let’s hope so
I am waiting with a mixed sense of anticipation and dread for an announcement about this pausing ‘test’.
When can we expect your decision @Ben-ProductManager?
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Hi All,
The pausing test is still ongoing and we will be providing an update early next week.
Many Thanks,
Ben
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So is the test continuing in its current format until you make an announcement or has the pausing test been paused until then?
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As a fairly new member I am not sure where these updates will be available. Can you tell me if they will be on the forum or on the main website please?
Please do not implement this! As a Ho it does not work and causes so much extra work in the selection process.
I had a listing live weeks ago for a sit starting Oct 7th, received the 5 apps (3 of which were suitable) confirmed 1 sitter who unfortunately cancelled a few days ago. Went back to the other 2 and both now other sits lined up. (Fair enough) but In the pre pause days I would have had many more applications I could have fallen back on to at least reach out to.
Listed again, most applicants are not reading the listing and are applying with a single question and nothing else; Is there a car? Can I bring my dog? … These applications are taking up the precious limit until I respond and decline the application.
I want aplicants that have read the listing in full, feel its a good fit and when appyling do so with a well crafted application. I will respond in a timely manner usually within 12 hrs…
I feel as a HO I’m being punished for other HO’s lack of timley responses. Target those HO’s; but if this is all about trying to get sitters to apply to less desirable sits I think THS is barking up the wrong tree.
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This is a joke
I have spent 30 minutes applying an ad in NYC
once my message appeared of sending my application I count not send it any longer everything was blocked
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I am with you there. Already cancelled my renewal, but will reinstate it if they drop this ridiculous change. I also had been recommending the site for years, but have just told friends and family that were considering it to hold tight. I will move over to a competitor or two if they move forward with this.
I hope management and investors are paying attention…
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I agree with you Springy!
To me, this THS behaviour has all the characteristics of the new investors (Rockpool Investments – a private equity firm), who put in $10M last year, not being happy with the inability of new sitters and/or homeowners in less desirable locations to be successful. Under the current pricing scheme, the ability to attract and especially retain new customers is critical to THS growth.
I have told my wife for more than eight weeks that the reason THS is implementing this test is not to make HOs more responsive. THS needs to “Spread the success” by tilting the playing field to disadvantage veteran sitters. The assumption they have is that HOs will be willing to choose from the first five or so applications, thus giving some new sitters, who would not have been selected under the old approach, success. And that experienced sitters will then take that sit in Morristown, NJ when they really wanted to be in NYC. Or Slough rather than London for UK sitters. Close but not the same.
My guess is Ben and the CEO will be meeting with the leader of the new investors in the next several days, reviewing the results with an eye on how much success has been spread around, and then deciding whether to continue. It is a financial calculation – how many new customers they can retain vs. how many others they might lose.
This is the simplest way to explain their behavior. Why else would Ben, the staff, and THS executive leadership risk so much disaffection with its experienced clientele?
Be aware that even if THS chooses not to continue the pause, they are looking for other innovative ways to increase revenue. They had a marketing survey, which we responded to last month, that was clearly intended to establish price points of THS vs. Hotels, AirBNBs, B&Bs, Hostels, Campgrounds, etc. My assumption is that there will be a move towards usage-based services.
I hope I am wrong!
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Agree. I think it’s the end of THS as we knew it.
Goodbye community feeling, hello big bucks!
Sad…
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Yes @springy, I’ve been thinking about it as I cook my dinner, to be honest it’s rarely been out of my mind for weeks now. I do think it’s the end of an era.
Greed has taken over and what was a real community feel has ‘left the building’. I’m thankful for the wonderful adventures I had in the past, for the friends both virtual and real that I have made but if this is any indication if how the future will be I have decided to call it quits and move on to new adventures.
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However, the “rules” were previously established by each Home Owner and each Sitter.
Each HO could decide what was the right number of applicants and each Sitter could decide which sits to apply for.
The new rules are now being forced upon members by THS, like them or not.
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Having worked in the financial world previously, I’ve seen this sort of thing many times before.
