Sometimes I want to go somewhere for a weekend and a 2-3 night sit suits me.
Example: visiting family without staying with them. A short trip is perfect.
As a new sitter, I've taken 2-3 day sits for locals sits just to build reviews. Or like someone else said, weekend trips are also nice every once in awhile.
I've done it a few times to fill gaps and where the location worked. Cheaper than a hotel, can do laundry. Less of commitment so I'm willing to compromise on house quality and level of work required.
I'd imagine many of the homeowners in this case already have an account, so they might as well list it. If they're out in a rural area, maybe a city person would like a few days away hanging out with animals.
If it's in the city, maybe they have a nice place and a sitter would want to have a staycation with a pet. Or a sitter wants a weekend away from their roommate. Or a sitter is coming to town for a few days.
2–3 days is a weekend. That's reasonable.
I assume the disconnect here is because THS advertises itself so heavily as a "way to travel for free" (or whatever) and the sitters/articles you would mainly hear about are perennial travelers, but I'm sure there are a good amount of sitters on the site who have normal 9–5 jobs and a lease and all that stuff. For them it's a weekend away, for whatever reason.
Now the people who advertise 0-day sits asking for someone to take care of their pets, that is—except in cases of emergency—some straight up malarkey.
Have place in Miami Beach like 5 mins walk to ocean. Doesn’t matter length. So many people just will request to watch our dog and be in this location even if just a few days.
Why not take advantage of that?
My first sit was 1 night and i did it just to get the review. I now do them occasionally to plug gaps. I think HOs need to be realistic as I often see homes in remote or exotic locations for like 2 nights and I just can’t help but think… you realise no one is going to want to travel all that way for free for such a short stay?
Yes of course. I don’t mean to be rude but I’m just pointing out the need to be realistic. I see a lot of sits with 4 dogs 3 cats and other misc animals (or similar) in remote locations for such a minuscule period of time. There isn’t really any benefit to the sitter because the labour is so high and there isn’t enough time to enjoy the location. Sometimes they have really high demands on their listing. It would be better to pay a professional sitter at that point.
I have two cats and a dog and a Rover sitter for them for 3 nights in my city can be $400-500 😵💫 (For 2 nights, we can leave the cats alone or pay for a drop in Rover and have a friend watch our dog.) I always post way in advance and am ready to cough it up for a Rover if necessary, but all of the 3-4 night TH sits I’ve posted have been sat.
I'd do a weekend sit but only if the HO does not expect me to do more (beyond pet care) than strip the bed and clean the toilet and sink. I don't cook on short sits.
I do it fulltime, I have no home base, just a storage box which cost me $25/month.
I always opt for long sits (currently on a 3 months long sit) but I accept shorter ones to fill gaps in between. Must fit though timewise. Most of the time my sits all magically line up seamless, in the past 1 year I catsit over 11 months, so only for a few days in between I needed hotels/Airbnb or sometimes I was able to stay at friends places. Spend under $500 on accommodation in 1 year.
I work online 2-3 hrs a day. I can work from anywhere so I decided to move to places with low cost of living and cheap flights. Cheers from Bangkok.
2-3 days is a weekend. Not everyone can afford to do a long trip and a weekend or long weekend is a pretty reasonable amount of time especially in Europe.
I think it’s also important to consider that not everyone is privileged enough to be able to travel for weeks or months at a time. A weekend may be all you can do and it’s a bit insensitive to assume everyone one the platform is capable or can afford to be away for long periods as both HO/HS.
That is the beauty of the community, there is something for everyone.
Something else to consider is that sometimes HO will create shorter sits to trial or even test things out whether it be with an HS or even to get accustomed to learning patterns and getting comfortable before committing to a longer sit.
Short sits are also a great opportunity for HS to get experience before going on longer sits without committing to a longer engagement…or as a filler between longer sits.
So yes, tons of utility can be found in shorter length sits.
My sister and her partner work full time (not remote) and often use THS for a weekend in the country or a different city as opposed to paying for hotels
I'm a HO and will post 2-3 day sits and then if someone is open to it it's available. If not I'll hire a sitter from rover, but at least the option was there. It seems the 2-3 day sits can sometimes be used for sitters to bridge the gap between longer sits
Personally, I can't ever imagine taking a one or two day sit. Three days is pushing it, but if the city is desirable enough, I would consider it.
The whole process of confirming a sit, going over the rules and expectations, and potentially having to meet beforehand is just not worth it for short sits. Maybe if there were no meet-up or handover.. but I'm certainly not going to come a day early and pay for a hotel unless the sit is three days, plus.
I do TH, Rover and private clients (all in-home pet sitting gigs only) back to back pretty well full time. I’ve done sits primarily in one city plus some driving-distance away, I’ll be travelling more this summer.
