No, not really. Most seem to charge a daily rate. I found one that looks like a challenger to THS, but it’s UK only, I’m sorry to say.
I don’t want to generalize, but I see more demanding listings on THS than on Nomador.
This one is only for a week to take care for a cat in Fulham. They ask for your LinkedIn profile, they want working professionnals people, someone staying most of the time at home and with gardening skills.
Nomador listings have little info across the board, including what sits offer. That’s because Nomador’s interface is crummy and limited. But if you prefer its listings, by all means, get a membership.
Absolutely. It’s technically considered by law as work that should be paid. The other day my client off the platform happily paid 70/day and provided food. Two dogs. No walking. The entitlement on here can be wild. It’s a blessing sitters are willing to do this labour for free. The accommodation is a blessing, but not if it’s unclean and comes with significant levels of control and chores in and around your freedom and monitoring (without pay).
- Homeowners who prefer cat sitters who could stay most of the time at home !
- Restrictions due to the number of hours the pets can be left at home !
- If you can’t left the pet more than 4 hours , how can you visit a new city/area including public transport travel time.
- I get the feeling that this job on THS is being offered to locals who work remotely.
How about asking a pet sitter for video calls with your cat? That happened to me recently. The same person also asked me to look for a private document and send her a photo, so she could do some life admin stuff while on holiday. Yes, I paid a booking fee for the privilege, because my membership renewed way back in January.
The videochat with the pet is silly and a bit over the top! But not hard to do to make a quirky petlover happy! Sending a photo of a private document for a host? I wouldn’t give it a second thought and it’s a bit surprising that you would have an issue with helping the host with such a small ask.
After finally reaching a live person on chat, I received a refund for the booking fee. I tried at first to request by email, but support never replied.
Thanks very much for the info, which will be helpful for other forum members.
Although I’m premium and not affected by fees, I think it’s important to share this kind of information and encourage others to keep trying and claim what they are entitled to.
In general, lots of companies make refunds too complicated so that people give up and they keep the money.
Maybe we should all buy a small number of shares
That would entitle us to attend share holders meetings then we could vote for real change for THS members 
THS is owned by a private equity firm. Its shares aren’t publicly traded. Even in cases when companies are traded publicly, minor shareholders have no say.
I’ve noticed a lot more ‘low applications’ coming up when I search now which will surely have a knock on effect and sitters won’t renew either. I’ve renewed because I put my membership on hold for 3 months but a sit I’d agreed to well before fell in the three months so they renewed my membership and took the fee anyhow…
It’s not worth me paying almost double what I paid as a standard member because I probably only do 6-8 sits a year so the £9 would still be cheaper.
That said I will no longer do short sits, sits close to home that aren’t somewhere I’d pay to go but enjoyed because they were free and I was helping someone out. I’ve yet to book a sit since my membership was renewed and I’m not sure how many I’m likely to do in future.
Hey everyone!
I’ve been using TrustedHousesitters for about a year now, and I’ve genuinely loved the experience. I’ve spent the past 12 months building my profile, collecting reviews, meeting homeowners and establishing some great relationships along the way.
However, I’m pretty disappointed with the introduction of the new $18 booking fee for both sitters and homeowners.
I completely understand that TrustedHousesitters is a business and needs to make money, but I feel like this new pricing structure is starting to take away from what made the platform so appealing in the first place.
As sitters, we’re already providing our time, labour and care without being paid. Of course, we receive accommodation in exchange, but we’re also taking on a considerable amount of responsibility looking after people’s homes and pets.
Now we’re being charged an additional $18 every time we confirm a sit, on top of an annual membership fee. And the homeowner is being charged too!
For people who sit regularly, that adds up pretty quickly. It also feels a little counterintuitive to introduce a fee that effectively penalises people for using the service more frequently.
I’m also curious about how this might affect homeowners. If you’re already paying an annual membership fee, are you really going to want to pay another $18 every time you need someone to look after your home or pets? I wonder whether this will discourage people from listing sits, particularly those who travel regularly or only need someone for a few days.
And if fewer homeowners are posting sits, there are fewer opportunities for sitters. Equally, if experienced sitters start leaving because of the additional costs, homeowners have fewer people to choose from. It feels like a pricing decision that could end up making the platform less appealing for everyone, not just one side of the arrangement.
I reached out to customer support to express my concerns and enquire about a loyalty discount on Premium, particularly as I’ve already invested so much time into building my profile. I was offered 20% off, only to discover that the exact same discount is automatically offered when you attempt to cancel your membership through the website. Not exactly the personalised loyalty offer I’d hoped for!
I’m not necessarily looking to leave TrustedHousesitters. I’ve invested time into the platform, I enjoy house sitting, and I’d love to continue. But I am starting to question whether the membership still represents good value, particularly when there are other house-sitting platforms operating without individual booking fees.
I’m curious to hear how everyone else is feeling about this change.
- Are you happy with the new pricing structure, or has it changed how frequently you apply for sits?
- Have any long-term members managed to negotiate a better membership rate or receive a loyalty discount?
- Are you considering moving to another platform, or already using alternatives alongside TrustedHousesitters?
- If so, which websites or apps have you found worthwhile, particularly in Australia or for international sits?
I’d genuinely love to hear everyone’s experiences, including from homeowners. I think it’s important that the people who actually make this community work have a say in how these changes affect them.
Thanks everyone!
So just read up the giant thread you have been merged into, plenty of opinions, most if not all unhappy, but THS is not changing their minds.
A lot of sitters and hosts are unhappy about the booking fees. Many have left and some sitting off platform with previous hosts.
Some have upgraded to premium but suspect THS will start charging booking fees eventually for premium as well.
As Cathie states THS won’t change anything.
At least you had a reply from support offering 20% discount for premium. I emailed months ago and never received a reply so I’ve turned off auto-renew. I understand a lot of members have done the same.