I am a home owner and have used THS for quite awhile, always with great results. When I looked at open sits lately, all around the U.S, I saw that it looked like the vast majority are going unfilled. The ones that seem to have applicants are in highly desirable homes and areas (majestic homes in San Francisco, posh downtown NYC apartments, etc.) What on earth is going on? Are people just not interested in house/pet sitting anymore? Very concerned over this and would appreciate some insight. Thinking of cancelling my long standing membership because so few sits are getting filled.
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Hi @Tourmalinequeen, hope you are doing well tonight! I thought I would help with your concern over open sits. I really would love to know where some of these sits are as we have an abundance of sitters always looking for sits, especially in the high demand areas such as the ones you mentioned. What are you seeing when you feel they are not getting filled? You might be seeing the 0-3 applications showing up and there is a reason for that right now, but rest assured, sitters are looking for those sits.
I can say that many sitters really pay attention to the profiles of potential sits and want to see how they will be “living” while there. This includes pics of the homes, both inside and out, especially the areas they will be using while there. This includes the living room area, bedroom and bathroom.
If you have a sit coming up, just get it posted and I am sure you will have applications as you have a couple of cute furbabies there!
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How long has your sit been posted without any applicants? You might be able to get a boost from THS if the dates are getting close.
Also, if you add your sit link to your profile, some of us might be able to take a look and give you some suggestions to help get you more attention.
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I’m not listing a sit at this time. And wondering whether it’s worthwhile doing so in the future. I am looking for insight on why the vast majority (you can see yourself with a quick check for housesits) of sits are going unfilled.
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Example- just picked one- Santa Fe. Please check the number of sits that have 0-3 applicants.
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This year in particular is crazy since everyone wants to travel after 2 years of strict government measures. There were times when there were NO sits at all to apply to and we didn’t renew our membership for a few months. Now the opposite is the case, but the balance between HOs and sitters will eventually normalize.
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0-3 does not mean they have no applicants, it means they may have 0,1,2, or 3 applicants
We have no way of knowing how many sits are going unfilled.
I would say you can only go by your own personal experience, if you are getting sitters when you advertise then THS is a good fit for you
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Thanks, that’s what I am hoping.
Well, that’s true. Thanks for the input.
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I guess it might look like that because the only sits that you can see in the site are the unfilled ones. Sits disappear once they are filled. I won’t says things aren’t slower to fill in some areas right now, because they are, but I think most sits get filled.
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From my perspective, as a sitter looking for sits, I am not interested in:
Sits of less than one week
Large dogs that I have to walk
Multiple dogs to walk
Dog/s that have to be walked and hiked for hours multiple times
Aging or ill pets that need a lot of extra care
Sits without clear photos of the home interior
Homes with no free parking
And there are probably a few other red flags I can’t think of at the moment. As you know, offering a clean and pleasant home with reasonable tasks is the best way to attract sitters. I wouldn’t be concerned about the many posts with no/few applicants, as long as you’re offering a good opportunity.
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I have two dogs (one 45lbs and another 22lbs) along with two cats. Our dogs won’t need long walks but I guess I didn’t specify that in my listing.
Now I’m getting down to the wire with no one.
Thanks for that perspective—it’s helpful to know.
Jenny
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I wish. We are looking for sits in US, Canada and Mexico at certain dates. Guess what, we are Airbnbing for the next three weeks.
For me, pet owners are posting their listings far too late. There are some coming up for the next few weeks that we would have jumped at a couple of months ago. Very few Thanks Giving and Christmas sits yet.
I always thought i5 was because there was an unbalance of sitters and pet owners but now I’m not too sure. Maybe pet owners are looking for other options.
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I have noticed recently there has been an increase in sits with multiple animals. For example 4 dogs and 6 cats??
I love my pet sitting but I also like to see some of the area I’m in. With that menagerie there’s not much chance of getting some sightseeing in.
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But usually once a sit is filled, the home owner removes the listing.
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I think you can type in about any US city and see tons of sits, the majority of which have 0-3 applicants. I don’t know, once I filled my sits, I removed them from view…something isn’t adding up…I think in the U.S., anyhow, there is a distinct lack of sitters.
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Sorry, I had a typo in there. I meant you only see the unFILLED sits. (I’ll go correct that now.)
And yes, the sits disappear automatically the moment the owner fills the sit.
There are many related threads that cite issues such as the following. Debbie is a new moderator so perhaps is not aware of previous discussions.
- Travel is really expensive now. Flights (especially US domestic flights) are outrageous, and rental cars have been extremely high for more than a year due to the lack of inventory (no computer chips for new cars; rental companies having sold off fleets in 2020 for obvious reasons). You’ll see in the forum how often the advice (to HOs desperate for a sitter) is to try to provide a car for the sitter’s use.
- Travel is chaotic right now, with many canceled flights (mostly due to staffing issues related to, oh, staff getting COVID), airlines losing bags more than usual, people being stranded in airports, etc.
- Related to above, people’s plans are more tenuous. If a HO tests positive, that trip is off, and then the sitter has to pivot. Vice versa, if a sitter tests positive, the HO will be out of luck.
- THS now requires sitters who are US-based to undergo a background check. Those who didn’t know about this or didn’t agree to it were made inactive (AFAIK).
- It is possible that there are fewer full-time or mostly full-time sitters. For me, I needed to settle down in a home of my own, with the world being what it is now. Perhaps there’s enough of us who are in that position.
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Now this sounds like a really honest answer. I think in the U.S., for probably all of the above reasons, house sitters are getting pretty rate.
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Sorry for the typo. RARE, house sitters are getting pretty rare.
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