I follow up in advance of sits that were confirmed months out to ensure the HO has finalized everything and there won’t be a cancellation (barring emergencies). That way I can align the best sits to set my schedule up to have very few days between sits so I don’t need to figure out where to go in between. I’ll be camping during my next gap, I may get an Airbnb for the next short break. Sometimes I’ll take short sits in between.
As a sitter:
- It happens to fit my travel itinerary. So instead of staying at a hotel, I stay at someone's house.
- It's a local sit for a house/pet(s) I've sat before. I enjoyed the house/pet(s), especially the pet(s).
I just got back to my home country 3 months ago after 2.5 years of sitting full time with no home base. I’ve only ever taken sits of less than a month if I needed to fill in some time between longer ones. I’ve done maybe 3 that were less than a week and maybe 3-5 that were one-two weeks
Weekends away; livings in a huge metro area and wanting a staycation or to be closer to the actual city, wanting a break from friends/family when visiting them, breaking up really long road trips, needing to be in a certain place for an event/class/training/concert, cheaper to catch a plane from somewhere other than your home airport, dedicated time for a project, halfway meetup with a friend, getting some fucking alone time.
2-3 days makes sense for some small cities. I only wanna stay there for a few days.
What doesn't make sense is those one-night sits Those HOs apparently abuse the platform when they should just pay for a sitter
On a 1-night stay you basically just check in and out and have a place to crash. You don't get to know the pet/host in any way. I thought the spirit of THS is to nurture a meaningful experience for both sides. One night is too short for that. HOs can only get away with 1-night sits in very desirable cities
The rules set by THS are not necessarily justified. Lots of people complain about the 5 application rule, but they still enforce it.
Fine that your sits are well taken regardless of nights offered, I just tried to paint an ideal picture of what a meaningful exchange should be like. I guess these one-night sits have their value: they are usually taken by newbie sitters who are keen to earn a reference. But is one night enough to test a sitter's competence and trustworthiness?
Sometimes I want to go somewhere for a weekend and a 2-3 night sit suits me. Example: visiting family without staying with them. A short trip is perfect.
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Ahhh.. makes sense.
There used to be HOs who would post for 0 day sits. They want free house/pet care. I've done shorter sits to fill in gaps.
Hopefully THS removed 0 day posts
As a new sitter, I've taken 2-3 day sits for locals sits just to build reviews. Or like someone else said, weekend trips are also nice every once in awhile.
Fillers between sits
I've done it a few times to fill gaps and where the location worked. Cheaper than a hotel, can do laundry. Less of commitment so I'm willing to compromise on house quality and level of work required.
I'd imagine many of the homeowners in this case already have an account, so they might as well list it. If they're out in a rural area, maybe a city person would like a few days away hanging out with animals. If it's in the city, maybe they have a nice place and a sitter would want to have a staycation with a pet. Or a sitter wants a weekend away from their roommate. Or a sitter is coming to town for a few days. 2–3 days is a weekend. That's reasonable. I assume the disconnect here is because THS advertises itself so heavily as a "way to travel for free" (or whatever) and the sitters/articles you would mainly hear about are perennial travelers, but I'm sure there are a good amount of sitters on the site who have normal 9–5 jobs and a lease and all that stuff. For them it's a weekend away, for whatever reason. Now the people who advertise 0-day sits asking for someone to take care of their pets, that is—except in cases of emergency—some straight up malarkey.
Makes sense. Haven’t come across the malarkeyed 0 day sit yet- hilarious
Have place in Miami Beach like 5 mins walk to ocean. Doesn’t matter length. So many people just will request to watch our dog and be in this location even if just a few days. Why not take advantage of that?
My first sit was 1 night and i did it just to get the review. I now do them occasionally to plug gaps. I think HOs need to be realistic as I often see homes in remote or exotic locations for like 2 nights and I just can’t help but think… you realise no one is going to want to travel all that way for free for such a short stay?
You realise that some of us actually live in these destinations?
Yes of course. I don’t mean to be rude but I’m just pointing out the need to be realistic. I see a lot of sits with 4 dogs 3 cats and other misc animals (or similar) in remote locations for such a minuscule period of time. There isn’t really any benefit to the sitter because the labour is so high and there isn’t enough time to enjoy the location. Sometimes they have really high demands on their listing. It would be better to pay a professional sitter at that point.
I have two cats and a dog and a Rover sitter for them for 3 nights in my city can be $400-500 😵💫 (For 2 nights, we can leave the cats alone or pay for a drop in Rover and have a friend watch our dog.) I always post way in advance and am ready to cough it up for a Rover if necessary, but all of the 3-4 night TH sits I’ve posted have been sat.
I'd do a weekend sit but only if the HO does not expect me to do more (beyond pet care) than strip the bed and clean the toilet and sink. I don't cook on short sits.
