Where have all the sitters gone to?

Were you ever able to find a sitter? I have a trip in less than two weeks and am giving up hope.

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Hi @charlotteeb. From a sitter’s point of view re providing personal information, we open up about ourselves in our profiles so you, as owners, get a feel for who we are and whether you think we would be suitable to look after your home and pets. If a sitter did not include very much about themselves in their profile for fear of identity fraud, would you consider them as your sitter? It is a trust thing and I would hope I can glean something about owners in their listings to decide whether I would like to sit for them. Maybe read other owners’ listings to see what they include.

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Hi Dina. I find the forum difficult to navigate, so hopefully responding directly to the email I received works.

I lucked out and a week before my first needed dates, a retired man reached out to apply. I originally thought THS would be the saving grace I needed, but I realize I need to have a backup in case I’m unable to secure through this site. I prefer having someone stay over but in a pinch, I have neighbors that can check in daily if absolutely necessary. Not ideal, but better than nothing.

I wish I had some advice that would help you find a sitter, but I think a lot of it is luck.

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Hi,
We have had our listing on since the beginning of the year with no joy. In the past couple of weeks we have been looking at other websites as a back up because we have still had no joy despite approaching several sitters on the THS website. We are getting totally disillusioned with THS now even though we have been members since 2016 & have never encountered any problems before.
Regards
Charlotte

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Charlotte: Thank you for adopting a rescue. I volunteer at a shelter and understand the challenges that are often involved. Take a look at your listing from a marketing prospective and think about what would be attractive to a sitter. Is your location accessible to public transit? Could you offer the use of your car? Is your location a serene retreat? Riley looks cute, but since he can only be left alone for two hours, many sitters will find that far too restrictive. Would it be possible to offer a dog walker or doggy daycare for at least one day? Also, you have had 8 sitters and only one of them left a review. This review was very positive, but mentions a previous pet. Missing reviews often signal red flags/problems , even if there is nothing wrong. If any of the sits got cancelled, reach out to member services and have them deleted. If they took place, reach out to your most recent sitters and ask them to complete your reviews and make sure that you complete reviews for them as well. Although no money is exchanged through THS, reviews act as a type of “currency” since a good review is expected as a reward for doing a good job and helps sitters and homeowners attract future sits and/or sitters. Good luck!

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Hello
Thank you for your email. I would just like to say that we got Riley in January so this would be his first sit so there would be no reviews relating to him. I have also pointed this out to Snowbird & Vanessa.
Regards
Charlotte

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Hi again @charlotteeb, I’m wondering if, given 3 of us have now experienced a little confusion, it might be worth adding a short sentence to your profile in the first section, along the lines of “Please note that our review is for Dooley who is sadly no longer with us - this is the first time we have looked for sitters for Riley”. I’ve seen listings mention new pets and even homes in this way. Just a thought. All the best, Vanessa

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I am now feeling downhearted. Still no one to look after my fur babies. I live on the south coast of England and due to go on holiday 4th June. And now very worried that I will have to cancel my holiday. I have sent lots of invites. Concentrating on finding people with highlighted availability on my dates. And either have had thanks but no thanks or the invites not being responded to

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I can understand why HOs are frustrated, but I don’t see why they’re disillusioned. This isn’t just a THS issue. It’s a supply and demand issue, just like all the other ones caused by covid around the world. Right now, there is a huge supply of sits and sitters are high in demand. There isn’t a whole lot that THS can do to fix that problem given ongoing covid concerns, cost of travel skyrocketing, a huge spike in people going on holiday (both sitters and owners) after 2 years of limited options, etc.

Somewhere has been linked an article about the millions of new pets that were acquired during covid that now need care. Pet care is going to be an ongoing concern for a while as the world continues to figure out how to normalize after covid. Owners are going to have to realize that and be flexible with their options.

For years, it’s been a HOs market, that tide has now changed, which can be frustrating for people who’ve found it very easy in the past. There is no more just having an OK listing. Competition is high so you have to make sure your listing is perfect, highlight the perks, offer some perks you might not have in the past, and spend time actively trying to find sitters rather than just waiting for applications to flow in. It’s time consuming and annoying but it’s the current reality. I think someone posted the other day that they invited 80 people before they got a yes.

Unless you’re supremely lucky with an amazing home in a tier 1 location, these days finding a sitter is probably going to take some work. Especially in the UK, where there are tons on offer.