There’s a successful company that gets bought by a new company.
The new owners feel they must change/improve SOMETHING because well, they can’t just sit there and let the successful system keep working, right?
They find something to change and do because they think they are very smart!
Their change does nothing but mess up what was working well.
So, they bought it becuase it was successful.
Then they change things to screw up a successful business!
If THS keeps this insane 5 pause system, the only good thing will be the fun in reading their spin on why it is so great when 99% of the almost 700 posts here think it sucks!
As I’ve said before, this 5 pause approach make the New Coke fiasco of 1985 look brilliant!
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Yours is the perfect response to this 5 pause insanity.
You have actually experienced the instant very brief responses that are sent only to lock in a spot.
Your options have been hurt and your time is wasted and you can’t see as many applications as you desire to make the choice YOU want.
NO ONE WINS IN THIS 5 PAUSE!
There used to be a saying about Henry Ford and the Model T, “You can have it in any color you want as long as its black.”
Ford realized they needed to offer more choices, not fewer, if they wanted to stay competitive.
THS is going from offering lots of choices to fewer.
That’s the wrong direction.
Hopefully, THS will drop the 5 pause immediately!
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Sorry to say so, but this reply is making THS looking less trustworthy than it already was. 6 till 8 weeks can’t be interpreted as 9 weeks or probably longer.
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My husband and I are full-time petsitters, so our lives depend on this web page (literally). We’ve been using TH for more than 3 years now.
We have had a terrible experience since this update came out. We always tailor our application to every sit…but oh well… now we don’t even have time to think about that cause the sit is already gone before we can apply.
We already lost dozens of great opportunities just because of this new feature. So we are stressed all the time because we constantly have to check our phones and be fast without even thinking if the sit is a really good match for us.
Therefore we hope that this feature will go away and never come back 
@Ben-ProductManager do you have any update?
P.S.: to be honest if we find a web page that is as good as this one but without 5 applicants rule - we would switch.
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Agree - i just missed a Manhattan sit reading these comments, Hadn’t been visible ore than 5 minutes.
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Couldn’t agree more. I’ve been with THS for about 8 years, but if this rule remains, this will be my last. I’m still searching for ANY positives to this inane rule change.
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This is I think the perfect answer!!
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The system for applying for sits and the HOs having time to review and consider sitters was working fine BEFORE the 5 application pause insanity!
What wasn’t working and where to improve?
Picture captions are only seen on the app, not the website (this has been complained about for over a year, I believe). If you find a sit you like on your computer, you then have to check it on the app to see if the photos have any captions! Seriously?!
Saved searches on the app and the website should receive notice of matches at the same time. Currently, if you save your search on the app you get match notices faster.
While HOs are supposed to post pictures of living areas, they don’t and THS is not monitoring and enforcing. Obvious solution: monitor and enforce. HOs should be required to post pics of the bedroom the sitter will be in, the kitchen, the living area available to the sitter, and the bathroom.
HOs should also be required to have a completed Guide online BEFORE posting.
HOs profiles should have info like is there for sitters.
HOs should post the size of the bed in inches or centimeters. Saying it is a full or standard can be misunderstood and is often wrong even though the HO didn’t mean to mislead.
So, to THS, if you want to improve services which will increase your profits, fix what’s not working and leave what is working alone!
Final thought… when I was in business and had a small staff, I was concerned about adding more staff and spending money on adding services. I asked my consultant who worked with people like me all over the country what he thought and he replied,
“You don’t need to worry about being overstaffed or not providing the best service. If you do things badly enough, you’ll lose so many clients that you’ll be understaffed soon.”
I added staff and provided more services. While my expenses went up, so did my profits.
THS, please stop the 5 application insanity, keep what works, fix what’s broken and improve to provide better service - not worse!
Oops, have to add one more thing. While I was writing this a match came to me on my phone. It was a sit I think we want so I immediately sent a VERY brief message, apologizing for how brief it was due to the 5 application pause, and that I would follow up with a proper application. The listing status changed to “Reviewing Applications” in less than 10 minutes!!! Insanity!!!
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