Hello - new user here so forgive if I missed something here. I’m experiencing the same issue but from the owner side. We just posted our first listing a few days ago and accurately put our location as Mount Rainier, MD which is on the eastern Washington, DC border. We could have put DC because everyone knows where that is, but we did not. However, when I search for sits in Mount Rainier, MD it shows me things all over, including in DC, and ours does not even show up until the end of the second page.
I would think anything that is in the actual town you are searching for should pop up first? Also it is a new listing so thought it may be closer to to the top of the list and we are new members. Maybe it doesn’t work that way though? Any help you can provide would be welcome!
Homeowners, if the location where THS lists your home is not accurate, it would be a big help if you included the name of your town in your heading or in the first paragraph of your introduction. Thank you.
Elise,
You did the right thing to place your home in the actual town where you live. Your town’s name is right under your photo, and your dot on the map is correctly placed!! Congratulations! If sitters want to stay in your exact location, they will find you. When you search by entering the name of a city/town, you will get surrounding areas. In the US, I find that searching by county limits the results. I tried this for your county, and indeed it helped. Sitters also look at the maps, and your home shows up where it should, so someone looking for a sit in your area will be able to see that. I agree that it would be nice when you enter a particular city, those results should show up first!! Seems logical. Perhaps THS could improve this function.
Is it only me who is a bit annoyed because many owners do not share their location accurately?
Wouldn’t be great if they were obliged to insert their ZIP / Postal code in their add instead of calling ‘central’ anywhere 20 minutes by train from the real city centre? It would save us time googling, applying and starting chats just to know exactly where they are located.
For instance: Geneva is in Switzerland and many owners living in France and with bad connections advertise themselves as “beautiful house and dog in gorgeous Geneva”…etc. Same applies to Berlin (my Goodness, 30 minutes outside Berlin is no longer town but the forrest!
Super annoying, and especially annoying since Trusted Housesitters has the information and could force Owners to be honest about their location, but for some reason (which they will not reveal), Owners are allowed to mislead Sitters. I wish someone would explain WHY they allow Owners to mislead Sitters. Complete waste of time all around.
@noeliapj@PVGemini
We did a lot of sits in large country homes in the UK this summer and many were in small hamlets. A number of owners said they deliberately used the next town/village instead of their own because of the security risk rhat their home could be identified (should they not get a sitter and it is unoccupied) they always shared their true location immediately on request.
I think that reason is valid.
We did have one host on the French side of the Swiss border who advertised her place as in Geneva, Switzerland as she thought it would attract more sitters!! That is definitely misleading.
In her case it was only a 5 minute walk to the border but even so…
Thank you very much. I think in big city cases they should definitely ad their Zip code. Some areas in London have turned dangerous. I wouldnt be bothered in Hackney for instance.
Not the case Sheryl! When creating the listing, you’re asked to input the nearest town or village - there’s a dropdown menu to choose from, and then the pin in the map is automatic. I first chose Westcliffe then realised the map had it as being a town in Kent instead of Essex - so, as I live in a suburb, 5 mins from the hub of Leigh, that’s the next accurate option.
(Desirable is in the eye of the beholder - I prefer my beach)
I think if people can’t be bothered to give accurate information regarding every aspect of their home and circumstances in searching either for a sit or to be a sitter then I simply would discount them. It shows a sloppy mentality and can lead therefore to problems further down the line!
Sometimes your home location isn’t an available option. We live in Scarborough, Queensland, Australia and it wasn’t an option to choose as a location for our sit listing. So we chose Brisbane 30km away but clearly stated in our listing where our home is. Despite asking THS to put Scarborough Queensland on their list (there are 3 Scarboroughs in Australia) it hasn’t happened as they use some third party crowd for their location map designations that they have little control over. As a home owner it’s very frustrating to not be allowed to choose an accurate location for our listing (and we are in a desirable bayside location).
When I recently filled out our new HO listing site, the field that needed to be filled in is labeled “indicate the nearest big city,” so I did but then that is the city that showed in our listing title. I changed it to the actual town we live for accuracy.
Is that “nearest city” field a layer for safety/security to give just a general area idication?
But all good to know so that I will confirm the actual sit location when talking to a HO for doing sits.
@HelloOutThere That is a great question and some owners that might live in a tiny hamlet or very rural location where there are not many houses prefer to put their nearest town or city. This can be a privacy and safety issue until they have connected with a sitter. This isn’t applicable for many members, but you can always confirm their exact location if you are unsure. I know having the exact location is helpful for sitters looking at transport etc.
Carla, are you suggesting that a potential sitter use up one of the five applicant slots with a brief question about the homeowner’s location? Or that the potential sitter put effort into crafting a full, careful application when they don’t yet know if the location is suitable for them? Either way, it seems inefficient for both the homeowner and sitter. It would be FAR better for the home to show up accurately in a verbal search, and to show up in a highly localized little map circle exactly how Airbnb does it.
I understand your concerns, as mentioned this is not very common at all, as not many owners are in that situation. The owner chooses where they put the location and what they feel comfortable with or feel reflects their location. I would encourage as with every application to ask as many questions as you need to make sure that the sit is right for you. The owner can always decline any applications and new slots will open up for others to apply. I will pass on your feedback about Airbnb and its location function. It is always good practice to look at other options. Thank you.
I think the former option is perfectly fine. As @Carla noted, the PP can always decline someone to unpause. And the PP can still communicate with the applicant.
I sometimes write wall-of-text emails (shocking, I know), when I’m sure a shorter email will be more likely to get a reply. Just saying sometimes starting with a (legitimate) brief opening can be better anyway.
That said, my preferred choice is—as you suggest—for TH to simply copy how Airbnb does it! I’m sure TH knows, so in the meantime I just try to make do with the tools we have.
I just saw a listing with this headline. What a glaring misuse of location. Nowhere in the listing does it actually tell you which small town. FYI: Greater Toronto population, 6 million; City of Toronto, 3 million.
As someone who lives what can sometimes be a 1.5 hr drive to Toronto on a good day (2+ hrs many other days), I am disappointed that an owner would list their property this way.
Owners, please realize that sitters want a reasonable idea of your location so that they can assess whether they want to be there and how to get there. Mystery listings are rarely a draw for sitters these days - we just move on to ones that provide clear details.
Agreed. I routinely skip listings for example that mention the city, but not the neighborhood or any other reliable location details.
Info just about the home isn’t anywhere enough. Like what good is it to hear about how many bedrooms, what kind of streaming video, etc., if we can’t even tell >where< the home actually is?
Some hosts wonder why they aren’t getting (many) applicants. It’s because their listings lack basic info that most people would want even just to consider applying. And that’s especially worthless when they mention cities where there’s plenty of competition. To me, it’s skip, skip, skip. Onto better listings, where the hosts actually have empathy for prospective sitters.
@Snowbird. I saw that listing and thought the same as you. Very misleading if one isn’t familiar with the area. Appears to be HOs new to THS and ‘secretive’ about their location
