We have been using house-sitting organisations for many years and, looking back, we feel the character of applicants has changed quite noticeably.
In the earlier years, many of our sitters were older travellers — often Australians or New Zealanders — making long European trips. A house sit seemed to be a useful pause in their journey: somewhere to stay for a while in exchange for taking responsibility for the pets and property. They generally appeared very appreciative of the arrangement.
More recently, we seem to encounter more destination-led sitters: people who specifically want to visit a particular place and see the house sit as a way of making that trip possible. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, of course, but it can create a rather different set of expectations.
It has made us wonder whether the culture of house sitting is changing from “responsibility in exchange for accommodation” towards “travel opportunity with pet care attached.”
For those who have been using house-sitting platforms for a long time, have you noticed anything similar? And for sitters, do you think of a sit primarily as a responsibility, a holiday, or inevitably a mixture of both?
I’m not sure there is a clear delineation between the two profiles you put forward. My wife and I fit into both (we are sitters).
What I believe is happening is that the concept of sitting has been broadened, through THSs marketing and has captured other sitters who may be sitting for various reasons, sometimes where the pet, home or even the destination, isn’t the primary purpose of sitting.
Reddit is a dumpster fire of these outliers creating drama because they don’t understand the mutually beneficial arrangement or sense of community that THS once established as the core of their business model. Now it’s about $$$ and the platform is reaping what it sowed.
Fortunately there still seems to be a core membership (both sitters and home owners) who find each other resulting in terrific experiences. We have only been sitting for three years but that’s our observations.
That is interesting, particularly your point about the concept of sitting having broadened. I agree that the two groups are not mutually exclusive — some of our best early sitters certainly enjoyed the destination as well. What feels different to us is the balance between the opportunity to travel and the sense of responsibility that comes with the exchange. I’ll be interested to see whether longer-standing members have noticed a similar change over time.
We’ve been house sitting almost full time for nearly 6 years. And across 30 countries so for a wide range of hosts. Like @Oztravels we fall into both categories and are mid 50s, still working online and using THS to facilitate slow travel, long haul wish list destinations and ground us in a country more than as tourists. The two main marketing messages that THS has perpetuated since the ridiculous employment of a NYC based agency are - travel for free - stay in Airbnb’s without the costs - snuggle some pets - & so on. Frivolous carefree type statements. So it’s partly their fault that this has changed the target audience, but also people are trying to live differently, travel cleverly, find alternatives to just handing over cash for big trips. On the flip side, there are hosts being told “choose from an unlimited pool of sitters” which has created a sense of entitlement in the exchange that experienced sitters try and avoid. I think we all have to screen better for a good fit for all including the pets. #progresspainpoints
What I read is that you find the first group to be financially secure and did not have to use your property to make travel possible. The other group you describe you feel can only travel if they have a free place to stay and you see different attitudes and care with the two groups.
I personally don’t feel it’s the reason behind this type of choice of travel that makes a good or bad house pet sitter. I think finding a person that will respect your property and understand that pet care is much more than just providing food and water. I agree that frivolous marketing will attract the wrong pet sitters and homeowners. There is responsibility on both sides and mutual understanding. Maybe asking more questions and asking how they see their time spent here. If they only mention all the great sites they want to see without mentioning interaction with your pets that would not be the person for you.
We are your first group, early retired Aussie’s who initially sat in the UK partly as a way to wait out the Schengen period. Discovered we really enjoy it as a way to travel. Enjoy having borrowed pets. Really love not disrupting the housing market using Airbnbs. Wish we could make it work for us more than we do. I definitely think the marketing has missed the mark.
For us, as a couple in our early thirties with nearly two years of experience caring for pets through the platform, it is honestly a mixture of both, and I think that is entirely reasonable.
We work online, which means that on weekdays we are usually at home all day with the pets, following their routines and giving them plenty of company and care. On weekends, we enjoy exploring the area, always while planning around the animals’ needs and responsibilities.
We genuinely love animals, and caring for them is never just an “extra” attached to a trip.
For us, it has to be a balance. We would not pay for international transport, visas, insurance, and other travel costs in order to provide full-time pet care with no benefit at all. That does not make us less committed or less appreciative of the opportunity; it simply reflects the mutual nature of the arrangement
No idea on the number or proportion of THS members that are long-standing - THS does not publish related data. Weblink to non-THS survey below suggests that very few housesitters have anything close to 13 years experience.
We’ve been full-time housesitters for 3.5 years. Views similar to @Oztravels and @Cuttlefish. We agree with prior to prior comments re THS Marketing - ugh - and related expectations of some new members. We switch between your two noted profiles. Early retirees then we have completed numerous longer duration housesits in our home country (Canada) and enjoyed plenty of variable duration housesits in 20-25 countries.
We perceive that the housesitter community is remarkably diverse in terms of personal situation, housesitting objective and listing preferences. Perhaps housesitter profiles vary depend on underlying objective? Someone housesitting locally vs internationally probably have different goals.
Parallel to your question about changes in housesitter mindsets then we’d be curious on long-term changes in listing profile. Duration, geography, pets, time before start date, etc.