[black and white cat playing with laptop showing trusted housesitters on screen] Hi everyone, We’re sharing an update on how sits are booked on TrustedHousesitters and wanted to talk about it here with our forum community first. We know each of you uses TrustedHousesitters in your own way. For some, it’s an occasional adventure with pets, for others, it’s become a full-time way of life. Thanks to members like you, our global community is growing faster than ever. To support this growth, we’re introducing a booking fee, charged only at sit confirmation, which helps fund the services behind each sit and encourages commitment from both sides. What’s new? Starting from your next membership renewal, a £9/$12 (or local equivalent) booking fee will apply to each confirmed sit. This will apply to both owners and sitters after their next renewal, unless you’re a Premium member. Premium members will continue to get unlimited sits with no booking fees, as they pay a higher upfront cost instead. This added benefit is in addition to other Premium membership perks, such as our Sit Cancellation Plan and free airport lounge passes. Why are we making this update? This booking fee helps us continue to deliver a smooth, consistent experience for every sit, while keeping membership options flexible and accessible. Your annual membership fee continues to cover what keeps our community running: it helps to fund our platform, supports verification and 24/7 member support, and enables access to arrange as many sits as you like, all year round. We know this may feel like a big update, especially for those who sit frequently. This is about sustaining the service you know and trust, so that everyone can continue enjoying secure sits around the world. What do I need to do? You don’t need to do anything. Until your renewal date, everything continues as normal. The booking fee will be introduced automatically from the date of your membership renewal. If you’d prefer not to pay the booking fee after your renewal date, you have the option to upgrade to Premium at any time. Want to know more? Check out our FAQ page here. Prefer to speak to someone? Our Member Services team is always here to help. Reach us at support@trustedhousesitters.com. We’ll be here in the comments to listen and answer questions. As always, we’d like to thank you for being part of the wonderful TrustedHousesitters community. Jenny

How about making some of the many long requested improvements, rather than expecting sitters and hosts to pay more for the same? I guess this is what private equity investment is all about, maximising profit. Why haven’t members had an email about these changes? An announcement in a forum is disrespectful, how will the sitters and hosts who aren’t forum members be notified? I’m not surprised.

I am so disappointed at this news. This booking fee coupled with the duo sitter plan fee means we have seen an increase in additional payments with a decrease in the quality of service. We experienced a serious safeguarding issue on a sit which we emailed about 3x and recieved no response. We value the platform but some explanation as to how the service & on site support will be improved would be appreciated!

This is outrageous. You’re going to lose the rest of the community you were already losing against other websites that are not only way cheaper than you, but also with friendlier UIs, not to mention that without booking fee. You should definitely reconsider it.

Is this fee automatically refunded if the sit is cancelled? I note that you haven’t called it a nonrefundable booking fee. In summary, disappointing

I’ve become more and more disillusioned with THS over the last year, and this development has made up my mind for me. I’ve cancelled my renewal, and I will be deleting my account once my current membership has come to an end. It is probably to be expected that when the money men get involved, services become of less interest, but as a paying customer (in this case, a sitter) I expect a usable platform and product that doesn’t cause problems or challenges. THS doesn’t fulfill that brief any longer.

What do you guys make of this?! [595506305_4356343711260517_5970895400587497640_n]

I think this is an awful idea, no matter how you phrase the email, it’s simply an extra charge. I for one will give serious consideration to my new subscription.

Yet another way for THS to squeeze more money out of it’s members.

Seems to be a ploy to get people to upgrade to Premium if they are frequent Sitters or hosts. I wouldn’t need to have loads of sits advertised but I don’t know how this facilitates a sit really. Wee bit vague, wee bit cheeky

Introducing a booking fee to support every sit

Product Updates

Rhe 8 December 2025 12:28 7

What do you guys make of this?!

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What’s your plan re booking fees? Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat	484	7979	26 February 2026
Cases FOR booking fees THS News & Feedback	120	2435	27 January 2026
Sitters that want to take the sit off platform are a problem for me Host Questions, Advice & Chat	161	3239	14 May 2026
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Introducing a booking fee to support every sit

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