I like to advertise my sits well in advance and secure a sitter early on especially as some of the sits are in excess of 6 weeks. I keep in touch with the sitter/s once confirmed with regular updates. I’ve just contacted my sitters who were coming from 1st December 2021 until 30th January 2022 and they came back saying “Oh, we’ve just decided we’re not going to travel”. I now find myself in the situation in late September with no sitter! (The same has happened for my sit in March 2022, where despite numerous emails stating the date was 2022, they came back to me saying they thought the sit was 2021 and we’d decided not to go!!!)
I’m reaching out in the hope that one of you lovely sitters fancies staying in beautiful South Yorkshire on the Yorkshire/Derbyshire border, looking after 2 cats, who are no trouble at all, for December and January.
Thanks
Liz
Hi @LizH . I think you may be advertising your sits too far in advance. Generally, but especially during the last 18 months so many factors can change and it is so difficult to know what your sitting capabilities will be in a few months time. Of course, the sitters that accepted are also at fault as accepting sits so far in advance should always come with a clause that things may change.
The good news for you is that there is plenty of time from now till December and I would say now is a good time to advertise your sit on THS - you will almost certainly get a good response from great sitters that are now looking to plan their winter sits.
Hi @LizH and I’m sorry to hear that you’ve lost your confirmed sitters. I’ve just had a quick look at your listing and can see you have multiple sits right through until January 2023, so I think @Colin has made an excellent observation and given sound advice.
We obviously don’t encourage anyone to cancel sits once booked and never for anything other than exceptional reasons, however the ongoing pandemic and ever changing travel restrictions have caused some, both owners and sitters, to re-evaluate their travel plans.
One question we now ask our owners, (as sitters) is “what might possibly change your reason for travelling” and that tends to open up a frank discussion enabling some risk assessment. I’m sure as experienced owners you’ll have been having those discussions with potential sitters, but for far off sits it’s difficult to guarantee the answer with certainty.
I think as Colin says, get your sit re-listed now through the official website listings where it will be seen by many more members with good time to find a replacement. Lots of people will now be looking for winter sits and a nice long sit like this will be popular I’m sure.
I am going to close this post as we do ask that sitter and owner requests remain on the website to ensure you get the best service and support available to help fulfill requirements.
Keep us updated and if there’s anything we can do to help we will.