Membership ideas from other platforms

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We recently joined another housesitting platform, Nomador, in efforts to complement THS coverage expressly in regards housesits in continental Europe and other non-English countries. Their member benefit seems to have three distinct differences to THS.
#1 Number applicants. Unlimited. THS rule of max five applicants has been extensively covered in THS Forum so will not revisit here.
#2 Sit cancellation insurance. Seems four differences. Insurance per other platform:
a) applies for cancellations up to 30 days before sit start date (THS 14 days)
b) insurance coverage amount includes travel costs plus alternative accommodation (THS accommodation)
c) insurance coverage (daily, max) value increases by level of membership (THS not)
d) insurance coverage does not apply geographic limitations to alternative accommodation (THS max 20 miles from housesit)
#3 Listing early-access. Seems ā€œtop-levelā€ housesit members have 24 hour early access to listings posted by ā€œtop-levelā€ pet parent members. Curious. Perhaps controversial. I recall THS Survey some months ago floated idea of early-access to listings in return for higher membership fee.

Weā€™ve had two international housesits cancelled by Pet Parents at last minute. Both were stressful. One leveraged THS Sit Cancellation Insurance, one was ineligible. Given our experience, and as full-time housesitters, the seemingly superior terms of Sit Cancellation Insurance strike us as attractive (even if higher membership fee).

Curious on thoughts on these alternative membership terms, or indeed from other platforms.

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I canceled my Nomador membership before it expired. I found the user interface lame and the hosts flakier than on THS.

Nomador also weirdly returned sits (among search results) that other people had finished long ago. No idea why. Maybe to make inventory look more robust?

I originally joined to see what sits it offered where THS is thin. Anyhow, because I found it so janky, I stopped checking it at all. I wouldnā€™t use it even if it were free.

On Nomador, I did get unsolicited invitations to sit, as well as got a couple of sits that Iā€™d applied for, but I thought my time better spent on THS.

I sit only part time and donā€™t need to fill a calendar, so I can be super choosy with sits and platforms. If Nomador were the best platform out there ā€” say if THS didnā€™t exist ā€” I probably wouldnā€™t be sitting at all.

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It is great to see what others do and see if it is something there to learn from. So just to juggle a bit with the thought:

Ofc you can get better coverage - but then the price of the insurance would go considerably up. If you canā€™t cancel your tickets 14-30 days in advance, it is usually because some sort of economy- tickets were chosen. If one wanted the Ā«insuranceĀ» one could have chosen the full price tickets. Often same goes with hotels. Would a person opting for the cheapest tickets want a way more expensive insurance, is what I ask myself?

If you get a separate bubble within THS with most experienced hosts/ sitters - Iā€™m not sure whether that is a good idea. Then you would also take away elements of THS being a community, that fellow members are equal. It will be Ā«usĀ» and Ā«themĀ» elements which IMO is poison for any community. Would the risk of bad behavior go up? That one can be more entitled towards the non-deserving that are not Ā«in the circleĀ»? I see that risk as thereā€™s already that in too many matches? So obviously that is already a thing that might spread. What do others think?

Just a good weekend discussion! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Exactly the same experience for us. Unfortunately auto renewal was on so Iā€™m stuck for another year though. Auto renew without a warning email is sus business practice.

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I agree about the privilege bubble. I donā€™t like the idea. I really hate the way companies keep inventing upgrading options to increase benefits, together with that thereā€™s usually a process of downgrading the basic option, like airlines charging for hand luggage and such.
Regarding insurance

I think they would. I might. We pay membership fee once a year while tickets are bought much more frequently.

I sit as a hobby and a cancellation would not have a really big impact on me (although I have chosen to have insurance coverage) but I think 14 days prior to the sit is a very limited period of coverage.

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Depending on where you live and where the company operates, auto renewal without the user agreeing to it explicitly beforehand can be illegal.

Your credit card company might also be willing to help you reverse the charge if it was done without your agreement.

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Interesting.
Like @Maggie8K, we too joined Nomador (and 2 other sites as well as THS) about 5 years ago to ā€œtry them outā€ and Nomador was the worst at the time, anyway.
Iā€™m huge on the importance of really good, clear photos of inside the home - of each and every room the sitter will use including bathrooms and kitchens - and those were sorely lacking on Nomador.
Also, the review system seemed very weak at best. I also saw listings posted multiple times - like duplicates.
The whole site just seemed so amateur (at the time).
We travel often to France so we were interested but I just didnā€™t like the site at all.
Iā€™d be very curious if @GotYourBack - if you have a positive experience if youā€™d share it here in the future.

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Just thought Iā€™d add my experience with Nomador as I seem to have gone the opposite way to everyone else and not renewed my THS membership in favour of Nomador.

I should say that I am a very part-time sitter so my sample sizes are pretty small. Iā€™ve done two short sits (one week or less) with THS and three longer sits (3-4 weeks) with Nomador, though Iā€™ve obviously made more applications than that.

