Does TrustedHousesitters have a two-tier system for sitters?

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
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Hi everyone,
I’m posting this as a newer sitter who really believes in the idea behind TrustedHousesitters, but is starting to notice something that feels more structural than personal.

A large proportion of my rejections say some version of: “We went with someone who has sat for us before.” I completely understand why homeowners do this. Trust matters, and when you’ve already had a good experience with someone, it makes sense to choose the low-risk option.

But when you zoom out, this creates a bigger problem for the platform.

In high-demand places like London, a significant number of sits don’t really circulate anymore. Homeowners build private, ongoing relationships with a small number of repeat sitters. Those sitters effectively get access to long-term, rent-free (the number of people doing this in London to not pay rent is a lot), while newer members are competing for a shrinking pool of genuinely open listings.

TrustedHousesitters continues to recruit and charge large numbers of new sitters, but many of the most desirable sits are already “spoken for.” That means new members are paying into a system where access to housing and experience is increasingly concentrated among people who are already established.

I don’t think repeat sitters are doing anything wrong — they’ve earned trust and relationships, which is exactly what the platform encourages. But structurally, it creates something like a two-tier system:

  • one group of sitters who are effectively inside the loop and can rely on ongoing accommodation

  • and another group who are paying to try to get in, but rarely get the chance to build that same trust

That also raises a pricing question. Some sitters are extracting a huge amount of economic value from the platform (months of free accommodation in expensive cities), while others might get one or two short sits a year abd yet everyone pays the same membership fee.

So I’m genuinely curious how others see this.
Is this just an inevitable outcome of a trust-based platform? How do new sitters break-in?

Or should THS think about ways to keep access circulating for example through limits on consecutive repeat sits, different pricing for heavy users, or incentives for homeowners to try new sitters?

I’d really love to hear perspectives from long-term sitters and homeowners as well as newer me and how to get sits!

<3

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@PollyJ welcome aboard! What an interesting observation and it’s something that should create lots of answers and opinions.

Personally I have been with THS for several years and yes I suppose my success rate of securing sits has increased with my reviews and growing experience. I have done lots of repeat sits and some off the platform, a trend I believe which will grow with the instigation of new booking fees etc. This will become true of shorter sits because people always seek value for money.
I get the impression there are growing numbers of sits being advertised and some Home Owners are getting organized more quickly to have the cream of the crop of potential sitters.. There are definite strategies being used to hook in the applications.. very low maintenance pets .. can be left for x hours! Automatic watering system in the garden etc view of garden with a chilled bottle of wine and full glass- tells you something about the marketing!

As sitters age they may choose to do less demanding sits. Some restrict themselves to one Pet or just cats etc. Repeats are also easier for both Home Owners and sitters as learning the ropes takes time and once pets are comfortable with a great sitter, why choose another?

If I were a Home Owner in this context I would want a choice of seasoned sitters I’d already had success with - after all great sitters tend to be busy ! So I could always fill the gap with a great fit.

Just some of my thoughts.. But don’t despair you very quickly become experienced and popular in this process. I have more pets in my life that ever!

Happy Fishing and Happy New Year!

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While I understand where you are coming from I think you may be overthinking it a bit. In reality the platform is just a match making system that is connected to usual dynamics of supply and demand. I’m sure there are an equal number of home owners (at times) who are frustrated that they can’t get a sitter or can’t get a sitter to come back because they are already committed. As we will never be privy to THSs data we will never really know. In our experience there are more than enough quality sits (in Europe) to satisfy our needs and that was no different than when we were “newbies”. It’s simply a matter of putting the time in. Do we get every sit we apply for? No, but we are maybe 80% successful. Good luck.

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Welcome to the forums.

I started on THS last March & so far I’ve had 15 sits, with 5 more scheduled this year, booking me through mid-April. About 1/3 were/are repeat sits…some via Hosts reaching out, some via application, and one scheduled their holiday because they knew I was going to be in their area. So you really can build up a booking calendar quite quickly, with some work — and once you do you may even find yourself spoiled for choice, or even a little too busy! :joy: That being said, I consider myself a part-time “vacation” sitter. I don’t work, nor do I do this for long term living accommodations (I’m not a digital nomad & I have a permanent home.) I just enjoy pets & travel.

Sits in some areas are always going to be competitive — London being near or at the top of the list. Not impossible; I’ve scored one in London, one in Hawaii, one in Dublin. I do think it would be next to impossible to build full-time petsitting accommodations in a city like London, however…at least via THS. I almost think you’d have an easier time of it as a professional paid sitter, tbh; have you considered it?

