I noticed that in the recent survey that TH sent, there was no question about whether or not you like the five-application limit. I guess they already know the opinions on that.
Hello owners (and anyone else reading!). I have been using this platform since 2019. I remember with glee the first year. I had 40 applicants. I was able to communicate with them all at once. I could review, create my shortlist and then we would interview each other. Oh the good ole days!!!
Now, when my ad comes alight sitters know they have to act fast so they apply without considering the details. I get stuck having to decline everyone and/or waste time back and forth until we realize there is not a fit for this reason or that. Never has a process of hiring anyone to do anything been so trying.
I know this subject has been discussed over and over and I know that THS will not stop this ‘pressure feature’. I am just ranting I suppose because my frustration is so high. Well now I have put an Attention to Potential Sitter notice at the top of my ad so maybe that will help. Was never necessary before.
Thank you for listening.
As a sitter, I believe the most helpful thing a homeowner can do is to place an ATTENTION TO POTENTIAL SITTER NOTICE at the top of the listing. I find that it indicates right up front if the sit is something potentially of interests to me. The more information included by the homeowner, the better educated the sitter will be before applying.
I am very obviously the odd person out on this subject, as the 5 application rule has had no affect on our ability to find, apply and be selected for sits. I’m also of the mind set that if I didn’t see a posting or didn’t get the sit, it simply wasn’t meant to be. In the last 3 years, there has never been a time I couldn’t fill my calendar, when I chose to apply for a sit. I am still very particular with the sits I chose to apply for and I would hope the home owners are equally as particular in making the choice of who will be entrusted to care for their pets. So far…so good!
I am not sure what sits are really the problem? I have several searches going (country, dates) and even though I have push notices I would say most listings I see in my searches receive applications for at least several days.
I see «country» goes fast, but that country also has very few listings in total, so not much to go around.
Although I am «new», with no reviews until recently (and According to advice in forum my profile pictures are all wrong and my applications are too short… 
) and I still have made two sits already, have one booked and will maybe get another one shortly.
Hi Joanne, Yes I think so too. It took me awhile to realize I needed to do that. I am happy that you have commented in agreement. Thank you.
The 5 sit restriction puts pressure on the hiring process and I can see that THS wants this to keep the system moving. I had learned how to manage the way the platform worked before this restriction. Now I had to figure out how to get the attention of sitters before they took the next step of applying and using one of my precious 5 slots. This I believe is an important addition, however I just confirmed a sitter I had been speaking to before I added this so next time, we will see. 
Lucky you! I’ve had many times in the past couple of years that I’d like to a sit during a certain time of year and cannot fill my calendar… e.g. don’t manage to get a sit even though I really want to, because there aren’t enough suitable sits to go around, competition for the more popular ones is high, and they fill up quickly due to the 5 appl rule…
Sometimes it gets to the point of me frantically refreshing the website again and again and again, with only short intervals in between, to try and not miss out on popular sits that could fill up with 5 applications within less than 10/20/30 minutes
So, why not use that ‘wealth of feedback’ to improve your website? Your members keep this thread alive because this ridiculous rule is so frustrating for so many of us…
Hi @Dee
We’d love to be able to act on all the feedback we receive, but unfortunately the Forum team doesn’t have that kind of power.
The best thing we can do for our members is give them a voice, by making sure we pass along any feedback we receive, and asking the team to consider it if any of the points raised come under review.
Jenny
@Jenny - I would like to file a bug report concerning the auto-pause feature. It is a bug, it is detrimental to both sitters and HOs, it is arbitrary, and it is not what your CUSTOMERS want.
Hi @elmi4711
As I mentioned in my original post when I started this topic, we can’t pass along any further feedback to the team on this particular subject, though we are happy to keep the discussion open so that if we have the opportunity to advocate for you in the future, all the feedback will be in the replies.
I’ll copy and paste what I explained in my OP above. If you scroll back up to the top you’ll see we also included a statement from the Product team along with a short timeline and some links to where information about the feature was discussed.
Now that we’re nearly a year on from Carla’s update, we wanted to clarify what the Forum team can and can’t do.
The Product team have confirmed that there won’t be any further changes made to the feature.
As the feature has now been in place for nearly two years, the Forum team are no longer actively passing feedback to the Product team about this feature.
The Forum team understand that many of you are concerned about the update and wants to give you a place to discuss it with other members.*
The Forum team is happy to provide you with a new discussion post but won’t be able to answer any further questions or pass on any further feedback.
The Forum is a place for members to connect and chat about everything to do with Trusted Housesitters rather than a place to submit requests for changes to existing features.
While the Forum can pass on feedback for a limited time when a product update is announced, we can’t ever promise that changes will be made as a result of any feedback we share, though we will always advocate for our members to the best of our ability.
The best way to have a voice is to sign up for future beta testing opportunities (we’ll advertise them on the Forum) so that you can help the Product team with feedback and suggestions on future features.