The Nomador website is more basic. There are no rules around how many photos a host needs to add so some listings are pretty light on info. This doesnā€™t bother me, I just need to be able to search by location and contact hosts. Nomador allows me to do both and popular listings donā€™t disappear after five seconds so Iā€™m happy.

Personally, Iā€™m not bothered about the lack of photos in listings. Two of the three sits weā€™ve done only had a couple of photos of the exterior of the house and no interior photos but, in both cases, the homes were lovely and perfectly clean. I feel like I can get enough info from the tone of the listing to know whether the hosts sounds like people who understand how the exchange works and know how to host guests. And if I canā€™t then I would just skip that listing. All the hosts Iā€™ve contacted have been happy to share photos privately, even if the didnā€™t want to put them in their listing.

Iā€™ve had a couple of flakey hosts on Nomador but I donā€™t think itā€™s a bigger problem than on THS. One thing I havenā€™t experienced on Nomador is hosts that never reply to applications at all (or even read them!) whereas Iā€™ve had quite a few applications on THS completely ignored.

Iā€™m also not interested in cancellation insurance so havenā€™t compared those options. Iā€™m applying for sits in places I would want to go anyway. If a sit got cancelled and I couldnā€™t find a replacement Iā€™d just sort my own accommodation and enjoy a resposibility-free holiday.

A big part of the reason that I prefer Nomador is that Iā€™m usually looking to sit in Paris suburbs as I lived there for nine years and love to go back. Clearly, Nomador has far more listings than THS in that area and the THS listings are gone so quickly I donā€™t have the chance to apply anyway. If youā€™re applying for sits somewhere Nomador has fewer offers, it might be harder to find something good but I think the same is true of THS.

This summer, without applying for anything, weā€™ve been offered two back-to-back sits in our preferred area via Nomador contacts, one repeat from a previous host and one where a previous host recommended us to friends. Both for beautiful homes with sweet, easy pets and generous hosts who are also happy for our adult sons to join us for part of the sit.

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@carpediem16, will do. Itā€™s the start of an experiment for us. Happy to commit to one year membership then re-assess. Intend as geographically additive, rather than supplemental, to THS. During 2025-6, we intend to spend many months in Europe :grinning_face:. So this is a purposeful experiment.

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@garfield, clearly I canā€™t answer question generically for all housesitters or pet parents. But for us then it would be a no-brainer. Whether financial or peace of mind. Heck, if anyone knows of an insurance company with a product that provides better terms than THS Sit Cancellation Policy then please post details.
We fly with no checked luggage. Most of our flights, and weā€™ve done plenty, have been with Westjet (Canada-Atlantic) and Easyjet (Europe/UK). On Westjet flight in couple weeks, we have paid a bit more for better seats (as per your recent thread on upgrades). On Easyjet then we use Easyjet Plus. While not inexpensive, it has some wonderful perks that can significantly aid the travel experience ā€¦ but Easyjet does not sell changeable/refundable tickets.

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I can see the appeal from a sitterā€™s standpoint, but why would a HO willingly limit their listingā€™s visibility for 24 hours? Whatā€™s better about the ā€œtop-levelā€ sitters? The only difference I see is a willingness to pay more money for another tier of membership?

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So fascinating. Iā€™ve luckily never had an owner cancel, so I canā€™t imagine the stress, in particular, if plane tickets have been purchased. I agree that folks would pay for increased insurance re: cancellation and also property damage etc. I donā€™t believe in creating a hierarchy in terms of access as it would embolden owners - who already have this issue - to demand even more of sitters in order for you to stay VIP. I prefer stronger consequences if you treat an owner/their pets or a sitter poorly. I think that if you attract complaints more than three times, you should be asked to do some training in regards to how to be a better owner / sitter and be banned for a period of at least 90 days. And prior to 3 strikes, you should be warned and provided feedback on how to fix your behaviour / sit to reflect THS standards. So basically, discourage bad behaviour, rather than reward good behaviour, which should be the baseline standard for all. I believe that my sits have gone well because I use my own form for the owner to fill in prior to the sit. I include a checklist for them so there are no ā€œsurprise tasks or medical issuesā€ or unclean homes I have to walk into.

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From other platforms we have joined we love the following:

The Reply Rating appears on a memberā€™s search listing and profile page, as a series of 5 dots. If a member has responded promptly to every ā€˜First Contactā€™ message, their reply rating will remain at 5 points (represented as 5 solid dots).

If a ā€˜First Contactā€™ message is not replied to after 5 days:

  • the recipientā€™s reply rating is reduced by a point (dot);
  • and the sender is notified.

With the reply rating system homeowners and sitters can immediately figure out if they will receive a timely reply or never receive a reply.

Membership discounts and loyalty rewards:

$5 Complete 1st year (Silver membership badge)

$10 Complete 2nd year (Gold membership badge)

$15 Complete 3rd year (Platinum membership badge)

$15 Complete full year of Platinum membership

$10 Friend referral (no limit)

Hide my profile - if you are not available to sit or fully booked you can select to hide your profile. Your membership remains active but you canā€™t be invited to sits.

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