That is just bizarre that anyone used to dealing with scores of various animals themselves would think looking after scores of animals constituted a free vacation lol…
No, i very much see it as a free place to stay.
I sit where i want to visit with pets that i either can take with me on my adventures or don’t need much attention and can be left for several hours while i explore the area
I don’t see looking after the home and pets as work, its a pleasure with free accommodation chucked in
@LiamSits
I guess maybe you’ve encountered problematic HOs? In over 80 sits I’ve not had 1 when I felt unreasonable demands were being made of me. Maybe I’ve been lucky or know how to read the listings well to find good ones.
I do get your irritation, especially with the HO who commented on your free vacation. Vacation implies no responsibilities when pet care is a responsibility.
But your analogy of a boss telling an employee they will no longer pay them but provide a free desk, phone, office isn’t valid. In an employer-employee relationship a salary is expected. Payment is not expected on THS, it’s an exchange.
It’s also not accurate to say a boss sending an employee on a business trip gets free hotel as a benefit. Again, the employer-employee relationship is fundamentally different as the business trip is part of the job they are PAID for.
Because no money changes hands on THS, it’s an exchange of a home/location for pet care. Whether the responsibilities of pet care are worth the exchange of the home/location is up to each party to decide.
It is exactly this! But from our perspective as sitters we get to do so much more travel because we save thousands of $$$ on accommodation and as home owners with no pets, we get the comfort and security of someone looking after our home while we enjoy all our extra travel adventures. Definitely not free but definitely a win/win.
@LiamSits just ignore all the white noise!
If you feel like you’re “working” then you look for the wrong sits.
What I mean by that :
If you feel it’s a job bc pets need a lot of attention and “work” - go for low effort sits . Maybe rather a cat sit .
If you feel it’s a job because you don’t feel at home - look for appealing sits in nice houses rather then big touristy places where tiny apartments bc it’s the only affordable way to live there .
If you feel it’s a job bc the HO treats you as an employee, be really careful while looking for a sit . Have multiple messages , ask questions, have a videocall . Check for the HOs “behaviour/ mindset”
It is really important to set boundaries, either on THS or in life.
If a host acts like they are my boss I just decline ( was the case once ) 
Not on my sits I haven’t. The HOs have all been great thankfully. And the sits l’ve done have been amazing.
Like you I filter out all the listings that don’t vibe with me and what I’m looking for in a sit.
It’s the bombardment of marketing by THS where they reference the sit as being ‘a free place to stay’ that’s the source of my annoyance. It’s germinating an increasingly unhelpful and unhealthy impression of sitters and their motivations for sitting from some.
My point doesn’t really have anything to do with if a sitter is working, or ‘feels like’ they’re working or doesn’t ’feel like’ they’re working.
But I will just state caring for a stranger’s animals and home is work. Just because you don’t always ‘feel like’ you’re working doesn’t mean you are not working. They’re are hundreds of jobs out there where those performing them say they don’t ‘feel like they’re working’ - that doesn’t mean they are not actually working.
My point is - staying in the HOs home is a requisite for the sit. A sitters presence in the home at certain times of the day is pretty much always listed in the HOs expected responsibilities of a sitter. The home is essentially a tool provided by the HO that allows the sitter to perform their responsibilities. For THS or anyone else to suddenly spin use of a tool necessary to perform the certain duties into a distinct tangible benefit for performing those duties is quite incredible… almost as incredibly as the amount of people that see a sit as ‘I get a free place to stay’
Yes, I would also have been taken aback by the free-vacation comment, but maybe they were comparing to their own vacation?
I am right now doing a three-week return sit in Groningen. The dog is a perfect joy, the home is comfortable, within walking distance of the center yet quiet. I am having a very relaxing time, where also expenses for food and drink can be low.
Compare that to the family with two kids, travelling through Europe while it is hot!
Firstly your statement that no
money changes hands isn’t quite true - this is just another marketing catchline from THS. HO are entitled to request contributions to or payment of utility bills - and l’ve seen several listings expecting such from sitters) and there are accounts from sitters detailing such monetary payments to HOs
Secondly, i believe my anology is valid.
