Working out vacation time with a full time Rover business?

My wife and I took an Alaska Cruise this past June. I am a daily walker and have a full calendar Mon-Fri each week. What I did was notify my current clients of my upcoming vacation 2 months in advance and offered to assist them in finding a Rover walker to cover during my vacation. It worked and all my clients were happy with the advance notice and time to book with another walker.

I actually recruited my neighbor to rover.com (and got the referral $50 amazon gift card as a bonus!). She is a stay at home mom interested in making extra money and of course a dog lover and someone I trust very much. Most of my daily walking clients live in our apartment building so it was convenient to train her and she was familiar with a lot of the dogs before. She created a rover profile and business cards and I passed them out to my clients when I let them know I'd be out of town and that they could contact her instead. It worked out great!

Whenever I go on vacation I make sure to block those days off on my calendar or I set it as "Away." I definitely have to plan my vacation way in advance because I have been booked solid. For example, I am going away in October for a few days. I blocked off those days back in July. If you are not available and they need you they are just going to find another sitter that is. It's really not a big deal unless you already have bookings on the week you are moving.

I send every one of my 105 customer a message 90 days in advance letting them know of my planed vacation. I have a few great Rover sitters in my area that I trust and refer my customers to during my vacation. Then if for some reason I end up with Rover dogs I will explain my vacation plan and have them meet the person staying at my home that will be caring for my dog and theirs. I have tried 4 times to take a planed vacation and still end up with Rover dogs. People love and trust me and want their pups in my care. I hope that gives you some ideas and good luck! Amber G.

There is a Facebook page for Sitter Referrals (my Facebook is showing an error message so I can't get the exact name). Search for Rover or Referrals and something should pop up. You can post on there to see if anyone in your area can help.

Is this something you could contact Rover Support about? I know they will find a sitter in an emergency. Maybe they could give you names of some sitters/walkers in your area.