Is the Premium badge, in fact, a Pitfall?

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
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When I registered, I opted for the premium membership for the added security it promised, believing it would provide peace of mind. So far, I’ve experienced 3 cancellations and completed 10 housesits (both local, domestic, and international). Out of those 10, only 4 matched the actual length of the listed and agreed-upon arrangements, and these were all short weekend sits.

I’ve received many invitations. Yet, even in these cases, it often seems that hosts don’t fully consider their travel plans—some haven’t even purchased their tickets yet!

It’s disheartening to see a pattern where people, and I quote, prefer to “book” more days than they realistically expect to be away. This creates chaos for anyone who plans and schedules around these commitments.

I recently became aware that a ‘premium member’ badge is automatically displayed on your profile, making it visible to hosts. This can definitely lead them to assume that you have certain protections or benefits—like coverage for hotel costs if hosts decide to change their plans. Unfortunately, as many here know, this is very far from the reality.

I’m curious to know if others have faced similar challenges. Is the premium badge, in fact, a pitfall?

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As a home owner planning a holiday away, I’m yet to book my tickets and would find it a bit daunting to do so before I know I’ve got someone lined up to mind the house and dogs… so it’s a bit ‘Catch 22’.

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I think we got to about 8 - 10 sits before we started to realise we needed more accurate info, so you’re at that point.

Nowadays, we don’t really have those problems (just with the odd one), because when we get accepted (or when we video) we clarify the times straight away, I say it’s so that we can plan ahead, but in reality it’s got nothing to do with that, it’s so that I have accurate dates and times.

Fortunately we have quite a number of repeat sits with owners that book their holidays around our availability, so we know those are very likely to be accurate anyway. It’s just the ones in between that we need to ‘quiz’ a little more.

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@HappyDeb Thanks for sharing! I totally get that, but even after confirming dates and details on video calls, I’ve had significant changes come up.
I also have repeat sits now, but with new ones, people seem to think the HS is completely adaptable.

There seems to be a misconception that you’re completely secure due to the insurance if they change their plans.

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@Lady_Sue thank you and I completely get where you’re coming from!

But isn’t that exactly the situation the HS face when planning and buying tickets after your listed dates have been confirmed?

I’m just curious— when do you actually decide to make those plans? Do you confirm while knowing there’s a risk those dates might not match what you’ve listed?

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Hello
It’s unlikely that all these issues are because people see you have these protections so don’t think twice about changing their plans on you.

I have been sitting for a decade and in my experience cancellations have been very rare, so I am sorry to hear that has happened to you so frequently.

And as for listed dates, and the actual travel dates not matching up, I can’t really recall any instances but perhaps I just don’t remember. So it definitely isn’t something that has been common for me or I probably would.

The one exception would be when hosts are arriving later in the day, and make the end date the day after they are scheduled to return, to account for possible delays. But they have always made us aware of this, and would not expect us to leave if they returned on time. So it doesn’t affect us negatively in any way.

Based on what you are saying, it doesn’t sound like these are people who have made firm travel plans but then need to change them unexpectedly, either before you arrive or while you are there.

It sounds more like you are dealing with people who are listing dates and not telling you they actually don’t have firm travel plans, and are either changing them on you before you arrive or while you are there?

Even people with the firmest travel plans make need to make date changes so that is always a possibility, and a risk.

For the second group, the best defense against this would be directly asking people if they have made firm travel plans–tickets, booked,etc…-and letting them know you cannot confirm a sit unless the host can confirm the listed dates are their actual travel dates. This is something that can easily be answered as a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question and you can decide what to do from there.

I recently accepted a sit but then told them I couldn’t do it when they sent a message along with the confirmation–which didn’t come until 3 days after we spoke-- that they still hadn’t booked their flights but that the dates wouldn’t change by more than a day or so.

As a full-time sitter, agreeing to a sit without knowing the exact travel dates would interfere with my ability to plan my schedule. And even if I wanted to offer them flexibility, I couldn’t have since I already booked a sit on either side of this one based on the dates they provided me.

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@KC1102 Thank you for your thoughtful inputs; I really appreciate it! I’ve been following similar, very detailed practices—firmly confirming dates over video calls, discussing the time of handover, checking if travel plans are all set, inquiring about whether they’ve set up their VET account properly, asking about the area they’re traveling to, etc. etc.

The only thing I haven’t done on a video call is request visible proof of bookings (like flights, which hasn’t always been the mode of travel anyway)—I personally feel that step would be crossing a line.

I also haven’t gone as far as drafting an additional contract to guarantee that homeowners cover potential costs that their cancellations or date changes may cause, though I know many choose to take that step now. Doing so would obviously also mean disclosing just how ineffective the cancellation plan through THS can be.

Regarding your point about people not having firm travel plans, I’ve encountered various situations—one homeowner was present for four days during the sit, another informed me about their changes during the housesit, and one requested significant date changes just two days prior to the start date. In that specific case, I informed them that I couldn’t accommodate those changes.