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It’s quite right what you write. We are nomads and suddenly didn’t have a sit for 3 months during the first lockdown and there have been major disruptions multiple times (including HOs coming back after 1-3 days or having to cancel last minute). We became creative after that, registered on lots of other sites, also explored workaway, spent some time in an alternative commune and have been volunteering at animal sanctuaries. We also wrote to 100+ HOs on other websites and now we have a pool of HOs that request us regularly (we mostly do repeat sits) and often they will plan their travel according to our availability. It looks like this year will be the hard one for HOs but with some flexibility / creativity / work we hope that most of them will be able to find a suitable sitter. We still remember looking at THS multiple times every single day for new sits in 2020. There wasn’t a single sit that we could apply to for months and very few after that. Now we’re getting invitations even though the first word in our profile is “fully booked”. The situation will change again for HOs as well, it’s just a matter of time.

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@Becky76 - I checked out Fareham and there seem to be lots of attractions. You list some in the text, but maybe add some photos also. Some people don’t like to see photos of scenery, but I do. You could replace some of the pet photos with shots of local attractions. Maybe even do a screenshot of a tourism website that lists the attractions.

I would also change the headline to grab attention. Currently, you don’t tell us anything that we can’t already see from the thumbnail. Perhaps say “Beaches, nature and gardens near Portsmouth”

Good luck.

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You have been given good advice by others to help market your sit. I would also suggest that you add something about your dog’s temperament and how long Cleo can be left alone, so that the sitters can explore the area. I am hoping that you can attract a great sitter, but I would suggest you start exploring a backup plan. Best of luck.

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Hi Estelle
I haven’t seen your listing or your communications obviously but in my opinion, finding a great (and free!) sitter is a gift. It’s good fortune. It’s not something anyone is entitled to. So being as genuinely warm, positive, friendly, and appreciative as you are able to be in your interactions with prospective sitters would be my best advice. None of us can control other people but we can put good vibes out there ourselves. Good luck,

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Oregon my Oregon my home! We are fairly new to this site. Our first experience was great and had several sitters to choose from. We where very happy with our sitter. I posted our next sit and have not had action? How can I attract a sitter? Thanks

We absolutely love Oregon - one of our favorite States and did a lot of camping there when our children were young. Where in Oregon are you? There are so many beautiful beaches and sights to see. Have you mentioned exactly where you are located in your listing and what sights/attractions are nearby to entice sitters? Some homeowners ask the community members to take a look at their profile to give tips on what can be improved. You may want to look at doing that.

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Hi @Scgilfill and welcome to the forum. As @Globetrotter has said, adding your listing to your forum username will allow forum members to view it and perhaps give some constructive feedback. I’d also suggest you take a look at the latest info on the current sitter and owner ratios and in particular Angela’s 10 tips there on how to create and promote an effective listing.

If you’d rather not add your listing to your forum username, then perhaps add the location as shown on your listing and the date range.

Many sitters are waiting until closer to the sit dates these days, for a range of reasons, so don’t get too disillusioned. You may also want to consider searching for sitters in your area and inviting them directly. Make sure to first check their calendars and, if they have a black line through your dates, it means that they are already booked for a THS sit. Other than that, don’t pay too much attention to the calendar as some sitters choose not to use it.

Francine,
Voluntary Forum Moderator

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Hi we are the same - sadly I think they have changed the way adverts for sitters appear on the site as have noticed they want us to upgrade the to “boost” the search I.e. pay more money - such a shame as worked really well so am going to consider looking elsewhere as looking on this forum this seems to be a common problem and makes the experience stressful.

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The boost option is not responsible for more posted sits than available sitters. How should THS manipulate this?
People post listings but no sitters apply. THS is not holding back any applications.
At the moment it’s heaven for sitters: lots of sits to choose from with not much competition.

You have to get creative with your listing. Make it attractive, make it unusual so sitters want to look at it! You have to “sell” yourself to find a sitter. Before you could simply lean back and wait for applications, while the sitters had to “sell” themselves. Now it’s the other way round.

The reasons are that car rentals, air fares and travel costs have increased, but THS isn’t responsible for this.

I suggest you read a bit here on the forum, because this is a well known problem at the moment.

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Am I correct in thinking that, in the past, a HO could relist their listing so it appears at the top but now you have to have a more expensive membership? I have just given a new HO some tips to make her listing more attractive which she has done. However her listing has not moved so sitters will not see it anymore as hundreds more have since been listed.
This doesnt seem fair. If a sitter does anything to their profile then it immediately goes to the top of the sitter listings

It’s tough times for HOs right now, but if you share your listing forum members can help you to improve your listing. The THS staff can also boost or promote your listing. We almost never apply to sits older than 24 hours (HOs often don’t take their listing down after they have started talking to someone).

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