I am reconsidering renewing my membership as it doesnt seem to be worth the money. I havent managed to secure a sit in over a year and those I have applied for recently are innundated and don’t get back to me.
Nearly £100 for little return seems very steep
What is the experience of others
Jan
Like @anon36831737 I cannot believe this is a genuine post. He gives quite clearly the reasons sits have not taken place over the last 12 months, and I’ve just posted that the ads for England alone today number nearly 350. I sit only during school holidays ( I’m a teacher) but I have a lovely one later this week in Malmsbury and a super three days in Bath in July to look forward to. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to fit in lots of other sits in my long two month summer holiday. Plus I get to bring my own dog along.
Also, I have a two week return Florida sit due to take place in August. Obviously this is still in question unless transatlantic travel is allowed this summer.
However, I AM frustrated by those thoughtless HOs who have no manners to personally explain to an applicant that on this occasion they’ve not been suitable. This is especially so when I can see that I am one of fewer than THREE sitters who have applied! One of my applications last week wasn’t even read, yet I was rejected! Bizarre, and this practice shows incredibly poor manners.
But overall, in my opinion, the THS fee IS VFM, when you take into account the support and service it offers.
It was a genuine post because we are reconsidering things following the pandemic and due to need to renew next week. Of course we know how the world has changed but we were feeling a little dismayed by the problems trying to contact TH lately. Luckily we have now managed to talk to a real person and we are encouraged that our wonderful experience these past 5 years will hopefully continue. Thanks for replying and putting forward your thoughts.
Thank you @mistycat for posting your question and for the chat we have just had, I’m glad I was able to reassure you and help you decide to stay in our amazing community, having been part of it since 2015. There will be many more pet sitting adventures to come …
Every member will have different concerns and motivations behind the use of their membership, the forum can be the place where members connect to find help and support on every aspect of this authentic and very special lifestyle.
Pets, people & places we have it all.
Thank you @anon36831737 @LTD and every member for your positive contributions to the conversation. …
For full time sitters is definitely value for money in this format. There is talk of changing the format and it’s a case of wait and see. I think everyone is frustrated this past year. We all know it has been necessary but the lack of travel has been a blow to us all. Hopefully it will get better as the world gets inoculated and borders open.
It’s a matter of patience at the moment and grabbing what you can. We can house sit in the UK now but most of the other countries are out of bounds. Good luck.
Elsie
Before recently joining THS we were funding our own travels - budgeting around £1000 Per month for accommodation. A few weeks ago we ‘invested’ £139 on THS membership- We already have 3 full months and a one-week sitting booked ( we had 4 months booked but one had to cancel due to illness) even with the cancellation, for us that is a saving of at least £3000 for our accommodations this year - Was the membership worth it? - 1000%
@mistycat Hello Misty, we have a house in need of a sitter in Philly in the US. Not sure if that is feasible or not but I’m actively looking for a sitter. If you wanted to apply we would be more then happy to connect
When we were thinking of taking early retirement I budgeted a certain amount for holidays. We also wanted to look for alternative holidays and discovered pet sitting.
With the money we have saved on accommodation, we have treated ourselves and flown business class on long haul sittings.
So yes, we have had our value
I remember when I first signed up in Jan 2018, I wondered the same thing, within 8 weeks I had enough sittings to see me through the year pretty much… if you think that £100 is about 3 nights in a cheap hotel, just your first sitting will be instant payback for the year
It has been tough for sitters until recently but now things are on the move be patient!
Thank you to everybody for their comments about their experience of THS. We have been members since 2015, both as home owners and sitters. As a home owner we found THS good value in terms of getting a sitter to look after our beloved pet (recently over the Rainbow Bridge), as not only in her latter years she was more comfortable being looked after in her own home, the cost of cattery fees were significant.
As a sitter we have had the exprerience of travelling to various places in the UK to look after some very lovely pets and at the same time enjoyed sightseeing around the places we were sitting without the cost of paying for accommodation,
We agree that membership is good value, but with the recent pandemic I guess we all had to put house sitting on hold for a while. Hopefully, we’ve turned the corner and the availability of sits will continue to increase, both home and abroad.
Until Biden opens his borders, and until the US is placed on the UK ‘green list’, transatlantic travel for leisure purposes is not possible. I have several US sits now backed up!
I guess you could say I’m a little biased as an admin here on the forum, but I’m here in that capacity because of my passion for how TrustedHousesitters has changed our lives over the past decade, as both owners and then full-time sitters and nomadic travellers. We’ve benefitted in so many ways. The lifestyle, the value exchange, the people, the pets and all the countries of world we’ve been able to visit, have had positive effects on our way of living, in ways I’d never imagined possible. It’s hard to put a value on this and all the connections we’ve made as a result.
But on a purely practical level, even last year we managed 5 months of domestic sits, and this year we’ve been enjoying local sits in France, so for us it has still been of value. It’s been tougher and for some impossible, so like Angela says, people’s reasons for using this service are all different and we have to decide on what constitutes value in these individual situations. I’m glad you found the forum where hopefully we can all help you restore your confidence. Wishing you continued happy and successful sits as the world opens up more.
How do we say that ? A picture says it all ? Well this is a picture and comments of my daughter’s last experience on her Instagram. Thank you @BeckyG .
That picture really does say it all … wonderful @Brigitte !!
Oh, we miss those dear pups already! Thank you for posting this so I could view it, @Brigitte and thank you for introducing Ross and I to Gabby and Chris! We had a wonderful time in their beautiful home in Nashville and literally fell in love with Cheech, Huck, Fiona, and Pearl. Seeing their pics again warms my heart!
Thank you so much for sharing @Brigitte … a picture does indeed say a thousand words!!
I guess we are sold to THS 
Definitely for me as HO there is huge value! I have 10 animals, mostly easy farm beasts, but one senior kitty who needs lots of love and meds twice a day. I wasn’t sure about renewing during lockdown but we did manage a 5 day getaway that would have cost at least $250 USD in housesitting fees. Now we have a 3 month trip coming up and THS has us covered, which will save us a bundle of both money and stress. Totally worth it.
I have been unable to apply for a sitter as we have been shut down in our community for over 14mos now plus had knee surgery. So I too hesitated but as I only use sitters during the summer for a 2 wk period every year I’m looking at my 2nd year paying dues & not being able to use it. yet I still payed hoping I could possibly be able to use it. but here in my community petsitters charge $40 a day to sit your pets & gardens making it impossible as a pensioner to go away so for me Yes it’s worth the money even if I can’t use it one year
Hi @848475 thank you for being part of our community and for your wonderful endorsement, we hope your knee has recovered from surgery and that you will soon be able to take a trip and welcome sitters into your home once more.
Have a lovely weekend