This isn’t really about the level of firmness or flakiness in upholding agreements—some people are reliable, while others are not. I was told during one video call that they “wanted to secure a good one fast,” even though the accommodation was spectacular and in a highly attractive area, which underscores the imbalance between the number of HS’s and HO’s.

So, I’m just not sure how the Premium membership badge is displayed on profiles and what message THS chooses to communicate it to hosts.
It would be relevant to know if it’s possible to actually remove it, as it basically just shows that I’ve paid for air. Would be helpful to get more insight in that area.

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I honestly don’t think most hosts are looking and thinking, “Oh premium. No problem if I cancel on the sitter. They’re covered.”

Nobody is supposed to be cancelling without an extraordinary reason, but there is nothing within THS that implies that the homeowner “should” pay the sitter if the sitter pays transit to get to a place or winds up being “stranded” in a place due to a last minute emergency. Whether or not the sitter has the insurance, or a friend’s couch to sleep on, or reserve funds, isn’t any of the host’s business, and shouldn’t be. Sitters as part of their vetting need to assess whether or not a host is likely to cancel. As cancelled sits won’t get reviewed, there is no way to know if a host is a frivolous canceller or may be likely to cancel due to the pet’s health or other issue. For example, I am skilled at caring for senior pets and will take on senior pet sits, but I may avoid some sits where I think there’s a good chance of the sit being cancelled due to the pet’s health issues. IMO, this is another area where the sitter has to vet carefully and ask questions, but I don’t think there is any evidence that hosts are more likely to cancel on a premium sitter.

As a host if I notice the “premium” it might feel like a very slight advantage for that sitter, as it implies the sitter is thinking through contingencies, and won’t be blaming me if I do have an unforeseeable emergency and need to cancel. It won’t make me in any way more likely to cancel. It’s also entirely possible that many hosts have no idea what the tiers are and may think “premium” implies something related to the sitter’s experience or performance.

I am combined so my “premium” also works for me as a sitter. This is a big advantage for me since it’s likely I’ll be on the sit with my spouse and we’ll be using a THS sitter in our home. So if my accomodation is partly covered, I won’t have to cancel my trip and the sitter I chose won’t get cancelled by me.

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Yes I was two weeks and four days so outwith the insurance terms my fault entirely should have read the insurance policy properly.so didn’t get my accommodation paid.

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If a potential sitter asked me to sign a contract paying for their travel expenses or accomodation in case of a cancellation, I would decline that sitter without even considering it. That is not an expense that is in any way mentioned to hosts when they join THS. I have a combined membership and would never consider asking a homeowner to sign that for a sit.

Nobody should be frivolously cancelling, but cancellations happen on both ends. Imagine if a host asked a sitter to agree to pay for a sitter if the sitter cancelled?

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@Marion I haven’t either, but as mentioned earlier, many choose to do so, due to the large number of agreements being cancelled without proper justification. Some even had agreements cancelled without any explanation at all.

If I ever were to cancel without an ‘extraordinary reason,’ one that’s actually documented (though I highly suspect that’s even required), I’d be more than willing to pay a substantial fee to the party financially impacted by my poor planning. However, such a solution would make purchasing the THS insurance plan unnecessary

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@Marion
Thank you for your perspective! I do indeed believe it’s possible that some hosts may think just that, if they understand what the Premium membership promises and the protections it’s marketed as supposedly offering—something I, admittedly, was naive enough to trust as well when I first signed up.
As you later mentioned there is an advantage…

I absolutely agree that there should be a feature that tracks how many times a member has cancelled or significantly altered a confirmed agreement. This is a topic that often comes up in discussions here and would undoubtedly help eliminate many unnessesary situations.

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I have premium as a sitter and haven’t dealt with hosts moving dates. We discuss travel dates and times at the outset. If there’s a day off because they didn’t factor in a handoff or such, I ask them to change the listing to reflect that.

I did have a video chat with a host who’d listed dates and then turned out to not have actually made plans or booked. I withdrew immediately after hearing that. I consider that a waste of a sitter’s time. If your dates are tentative or flexible, say that in the listing.

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Thank you @Maggie8K I completely agree; it’s inconsiderate and a waste of time.
Was that video call for a local or international housesit? Any specific regions of the world in particular where you’ve been housesitting?

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It was a video chat for a sit in Bath, in the U.K. For me, it would’ve been an international sit, because I live in the U.S.

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@Maggie8K Yeah, that’s indeed a bit farther than just popping by with the tram. Most of mine have been in the UK too. Bath looks incredible btw

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Bath is amazing. I’ve been before and would like to spend more time there, get more of a local’s living experience.

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We usually post dates that are as accurate as we can (tickets depending) but then communicate a lot with potential sitters so we can firmly book something that suits both sides. As the house here is so big and ‘unusual’ (eg. no mains water, no central heating) we ask for sitters to come the day before we depart, in order to ‘show them the ropes’. We’ve also had sitters stay on after we return.

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Oh that sounds amazing!Only seen pictures but impressive that the whole city’s basically a UNESCO heritage. Definitely plan to go there soon🌿

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@Lady_Sue thank you😊 What guidance does HO receive regarding the dates they enter in their listings during this process?