This is definitely not true! I am a HO and after receiving 5 applications, THS sends an email that I now have either to choose one of them or decline some in order to be able to get more. If owners don’t check their mailbox it’s not THS’s fault. As bad as I find this 5 application rule, I have to say that it is clearly communicated from THS’s side.
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I am happy to hear if they have added that feature or fixed some software issues. I never received emails nor have the other owners who were surprised to learn. These are highly educated, type A personality types of people who are on top of their lives. I have done private invites for my last two so cannot speak to what would happen now.
The website and app also function differently so that seems to create some inconsistencies for different experiences. No idea if that has played into this issue.
This feature isn’t new. It was implemented exactly at the same time as the 5 applications rule.
I was aware of the rule because of the forum and since then I read about home owners, who have no idea about it. This is not true.
Someone posted in another thread the exact wording THS sends out with receiving the 5th application, but I don’t remember who and where. Actually a HO can’t miss it. Either other HOs ignore the message or turned off all emails or other messages from THS, which I actually can’t believe, because like this they also wouldn’t be notified if applications arrived.
When I ask my HOs if they know about the rule. More say no than yes. Some very switched on or experienced HOs say yes. But quite a few say they didn’t realise. A mystery?
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Totally disagree with this idea. It would make the entire review system meaningless, however because it is such a bad idea I’m sure THS will make this a feature in the near future.
Your idea that reviews are hidden until both parties submit one is interesting and I understand your rationale for it, however the effect would be the same as not writing a review at all because unless both wrote one, neither would be published. A better idea would be that the HS review is hidden only from the HO until the HO writes a review, and vice-versa. That way the rest of the community sees your published review and can make decisions based upon it.
Most of us don’t need free rent or lodging. I have 4 homes of my own. But we do have to stay in your home to care for your pets. We incur considerable expense traveling to a sit and renting a car. We stay mostly with the pets and are not on vacation though we hope to get out and see the areas we are in. Paid pet sitters charge 100/day in my area.
You may want to reconsider your perspective that sitters benefit more from these arrangements.
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There are probably members that rely on notifications via the mobile app. Or they check the website now and then.
Some members on this forum say that they do not get mail from THS. Never. That can have all kinds of reasons on their side (filtering by their mail client or their mail server, an error in the address, etc) but I would not exclude that this could also be a bug with THS.
This is certainly a possibility but it’s not the system that doesn’t work but probably personal settings on the app, the preferences section or the email account or a combination of them.
But as the system automatically pauses after 5 applications the message is sent out automatically as well. Why people don’t receive it…
no idea, but not always is THS to blame.
I don’t know how the app works, because i don’t use it. In the beginning I had it downloaded but didn’t like it. I rather use the browser version even though I am online with a tablet or phone.
@jon4156 THS is already planning to implement a 14 day blind review system- like airbnb. This is not new. Its been on the cards for months but they are still fine-tuning the details.
I agree with you that the suggestion of @TomorrowTamara discredits the whole review system. The new system will publish one or both reviews only after 14 days so it still leaves the option for one side not to review at all. Both parties will also be able to respond to their respective reviews.
You choose to stay in a home owner’s home, but you don’t have to! Why do so many sitters here at the forum sound as if they were forced to do pet sitting?
If you don’t want to stay in other people’s homes, then don’t.
I have not indicated in any of my posts that I don’t want to stay in a HO home. Only that I have my own home, several of them in fact, and that I don’t need lodging.
But a HO needs ME to stay in their home to care for their pet. And I enjoy living in a new town and exploring a new place with the company of animals. Slow travel.
Please try not to take things out of context or to make assumptions. Thanks.
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This whole idea that HO can charge some “fee” or are saving the sitter some “fee” as rent is specious. You have a pet, you can not “rent” out your home as a result. This is a sunk cost of having a pet. The only party that can argue that their service would be remunerated is your sitter’s time. So lets try to be kinder to the sitters here.
Edited to meet posting terms
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@Pawtastic, thank you for your perspective. Owners need us to stay at their home as they don’t want (in the vast majority) to leave their pets, or indeed homes unattended overnight. Hence to look after their pet’s, HOs need us to stay in their homes.
As such, it would be good if they appreciated that we are often leaving our own comfortable homes and trust that they will offer a comfortable environment for us while we care for their beloved pets and mind the security of their home. Which we do without payment. We are guests and not servants or vagabond.
So anything they do to appreciate and make us comfortable, only facilitates our being able to do our best for them. I believe from your post elsewhere @Pawtastic if I am correct, that you go above and above to ensure a very warm welcome and provide for the comfort of your sitters. Then it’s win win.
This is far preferable and more realistic and accurate than the alternative of choosing to believe we are wanting free housing and willing to put up with anything for it and should be grateful for the privilege to boot.
That particular attitude sometimes encountered, is skewed and rather goes against the spirit of what is generally trying to be achieved.
