Navigating THS imbalances as a sitter, thoughts from sitters?

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
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The intricacies of navigating THS as a sitter are tricky. There are some things I’ve noticed that don’t sit right with me as a sitter and I wonder if others are feeling the same. I’m very happy that the old review system got an overhaul to a blind review system but I still think there are several improvements that need to be made to make THS equal for sitters and HO’s.

  1. Why can HO’s cancel sits but sitters can’t? Make it equal. And make it a requirement for either party to send a message along with the cancellation. There should never be a cancellation without some sort of explanation. If I get a welcome guide that says information different from the listing and our pre-confirmed chat and I don’t feel comfortable doing the sit anymore- I should 100% be able to cancel on my end with a note saying so without it requiring me to ask the HO to cancel on their end. It’s ridiculous.

  2. The ability of HO’s to send unsolicited messages to sitters inviting them to a sit just based on browsing profiles/and sitter availability. Sitters are unable to do the same when browsing listings in a particular area. As a sitter, there is no option to send a message to an HO to ask questions before applying. Or even in the case where you see an interesting listing with no posted dates yet but the profile is up and complete. There have been times where I would have liked to send a message and have a chat about an interest in a future sit to see if potential dates might match travel etc. I’m in the camp of both parties being allowed to send messages or none at all. If HO’s weren’t allowed to send unsolicited messages to sitters, then they would be forced to wait for applicants to find them or resign to the fact that maybe the sit is not that attractive. In which case I think an HO should not take the site for granted and work on their listing to make it more appealing and transparent to potential sitters. If they didn’t get any applicants they would need to pay for pet care in the end anyway or change their travel plans. I have had so many unsolicited messages from HO’s who seem like they’ve messaged over 100 sitters the same thing and it’s aggravating that I’m required to even engage with that at all. All so they can avoid paying for pet care. Part of the deal of having an animal is to come to terms with the fact that you might actually have to pay someone for pet care from time to time. Just like those who roam and nomad and sit almost full time recognize they’ll have to get a hotel or camp or rent a sublet from time to time. Does opening up the messaging allowances for sitters to send unsolicited inquiries bring potential issues? Sure. But it already has its issues with HO’s and they’re still roaming the THS landscape unscathed. If messaging were to be opened up, I think sitters and HO’s should have a cap on how many messages can be sent out without a formal application submitted. That way you’re more mindful of the conversations you actually want to have rather than a spray and pray approach.

  3. Background Checks: Sitters are required to have completed background checks but HO’s are not from my understanding. Maybe they newly implemented it for new accounts but all the old HO’s that have been on here for a while have not been “properly” vetted as I understand it. I have started to only fully trust the HO accounts who also have a sitter profile because it means they have gone through the same process I have.

  4. Calendar control for sitters. THS doesn’t actually allow sitters to edit their own availability to indicate when they are unavailable off of the site. As if THS is their life so if they don’t have a booked sit, they must be available otherwise. So, it’s not a choice necessarily that sitters can make when it comes to matters of disclosing their availability on their profile. The sitter calendar gets auto populated based on what sits they have booked directly through the THS site. When you go to click edit on the calendar page, it only allows you to create a date sequence for your availability not block off any dates. This makes no sense as the entire calendar is already left “open” making it seem like you are available all those dates. The dates that you set in your editing get highlighted green but the rest are not crossed off. I doubt an HO is looking at a calendar and thinking “Oh this green section means available and the other dates not crossed off must mean unavailable”…it’s intentionally confusing. This is all of course by design, because it makes it appear that more sitters are available for the HO’s date sets when they browse the profiles even though that may not be the case.

  5. HO expectations of sitters beyond the standard care of a pet or simple house plants. I have seen (and experienced a couple) sits where the home owner is expecting a lot of additional labor that is in no way a fair exchange for a place to stay. Asking a sitter to constantly be around because your animal has severe anxiety seems like a case for a paid situation, that’s a lot to ask of someone unpaid. Asking a sitter to weed, harvest, and tend to your garden (or in some cases small farm) in the same way you would is not fair in an unpaid exchange. Casually mentioning at last minute almost every day via text that to be on the lookout for packages that need to be received by the sitter makes it impossible for a sitter to live their life and inconsiderate. All these might sound like more extreme examples but they are very common (especially in cities, thinking specifically about dog owners, and rural properties with lots of land). Additionally, I have experienced a double standard in what is expected after I leave (specifically cleanliness) versus what I was left with upon arrival. I partially blame my reviews because a few of them mention how much cleaner I leave places than when I found them. This is however on a case by case basis- especially if the HO is super sweet and generous. I go above and beyond for sits that deserve it but I’ve noticed that a couple HO’s had read that and thought they could leave their place dirty and get a house maid in return.

