We found Italy tough forJune -July sits. Not many sits were posted and those that were became full of applicants within minutes. We finally got a wonderful one in Sicily,so it all worked out!
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Welcome @WendyNL
I’d say any sit in a major worldwide city, a home with things like a pool and those in seaside resorts.
You’ll see very quickly the ones that get 5 applicants within minutes sometimes but certainly within the hour of getting listed.
I’d look at last minute sits as well as local sits if you can do short notice sits.
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In addition to the big city, seaside, lakeside, etc. I’d add most anything in mainland Europe. Barring any unusual circumstances (14 dogs and 6 horses 50 km from anything for a 3 month sitting), they hit the magic 5 applications quickly.
Dan
Sits in Asia on THS tend to go super fast as there aren’t many of them. We lost one the other day and were only 15 minutes into posting time! #fastestfingerfirst
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Hello @WendyNL - you stole my post! I have been meaning to start the same conversation 
All the replies you have got seem as true as they are varied. Americans want European capital cities, Europeans want all over the world, all combinations of everyone everywhere! Then there are sitters who look “locally” (in their own countries) for adorable pets that appeal to them or for envy-inducing properties. And then people’s desires change over time…
And @Cuttlefish I feel your pain. We want Japan in the spring. There’s a new listing maybe every 3 weeks at the moment and they are posted around 3am for us. Needless to say, we haven’t been able to apply for anything at all so far. Clicking on notifications brings the dreaded “We are waiting for listings to become available…” 
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That is not really true. I just wrote this about my sits so far: Clarify purpose of THS - #15 by pietkuip
I found these sits via the daily email for saved searches, which many people complain is too late.
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I tend to look at anything. Most of my favourite sittings have been to places that I have never heard of before. That way I am mostly avoiding the 5 applicant problem.
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That’s a very smart way to go about it if that works for you!
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Really great that you have found sits that you want & that you enjoy @pietkuip, your list of 7 do sound interesting.
The big “However” in this, particularly what @botvot referred to, are the sits in opposing hemispheres, the sits in widely sought after locations and the decent quality sits at peak times.
Those…pouf 
, gone in a flash.
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Yes, I agree, there are attractive sits that the daily email comes too late for. When a listing looks really nice, it is a good idea to favourite them (with the 
symbol). Then you can get a fast notification via the app (at the same time as hundreds of others…)
I have found the best way to get sits - especially the popular ones-is to apply from within the same country. (Or at least from the same time zone) Unless ofcourse you get lucky and catch a sit from overseas before it goes to ‘pause’! We are soon coming to the end of 5 months of back to back sits in France & Spain. We actually got the first Spanish sit whilst in Bali in January! We had applied for an Easter sit which we did not get but we arranged a summer sit with those hosts instead. 3 weeks in June/July. That sit became the anchor point on which we created our summer program. From Bali- we returned to the UK in February, did a bunch of sits (always easy to get in UK!) and from there- with only 1 hour time difference -we started to build our summer program. Some sits we got ahead of time and others- like the current luxury sit near Madrid- were gap fills. It has been amazing going with the flow and watching things unfold magically! It does help that we have a lot of reviews now so often stand out against other applicants.
But…everyone has to start somewhere! We all started with our first sit!
Its s great idea to start locally if you have the time and opportunity- build up your reviews a little and off you go! We actually started untypically! We were in Bali when we got our first sit- 5 years ago- a month over Christmas in Perth Australia! A 4 hour flight away. Since then we have never looked back! 
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North Wales! (If you’re UK based). Beautiful countryside, big mountains and beaches. Very underated and unspoilt. Weve had Australians, Americans and German sittings. They all loved it.
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@Saltrams I’ve been looking for Japan too and nothing ever shows up because I can only look for family friendly for 5
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Where I live (Texas), it seems cat-only sits are very popular. (vs sits with dogs)
I think that’s pretty true worldwide.
Japan is so difficult to secure @Saltrams & @IHeartAnimals - if you can do it then would highly recommend getting into country and then applying. It’s riskier/more expensive but the trust thing will play well for getting sits. There are lots of short ones with not much lead time. Best of luck all of you 
I did a map search and I’m surprised there’s only one location in Guatemala. It is a good one and close to Antigua Guatemala which is beautiful, and very popular spot for tourists but Lake Atitlan is best for Nomads. 
in truth, I would say just apply but generally, the more popular or common destinations will be the ones that are easier for HOs to fill. Remote locations, or slightly unorthodox set ups will be tougher. On the flip side, a city like for example London is going to probably have a very consistent flow of available sits.
Applying to local sits though, means you can easily apply whenever and rack up sit experience without the effort of traveling.
But again, if a sit is within your means/feels like a good fit, just apply earnestly for it.
That’s a really tough ask, judging by the struggle that we two retirees are having. Just the lack of listings is bad enough but most of what comes up is a small animal in a small apartment isn’t it? Best of luck though.
And you’re completely right @Cuttlefish, that’s the route we have decided on. We’ll get there without bookings (first week hotels obvs) and then blitz the listings! It’s a shame but I know it will be worth it.
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