I think the built in THS biases and imbalances between HO and sitters terms (HOs can ask for money for utilities or demand a deposit , while Sitters can’t ask for travel or any other money; the sitters taking the burden of paying for HOs pets and even homes in emergencies) just makes this attitude worse and fuels it.
The majority of HOs are decent enough and appreciative. But those who are less so, feel entitled and spurred on by the signals that the unfair and unbalanced terms send out in favour of the HO and against the sitter. Which are unnecessary and even potentially problematic.
Quality sitters will think twice to put themselves through that. They will take alternative options and overall standards will ultimately drop. And ironically more sitters who are looking primarily for accommodation will increase in numbers and be more likely to put up with poor HO behaviours, out of need. And so the downward spiral will slowly but surely continue.
I now screen my HOs very carefully before getting drawn in. I am avoiding new and unknown HOs - and I probably wouldn’t have to, if the terms and conditions were inherently more balanced, fair and reasonable.
A myopic and stubborn stance by a current THS who are digging their heels in refusing to address these issues, will only result in sitters with their own homes, or in an otherwise strong/good/ experienced position thinking twice. And the standard overall will slightly drop.
Just look at these other threads as a good example of putting good, responsible sitters off. And there are many more examples of a similar ilk on this forum:
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This is something I would never say and I never did!
It IS free housing and there’s no denying it, but it’s also free pet care and have asked several times not to weigh this against the other, because it’s a mutual agreement.
I never would diminish the care sitters provide, but I also don’t want my home and it’s value for the sitters staying there diminished and to me this is the case very often here on the forum.
This is something I will always stand up for. I know that many sitters have their own home and they choose to pet sit. This is their choice as well as my traveling is my choice. If we home owners didn’t travel, nobody would need sitters, no matter how much they love to do it.
I only want to say that it only works if sitters aren’t treated as hired help without pay and home owners as free lodging with a little pet care at the side. It’s not like this! And I don’t want to hear that home owners get the better deal out of the arrangement, because this simply isn’t true. You can’t compare both sides.
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Does this sound like I don’t treat sitters with respect and value their care?
I just want to make clear that to me it’s a mutual exchange and both sides cannot be compared. So please don’t pluck a sentence out of context, because that’s not what I meant.
I already posted this earlier, but here we go again:
-We pick up the sitters from the airport if they arrive by plane (or train station)
-if the sitters arrive by car we take our own car somewhere else that they can use our garage
-we deep clean the house and roof patio before the sitters arrive
-we empty the bathroom drawers except of (lots of) toilet paper, cosmetic and cleaning necessities
-we make space in the walk-in closet for the sitters’ clothes and bags
-we prepare a welcome basket with bottles of wine, information about walking and bicycle trails, sightseeing points and restaurants, snacks and chocolate, a thank you card and whatever I come across in the weeks before the sit
-we get them a voucher for a very nice little café around the corner
-we invite the sitters for dinner the evening before we leave, either at home or in a close by restaurant as well as the day we arrive, if they stay for another night.
-we do a walk around town and show them where to shop for groceries etc
-we ask before they arrive if there is anything we can purchase for them that they don’t have to go shopping right away
-we tell them to feel free to use any dry goods, coffee, tea, milk and condiments without having to replace anything
-they may use our electric bikes and our electric car
-we offer to arrange contact with our cleaning lady in case they don’t want to clean the house themselves (but we don’t pay for it)
-we introduce them to all the neighbors, especially to two who speak very good English in case they need help with any translations
-we set up an account with our house vet so they don’t have to pay up front
-we provide a debit card with a certain amount of cash for any kind of emergency payments for the cats or the house, taxi to the vet, etc. We would top it up if needed online.
-we help with anything like installing SIM cards etc
There are probably some more things, which just now slipped my mind or things we would do if needed.
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@Pawtastic You sound like the perfect hosts! Thoughtful, generous and well organised. This is the way to attract quality sitters who will enjoy and respect what you offer. 
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You sound like a wonderful HO.
Not all HO are wonderful. Not all sitters are wonderful.
I own multiple homes and do well financially, but at this point I am a sitter who travels with their dog. So I’m going to be punching for the sitter side of things.
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Totally agree. I’ve had to pay quite a bit to get ticket changes and hotels to work around a couple of HOs who changed their minds on dates after the sit started or came back early/late. I’ve been very lucky with lovely owners but off and on here, I’ve had a home owner who felt entitled to change tasks and schedules without discussing it with me and just assuming I would have to work with their needs as if I was staff. It’s an equal trade at its best but it’s not remotely a holiday for a sitter if the HO treats their sitter like staff. It’s a two way privilege and wonderful trade when it works and awful if it doesn’t. Sitters are also stuck in the uncomfortable situation for days/weeks if it’s bad whereas homeowners are away on holiday. Should be mutual respect.