I think for that last one, if there was a mandatory in depth education piece for everyone before applying to or posting a sit, then some of the things that seem like common sense to some might get translated to others. Cleanliness and keeping tidy being amongst that education. But also a section on “what is an equal exchange: understanding and setting expectations”.

All of these are no brainers for me to be fixed by THS but I wonder how other people feel about them. I’m a chronic over thinker, so I realize I might not be in the majority here. I just wonder why enough noise hasn’t been made about getting some or all of these things sorted so that the experience feels equal. I’m not a full time sitter so maybe that has something to do with it? Any full time sitters want to chime in?

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I’ll just say Check!, Check!, Check!

I’m with you on all points. We are all paying customers, and should be treated equally by the platform.

Someone (can’t remember who, sorry) said in another thread that there is a difference between «a housesitter» and «a housekeeper». I’m currently only petsitting, but could also be a homeowner, and I have on another platform exchanged homes over 15 years. In my opinion a petsitter should be treated with the same hospitality that you would if you asked one of your friends to petsit for you. But no problem for me - I do my own vetting process and don’t apply for red flags.

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That is only for US sitters.

I can understand this “imbalance”, because the HO runs the greater risk and because there is no real need to verify the HO’s ID and address.

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@pietkuip Well, what does the background check reveal? Would it include convictions for violent crime? If so, the HO’s should be included.

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Fellow full-time sitter here. You raise some good points. I have been sitting full time for a decade and have had an overwhelmingly positive experience doing this. Here are a few of my thoughts.

As far as the cancellation goes, I imagine one major reason it is one sided is because it is the host who created the listing so it is only them who are able to alter anything related to it. I really don’t have any strong feelings either way about sitters being able to cancel on their end so it doesn’t bother me. I can’t see THS changing any aspect of the process that would almost certainly lead to more cancellations but you never know…

Also, with the potential for messages to not go through properly, the host not seeing a notification for a message,etc…I doubt THS would want to run the risk of a situation where hosts are completely unaware of the cancellations and that they actually don’t have a sitter any longer.

I can understand why sitters can’t send hosts unsolicited messages. If I was a host in a highly desirable area, I probably wouldn’t want to receive constant messages from sitters wanting me to ‘keep them in mind’ or asking if I was going to be traveling for the dates they want to be there,etc… Hosts being able to contact sitters at any time makes sense–anyone who is on the site is interested in providing a particular service, and hosts are seeking that service,; and while direct invites don’t often work out for a number of reasons, it is good that it is there. I have booked a few sits over the years from direct invites and I am sure many other people have as well.

I personally have no issues with hosts not having a background check–I highly doubt any have intentions to lure sitters to their home for nefarious purposes. Having the background check and/or id verification for sitters makes perfect sense…the hosts are inviting complete strangers into their home where they could potentially do all sorts of bad things from treating their pets poorly to stealing valuable things to doing serious damage to their home. I know this isn’t a popular opinion among sitters probably, but hosts take on the way bigger risk by far.

I agree that being able to edit the calendar to note unavailable times is better than only being able to note available times.

I can’t really recall any sit where hosts had unreasonable expectations so I can’t personally speak to that, though I see others have experienced it. While it is certainly possible to have things sprung on us last minute, for the most part problems like this can be avoided with good communication and asking questions. If a sitter has a bad experience with something on a particular sit, and they are worried about it happening again, it is a good idea to bring this up when booking sits in the future.

While anything can happen and even the most diligent sitters can be caught off guard or have an unexpected negative experience, when people are encountering problems on a more frequent basis, it is important they review how they are approaching the process of selecting sits and seeing if there is anywhere they could improve upon it. That I have had such a great experience for so long can’t simply be chalked up to luck.