I don’t think your ideas about limiting repeat sits are really workable or desirable. Many repeats don’t even happen on the platform, & the outcry would be understandably loud. I’d oppose any efforts on that score; I love my hosts & their pets, & go out of my way to accommodate them for repeat stays.

If the issue is being new & needing to bulk up your ratings to become a more competitive choice when applying, though, there are a number of threads here with strategies to do that. I started by doing sits within 3h drive from home — especially last-minute sits — and stated in my profile that I welcomed invites. So there are ways to do it, with a bit of effort & flexibility.

Another idea, if you’re struggling, is to link your THS profile to your forum profile & ask members to review & suggest improvements.

Hope that helps some…best of luck!

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I have 40 reviews, and I have been offered several London sits lately, and none of them repeats. I think it is more about that and less about repeats. I think “we went with a repeat” can also be a white lie (you can verify it once the sit is complete).

Another thing you can look is how many of the London sits actually do have many repeats in their reviews. I saw this one ad in Netherlands where almost every single time it had been the same person - but this is rare in my experience. There might be no repeat sitters available, the sit might be short (if I sat full time I dont think I would take anything shorter than 2 weeks), there are plenty of reasons why hosts cant even choose a repeat.

I do think that if the fees are not lifted as some crazy fever dream, they should be balanced. For example that the fee would be lifted if no-one applied to the sit in the first 24 hours. It’s not much money: but it is an extra step when you as a sitter choose the road less travelled. Other than that, THS model does not really offer many fixes to the (probable) situation you describe? Because, as they like to tell, they are match making service, so they have no interest in stopping paying members from making the matches they want.

And all in all, my fist sits were in tiny villages in Welsh countryside. Amazing places, I loved them, and the hosts were kind enough to fetch me from the train station and provide me food - I did not have a car, so there I was, stuck (in the middle of beautiful Welsh countryside, but it was not the mushroom season). My sit 4? Berlin. Sit 6? Milan. Sit 7? Paris. They come. (Or maybe I am just romanticizing and you are actually right and first times have it so much harder nowadays.

I mean despite getting a lot of great sits because I am experienced etc, I dont mind a raffle where everyone who applies in the first hour gets into a pot and host only sees random 5. Never gonna happen, does not bring money to THS (and might make people leave), but I am all for ways to make the game less like a sprint and more like a Russian roulette.

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If people are looking to use house-sitting as a means of securing free housing over the long term, rather than something they do occasionally, they have to think carefully about this, especially if they are of limited financial means. There is no guarantee you will find sits back to back all the time, especially in certain locations. Cancellations or sits ending early are always a possibility.

I have been a full time sitter since 2014 and have been able to make it work. Cancellations have been rare. Booking back to back sits is usually quite easy and we don’t ever end up with large gaps in our schedule. Also I don’t do repeat sits all that often.

This is just a matching platform and THS cannot guarantee sitter members they will get sits. They can’t control how hosts use the platform and they certainly should not involve themselves in doing things like limiting repeat sits, etc…. They are under no obligation to make things ‘fairer’ in that regard. While I don’t agree with the 5 app limit it hasnt affected my ability to land sits in highly desirable locations.

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We sit in the North of England, and just over 3 years ago we were newbies too (I sit with my partner). We only joined THS to sit just now and again, but we were hooked from our first sit, and within 3 months we were sitting full time (and rent free as you put it), and also within those first 3 months we applied and got accepted for our first sit overseas. And also within the first 3 months we got accepted to return to sit for the same places for later dates too… and we were new back then.

There is only 1 thing that was different between us and yourself… we weren’t applying for a location where there was an enormous number of sitters applying, apart from the overseas one. So get some good THS reviews behind you, only 3 reviews changed everything for us.

I don’t feel repeat sits create a bigger problem for the platform, I feel it probably helps to resolve it, because new owners continue to join who have no previous history with old sitters, and return sitters help keep some of their older members happier too, who stay as members for years, just because they loved their sitter.

Plus there are a huge amount of sitters who don’t want return to the same places, they want a different change of scenery, which I think is the bulk of sitters, from what I understand from the owners we sit for.

As for the price, yes it would be a good idea if those that sit less than 3 weeks per year got it for cheaper, but then THS would also have a higher cost to try to ensure those people returned the following year, as they would probably find a different way of doing things, with it just being a few weeks of the year.

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It’s logical for hosts to choose whomever they think best for their pets and home, and THS or any other business in its place would be crazy to thwart that. If you don’t like your odds as a sitter, it makes sense to factor that into whether to join or renew. Of course, keep trying to strengthen your profile, applications and reviews if you stick.

