Two months of free lodging in Lisbon could sound prefer it’s too good to be true. But travellers like Ryan Woods have been tapping into freebie stays all over the world for years.
In truth, in the summertime of 2022, the Ontario-based journey blogger behind Out With Ryan spent eight entire weeks having fun with Portugal’s capital, all with out paying a dime for lodging.
The catch? There have been a number of — all within the type of the lovable cats and dogs he pet-sat within the properties he stayed in.
Offering pet-sitting companies in alternate without spending a dime lodging is nothing new, however any such bartering is trending upward. For instance, TrustedHousesitters — a well-liked on-line platform that connects pet sitters and pet mother and father, based in 2010 — has seen their world membership develop by 130 per cent since 2020.
And since 2022, amongst Canadians alone, pet-owner membership on the web site has seen an uptick of 60 per cent, with the variety of pet-sitter members rising by 83 per cent.
Before you get to guide any free stays, nonetheless, membership does contain shelling out some money to the platform. The payment to hitch TrustedHousesitters as a pet sitter is $219 a yr, which additionally contains insurance coverage and on-line help. Still, that’s far lower than the typical nightly lodge fee in any massive metropolis.
Woods, a member of the web site since 2018, has been capable of journey to greater than 10 international locations for prolonged visits, hotel-free, by means of pet sitting. His job as a social media strategist offers him the flexibleness to work from anyplace on the planet.
Besides the apparent draw of with the ability to save money, Woods loves getting to remain in several elements of a metropolis over an prolonged go to. “It allows me to explore more unique neighbourhoods like a local while looking after adorable cats and dogs,” he says.
For retired schoolteacher Sharon Lucy Robson, she wouldn’t have been capable of go to Australia along with her husband 4 instances, for 3 months at a time, with out the free lodging they’ve snagged by means of pet sitting by way of Aussie House Sitters (the place annual memberships ring in at $84 AUD). She estimates that they’ve saved $50,000 in lodging by pet sitting in Australia whereas escaping winter at their home in rural P.E.I.
There are drawbacks, in fact. You can’t, for one, sightsee from morning till evening if you happen to’re pet sitting. Fido has a schedule for meals and walks, in spite of everything. But with two cats of her personal and expertise as a former canine proprietor, Robson isn’t fazed. “You can go out for four or five hours, just like if you had your own dog, and sometimes you can take the pet with you for the day,” she says.
Besides the logistics, pet sitting additionally comes with the stress of caring for a pet, which can name for rolling with the punches once you’re purported to be on trip. Robson has needed to handle dogs that weren’t properly socialized, for instance. Another time, she and her husband arrived to find that the canine of their cost had undergone emergency surgical procedure the day earlier than — which meant they have been housebound for 3 weeks whereas the canine, donning the cone of disgrace, recovered.
Pet-sitting older animals comes with its personal issues, too. There’s that powerful dialog you might want to have with the pet proprietor earlier than your keep, about what you must do if something occurs with their pet’s well being. Robson recommends ensuring that you simply’re each on the identical web page, “and that the owner realizes their dog is 16 years old and may die of a heart attack any day now.”
If you’re overly specific in regards to the esthetic of your lodging, pet sitting is probably not for you. While you do choose your stays, this isn’t a lodge the place you may guide your most popular suite, with all of your favorite facilities. You could possibly be sleeping in a multimillion-dollar, 5,000-square-foot mansion or a country little bungalow. (But listings do undergo an approval course of and embody photographs of all dwelling areas.)
For travellers like Robson and Woods, the advantages outweigh the potential downfalls. And the perfect factor in regards to the expertise are the creature comforts, from the lovable and fluffy “roommates” to the cosiness of staying as a visitor in somebody’s home.
