Hi, my partner and I are having exactly the same problem!! We posted our dates last week for mid April. We usually find a sitter in one or two days but we had NO applications at all and all the sitters I’m inviting are declining.
We live in a lovely old cottage in the Cotswolds and we have two lovely super fluffy cats…
It’s the perfect holiday and yet no one is available.
If we don’t find anyone we’ll have to pay someone to stay, which is going to cost a lot.
This is very annoying as we are paying THS for nothing…
Hope you find someone soon and I hope the same for us…
HI @Alys and welcome to the forum. Have your searched your listing, to make sure it has gone live? I’m going to tag @Therese-Moderator so she can check that for you. I just searched the Cotswolds and didn’t find a listing for two cats. Maybe that’s why you’re not getting any applications.
hi @Alys I have re-boosted your listing, so there is a little New button showing.
I would like to suggest that you also share a link to your listing on your forum profile for a bit of extra exposure. But the main website is where ALL our members will see your opportunity and be able to apply and message with you.
Holding thumbs.
Kind regards
Therese
Hello Alys and welcome to the community forum. I’m sorry to hear you’ve arrived here because of a lack of applicants. The pattern of applying for sits as people emerge from the pandemic is showing that some sitters are waiting a little longer before applying, but there are also signs as borne out here that success can be just around the corner, which I hope it is for you.
We are sitting in the Cotswolds now and love it. Your village of Cam has access to so much that is beautiful about England, towns, cities, villages, history… I’d certainly recommend this area to anyone looking for quintessential English house sitting.
You can add your listing here to get some extra exposure and I’ve just seen that @Therese-Moderator has re-boosted your listing. Hopefully that will encourage more applicants. All the best and fingers crossed, Vanessa and the team
Hi all, I’m a new HO on THS . I didn’t get any applicants after listing my dates at the end of April for a few days. I’ve decided to take the listing down as I wanted some certainty and my son has said he’ll come and look after our pets for a long weekend and will stay the full week, so we get to see him too. I think now I was a bit naive , having read this thread , to expect to find a sitter easily. I’ve learned a lot through the process though and have communicated with a couple of sitters who weren’t available this time but were interested for the future . So I’m still hopeful for future trips .
Off topic I know but did you contact the sitters or did they contact you?
This is something I do occasionally. I don’t know if it aggravates the pet owner or if they do save our details for another time. It would be good to know.
Hi @ElsieDownie , I’d sent 4 invites to fairly local sitters who I thought would be suitable , because it was a sit of only 4 days and I thought local sitters would be more interested . Plus it’s my first time so it was a dip of a toe in the water . Two replied saying they weren’t available this time , one specifying they would be interested another time ( I replied to both saying thank you for the reply). The two others didn’t reply, but my invite had been “ read”. Personally I would be very happy for a sitter to reach out to me first.
We joined in Feb22. Disappointed in lack of responses for dates. I’ve been as honest and friendly as I can be in our intro. Wondering if I’ve done the right thing joining? I’ve had just 1 response which wasn’t suitable for us as the sitters wanted to bring their own dog.
If you’d rather not do that for some reason, if you provide your location (city/country) as shown on your listing and date range, forum members will be able to view your listing.
Sorry to hear you are not getting any responses @robandwendydean
Without seeing the listing it would be hard to say what might be the issue( there might be none at all) but there is one possibility…
I took a look at your profile to see if you mentioned anything about your location or pets to see if I could figure out your listing, but didn’t see anything. I saw your initial post from last month saying your dogs aren’t typically left alone for more than an hour. If this request is in your listing, that could be a tough sell for many sitters, especially if it was a longer sit, or in an area that would be appealing to people because it is touristic ,and has lots of stuff they would want to do, but can’t.
Of course as sitters we understand the pets are top priority but this is designed as a mutually beneficial exchange where sitters get to travel and explore new areas so having to be in the house save an hour a day might feel restrictive for some. If there are lots of things to do nearby that you can bring the animals that could be good to mention, like lots of restaurants that accept pets or hiking (if the dogs can do that of course).
My husband and I are homebodies, aren’t big ‘sightseeing types’ and don’t do all that much most days, but would at least want the option to be out for a few hours if there was something we wanted to do. Of course this is just the opinion of one person and there are probably some who wouldn’t mind, but this could potentially be a factor.
Also, and again, this is just the input of one person: When I see listings that talk about how the animals aren’t left alone a lot, it makes me wonder if the dogs will be anxious or neurotic in some way, and this gives me pause. So if they are relaxed and well behaved, don’t have separation anxiety and the like, be sure to mention that since the person will be spending a lot of time with them.
I think lately there has been a big influx of listings and not enough sitters to fill them so for a lot of people not getting responses, it has nothing to do with the assignment being unattractive in any way or having a bad listing.
I agree, if this is the case, you might have a tough time finding a sitter. We won’t apply for sits where the pet can’t be left alone for less than 4 hours.
Like KC1102, we mostly stay home when we are sitting, but we normally go for a drive or visit a National Trust site (gone 2-4 hrs) once or twice during a week-long sit.
Hi all, thanks for the encouragement and advice. I have cobbled together some help from family for part of my time away and got a great sitter for the other part. My kitty will be well cared for and I have peace of mind. In the process of having to work so hard to line up this sit, I have also found a great couple for my summer week away as well. I certainly do hope we strike a better balance between sits and sitters in the future though. Taking 10 days and at least 10 hours of computer time to find a sitter is more work than I want to do! Good luck everyone.
I dont think 10 days/10 hours is unreasonable, to set up something so personal as letting someone into your house and taking care of your pets. Especially when you’ve been able to cover future trips as well!
I would just like surety. And since I’ve not been able to achieve that certainty, in two weeks of looking and now only seven weeks to departure, I’m in a similar position of cobbling together a combination of a (paid)sitter and family [although I havent told family yet… ] to cover my trip.
@Ketch I totally agree with your first statement. When I consider the many hours I put into viewing sits to see which are suitable for me, I’d hate to admit the hours
For your own sit, have you considered asking @Angela-HeadOfCommunity to promote your listing on social media? I think your somewhat unique pets could be eye-catching there. It doesn’t hurt to try anyway, I think.
. That makes perfect sense.
] to cover my trip.