The last 2 years i have really struggled to get any applications, so my question is with things like rover and borrow my dog is TH still worth it?
I find myself getting extremely stressed when I have sits coming up and no interest. Ive heard a few sitters mention they are now part of these other communities becaise they can actually get paid for sitting, so is anyone else experiencing this issue? As im constantly having to try and find backups with friends and family incase I get 0 sitters and this used to be a place where I had no worries as there was ample sitters
Many owners are reporting the same experience as you. Anecdotally, it seems there are currently more sits available than there are sitters to take them.
One contributing factor may be that fewer employers are allowing staff to work from home full-time, with many now requiring some office attendance each week. This could be reducing the number sits that sitters are able to commit to during the year.
In addition, any sit that restricts a sitter’s freedom—for example, pets that cannot be left alone or sits with multiple pets —will further reduce the pool of sitters that a listing appeals to .
THS also has appeared to hit a natural ceiling and market imbalance, because it’s easier to get hosts to sign up than to find sitters. And it doesn’t help that booking fees have turned off some sitters, either from sitting at all or from taking short sits. Travel costs also have risen, against a wider backdrop of inflation.
Some hosts and sitters have taken their sits off platform — THS has become expendable to them.
Personally, I used to do about a dozen THS sits a year as a telecommuter. Now, I have stopped sitting via THS (even though my membership doesn’t expire for a while). On principle, I refuse to pay booking fees to voluntarily take care of anyone’s pets and home.
So far, without pursuing THS sits, I’ve been offered private ones in top U.S. cities, as well as in Europe, through my own network.
Luckily, I also can afford to travel without sitting. Just spent months abroad and it was terrific to travel without any responsibilities.
THS has to do without my sitting, as well as my membership fees, since I won’t be renewing. I’m just one person, but I’m not the only one making such choices.
If you travel a lot, then THS would be worth it for you. The cost of a subscription is most likely less than paying a sitter for a week. So, you’d only need to find a THS sitter once. Plus, having experience with the platform, you know THS sitters are great. Well, a vast majority of them.
That’s not automatically true. Depends on location and the quality of sit that a potential host offers. Some are struggling to find sitters, much less good ones.
Just from personal experience and browsing at sits available, I find the biggest problem is hosts not putting up listings soon enough. I am a sitter part time. My retirement life is busy and I like to book months in advance on THS. I see so many listings in the two states I am interested in putting up listings for the same month or only 6 weeks ahead. I recently just booked a sit a few months out but if they waited and put up the listing only 6 weeks before I probably couldn’t have applied although it was something very ideal for me. I have been looking for a sit in a specific area from October on when the weather is nice. Don’t see any but there are some for a month out. Won’t work for me. Also there are just more hosts than sitters right now. I don’t know how long your sits are for but getting one sitter one time a year may cost you less than a paid sitter. I also do paid sits. I just had a two week paid sit at $100.00 a night. So as a host here I would think it is still a great deal. You may want to try on your headline, we will pay your booking fee as it seems to bother some that this is required. Maybe that will or will not help but worth trying. Good Luck
Only you (and each individual member) can decide if THS is still worth the membership and (possibly) booking fees. At one extreme, if you can’t get any sitters or sits, then it’s an easy answer, you’re wasting your money.
The other extreme is a popular established sitter with repeat hosts that has a full calendar, or a host with a desirable property and numerous applicants for every date listed. For them, the fees are obviously worth it.
Everyone else is somewhere in between. If you can get enough sitters and hosts to cover the fees then go for it. If you’re scrambling to find sitters all the time or you don’t get accepted to many sits then the few hundred euros might be throwing money away.
At the very least test out a few free or lower cost sites and see what kind of results you get, and go through your profile again to see what changes might be made to improve your success. You can even post a link to it here and get some great tips.
Literally wanting to see if others are experiencing the same issues. Ive been with TH for years and never had an issue. My dates go up as soon as u book a trip to help people planning ahead.
Wpuld be interested to know those of you that do list dates, do you end up having to find alternative cover, ive had to cancel a few off previously and get a friend to cover when they’ve been short stays, long weekends etc but for longer one over 7 days I dont really like to ask my emergency cover friends. Obviously I agree paying the yearly fee is great if you go away multiple times compared to a dog sitter etc which is why I started using it, what im saying is its becoming stressful when you have longer sits (between 7 and 14 nights) with no interest, or initial interest until you ask to confirm and people then dont want to commit so you then are faced with paying way extra to guarantee cover elsewhere which then defeats the point if that makes sense. I know there’s an option to post when 7 days out but that’s cutting things too close IMO.
I think it depends on how popular your area is. If it is a huge tourist destination, you will always find sitters. If it is a bit harder to get to, or less well known, you might not attract as much interest. With the booking fees now, a lot of sitters have become more picky, including me.
I noticed that under dog sitting duties, you mention the pups need at least two 30 min walks but the responsibilities section includes a minimum of 2 hours of walking per day. Clarifying the walk requirements might help as some potential applicants may have hesitations about the commitment
There appears a steady trickle of THS Forum posts by pet parents that struggle to find hosuesitters. Sometimes this seems to reflect macro trends (e.g. non-US sitters avoiding US listings); sometimes new THS policies (e.g. booking fee impact on short duration sits); sometimes (and quite often) reflects frankly unattractive listings.
We guess - perhaps wrong - that a good portion of challenges are mirrored on other platforms. But sometimes the only way forwards is to experiment.
In meantime, suggest take a critical eye to your listing. Review other listings in your area. Ensure photos look attractive (no clutter) and cover all key areas of property. Ensure amenities completed. Add information about local travel facilities (airports, train, bus). Add info about local attractions. Consider sweeting listing (e.g. add use of car, permit early arrival/late departure).
As a homeowner who struggled with getting a sitter for our September sit (who never had an issue previously for the last few years) I still feel it’s worth it. I live in a desirable location and have one animal so that probably helps me.
I just checked sits in my area and there are 31 sits available now through the end of January. One thing I’ve learned is, when it states New, it’s only new for 24 hours. If the HO doesn’t get at least 3 applications in those 24 hours, it moves to Low Applications. If they receive 3 applications, then there is no label on the sit until it’s filled.
I feel there is a myriad of reasons why HO’s are struggling for sitters. @Maggie8K I believe summed it up perfectly.
I posted a sit a couple of months ago for 8 days in September. I did find a great sitter, and received 3 applicants total (the other 2 were unsuitable and would have been declined anyway). But it took a few days to get 3 applicants when in the past I’ve gotten to 5 in the first day. I think I was fortunate that I posted the sit early enough to find a really good sitter, otherwise I’d have to use a paid sitter.
So definitely less sitters out there overall, or at least travelling less.
We typically don’t post sits shorter than a week as we use local paid sitters and / or friends for those short periods. For us THS has filled longer trips (we used a THS sitter in April for a month-long trip) really well, but we won’t be renewing though not related to the lack of sitters. Our travel plans for the few years will be in an RV and our pets will be with us, so we won’t have much need for THS sitters. We can turn water off, etc and have friends/neighbors stop by periodically to look in on the house.
I’m with @SeniorSitter1 , I am actively looking for sits in specific areas in a time frame. I have flags set up. So many are advertising very last minute, sit to start in less than a week. Well that assumes I’m just sitting around with nothing to do which is not the case. But there are a lot of sits out there I would never do regardless of the location because it’s just not a fit for me.
@Chelle83 this is just a personal opinion, and I know from previous experience it will be unpopular, so no need for anyone to tell me so again, but the terminology fur babies in title, or even worse doggos would put me off straight away, preferring to deal only with people who call them, dogs.