House and pet sitting outside this little
THS bubble is actually a paid job. I myself have done several paid pet sitting gigs. It’s only because THS have come along with some fluffy marketing campaign that all of a sudden people believe looking after other people’s pets in their own home isn’t worthy of financial reward and that sitters can now be ‘compensated’ by simply staying in the house where they’re providing a service.
A professional house/pet sitter obviously stays in the house and is paid to do so.
They don’t ever think they’re getting a free place to stay and the HO who are hiring them never think they’re providing them with free accommodation.
Something that an employer must provide to and employees in order for them to perform their duties is not a perk of the job - it’s a tool.
On a pet sit the HO provides use of their home to allow the sitter to perform their duty caring for that home and the pets.
The home is a necessary tool. It is therefore not a perk or benefit.
THS are obviously desperate to market requisite accommodations as a benefit because they can only grown as a subscription model business and satisfy investors by attracting more and more sitters and HO’s willing to pay for subscriptions. And they’re not going to do that if they can’t somehow convince sitters and HO they’re getting something for free.
HO are clearly getting a service that normally they’d have to pay for - house sitting and pet care
It was a little more of a struggle to find something they could claim sitters would get for free but with some clever marketing they’ve managed to convince quite a few folks that they’re getting a free place to stay in exchange for providing pet and home care
If you want to buy the marketing and believe you’re getting something for free then go ahead.
One, in my opinion, it is a lot of work to take care of dogs. Particularly large puppies. It is very different to sit a cat. You have way more time to have a “vacation”. But how you use the service, reflects the value of the stay. I need a place in LA area for 3 weeks, for example, to help my kid move out of her campus apt, put stuff in storage etc and a place for her to stay before she moves into her summer sublet. And then again in Aug for the reverse. It would cost me thousands in hotel bills. So having a “free” place to stay, while I have a need to do this, is great. And both times, it was/will be a small dog, that can be in her apt while the moving stuff takes place. But I feel that it is worth about $50 per day in “free” labor. Or $100 for the 2 large puppies – but that sit was not part of the moving part – but part of my daughter needing a place to stay in between. So by providing the dog sitting, I save the hotel bills. But would not call it a vacation.
I love taking care of dogs. It never feels like work. Even if, as mentioned in some other thread, I need to wipe their bums occasionally (baby wipes are great for this!).
Cleaning up to a pristine standard on the day of departure the house feels like work though! 
The mental gymnastics humans do in order to feel like they’ve got something for free or at a bargain price is truly astonishing.
I guess it’s no different from people who buy in bulk because they believe it’s ’saving them money’ or those that take up a ‘buy two get one free offer and who actually believe they’re getting something for free.
It’s all marketing and smoke and mirrors - playing with human psychology.
That mental gymnastics is part of daily life. It’s called decision making and everyone is entitled to decide what works best for them even if that may astonish others.
@LiamSits Are you working undercover for THS?! Your post has certainly elicited some wonderful responses about why sitters enjoy offering their services in exchange for accommodation. I wonder whether we’ll see any of these popping up as quotes in marketing material any time soon! 
Of course!
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and to express it freely.
Yeah I’m not sure some of them would go down so well with HO who truly cherish their pets and are looking for sitters who will treat them as their priority…
Maybe THS isn’t a good fit for you. Rather than dismissing a platform that has proved equitable for thousands of people, find something you are comfortable with. I mean, we don’t throw public transportation out because some prefer to drive their own vehicle.
THS isn’t for everyone, neither HO or sitter.
I heard about THS years ago via word of mouth among folks who liked the platform. Never saw a single ad before signing up myself, years later. I decided whether it was worthwhile by reading up on terms and how THS works.
It sounds like you’re insulting everyone who thinks that THS is worthwhile, because you’ve assumed that everyone has been hoodwinked by marketing. It might surprise you to know that many folks are capable of making up their own minds, even if you disagree, and your disapproval doesn’t matter to them.
It also sounds like THS doesn’t align with your beliefs, so maybe find another platform that better matches. I’m beginning to wonder if you actually want to or have been earning your living by sitting and are threatened by the THS model and what it offers to many folks.
Same. I heard about it when visiting a cousin, and one of their friends was house sitting nearby. I’d been involved with Couchsurfing, so I understood the idea immediately.