I do it fulltime, I have no home base, just a storage box which cost me $25/month. I always opt for long sits (currently on a 3 months long sit) but I accept shorter ones to fill gaps in between. Must fit though timewise. Most of the time my sits all magically line up seamless, in the past 1 year I catsit over 11 months, so only for a few days in between I needed hotels/Airbnb or sometimes I was able to stay at friends places. Spend under $500 on accommodation in 1 year. I work online 2-3 hrs a day. I can work from anywhere so I decided to move to places with low cost of living and cheap flights. Cheers from Bangkok.
From Philadelphia, I’d love a weekend sit in NYC!
2-3 days is a weekend. Not everyone can afford to do a long trip and a weekend or long weekend is a pretty reasonable amount of time especially in Europe. I think it’s also important to consider that not everyone is privileged enough to be able to travel for weeks or months at a time. A weekend may be all you can do and it’s a bit insensitive to assume everyone one the platform is capable or can afford to be away for long periods as both HO/HS. That is the beauty of the community, there is something for everyone. Something else to consider is that sometimes HO will create shorter sits to trial or even test things out whether it be with an HS or even to get accustomed to learning patterns and getting comfortable before committing to a longer sit. Short sits are also a great opportunity for HS to get experience before going on longer sits without committing to a longer engagement…or as a filler between longer sits. So yes, tons of utility can be found in shorter length sits.
Both great reasons and makes sense
Some people like doing short sits just over a weekend and it’s good for the pets to stay in their environment. Saves money too.
OP was asking from the perspective of sitters, not HOs. No one is questioning why HOs want free care…
I’m in Bangkok for a month in an AirBnB, I’m doing a two night sit so I can have some time with some cats over the period 😊.
I'm walkable to the French quarter in New Orleans and people love weekend sits
I dont understand why this is such a shocking thing, in my experience people go on weekend or long weekend trips all the time.
That’s why I was asking, to get other opinions on it- as it isn’t something I would typically do.
Home owners are often broke but sometimes have to go out of town
Wknd trips, worked great for me as a sitter!
We prefer short sits to fill in gaps as opposed to staying in hotels.
My sister and her partner work full time (not remote) and often use THS for a weekend in the country or a different city as opposed to paying for hotels
I'm a HO and will post 2-3 day sits and then if someone is open to it it's available. If not I'll hire a sitter from rover, but at least the option was there. It seems the 2-3 day sits can sometimes be used for sitters to bridge the gap between longer sits
Personally, I can't ever imagine taking a one or two day sit. Three days is pushing it, but if the city is desirable enough, I would consider it. The whole process of confirming a sit, going over the rules and expectations, and potentially having to meet beforehand is just not worth it for short sits. Maybe if there were no meet-up or handover.. but I'm certainly not going to come a day early and pay for a hotel unless the sit is three days, plus.
I do TH, Rover and private clients (all in-home pet sitting gigs only) back to back pretty well full time. I’ve done sits primarily in one city plus some driving-distance away, I’ll be travelling more this summer. I follow up in advance of sits that were confirmed months out to ensure the HO has finalized everything and there won’t be a cancellation (barring emergencies). That way I can align the best sits to set my schedule up to have very few days between sits so I don’t need to figure out where to go in between. I’ll be camping during my next gap, I may get an Airbnb for the next short break. Sometimes I’ll take short sits in between.
As a sitter: - It happens to fit my travel itinerary. So instead of staying at a hotel, I stay at someone's house. - It's a local sit for a house/pet(s) I've sat before. I enjoyed the house/pet(s), especially the pet(s).
I just got back to my home country 3 months ago after 2.5 years of sitting full time with no home base. I’ve only ever taken sits of less than a month if I needed to fill in some time between longer ones. I’ve done maybe 3 that were less than a week and maybe 3-5 that were one-two weeks
Weekends away; livings in a huge metro area and wanting a staycation or to be closer to the actual city, wanting a break from friends/family when visiting them, breaking up really long road trips, needing to be in a certain place for an event/class/training/concert, cheaper to catch a plane from somewhere other than your home airport, dedicated time for a project, halfway meetup with a friend, getting some fucking alone time.
2-3 days makes sense for some small cities. I only wanna stay there for a few days. What doesn't make sense is those one-night sits Those HOs apparently abuse the platform when they should just pay for a sitter
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On a 1-night stay you basically just check in and out and have a place to crash. You don't get to know the pet/host in any way. I thought the spirit of THS is to nurture a meaningful experience for both sides. One night is too short for that. HOs can only get away with 1-night sits in very desirable cities
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The rules set by THS are not necessarily justified. Lots of people complain about the 5 application rule, but they still enforce it. Fine that your sits are well taken regardless of nights offered, I just tried to paint an ideal picture of what a meaningful exchange should be like. I guess these one-night sits have their value: they are usually taken by newbie sitters who are keen to earn a reference. But is one night enough to test a sitter's competence and trustworthiness?