I know I’ve had to create the saved searches on the app (not web version) in order to get notifications on my phone. Also, make sure on your phone under Setting/Notifications that you turn on Notifications for the THS app, so they come thru. Hope that helps
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@AliG as a counterpoint I think I find it less stressful although I don’t have experience of the old system. If a notification comes through and the dates don’t work or it’s already gone I move on quickly. It wasn’t meant to be! If I’m lucky enough that the dates line up and I’m in the first five I have a good shot at getting the sit. I wouldn’t love being able to apply to everything but get declined all the time because I was one of 20+. I’m also the sort of person who doesn’t mind checking the app pretty regularly. It’s interesting how what works can be so different for different people. It would be nice if homeowners had the option to set how many applications they wanted before it went to reviewing - I wonder how they landed on five as the magic number
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Thank you for the explanation!
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Hi can you let me know the name of the site you joined please? We find it difficult ro find suitable sits now due to the 5 limit rule
Thanks
We joined Nomador which has a lot of good sits in France. Also Mind My House.
Good luck!
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Thank you!
@AliG how have you found MindmyHouse?
It was good! Not the quantity of sits as THS though. We are extremely choosey and found some lovely, higher-end sits.
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We have been members for just over a year and have done 8 already with 2 more to go . We have had the same thing happen ,but now understand why sits are gone before you get a chance , as we have been invited back to 5 of the sits completed they have to relist the sit again before they can confirm you back. Preserver and it will work out it’s worth the wait
“If they would’ve been recently bought out by a private equity firm for $100m.” Thanks for this insight. That explains the unfavourable changes for us customers. As soon as another platform will offer the filter “use of car included” I would try that platform. This is the advantage of THS for me so far. And this filter hasn’t been reliable recently. So I wait and see how things develop. I predict they will loose customers due to their unfriendly new policy.
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If a home host wants to invite you back, they do not have to re-list publically, they can send you a private invitation to do the sit again
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I just wanted to pop in and mention that the recent Investor update isn’t related to any changes that Trusted Housesitters have made to the platform.
Our CEO confirms in this blog post that there won’t be any changes to the way THS works as a result of the change.
There are no changes to the team as a result of the investment and any platform updates are part of a wider plan that the team has been working on. The team is constantly looking for ways to improve how the platform works and has always done so.
Although I mentioned improvements, the Forum team do understand that some members aren’t happy with some of the updates that have been made, or with how things have evolved.
The Forum acts as a place for members to discuss their concerns, with the Forum team feeding back wherever possible, we are also letting members know about any potential opportunities to help test potential changes and give feedback to the Product team to try and mitigate any concerns.
Jenny
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As a Sitter and THS member since 2018, we will definately be renewing our membership this year!
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As a host I feel 5 responses isn’t enough anyway so why can’t more apply THS?. This is purely because we want more people to get the chance to apply and if the 5 who do apply don’t seem a fit we are also restricted in opinions. I’d support the possibility of 20 applications. Although lately I look at who is following us and send a private invite to apply.
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I am very frustrated with the recent change of not allowing communication with hosts if our sits overlap by 1 day. Drives me effing crazy. Bad feature. But I do think THS is the best platform, even with these ridiculous recent changes.
However I do think they are DEAF to the absolute frustration these new changes have caused. I feel like they take their clients for granted, sadly.
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By declining sitters who don’t seem a fit I believe that opens it up again for more applicants up to the five limit but perhaps someone else can confirm how this works as I am a sitter not a host.
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@LizBCN it does. And you can do that as many times as you like. But if its a popular sit, it will fill up with those with the fastest fingers yet again and the sitters that might be perfect but slow will miss out again. (And again and again), especially if they are in a different timezone.
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I understand that you cannot make everybody happy but concerning this unlucky new policy in regard to overlapping sits it is not only “some members” who are dissatisfied: you closed a chat because it had reached 1000 posts. Why close it? I would think the company must be interested in accommodating its customers’ needs - for the sake of its own profits.
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It looks like you’ve misunderstood what happened there - we don’t normally give detailed information about moderation decisions but in this instance I’ll explain.
The discussion post reached 1000 posts, meaning it was very hard for our members to read through, and understand what had previously been discussed. Many members were coming back with concerns that had already been raised.
Our message confirming that no further action would be taken around any feedback was also lost, leading to frustration from those who felt they hadn’t been heard. We decided to close the post and start a new discussion, with the old and new discussions being linked to each other. We also took the opportunity to confirm the outcome of the previous feedback that we had passed back to the team as it had got lost in the previous discussion.
I know you’ve already replied on the replacement thread I started after closing the older post, but just in case, I’m linking my explanation here which gives a full explanation about why we closed it and the purpose of the new post.
Just to be clear - we’ve not closed the original post to avoid any further discussion - and we’ve started a new one which is specifically for members to continue discussing their concerns. It’s just that we don’t have the power to make any further changes and need to set that expectation.
The Forum is a place for members to connect and chat about all sorts of issues relating to house sitting, and that includes discussing changes to the product which they might not be happy with, but the Forum team are here to look after the Forum and its members and as such don’t have the power to make changes to processes. We can only do our best to make everyone’s voices heard, and in this case, we’ve done all we can do but wanted to respect our member’s feelings by providing a safe space for discussion.
Jenny
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I am also finding my saved search doesn’t work. I have specified Spain (I live in Lanzarote)and every evening when the posts come up they are either not currently in need of a sitter or are reviewing applications, so I’m not sure why I am receiving them.
I do manage to get sits in England through general search.
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