@MidnightSiren you have 58 photos on your listing, almost all of which are your pets. There are no photos of the living room, bedroom, bathroom, or kitchen. I suggest you read the 10 tips from Angela contained in the recent post.
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I agree with @Snowbird - For as long as your listing does not include pictures of kitchen/living area/bedroom you are highly unlikely to receive many applications.
Also there are far too many pics of the pets - a couple of each pet is more than enough.
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we are wondering if there is something wrong with our ad as we have had at least 18 couples decline so far and we are fast running out of options…we just find it odd as there are a large number of people in the UK advertising to sit ?
Is there something we can do to enhance our ad to attract someone ?
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Hi @Kiwis - if you mean that 18 couples that you have invited have declined then that is not unusual - inviting sitters yourself is a good pro-active way to find a sitter but the success rate of doing it this way is very small. The the chance of you choosing a sitter to invite that wants to be in your area at that specific time is slim.
The most common way to find sitters is to publish your listing then wait for interested sitters to apply to you. I you link your listing to your forum profile then members of this forum can take a look and, if possible, give you any advise to improve it.
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Hi @Kiwis and I wonder if you’ve found our other post referenced above in this thread also that provides an explanation and tips for optimizing your profile during this temporary period of sitter imbalance? Here’s the link just in case you’ve missed it.
I have had a quick look at your listing and what 2 gorgeous collies you have! I would put them as your first picture ahead of the image of you both. Whilst it’s lovely to know what you look like, sitters generally want to see the pets or the home first. You’ve only got one internal shot of the home, and none of the exterior… this will deter a lot of sitters who have a lot of choice at the moment. Show the comfy areas where you relax, the kitchen, where they will sleep … do you have any photos of the pups cozied up with you on the sofa?
I can’t see any mention of whether a car is required, needed or whether you have one you might leave for your sitters and it might be good to give a little more detail on the “ongoing maintenance for Isla” … what would that involve for your sitters.
Those are just a few quick observations, but do head over to our other post and see if you can pick up on any of the tips to make your listing the best it can be. All the best, Vanessa and the team
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Thanks Vanessa,
Have added a few more details and will ad a few more photos too…hope that works as time is ticking for our trip
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I have been a member of THS for a number of years and I am finding it difficult to find a sitter for later in the year. I have also tried contacting sitters directly but even the ones who have blue dots on their calendars are saying they are not available. I realise things are difficult just now with Covid but I am seriously doubting whether it is worth renewing my membership.
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I’m sorry to hear that you have difficulties in finding a sitter. At the moment there seems to be an imbalance between the number of sitters and owners. THS is fully aware of it and does everything they can to redress the balance. Hopefully the following thread can help?
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HI @Roughcollie2 I’ve also been with THS for many years, but as a sitter, and I’ve changed the way I do things many times over the past two years. You mention that your sit is later this year. Although many sitters book far in advance, others (like me) are now only looking at sits a month or two in advance, whereas before I would have booked a season or two in advance.
If you do a search with the spyglass about the calendar, you will see that many feel it needs a revamp. I was recently asked to do a last-minute sit, where my calendar showed me as available. However, I had an appointment during the sit dates that made me unavailable. The calendar is not user-friendly for updating to accommodate our day-to-day lives, where things crop up. I therefore had to turn down the sit, but explained my reason.
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@Roughcollie2 If you would like to promote your listing on the forum, you can add a link to it in your forum username, so that forum members can view it. Here’s a helpful guide to do that:
How to add a listing to your forum profile 
If for some reason you’d rather not do that, you can add the listing information to this post. Provide your location (city/country) as shown on the listing, and the date range.
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Thanks for your reply Snowbird
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Thank you Els x
I can understand your frustration at not getting applications. It does appear “ the tide has turned”. Over the past two years or so there were often 30-40 applications for a sit. As a sitter, it was a tough time. Now, it’s the reverse, and sitters are finding it easy, but homeowners aren’t.
I can’t help but wonder whether THS tendency to value homeowners over sitters is not exactly helping.
The recent requirement of sitters to have compulsory Background checks, where homeowners are not has left to many sitters choosing not to renew.
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I actually don’t understand where THS favors HOs. As a HO you have an address, you have either property or all your belongings are in a rented place. You have a phone number and in many countries of the world you are officially registered at exactly this address. What more do you want of a HO?
The HO is not going to take a sitter’s belongings and run away with them, whereas this could certainly happen the other way around.
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Oh, you know…
I’d like to be made aware if there were any domestic violence arrests, charges for possession of unpermitted/illegal weapons, issues regarding unauthorized/illegal recordings (whether just surveillance or for pornography… and if you brought your family on a sit, child pornography). What about info about DUI/DWI convictions? Those would tell me if there’s a history of a person’s lack of control regarding alcohol/substance abuse. Also assault charges, any liens against their property, any lawsuits about a business they owned. OR of course, convictions for animal abuse. That’s a solid start.
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In Germany you wouldn’t be able to get any of these informations. When someone has been convicted and served the sentence it’s done and he may not have any disadvantage because of the former sentence. And if someone was accused but not found guilty the same thing applies.
Here you can’t simply buy weapons so people usually don’t own any. If they do they are either criminals or the weapons are registered but they have to be kept in inaccessible spots to others like lockable cabinets especially built for this reason.
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understood… but sitters in Germany aren’t required to get background checks either.
And if someone was accused but not found guilty the same thing applies.
well, same here, that’s why I said convictions and not arrests.
Here you can’t simply buy weapons so people usually don’t own any.
Up until fairly recently, in the USA you could buy a bag of potatoes, ammunition, gluten-free bread, a shotgun, and tires for your car at the same store. Its insanely easy to get a gun, and in some states, you can conceal-carry without a permit, even as young as age 18.
They certainly aren’t, because no company may ask for or use any of these informations.
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Hi - we too have really struggled to find a sitter for three weeks in June, but we did finally find someone yesterday. We added to our photos, showing the bedroom and bathroom, and we tweaked our sit title to include our proximity to Bath. But the real progress was when we used the ‘Invite’ function to contact potential sitters directly. BUT TAKE CARE, the web interface is pretty poor - there is the ‘invite for dates’ button and there is also a text box where you can write a personalised invitation to each sitter - THE TEXT DOES NOT GET SENT unless you hit a separate ‘Send’ button. So loads of sitters received a rather rude invite request without our messages. My wife sat there diligently sending about probably 40 or so customised invites before we hit lucky.
I would say that, in summary, THS must do more to attract more sitters into the system otherwise it will become too difficult to sign up sitters.
Good luck.
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