Sitting is completely voluntary and if there are sitters who truly feel like they are always getting the short end of the stick, they are free to not do it. For people who are having bad experiences but feel like they are reliant on sitting for financial reasons, whether they are doing it full-time or it allows them to travel to places they otherwise couldn’t, so they don’t want to stop, it is even more imperative to choose their sits carefully so they can minimize the risk of bad experiences.

I know there is a lot of talk on here about THS ‘favoring’ hosts and things being imbalanced,etc… and in some respects I see what people mean. But for the most part, I really don’t see it that way. I think this whole system works great when people can see it for what it is and manage their expectations.

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It sounds like you have had only positive experiences doing this full time and I think that’s great. Even sitting part time here and there, I haven’t had too many extremely negative experiences but I have noticed that the expectations from HO’s has shifted after they have read my reviews. Which is why I mentioned that maybe that was partially something to do with it. Just wanted to know other people’s thoughts and experiences.

In terms of the HO being able to cancel but the sitter not- I have to disagree that since the application was written and submitted by the sitter they should have every right to remove it and cancel the sit if they feel uncomfortable instead of it being deferred to the home owner. But I know some people worry that will be abused by new sitters just cancelling for no good reason. Although, I had an HO cancel on me last minute once for a silly reason of her “friends are in town and they want to stay at my house instead”. So it goes both ways.

Anyhow, thanks for that perspective of someone who has sat full time for this long. From your profile, it looks like you are with a partner which might have something to do with how overwhelmingly positive it’s been? You’ve both been able to overlap and be a bit more choosy I suppose when it comes to which sits you take vs. single sitters who might be doing it full time and feeling like there are compromises to be made when weighing out the pros and cons of a pet sit instead of renting a sublet, etc.

Also, I highly doubt any home owners are paying money to come on here and use THS for violent or illegal reasons but something about the background check not applying to them and only sitters didn’t sit right with me. It’s not totally irrational when thinking about single females who travel alone and worry about safety. But you’re right in the sense that these sits need to be chosen even more carefully as this is all voluntary.

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I mean, only for the criminal history aspect is it important to me. Overall I just find it strange that it’s not required by home owners when there is equal opportunity for abuse of power on their end.

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I’ve had almost all positive experiences while being a sitter, but agree that NOW the balance is toward the owner.
It feels like homeowners are all considered responsible adults and sitters are irresponsible adolescents. Maybe there were too many of the latter to make these changes. I’ve heard owners complain about irresponsible sitters who don’t check travel costs and schedules, who have parties at their home, who get scared of pet behaviors….
And now because of those sitters, we now have so many restrictions and are treated differently on the site.
I think regular, clean, nice owners are aware of what they need to look for in a sitter now, and experienced sitters know what to look for in a sit. But it’s hard work to ensure this and to get those good sits!

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I do both. I don’t think there is an “imbalance” as much as just a difference in roles and expectations. I have never felt like I was treated like a servant or the help, but this could be because of the sits I’ve accepted and the hosts that have accepted me.

As to the points: (1) Cancellation. Sitters need to tell the hosts that they are cancelling. I’m for that. Why? Because if sitters could just cancel on their own and not tell Hosts and hosts missed an email or something, pets could be left to starve. If a sitter says “Cancel me. I can’t come.” And a host says, “Nope.” All a sitter has to do is contact THS and let them know. Should this be improved? Yes! For both parties. THS needs to track cancellations and make sure both parties have the same understanding of what happened and who initiated it in order to make sure that no one is cancelling frivolously or frequently.

