We were recently revisiting a previously used emergency medical insurance firm Genki and observed that its pricing model is structured geographically in terms of US/WorldExUS.
Got us thinking. Perhaps THS already tiered membership pricing could similarly reflect geography?
Imagine if THS housesitter member - whatever tier - could choose to apply for listings in a) US only, b) WorldExUS only, c) Globally. And THS pet parent member could choose to receive housesitter applications from same three geographic groupings. Housesitters that chose to limit their applications to a geographic area (e.g. US or WorldexUS) paid commensurately lower annual membership fees. Similarly for pet parents. Those that wanted full global access paid higher annual membership fees.
Over recent years, US has represented ~50% of total THS listings so carving out US as a distinct geographic area seems material.
Perhaps such a pricing model could help housesitters, pet parents and perhaps even revenue-hungry THS.
Whilst the idea may work for sitters (pay more to expand search area), it doesn’t really work for home owners, as it’s probably to their advantage to have a sitter based in their own geographical location. The closer to home, the less chance there is of a sitter pulling out due to transport issues, less chance of issues arising from language barriers / cultural differences / lack of knowledge about a particular area. Sorry, not a terribly expansive mind-set on this one, I know, but why would a home owner pay more to take on more risk?
Wow!!!
This is probably the only proposal that THS is going to love. But I very much doubt that anyone else in the forum will. @GotYourBack, I think you are probably thinking of implementing a lower tier because I really don’t see why anyone would want to pay more for something they already have. Similarly, I don’t see why THS would want to charge less when people have already accepted to pay more.
They might be interested in getting into local sitting markets to attract new members, though. That would mean a whole change of concept, which I don’t like at all.
I am sorry but, as others have already pointed out, things are getting worse fast enough to give them even more ideas of ways to get more money and change the ethos.
As previously stated, don’t give them ideas. They will take whatever, just to charge you more.
Slightly different topic but related. They charge the same membership for all members globally, while many other global platforms and services have discounted prices for regions that are not that well off compared to US, UK & co, just to encourage growth…
THS costs basically the same no matter where you are located. I get it, it’s a question of money, but it’s obvious that they don’t want to invest into growing these markets.
I remember it was very frustrating signing up in a country where the membership is considered quite steep compared to the average income, and then finding out that the preview of the “offer/listings” they were showing for my region wasn’t even accurate (they were showing me HOs with no active listings, including HOs that didn’t host in years). I had to travel 7h for my first review as listings closeby are rare and few.
So by your logic (depending how they would draw out their map) the local tear would be basically useless to me and I would need to pay even more to sit.
Also I would say these regions have far less listings than sitters. So if a number of sitters will be limited to their region due to picking the cheaper package, good luck to anyone from outside Europe ever getting a Spain sit.
My membership has already been devalued over the years. It used to include insurance, video calls with vets etc. All these were taken away when the tiers were introduced.
They really need to start getting the basics right and provide a fit for purpose website and app regardless of which tier you are on and where you live.
Which exactly what they would/will do if they took/take @GotYourBack suggestion on board. They will add a supplementary fee to sit in other countries or continents.
The logic behind insurance pricing is based on huge differences in cost for medical coverage and doesn’t apply for THS, which just connects sitters and owners, there’s no extra cost for international sits, for highly competitive areas, for lovely mansions or whatever.
