Obviously people are not willing to help another platform grow, even though it’s for free. I don’t understand this, because they would have nothing to lose. It’s just 30 minutes of “work” like signing up, going through the verification process and copy and paste their profile/listing. This takes about 10 minutes and the other 20 they screenshot their reviews and have them automatically added.
So my conclusion is still: it can’t be that bad.
People typically gauge the likelihood of their efforts being returned. If they don’t think it will succeed, effort isn’t likely. It’s not free if you have to give your info, etc.
Even if Plan A sucks (subjective), that doesn’t mean that you’ll automatically go to Plan B, if you think that sucks, too.
@Franzl Interesting conversation here, I’m just jumping in with my 2 cents.
Given that memberships span a year, I wouldn’t expect to see a quick mass exodus. Many will leave when their membership expires. For some, that may not be until December (or later if they have free months from referrals). For me, I was up for renewal last month and already had sits scheduled beyond my renewal date. I did renew for one more year so I can honor the commitments I already made. Although, of the 8 sits I currently have scheduled, 6 are repeats that reach out to me directly before listing to see if I’m available. Those can certainly be taken off platform in the future.
I think switching over to other platforms will be gradual. Many may keep their THS membership for awhile and also join new platforms as they grow and will leave THS once they are getting enough sits elsewhere. We aren’t limited to using only one platform. Personally, while I do have my THS membership for another year, I am joining other platforms. I’m planning a trip to Australia and New Zealand and there are good alternatives for sits there. I think one or more of the new or existing platforms does have potential to grow and become real competition for THS. However, that won’t happen overnight.
THS is focusing on quick money and doesn’t seem to care about improving the platform or addressing the needs of members. I think that will really hurt them in the long-run.
That’s exactly what I’m doing. Why not have a foot in some different platforms, especially if they offer a free membership for at least one year?
Of course I am still a member of THS and I wouldn’t leave as long as my membership doesn’t have to be renewed. I turned off auto renewal and I decide when the time comes if the other sites have grown enough to be relevant for me. For the time being I post dates on all sites and wherever I find suitable sitters, I will confirm them. So even still being a member here, might not mean that my sitters all come from THS.
I also have some sitters who I ask before I go live with dates and I already know which time of the year they most likely want to come back, so we plan accordingly.
Everywhere you sign up you have to give your info. The others out there aren’t any different from THS.
They loose time and effort. This is a deeply studied topic, so you can look into it via various studies and theories.
Actually, this is harder to get people to do than you seem to think.
People always consider: What’s in it for me? And they typically want something immediately, not some unknown long shot that they might get something from eventually.
Many businesses struggle with this problem. And the failure of new businesses, especially startups, is high.
Even though there are studies, doesn’t mean that I understand why people don’t take a multi-pronged approach.
A free membership…
A free membership to a business that has no inventory is worthless.
Somehow we go in circles.
If people don’t sign up (for free) there will never be anything to profit from.
Yup. That’s basically the challenge that many businesses face.
Well given that in spite of the anger of the membership I see that this extra £9 per sit fee for sitter and host is going ahead so on that basis I am glad I cancelled my auto-renewal and that my sitting days through THS will soon be over.
Seems to me that the best thing to do, once a non-member, is to continue to sit for people you have built a relationship with and forget about THS, that’s our intention anyway. Just do it on a private basis.
I guess at say 5 sits a year (£45) plus the THS membership fee (£129) that’s a loss to THS of £174 which doesn’t seem very sensible to me.
If is costs £9 for each sitter and host per sit that’s £18 so one member leaving costs the revenue from just under TEN sits under the new arrangements.
Look at a one night sit for example. Could someone remind me why I would pack up all my stuff and go to someone’s house, using my fuel to get there, in order to look after someone else’s pets and then pay an external company £9 to do it? That’s the stuff of madness.
Nice one THS
I’m not stuck at all. I’m leaving 
@QFB If you’re leaving with a purpose, please also consider joining one of the new sites. This will have double the impact by at least giving the new ones a fighting chance of survival.
By the way, TrustedHousesitters seems to be counteracting the exodus by offering premium membership for the same as a member’s current level, if they’ve taken off auto-renewal. It’s their way of retaining members unwilling to pay the per-sit fees. Not sure how that will work for all involved, long-term, but TrustedHousesitters doesn’t seem to address long-term retention of members anyway.
Hi, Thanks for the suggestion but we’ll probably just house sit privately, there are plenty of options, or just stick to the motorhome.
I took off my auto-renew when this lunacy was first initiated.
Currently a standard sitter and my membership expires on 2026-10-21 and nobody has offered me any kind of inducement to stay so that will be the end of our membership.
Fact of the matter is I don’t care whether people leave THS, go elsewhere, or whatever they do as I try to concentrate on only those matters that I can control myself. That means not paying out £9 per sit and not paying out £129 per year after 2026-10-21.
The people I do feel sorry for are the hosts who are looking for sitters for maybe 1-2 nights, I think they will be hit hard.
I think lots of members are leaving because what they are offering is even more than that. I was a premium member who left. Not because I didn’t want to pay booking fees, as they did not affect me directly but because I am mad at the enshittification process. To get me back, the offered premium for the price of basic, which is a discount of over 50%. I accepted the offer just to buy myself more time but I am losing interest in THS. I haven’t even searched for sits after rejoining I very much doubt that I will be here next year and I do hope that alternative platforms grow enough to be successful competitors.
@Newpetlover Wow, when they make offers like this to you it must really infuriate those who were not treated as generously when they renewed. The more members share these deals, the more negotiating power it gives those whose membership is due for renewal. With all these deals they’re making to retain members they’ll maybe need to earn a lot of per-sit fees to really make a positive difference to their profits.
I found it easy to get sits on Nomador, another platform. I just recycled my THS sitter profile and linked to my reviews from hosts on THS. (My THS membership won’t expire for a long time, because of paid membership + free bonus months for referrals, and there’s nothing stopping me from pointing to my THS reviews even to do sits off the books or on another platform.)
On Nomador, not only did I quickly land sits by applying, I also got unsolicited invitations to sit. That included offers for long cat sits in France while the hosts went RV’ing or went to their second home.
My joining Nomador had nothing to do with THS fees — my joining happened long before THS announced booking fees. I originally joined to see if I could get sits where THS was thin.
At the time, I found Nomador’s UX janky and I was getting more THS sits invitations than I could do, because of repeat sits and referrals to hosts’ family and friends, so I canceled Nomador. But I can always rejoin them.
I’ve also signed up for one of the new startups that are trying to compete against THS, but I think it’s a nonstarter. From what I’ve observed so far, they’re super green people doing the building and they’re making missteps already that will keep them from succeeding.
Marketplace business in general (which is what THS and other sit companies are) are notoriously hard to get traction with, because it’s always chicken or the egg when it comes to attracting one side of the marketplace vs. the other. Even experienced builders have problems launching such businesses.
Exactly my thoughts!
That’s why I am sharing my experience. I’m becoming a bit repetitive but I know how unfair it is for others who religiously keep paying higher fees.