It’s true that even with due diligence, there’s no guarantee that a sitter won’t end up being surprised by a terrible host / terrible sit. That’s why it’s important to always have a backup plan. Otherwise, a sitter can find themselves trapped or stranded.
THS works best for folks with the resources to cover themselves should a sit fall through or turn out to be surprisingly terrible because a host hid dealbreakers, turns out to be a wretched human, turns out to have aggressive pets, etc. Or say if a sitter flakes, cancels late or turns out to be sketchy or otherwise prompt misgivings when they show up.
Personally, as a sitter, I wouldn’t accept any sit where I couldn’t afford to pay for alternative shelter or cut a trip short and return home if things turned out to be wretched. If I couldn’t do that, I’d sit only local-ish or I’d not participate in THS at all. We all have agency and I would never leave myself open to potentially being trapped into a wretched sit by a lying, abusive or exploitative host, or if I encountered unlivable conditions or dangerous pets.
If something like that happened, I’d give 24 hours notice to THS and the host, so they could arrange alternative pet care before I fled. I wouldn’t leave myself at the mercy of a host and let them drag out figuring out alternative care.
We all engage in THS voluntarily and there are no guarantees that a sitter or host won’t turn out to be terrible. It would be great if THS kicked horrible hosts and sitters off the site more aggressively, but even if they did, that would happen only after the fact if you encountered a terrible sit or host or sitter. That wouldn’t help you in the moment, because they can’t force a horrible host or sitter to suddenly change their behavior or change a dangerous pet’s behavior.
And personally if I were a host, I’d never leave my pets and home in the care of any sitter who turned out to make me suspicious or gave me misgivings. I’d make sure I had a backup plan and if that fell through, I’d rather cancel my trip and eat the costs if it came to that.
Some hosts and sitters buy premium membership and get some coverage, but that can be fraught, limited and even difficult to collect on, as various forum posts have made clear. And even with such coverage, you’d have to pony up the money for alternative care or shelter till you could eventually collect later.
To underscore: Both sitters and hosts take risks by participating in THS. There’s no amount of due diligence that can absolutely rule that out. But there are definitely precautions that both sitters and hosts can take. We’re not just sitting ducks, any of us. If anyone thinks they are, to me it would be logical to not participate in THS or such platforms at all.
