@rnamyl Without seeing the types of sits you are applying for, your profile, and the types of messages you are sending, it would be hard to say if there is any particular issue you are having that you may improve upon, or if it is just simply the fact that most people donât get every sit they apply for.
In many cases, there is nothing âwrongâ with the applicant, it is just that the HO can only pick one person. And what makes them pick who they pick is anybodyâs guess.
Some might go with the first person who applied if they really like them. Some may base it totally on experience and number of reviews. Some may have a personal connection with the applicantâa common hobby, job, life experience,etc⌠Some may prefer someone who will already be in the country.
Maybe the person they picked had a really good reason to be in the areaâfamily nearby-- and the owner wanted to help them out by giving them a place to stay.
While some people may find they prefer someone from the same country or region, I canât imagine that is a major factor for most HOâs. My husband and Iâboth American-- booked a sit in Greece in January, are currently in Prague and have two more sits in London coming up in a few weeks. Almost every international sit we book is from outside that country with people of a different nationality than us.
You may already be doing all these things but in case not, some important things to consider:
Be sure you are reading listings thoroughlyâsomeone who doesnât for example, may find themselves applying for a sit as a single person when the listing says the owner only wants couples. The owner may have noted something very important in the listing that they hope the sitter will address in their application, and if the sitter doesnât, they may assume they didnât read it carefully. These sorts of things will result in automatic rejections most likely. I know a lot of owners complain about sitters clearly not reading the listing, and I imagine for people with a âpopularâ sit, this is happening more often.
Personalize the message to show you read the listing. Address the owner by name; mention the pets by name. Note any skills or experience the owner says they want to the sitter to have. Address something in the listing that may seem important to the owner and will honor, like the sitter being okay with the dog sleeping on the bed.
Share some information about yourself that you think showcases your experience and competency. I personally keep applications messages short (about a paragraph or so) and that seems to work for us. We mainly stick to the specifics of the listing and how we could be a good fit. I donât go into too much detail about us personallyâwe have a really detailed profile that takes care of that.
If you are interested in sits in France in particular, you might consider joining Nomadorâthe site is based in France and it leans towards sits there even more heavily than this site does towards the UK.
You would almost certainly be able to get a sit there or in another European country as they have some listings for those as well. I donât currently have an active membership, but I do still get notifications for listings, and you see many of them sitting there for a long time. I imagine they have a much smaller membership than THS by far. They give an option for a 3 month membership as well as a yearly one.
If you would like to send me a link to your profile, I am happy to take a look at it, and see if there are any tweaks you can make on it.
(clearly biased as itâs our home country) although technically only a tiny bit is European 
- although not looking to do another sit there for the moment. I do want to return to Turkey for traveling the country at some point; I first did so in 2005 and really enjoyed it, although donât know when that will happen again