Back in January I secured a sitter for my first family holiday with my daughter this coming May 10th - 17th. At the time I received a decent number of applications.
Unfortunately one month after the person we selected accepted they had to pull out for unforeseen medical issue, they called me to explain and we parted on good terms.
Since relisting my advert (ensuring it’s not paused) I am getting pretty much no interest. I have also used my ‘boost’ function and contacted THS support and they have applied a couple of additional boosts too.
Has anyone else has this issue before? I am thinking perhaps I should just remove my listing and repost it?
Hi @Stu and welcome. Listing looks good & sounds pretty easy although you could tweak it to improve it a bit. First image with you two, the dogs & hills behind is fab and adds appeal as cover image instead of the house. Change the title to “Comfy sit for two cute pups in the Malvern Hills” or “Walk the Malvern Hills with our energised pups” or similar as half the sentence is cut off and for us the dogs are more appealing than a house. Your description of the house and sit could be a little more welcoming and soft e.g. it’s bit utilitarian saying "Double bed (bedding provided) as that’s an absolute given, think of your sitter as a house guest. What would make them feel at home? Please add how many hours the dogs can be left for as this needs to be specified? Where do they sleep? Slim the responsibilities section down (lots can go in the WG) to a few bullet points on routine, feeding, walks, sleep and a line on character so you capture sitters attention. Maybe add if you can pick up a sitter with no car from a local station. Would suit a WFHer or a couple perhaps, add that kind of detail. Please can you remove the two photos that look like the dogs are taking a poo as they’re not attractive. Then once you’ve done that you can re-list and will come up as new! #bestoflucktoyou
Thanks for the constructive criticism. Very helpful.
I’ll have a think around the cover picture too. I guess is I am advertising this as being around the Malvern Hills with lovely view etc, a picture to show off a good scenery would be good (doesn’t necessarily need to be from that location)
I’ve removed the two pictures in question. I found it oddly amusing, but maybe I should keep that level of entertainment to myself.
I will look into the description later tonight and see if I can adjust it.
I did add this comment around the time the dogs can be left alone, but maybe as it’s a bit information heavy it can be easily overlooked.
“Providing the meals are given and they are walked at least once a day, the sitter will have a lot of flexibility to explore this part of the country since our dogs can be left during the day (while they longingly look out the windows).”
It’s my first time trying to get a sitter, and first attempt at setting up the profile I agree it can be improved.
You’re welcome, think you’re nearly there but if there’s lots of competition then always good to be up front! I work in marketing so it’s all about kerb appeal. I did wonder about the comedy aspect of the pics but yes, probably not the widest appeal The sentence was good on the cute “longingly look” bit, it’s just that specifics will be scanned faster as in “up to 5 hours” (annoyingly you may have added it in when you set up the listing but it doesn’t transfer that knowledge to the sitter for some unknown reason ) Anyho, you’re off to a flying start. #atweakortwoandyourethere
I’ve just looked, and you’ve obviously made the improvements that others suggested. Your profile looks brilliant, fingers crossed you’re perfect sitter shows up quickly now.
@Stu As your listing is marked “Family Friendly”, it would be a good idea to add photos of any additional bedrooms that would be available to sitters. I sit with my 2 teenage sons and it isn’t always obvious if a home can accommodate us. It can be helpful to see the beds or for the text of the listing to say what size / type of beds could be available. My boys are now bigger than me and definitely too big for child sized beds!
When I opened the link to your listing I recognised it as one I have seen in my local saved search - Bella’s markings are really unusual so I recognised her straight away!
Great point - I was meaning to do something previously about that but forgot.
For example I had two friends who didn’t want to sleep in the same room which is obviously a fair comment.
We have the rooms available and even if I do not add the photo I should at least call that out in the description that there’s additional rooms.
I’m keeping everything crossed that you find another sitter before May, but if you haven’t found one by seven days before the sit is due to start, you can pop back here and post a “Last Minute Sit” just in case someone on the Forum is able to apply for the sit.
Let us know how you get on, and thank you everyone who has popped on with some advice so far!
I think when i get that close, I’ll be looking at different platforms & services. I can’t have a holiday paid and counting down while at 7 days still be looking. I’d need something concrete way before that.
So kennels, etc might need to come into play. Really not something im considering at the moment but thinking worst case.
I found it oddly amusing, but maybe I should keep that level of entertainment to myself.
The sentence was good on the cute “longingly look” bit, it’s just that specifics will be scanned faster as in “up to 5 hours” (annoyingly you may have added it in when you set up the listing but it doesn’t transfer that knowledge to the sitter for some unknown reason 
) Anyho, you’re off to a flying start.