We joined 18 months ago as sitters. We love it but we are definitely doing less sits than when we first started. We’ve had some fabulous sits with lovely pets in some great locations but sits are hard work & they come with a lot of responsibilities. We call them working holidays now. Also we’ve built strong friendships with many HOs and have done repeat sits whenever we’ve been available. We’ve got much more selective as we’ve gone on. We don’t do local sits & only sit in locations we’re very keen to visit. We now only sit cats (more flexibility) & whilst all animals can get sick we avoid those with high medical needs or very elderly. So whilst still a sitter, very much sitting less & much more selective in our sits. I think changes in sitter’s behaviour will account for what appears on the face to be less sitters. For example our circumstances and also I’ve read lots of comments about sitters no longer doing international sits.
I find that it is now more difficult to find sits. At one time there was a daily email with all new sits listed in country alphabetical order. This was so much better thasn present system. You can on;py pick two regions and if ypou choose worldwide they seem to all be American. Plus you actually have to log into the site to see them all. When in an email it was so much easier. If you spotted one oin a country you had not thought of you could just click to view. It is now too tedious and time consuming to think of lots of different euiropean countries and others and put them in ‘search’ with various dates etc.
I think the marketing unfortunately has a lot to do with that, especially the part targeted at attracting hosts – travelers are framed and promoted as service providers. This weakens and dilutes the core concept itself, which ultimately becomes a disservice. Just out of curiosity, which platforms do people switch to then?
Yes @Stin-Bold, absolutely - definitely all comments are going to be useful. But hopefully experienced HO’s on here will do the basics on what sitters require - certainly if they’ve had no probs in the past getting great Sitters. I’m just interested to know whether other HO,s are recently noticing a different trend?
Yes @ChristineB, I can quite see your points. Although we only are able to get away a couple of times a year now, up to and including this last January, we have had quite a few HS who have been travelling internationally and I agree, I think that might change.
Well, in the Uk there are other platforms available which are more UK based.
There is the UK site and some of the pet sitters there charge for sitting, and it varies.
Yes, that sounds horrendous and is absolutely not the sort of thing that Housesitters with THS should be doing. Some people’s expectations are ridiculous, for sure.
That is a fascinating point - sitters and HOs who have been on the platform for a while might be automatically gravitating to each other and doing repeat sits. So while it looks like there is a lot of availability on both sides, both parties might be “taken”. Kind of like showing up at a singles mixer only to find out half the room is already engages!
I would love to get my hands on THS’ data! It would be so cool to see the percentage of repeat sits, at what point a sitter converts to a repeat, what characteristics are predictive of a repeat (location? age? pet experience? tastes in music?) the travel patterns, the matching characteristics, etc. I’d love to know what % of members actually participate on this forum and how the community participants differ from non-participants. And so on!
Thank you so much, that is really useful feedback, I will update my listing as per your suggestions.
Thanks, I’ll have a look at that
I have done a regular sit in Anglesey. I am English but reside in Spain. The HO added me to their car insurance and it cost all of £5.73 for the year. They were happy that I can drive their dogs around on adventures. Is it worth doing that?
We’ve been using THS for more than 10 years, and as homeowners are seeing woefully low number of applicants for all dates we list.
Sometimes no applicants at all.
In previous years we’d struggle to choose between multiple applicants, all with great reviews.
What has changed?
Way more sits than sitters; a lot of sitters only sitting once or twice a year; bad press on border issues for sitters especially in the USA; cost of travel; perceived rise in host cancellations which puts international sitters off in some cases; increase in demands from some hosts which seem out of balance to experienced sitters; sitters sticking with known repeat sits where they are valued. These are all issues that come up on the forum and other sitting community chats so could be part of the problem. #communitychat
We sat 10-12 times a year when we first retired in 2013. We were never at home!
Since Covid our elderly Mums needed extra support so we did less and shorter sits. Sadly they are no longer with us.
We moved home earlier this year (after 41 years in our previous home).
We love where we are by the coast and we are busy making it our own.
Therefore it would take something pretty special to drag us away at the moment so we only sit for our ‘regulars’ who are no longer on THS.
So I guess we are inactive sitters, but keep our basic membership because it is no longer available to new members and the price doesn’t increase each year (so far). We also get to keep our reviews which will come in handy if we sit in the future.
Yes, there’s plenty of repeat housesits. THS may spark the connection, but many repeats happen outside the app..and not always as free exchange.
Listings increasingly ask for someone “steady.” That’s travel matchmaking in reverse, a mindset shaped by the marketing. In practice, it shrinks the host’s pool to locals and shuts out most travelers, especially internationals.
The hosts pitch of a listing is everything, and the constant stream of posts in here asking for reviews proves it. As well as how often the concept is misunderstood.
THS’s marketing has essentially created a demand that can’t be met - one that stands in direct conflict with the company’s core idea.
You can use a map view and exclude countries and/or continents. And you don’t even need dates to create and save a search.
For example, I used the map here to isolate only a part of the world, excluding entire continents or countries and filling in no dates. The site let me save the search. Of course, you’d probably want to turn off the alerts if you’ve isolated a large territory.
(Screenshot edited)
I have had my Christmas sit up since the beginning of August, so a full month, and no interest whatsoever. I know it’s a few months away, but I have an extremely expensive holiday booked that I am now concerned that I may have to cancel.
Anybody else having Christmas sitter issues?
Hi @ellieh I just had a look at your listing. I think the thing that is missing for me is that I don’t know anything about your area other than it’s pretty. Maybe add local sites in Shaftesbury.
There’s so many listings at Christmas I think you might need to sell your lovely sit more.
Also, in the responsibility section I’d make this paragraph “They can be left for 4 hours …” the first paragraph. Then talk about the behavioural quirks. 
I think the way you responded to your last THS’s review was good. Good luck.
With the last review you received, given the dogs’ behavior and noise from building, sitters probably are being turned off. Holiday season sits are plentiful, so that further worsens your odds. In your place, I would book a paid sitter.