I’ve been with THS for over three years, and either I am slowing up in finding new sits or fewer sits are being advertised. I tend to scan the globe, focusing on Australia, Europe, and the United States. What do you think? Have things changed since THS listed on the stock exchange?
I don’t think so. This is always a slow time. People are recovering from this summer and not yet ready to plan for next year. Travel to the US has become less attractive and the talk of borders, visas and more aggressive border patrols is putting a lot of people off. Also, the cost of living crisis is hitting hard.
Give it a month and the place will be flooded with Christmas and New Year sits.
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There are almost 10,000 sits advertised worldwide! The majority in UK & USA. My experience is that post Covid the number of sits increased exponentially and numbers have remained very high. I, personally, have not noticed a decrease anywhere.
The major difference now, however, is the 5 applicant limit. The result of this is that popular sits remain visible for a much shorter time and you have to be much quicker of the mark to get your foot in the door.
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Not sure if it has anything to do with the stock market. Just an example. Sits in the UK usually average between 3500 & 4000 at any given time but are currently running at just over 3000.
I feel a lot of emphasis has been focused on the States at a time when less sitters are inclined to travel there.
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@Rosemary, we haven’t notice any decline in listings.
That said, there may be more housesitter demand for non-US sits as a seemingly significant number of housesitters (on THS Forum at least) have indicated no appetite to navigate legal risks (employment status, etc) that now appear to impact completion of US housesits.
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How do you know there are 10,000 sits Lokstar? Where do I find those stats?
@Rosemary Its exactly as @Silversitters says- I was just about to post a screenshot and saw they’ve already done so! Right now it’s 9616 -worldwide- as I write but it changes all the time as sits get listed and others get confirmed. For most of the spring and summer it was fixed at 10000 which I interpreted as the maximum number that figure be displayed but was probably higher in reality & constantly fluctuating. Below 10000 you are now seeing real figures. This might not show on the website in the same way- I always use the app. If you then search individual countries you’ll see current country sit totals e.g UK-3051 , USA-5211 (!!!) Australia- 472, France-78, Spain- 27 etc!
Maybe you’re not seeing or landing the sits you want, but that’s individual to you.
THS has never listed on any stock exchange. It took private equity money, which has nothing to do with being publicly traded. And why would that reduce the number of sits listed anyway, even had they gone public?
Thanks for this explanation. I don’t use the app, so I haven’t seen the numbers. Wow, the USA is certainly down! Much appreciate your prompt and enlightening response.
@Rosemary the USA down?! 
I think its the highest number I’ve ever seen! More than half of all sits in the world!
At the height of Covid- around April 2021 - day I checked the site one day and there were only 25 sits in all of UK and 15 in the USA!!! So times have certainly changed greatly!
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Oh, I guess I was just thinking of Europe’s population versus the US - double plus a bit, I think.
I just calculated that if you exclude the USA, the UK & Australia there are only 880 other sits available in the whole world I.e the rest of Europe, all of Asia, Africa & NZ! The concentration of sits in the US is huge!
By the way you mentioned not using the app. I would highly recommend you do use it as well, especially when researching sits you are interested in. The full review history of a sit is only shown on the app- I.e all past sitters whether they gave a review or not. But on the website you see only the sitters that gave a review. So, for example, you might come across a sit (on the website) that appears to have had no previous sitters. ‘Oh a new host’ you may think. Then you look at the same sit on the app and you see there were actually 5 previous sitters, none of whom leftt a review! This tells a very different Story! A potential horror sit-run a mile!
I came across that exact example once!
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Lokstar, you are a star!! I will see what the app shows now.
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I think also college and school is back in session so families aren’t traveling this time. Like others have said xmas and new yrs will be soon posting.
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I hadn’t realised there is a 5 applicant limit….. thanks 4 the tip!
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@LancashireLass just to clarify- the 5 applicant limit means only that when an HO has received 5 applications THS will pause the listing to further applicants. The HO must then review these 5 and choose one as their sitter. If none of the 5 are suitable they can decline one or more applicants and manually unpause their listing to receive new applications. So actually an HO can receive far more than 5 applications if they need to but only 5 at one time! Unlike the old days when application numbers were unlimited. Sometime a popular sit could receive 50+ applications!
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In the Portland, Oregon, USA area petsitting listings are up 60% more than 2 years ago. There used to be on average 170 listings/day. Now there are on average 275 listings/day.
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Any thoughts on why this dramatic change, Todd?
I’m not sure exactly. However, I have come up with a short list of possible reasons for the surge in popularity. 1. Paid advertising is most likely the biggest reason. 2. Word of mouth is another. Word of mouth expands exponentially. 3. Lastly, the Portland area is one of the most progressive large city areas in this country. As many of us know, it takes an open mind and open heart to invite strangers into our homes and trust them with our possessions and loved furbabies. There is a ____ state that I keep my eye on as a place to visit, and the usage of Trustedhousesitters there is extremely low.
Btw, love your name… it’s also my mother’s name, and she is an awesome person.
(Political statements removed in line with the Community Rules)
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