£9 per sit in the UK
@Auscal I decided to do a follow up, focussing on your point. I realized that I couldn’t do similar when you asked as I was on a sit so the information would be blocked.
The search I did now showed 44 sits with start dates for tomorrow. Of those:
- 11 had 0 applicants
- 33 had applicants - the most common # of applicants was 3
I can appreciate that some may have decided not to travel, as you’d suggested. Sadly, with applicants not being declined I have to wonder whether the applicants were even notified.
My thought today was more in the direction of how many of these may have proceeded off the website, to avoid a booking fee? Food for thought. 
I have one official sit left, then going fully off site in next 2 weeks. I have done 64 sits so I have plenty people asking me to do a repeat sit for them, and also off site word of mouth contacts.
£9 may not seem much, but it is the principle of the site benefitting from my free work, whilst I receive nothing, and NO I will not simply “pay for the upgrade” to avoid this.
(Edited to in line with the Community Guidelines)
do you think that people will start doing sits without formally confirming to avoid the fee?
Definitely, a lot already have done.
You don’t receive nothing, you are getting lodging at no cost. Have you checked the costs of Airbnbs and hotels lately?
The upgrade fee makes sense if enough sits are done to offset the yearly cost to Premium (which means no booking fees for those who don’t know), it’s a matter of math not principle.
I agree, it is the principle. It isn’t just free accommodation. Pet and house sitting comes with responsibilities.
(Edited in line with the Community Guidelines)
We got " free lodging " before the booking fee was introduced. We get absolutely nothing extra for paying this fee. It’s s blatant money grab, and that’s what annoys a lot of us.
I own my own home. so airbnb doesn’t come into it. I don’t do it to travel I do it because I like animals.
P.S. MATHS not math.
For those who do it for free lodgings, it is the pet owner who is providing the accommodation, not THS, so why pay them anything extra on top of membership fee?
(Edited in line with the Community Guidelines)
I am dreading this, but also…
Next academic year my son will have a lot of regional and national sports games. I am not the type of person who can cope with a 4hr round trip, plus said sporting event, in a day (tbh neither is he, hates long car journeys!)
I am hoping that we will be able to find pet sits in the right places at the right times.
L It does annoy me that THS has sold out completely, and that its coming in for us just as the new season starts in autumn, unless i find someone else to sign up! But its still a cheaper option than the alternative. So i feel like i have to suck it up. The alternative pet sitting sites i have found just have so few options at the moment which is a real shame.
@RedLassie We are a global community so variations in English will often be seen. For example:
You’ll note us Canadians like to please everyone so we’re in both groups. 
This is not always the case. Members on auto-renewal have their membership fee frozen. For me, this means I pay the same membership fee I did when I joined 11 years ago. If I were to move to premium, my membership fee would triple. I would have to do far more sits than I currently do to break even. Also, the other benefits of premium are of little interest to me so in some respects it is also a matter of principle.
Members on auto-renewal have their membership fee frozen.
That won’t be true next time, unfortunately.
@meow I asked for confirmation from membership services before my renewal date, to make sure that, given I was on auto renewal, there would not be a price increase. I renewed two months ago and there wasn’t any increase. If that ever changes, I will likely not renew.
@Snowbird I think it’s fairly new? It probably wasn’t active two months ago.
I can see where you’re in a position where it wouldn’t be worth upgrading your membership to Premium and I would guess a lot of other longtime members are in the same position. Perhaps THS could have eliminated the lock-in price and raised everyone’s membership costs rather than implement a booking fee. Which raises 2 questions for me. The first is whether that would have been easier to accept for those who see a booking fee on top of a membership fee as excessive and the second question I cannot ask at the moment because in the process of typing this long reply I forgot what it was. This is happening more frequently to me lately, unfortunately.
@meow I’ll just wait and see, I guess. 
@meow I just checked my renewal price- its still scheduled to be the same in September after 8 years membership. If they break their original promise, and increase it, then, like @Snowbird , I may not renew. I too dislike the fees but am reluctant to be forced to Upgrade to Premium, to avoid them. It costs more than double what I pay now and I would then never get my original fixed price back again. I guess its just a matter of wait and see what unfolds..