Personally, I joined about three years ago — without any sitting references — and figured I’d have the best odds by producing the best profile and applications possible. That meant putting myself in hosts’ place as much as possible and addressing what they’d care about most. I did that and was quickly able to get sits (sits are more plentiful than ever, so that helps). I started across the country from me, on the U.S. West Coast. Built strong reviews and ended up doing London as my seventh sit. I also was soon offered an unsolicited three-month Hawaii coastal sit, for example.

I think it’s easier than ever to build a strong reputation and reviews, gauging from what THS old-timers have commented on the forum vs. what I’ve experienced.

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I host in New York City. We travel several times a year, sometimes as sitters. It’s a “coveted” cat sit. I’ve collected contacts with people who’ve sat before and people who’ve almost sat for me before, and usually I see who is interested before posting a sit. I am still more likely than not to post the listing because most sitters will not always be able to return to a sit on the dates the sit is offered.

Some owners may simply post and figure the sitter will respond if they want it. Some previous sitters may see the sit is already in review but they are able to contact the homeowner without applying because there is a previous contact, so they have that advantage.

Many homeowners in those locations do have higher criteria that may include previous site experience, but you never know how you might connect to someone. It’s always worth applying.

Your best bet would be to write a nice note back to the host, letting them know you are still interested if things don’t work out and you’d welcome the chance in the future. There are a lot of places in the world that aren’t as great as London, NYC, and Paris, that are still worth looking at and won’t be as difficult.

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I came cross a listing like this, actually I figured out later that the owner listed the sit for that sitter he uses repeatedly all the time, they don’t want to do it off the platform they want the assurance the platform offers, they keep leaving each other 5 star views every time, which is meaningless to others as they would only say nice things. In the meantime the owner wants to make sure in the future in case that sitter can’t make it he can still get someone else, so he replied saying it’s not that you are no good, they just chose the sitter who has sat for them before, “she immediately applied and they immediately accepted”, please apply next time, their town is a beautiful place and you will enjoy their home blabla….

I always find this type of listing cringey and stay away from it.

Also I don’t get why the sitter repeatedly sit for one home whenever they need a sitter, as it means they are not too far away and they are flexible, then why don’t they do paid sit?

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I started to think of reasons why someone would repeatedly sit for a host for free at what “might be” a nearby location and I came up with several, such as they’ve become good friends, the sitter gets a break from wherever/whoever they live with, it’s sort of like a vacation home for them, they have grown attached to the pets. I was racking my brain trying to think of other reasons and then I realized it’s none of my concern what other people do and why they do it as long as it works for them and no one is adversely affected by their actions.

What’s cringey about a sitter and a host repeatedly working together and leaving 5 star reviews for one another? Clearly they get along and are expressing their mutual appreciation for one another. What I don’t get is why a host would list public dates and accept applications if there’s no intention to choose anyone else. That’s what the “send private invite” function is for. It also doesn’t make much sense to go through the THS platform when there’s an established relationship between the two parties. A simple phone call to confirm availability would suffice.

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There are so many question marks, I’m not sure why I just wish them can work together forever and don’t want to get involved.

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From what you wrote it sounds like they don’t WANT anyone else to get involved.

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A host can invite someone directly (on the THS platform) without posting the sit publicly. Some hosts just don’t know how to use that functionality, so they end up posting sits publicly that aren’t actually available to anyone else.

Some of us sitters get private invites that way or sometimes the hosts ask privately off platform — in the latter case, then it’s up to that host and sitter pairing to decide whether to use the platform officially. Previously, I had asked for the host to use the platform, but since I’m going to be quitting THS, I won’t.

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I didn’t know that function either

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There are other listings with reviews from one sitter only repeatedly, I don’t know whether they want new people to get involved or not, but I don’t apply

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Sitters that are year-around sitting in one place (like for example London) are probably better off by doing this through a paid service.

There seems to be another tier, a “club” or a “list” of sitters that get the sits of the really nice mansions in the Caribbean with only a tortoise to take care of.

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It would naturally follow that if you don’t apply you won’t know what’s going on. What do you have to lose by applying? Every situation is different. Even if it is a preferred sitter situation, there may be times when a host needs or wants someone new. At one point their favorite sitter was a stranger to them as well. You could become another favorite sitter and have a regular sit if you wanted. You’ve got nothing to lose by trying and having a conversation with the host prior to accepting the sit if it’s offered to you. Asking about there being reviewed by only one sitter is a reasonable question.

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The reality is that a large number of homeowners and sitters who have been here for a while, and are already connected, are arranging sits off-platform to avoid the new booking fee per sit. It’s just closing things down

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How do you know this is the reality? Have you spoken to large numbers of homeowners and sitters?