We are new to TH and it seems like the chat is just a bot, the phone link never works, and it took a whole week to receive an answer to our 3 emails! We do not understand how to post for a sitter for our own cat, can someone explain please? We also are very dismayed that we have tried to get housesits for ourselves and never are chosen, despite offering to do video chats, posting many photos and our Airbnb profile, etc. We understand that you all would rather choose someone who has reviews, but how do we GET a review if no one will give us a chance? We did apply for a local sit and so far, have not heard back. Is there just too much competition now on TH? We are getting very frustrated! Thanks, everyone!
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Hi!
@Angela_L may be able to help with posting your sitter request & explain the challenges TH has w recruiting staff asap atm.
In regards to getting your first sit & not feeling wanted 
, have a look at Andrew’s post in the sitters section.
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Hi Irene, As you know from when you started Airbnb, those first few reviews are the hardest to get - even harder with THS as you can’t offer a lower price to attract your first sits. My advice is to create an application that you can tweak for each sit you are applying for. Ours is long but it has been successful, getting us accepted for approx 1 in every 4 sits I have applied for…
1 - Introduce yourself
2- why have you joined THS?
3- What experience with animals have you?
4-acknowledge that you are new ( it is the elephant in the room so it has to be mentioned! )but also mention your Airbnb experience to balance it out.
“We do realise that we are brand new to THS and are competing for your attention with many great sitters that have been using the site for many years - we are definitely feeling like the new kids on the trusted housesitters block!.
However, although we are new to trusted house sitters we do have many years of experience with Airbnb. As hosts having guests stay in our home and also as guests ourselves, staying in the homes of others so we are very experienced in looking after other peoples homes during their absence. We have many previous reviews on our Airbnb profile that you are welcome to take a look at. - ( add a link )
We hope our past ‘x’ years experience with Airbnb will enable you to feel comfortable and give you the peace of mind to be able to go away knowing that both your home and, most importantly, ( pets names) are in safe hands and being well cared for.”
5- reiterate all your positives -kind, caring, non-smoking, reliable, etc
6 - Have you missed anything? Give them your contact details to get in touch.
*mention their pets by name as often as possible ( we do 7 times)
*comment on their listing requirements specifically - did they want someone local? Did they say they are near to an attraction that you have always wanted to visit? you need to prove you’ve read their listing and this application is specifically for them.
Good Luck!
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Hello Irene firstly welcome to our community Forum and to TrustedHousesitters, I’m sorry you have been unable to connect with our Membership Services team who are receiving high levels of incoming messages and we are operating with a reduced team at the moment but in the process of recruiting and training new agents to return our service to pre COVID levels.
Try not to get disheartened, always remember one thing even the most prolific of sitters started in exactly the same place, it took me six weeks and numerous applications before I was accepted for my first sit and now, even with over 200 sits and numerous 5 star reviews I can get passed over in favor of another sitter, often with less experience it really depends on what owners are looking for and who they make a connection with, it’s all about making the right choice for everyone involved, especially beloved pets.
You will also get excellent support, help and advice here on the Forum and @TheMapleKiwi has highlighted just one success story which came about through our members connecting and supporting one another.
On looking at your sitter profile it presents more like an owner listing, this may be where you have become confused on creating your sitter profile and owner listing. I’m going to get you some assistance with your owner listing and aspects of your profile and applications from one of the team.
Do enjoy the conversations, connecting with other members from around the world and thank you once again for joining our forum community.
Angela & The Team
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Hi again Irene, I’ve just connected with @Katie_Mc who is in the process of helping you … thank you again for joining our community and our Forum
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Hi Irene
I understand your frustration.
It took us a wee while to get our first sit. We ended up trying for a 2 day sit 100km away from our home in Auckland. I’m sure that most sitters prefer longer sits but 2 days suited us just fine at that time. And for our first sit, it couldn’t have been better.
I read what Colin replied to you and that is much the same tactic we used.
I spent a lot of time reading other sitters listings to give me a little more inspiration and put together what we thought would be something that we would be interested in.
Choosing a sitter is a leap of faith to a large degree, especially for new hosts.
Perhaps choose some caring, empathetic, feeling type words about your own pets…
There are hosts offering sits in fairly large, beautiful homes so I also added photos of our own home and garden to show that we were house proud people.
Being Airbnb or Booking.com hosts also helps a lot. We had a lot of fabulous reviews which I am sure has been the ícing on the cake’ as we have now secured quite a number of sits for our upcoming trip to France and the UK.
Have a little more patience and belief in yourself. We’ve also had our share of knock backs so know it can be a hard pill to swallow sometimes.
Good luck
Sue
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Thank you so much, Sue! How sweet of you to take the time to write back to me. We will keep trying and will take your advice on beefing up our profile.
Best regards, Irene
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