I used to be inundated with bookings. Lately I've had very few requests and none at all over the holiday weekend. I have all 5 star reviews and am a relatively inexpensive sitter for my area. What's going on?
September and October are historically slow periods for dog sitters. I also work with a local company that does walks and drop in visits, and this is a slow time for them as well. Families are not traveling because kids are back in school. The Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are coming soon, so hang on.
Yes Ma'am,
having same problem here in Tucson AZ. & Tucson is small.
Seems like since DogVacay merger took place booking requests have dropped off significantly.
I feel http://Rover.com is Saturating the Sitters List& the only way to regulate that is by http://Rover.com placing a "Cap" on the amount of Sitters per city.
Result being only a positive one by keeping the current sitters "Motivated".
This motivation and/or (momentum) will come from the current Sitters Receiving Continual Requests. Final result being a full calendar for the Sitter and http://Rover.com now has available spaces to allow more sitters to apply.
EVERYBODY WINS !!
Hi Regan:
September is usually slower for most sitters, as people tend to get "back to normal" with school starting, etc. The holiday season brings more business.
When I searched sitters in Brooklyn NY under $41 (just to look at those matching your rate or less) and saw 33 pages. The last page only had 8 sitters, but that totals 648 (32x20+8)! Although I don't know how that compares with how many existed when you were busier, I'd guess not that many.
I noticed Rover doing significant recruiting in my area - long before and after the merger, so in my opinion the recruitment adding to the sitters available is the reason. Other sitters have commented on this too.