. We could only do one of them and we couldn’t do the last two days. It’s been worked round and now we get to spend two weeks with the lovely Lottie. One of my most favourite energetic beautiful dogs.
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I imagine Whistler is very popular and competitive. Hmmm…
Your best bet is to get some reviews, make sure your profile looks great, put in your profile that you love to visit Whistler. Place this right at the top, which is the part labeled “My Experience.”
Then, favorite all the sits in Whistler that you like. Depending on the level of membership, the owner receives an email,”Sitter X has favorited your sit.” The owner might take a peek at your profile for future reference. I have received many invitations based on this method.
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As a homeowner, I think it would be GREAT if we could search for sitters based on where they want to go. Say I lived in Lake Tahoe and I’d like to visit my granddaughter in Chicago some time in April or May. I’d LOVE to be able to view sitters’ pages where I can filter for “wants to go to Tahoe area” for these specific dates (or date ranges). If I found someone who seemed like a great fit, I could contact them for a chat. If it seemed like it would work, we could come upon agreed upon dates that work the best for both of us!
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It would make perfect sense.
If THS had a section for this, I am sure people would use it! We use it all the time on Home Exchange, and it helps me find appropriate exchanges with others, and it helps others find me!
Home Exchange has figured out how to do this with their software. To me, there is no reason why THS could not do the same. It would just cost $$.
Sometimes you have to spend money to make money!!
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To get a sit at all in a popular location, it is vital that you have several 5* THS reviews. If a host has the choice between applicants with or without reviews, they will probably always prefer sitters with reviews regardless. So that would be nr. 1.
The usual procedure is for host to publish dates and sitters to apply.
To be more visible for a certain location you can
-favorite listings in that area. The host get a notofication that you have favorited. You get notification when new dates are published for that listing.
-set up a search for location. You get notified when new published dates and for new listings (you then have the option of favoriting new listings)
-You can say in your own listing that you are interested in «area» to attract interest from hosts browsing sitters
-You can enter/ change your current location to the area you’re interested in. Can attract hosts that look for local sitters
If you have a successful sit in a location, you can get the possibility to be invited back by the same host. Some hosts could reach out in a private message (without publishing dates) to offer you a sit, sometimes even be able to adjust their travel dates to get a sitter they are happy with.
Just some input. Hope it helps.
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