You’re welcome to continue to discuss the five pausing feature in this discussion post, with the understanding that the Forum team will not be collecting feedback or answering any further questions, we will only moderate the thread in line with our Community Guidelines. Because there’s a dedicated discussion for this topic, we’ll merge any new posts about the feature with this discussion post.
Thank you for taking the time to read this final update from the team!
Jenny
@Jenny - (let me rephrase). I have read all the threads, and I understand that somebody high up in the food chain has made an executive decision to change a feature.
For us paying customers, the current implementation of said feature is faulty and detriments the service delivered. So I want to file it as a bug report. Please put me in touch with the corresponding manager.
Hi @elmi4711
The five pausing update is a change rather than a bug so I’m unable to submit it as a bug report.
I’m sorry that you’re unhappy with it, but our position remains the same, I’m unable to pass on any feedback.
Jenny
(see my edit, should explain a bit more)
If you’re unable to forward the information to the corresponding team, please point me to your customer satisfaction officer.
Actually, not really. A sitter only needs to be in time to open the application window before a sit hits reviewing status. After that, there is plenty of time to read the listing and the reviews, to study the photos, to look up airfares, to discuss with a partner, to decide to apply or not, to compose a good application. It does not matter whether that comes in as number seven or eight.
The problem is that THS does not give that information. If they put such instructions in the application window, that would be good for everybody, sitters and owners alike.
And for the company, I would think.
I have made the suggestion several times. It would not require THS to change policy.
Hi @elmi4711
I had a look at your update, but I can’t put you in touch with a Product Manager, as they aren’t customer-facing and their final response is mentioned in my original post.
We don’t have someone with the specific job title of Customer Satisfaction Officer, but after checking in with the Membership Services team and explaining the situation, they’ve recommended that you email support@trustedhousesitters.com who will log your feedback and direct you to the correct person if you’re unhappy.
Jenny 
Isn’t your view a bit of wishful thinking?
I’m sure I’m not the only HO being faced with this, but my listing goes on pause between 5 and 15 minutes after I post the dates. Now I have to unclutter and re-post the dates and do it again. In the “olden days” i could myself pause when I wanted, and that was generally around the ten-applications mark.
My experience is that sometimes I get my preferred sitter right away, but very often the first three are just “see and click” snipers, some of which don’t even bother following up on their initial sniper message. I must then weed those out and repost to get genuinely interested sitters in.
From a sitter’s perspective I can imagine this being difficult as well - if you are not using the app (which is not so well-liked anyway), and wait for the email to arrive, you’re already to late to even open the application window. If you don’t have reception (or bad reception), you’re out as well. If your phone acts up while you try to apply, bad luck to you, you don’t have a chance to apply when you get to your laptop. And typing a personalised application is nigh impossible on a phone anyway.
Cutting off hard makes this a game of chicken or, what came to mind, an auction, where you have to be decisive but also quick. I can’t fathom this to be a pleasurable experience to any sitter. And don’t try telling me this is good for new sitters because now they can get in. Most of them can’t, because they don’t even understand the system yet.
For me and my (popular) sits this is a really bad bug in the system. Similar to “who liked your listing” not giving information about how it’s ordered, and me not being able to kick people off that list…
Yes, you summarize well what sitters experience for popular sits since the 5 application rule was introduced…
- Email alert arrives too late
- Not glued to your screen? You’re too late
- Poor wifi, go offline for a moment and then back on (for example, close the laptop, walk to the train station, open the laptop and continue) - you’re too late
As Piet says, the only time you have enough time is when you actually manage to open the Application window before it hits 5 applications AND don’t have any interruption in Wifi/reception while applying.
If you don’t ‘catch’ the listing before it hits 5, or if you loose connection while applying and the listing already hit 5? Too late
Ah, Canary islands!
If THS would give instructions on the application page, I believe that two things would happen:
- applications would be well-considered and better written
- it would take longer before reviewing status got triggered and more applications would come in
Anyway, it seems to me it would be an improvement (however marginal) if THS gave such information in the application window. But I don’t understand the company, there are so many things in the user interface that they could fix with minimal effort. And they never do.
@elmi4711 Agree, the 5 pause rule is a real issue for both sitters and HOs. For example, as a very experienced cat person who travels in Europe a lot, your sit is one I would probably apply to. However, I would most likely never see it since it would go to ‘reviewing’ quickly and I can’t be on the site at all times. I can look at popular places I’d like to go and see that there are many sits that are reviewing. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to apply to those sits. Sitters only have limited access to sits now and HOs have limited ability to get applications from interested sitters. Even if you decline and unpause, you can still only get applications from sitters who happen to be online at that time.
Same boat - experienced cat sitter, doing sits in Europe (continental Europe that is; I don’t live in the UK and only occasionally do sits there).
A few years ago I did a wonderful sit in France. Then this year I was back in her city and we met up. Really nice. However, since the 5 appl rule I’ve never seen her listing again. Turns out: it wasn’t that she didn’t post any dates; she actually posted plenty of sits, but they filled up to 5 before I would catch the listing.