There are a few nice blocks there, but not enough to make it worthwhile to sit for most people, especially out-of-towners. The Bay Area’s public transit isn’t great. Like even getting from the airport to the house would be a pain on public transit. You also can take Lyft or Uber, but the sprawl doesn’t make it feasible for much. This sit is competing against others in the Bay Area that are more convenient.
It was about thirty years ago that I was there, but I remember taking a train. Very, very slow!
The station is still working: Palo Alto station - Wikipedia
It has not become faster, it takes an hour to get to the San Francisco terminal.
I would like it if the sit came with a bicycle.
Public transit in the Bay Area is a challenge. I used to work at a startup there and there’d be at least one notice on Slack once a week about breakdowns or other stoppages of public transit that kept people from work or from heading home on time.
My most recent previous job was at a venture capital firm with a great office in Menlo Park. Yet we had to open another office in San Francisco, because traffic and transit were so bad that we knew they’d get in the way of business.
My family and extended relatives live on the Peninsula and various in-laws live in the South Bay. I return several times a year. When I do, I always try to stay near wherever I’ll need to be most frequently, to limit my commute.
I used to live there, in the South Bay, on the Peninsula and in the East Bay. I moved to Oregon at one point and my flight to the Bay Area was often as quick or quicker than my commute from the East Bay to San Francisco.
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Your mistake is doing video calls with all applicants! Yikes. I only schedule video calls with the most suitable one, maybe two. As recommended above, ask questions first. If nothing else, you’ll see how responsive the person is and how attentive they are to your specific needs. Immediately decline anyone who isn’t a good fit (with a polite “thank you but no” note), it will save you lots of time. Remember to unpause your listing if necessary.
Also I live in Sonoma county and have learned that I need to post sits further in advance these days. There are a lot of unclaimed sits around the Bay Area, maybe due to the sit/sitter ratio, so jump in as early as you can for the best result. I promise, great sitters are out there!
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Oh my, I wish I barely get any applicants. I’m literally panicking thinking I might have to cancel my trip feel sick to my stomach.
It might be my own fault for not responding to the ones I got quickly as I was waiting for more applications to come and they didn’t.
Now I’m Looking for other options like rover and they want more then I make daily to house/pet sit. I’m working in the wrong industry 
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I’ll do that! Thanks for the feedback.
I am open to sitters with little experience, but he seemed super anxious and repeatedly told us that he had no experience with dogs and he didn’t really inspire confidence. Goldens are easy dogs, but at least some experience would be good.
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@Soni1 Are you asking them WHY they applied? As others have said, decline those definitely not suitable. Having a video chat with ones you perhaps already know aren’t suitable, wastes your time and theirs. Just concentrate on one or two who really do seem suitable, who answer your written questions/queries promptly then are keen for a video chat.
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@Soni1 Anything that is a deal breaker for you should be headlined at the start of your listing so that it’s not missed by the potential sitter in their rush to get an application in.
For example in the introduction you could state “looking for active sitter who has experience of large dogs who can walk Chai twice a day “ please confirm that you are able to do this in your application or your application will be declined .
Also ,unless I missed it , you don’t explicitly state that you won’t accept young children. So as this is important to you - Perhaps you could add something like “we welcome a solo sitter or a couple but this sit is not suitable for young children “
If you would be happy to have a family with older children you can state this also .
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Hello @Jeng; I’m not sure from your post whether you already know you have to decline some or all of your 5 applicants and unpause your listing in order to get any more applicants.
Apologies if you know all this but better I mention it and be wrong than you have to cancel your trip!
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Sonil, I agree with you I would like someone with some dog experience in your situation. You want a person who has experience walking a larger dog, can read other dogs body language etc. Dogs and the responsibility of walking them, how long they can be left etc is quite different than sitting for cats.
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Thanks, yes I do know this. I only have 1 applicant at the moment and they just haven’t messaged me back yet. Is my ad showing as paused or 5 applicants? If so I’m not sure how to fix that as I only see one as I have declined all the others that could no longer make it to a video interview.
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So I know you didn’t specifically ask for feedback, but if I were you I’d switch out your first photo to either the photo of your gorgeous kitchen or the photo of Willis in the Canadian tie- so cute! I’d also take out any pet photos that are blurry or dark, and maybe the one with the red eyes. One photo of each animal with their name and a brief description of enough.
Also, you say your place is accessible by public transport but all of your mentions of nearby things involve driving. I would add more about what’s in walking distance, nearest bus stop to the city and so on.
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omg, that photo of Willis in his awesome Canadian tie is amazing! So handsome! 
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While Palo Alto is not touristy it is a great place to live with a variety of shops and restaurants, lots of open space and walking trails. As a homeowner I would not want a sitter who is in full tourist mode - they can have a weekend in a downtown hotel after the sit.
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@Soni1 , I’ve been following all the advice you’ve received. My thoughts are that seven applicants is actually pretty good! I see you now have one more. Follow up as soon as you receive an application and ask further questions before arranging a video call. You should really only need one or possibly two video calls to decide on the right sitter, as you should already feel pretty positive about anyone you choose to speak to. @temba said exactly what I would have said
As your dates are approaching, make a small edit and this will move your listing back up to the top of the search results. If you find no one in the next week or so, you can boost your listing and have it advertised on THS social media. Please let us know when you find the ideal sitter. I think you may.
Yeah, as previous commenter said, this is not the way to do it. As a potential sitter, I’d consider it an imposition on my time, for starters, to be one of 7 people a PP is meeting with.
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It doesn’t sound like these HOs are getting much choice at this point. That’s the problem.
Oh good @jeng, I just wanted to make sure you knew. The rule was so under-publicised it’s amazing how many folk have no idea what has happened.
Your listing shows 2 applicants as at 08:00 CET. And what an adorable kitty you have!
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Wow! I wonder why he even applied in the first place then!