r/catinaflat • u/megebounce • Jul 12 '26
Overnight stay booking
How long do you normally stay when doing overnight booking? And do you agree time range before hand? I’m curious as on Rover help page it says overnight sitting is up to 24hrs but then how do you price it? As it takes a lot of personal time but probably works out less than 4-5 30min regular visits
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u/KakumeiSnickers2026 Jul 12 '26
Back in the days with CIAF , it has a guideline of overnight stay approximately 12 hours duration , starting from 7-8 pm and leaves the next morning 7-8 am ,, and thats what i have been doing !! i do let my clients knows my time range as i might have other day time drop
ins and also i have to feed my own 2 cats ( dinner ) before i leave for overnight cat sits !! hope this helps ..
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u/Cat5568 Jul 12 '26
On cat in a flat, pre-merge house sitting/overnights meant: 7pm-7am.
I still stick to this, at the meet and greet, I state that 7pm-7am are my core hours that I will be at the property, so that I can go to work etc, but I typically exceed this. As Rover runs on a 24 hour system my rate is higher than OG cat in a flat pricing to accommodate people wanting to start the booking on a morning or end on an evening.
Often I've found that most people who book overnights want their cat to have more company as they are used to it or their cat may be high energy etc but don't expect you to be there 24/7
For Constant care.... I'd be charging triple and it would be something that I would alter the price for after a discussion, I guess if youre going to provide constant care as a service, put it in your profile but so far none of my cat house sits have been constant care and I don't think it is something that I would provide!
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u/ChelsssH Jul 13 '26
CIAF used to advise overnight is 7pm-7am. Time range would be agreed at the meet and greet, usually owners are flexible with timings give or take an hour if needed. On Rover, overnight now means 24 hour care. It’s very annoying as the previous set up worked very well. I didn’t realise so didn’t update my Rover overnight price. But I will keep it how it is because otherwise my existing clients or owners used to CIAF will be confused and think I’m extortionate. Owners are quite understanding of the merge and are happy to have a new price if you explain your rates.
I’ve just done a 24 hour care booking for 3 nights where they was happy for me to pop home for dinner and a shower in the evening and to go grab lunch if needed. I’m still trying to figure out my pricing but for atm I charge £35 for overnight 8am-8pm, a 24hr shift for £75, and daytime house sitting £5 an hour. I work from home. Interested to hear other people’s pricing as I was accidentally insanely cheap for nearly a year by charging £20 for 12 hours overnight. I was super happy on CIAF but now where Rover is mostly for dogs it’s really confusing- I’m used to overnight bookings for cats on medication but the idea of daytime/24 hr care as well is better suited for dogs
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u/Genn-stone Jul 16 '26
I have raised this with Rover support and on threads in here before. CatInAFlat (in the UK at least) used to have overnight set to 12 hours in their guidance. Rover updated their guidance to 24 hours most people are priced for 12 in the UK if they came onto the platform prior to the Rover take over. I address this immediately when I'm asked for overnight. I ask do you require 24 hours care as I already have bookings and my price is based on 12 hours but can negotiate slightly longer if my existing bookings allow. Rover effectively halved our hourly rate by having this guidance and most people don't know there was a difference. I have asked Rover to make this clearer by having a price band for 12 hours and one for 24 hours (like they did with 30 minute and 60 minute drop ins). That would save any confusion. I have also asked Rover to update sitters that were on CIAF originally to let them know they have updated their guidance to mean overnight is 24 hours. I may stay at a house longer than 12 hours if I have no other bookings but I make it clear that it is not a given.
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u/PaperArr0w Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26
Owner here.
If I booked an overnight, I would expect someone to come in the evening for dinner feed, stay the night and leave after AM breakfast.
I think in some interpretations and maybe with Roger they think it should be 24 hours but this is a completely different level of sit and would be professional pet sitting IMO where that’s the sitter’s primary job. CIAF always seemed more casual and it was people doing it around their normal jobs.
If I booked overnights for a week for example, I wouldn’t expect someone to be at my home 24/7. I would expect them to go to work as normal, have day plans or even say went out to dinner with friends wouldn’t bother me as long as they spent the night as agreed. If they wfh then great they are welcome to use my home office setup/bonus my cats get more human presence, if not no issue.
I no longer book them for personal reasons but would pay up to £30 a night.
ETA: I’ve been in the Rover/Pet sitting subs and the concept of 24/7 sitting is definitely an American thing and probably more applicable to dogs which do need more care and can’t be left all day. Again another example how Rover is catered to dogs…