  1. When a host has actual dates available why shouldn’t they be to check if sitters – maybe sitters who’ve favorited the dates, are available? What is the disadvantage to sitters of their doing that? If sitters could just contact hosts randomly about sits, then people in competitive areras would be overwhelmed with sitters wanting to be their besties. It wouldn’t help the homeowner actual find someone when they need someone, as a listing can. It wouldn’t benefit new sitters as they’d see listings if people already had 30 sitters to choose from. It would still put a burden on homeowners to choose through a lot of listings. For sitters who don’t plan a calendar a year in advance and are just looking for a quick getaway on certain dates – nothing beats active listings.
  2. The “background checks” are only for sitters in the US. There are ID checks elsewhere. It makes sense to me that the person who is coming into the stranger’s home and taking care of the pets at least has their ID confirmed. IMO there is less of a need to do this for hosts, but if it makes everyone feel safer that they aren’t being scammed, it’s not a big deal. Sure.
  3. The calendar doesn’t exist for Hosts, so it’s not an equality issue. The calendar should absolutely be under the control of sitters. That’s just practical and will keep sitters from getting invitations when they aren’t available. It should automatically block out the THS dates, and the sitter should be able to put in available to sit dates.
  4. I am not sure what your proposing to make this better. As a sitter, I’ve stayed in places that were definitely cluttered and in one case some things weren’t perfectly clean. Should I have mentioned this in reviews? Maybe. DId I feel an obligation to scrub these homes to perfection? Not really, but I did the basics that I always do and the reviews said I left the home cleaner than I found it, so that’s fine. All I can say is maybe we all in both roles need to be both more forgiving AND more honest in reviews around cleanliness. Some sits are tough to the point where many people aren’t going to apply – the anxious dog that can’t be left alone – is an example, but what would the point be of not allowing those sits on the platform? There is often someone who decides to take them. As long as their is transparency about the listing, it’s not a problem. Maybe the issue is lack of transparency and THS not monitoring its members enough?
  5. I agree with you that there should be some form of education/training before people sign up – maybe even with videos and a module. I get it. A lot of people who’ve been doing this for years might balk and the company wouldn’t want to scare people away, but everyone might be happier. They could even have every 2 years retake a module or something. There are plenty of professions that demand continuing education for standing.
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Sitters can cancel - I’ve had to cancel sits but have had good reason to such as a family emergency. Also, sitters can send homeowners messages to show interest in their listings without actually applying. I’ve done this a couple of times where I’ve shown interest in future dates and I’ve obtained a future sit. I no longer do this since the 5 pause rule as I don’t want to take someone’s place as an applicant. It is possible for sitters to modify their calendar to show they aren’t available if they are on a personal vacation. Personally, I find the calendar so not user friendly as I’m sure others agree, that I don’t think many sitters are bothering to keep it maintained.

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Maybe there’s some imbalance but it doesn’t really bother me. We have to consider that the roles are different and it is not possible

You have raised some interesting points and I’d like to share my opinion

  • cancellations. I would prefer that both HOs and sitters had to go through THS for a cancellation to be effective. I think that would help enforce the emergency only cancellation policy.
  • Sending messages. It could easily be made equal by letting both HOs and sitters choose if they want that option open, even block communication with someone in particular.
  • Background checks. I am in Europe and does not apply but I agree that even though the HOs are exposing their pets and property, sitters maybe exposing themselves and some property too.
  • I also agree the way sitters calendar work could be improved but wouldn’t list it as imbalance.
  • High or unfair expectations are not an imbalance issue either. There maybe high expectations on both ends but that can easily be managed by choosing the best possible match for both HOs and sitters.
    I think if we are part of the THS Community is because we love pets and enjoy this system of mutual exchange, I read too often that sitters

and as @KC1102 says, this is something we choose to do and we should manage our expectations accordingly, which doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to improve the system.
Perhaps we could post this suggestions in this other thread

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I can see how being an HO means you most often get treated better as a sitter because the perception is that you’re a responsible home owner who is just pet sitting from time to time when you travel. I was more so referring to the instance in which a sitter is perceived as doing it full time and viewed as a service like Rover or something similar that is available to the home owner rather than it being a mutual exchange. As @tlubkin recently commented, more recently homeowners have carried the attitude that sitters are irresponsible adolescents. I actually think some people have recently come to THS from advertisements under the impression that it is either a service where sitters get paid by THS and that’s why they pay the yearly fee. Why they think that I don’t know but I just remember getting asked on a very recent sit if THS pays well. I was shocked they had no idea how this even worked and it made me frustrated that there wasn’t a better education component for new folks. Even for sitters. Especially after the Mayfair Equity Partners buyout.

I actually agree with the point that @Newpetlover made which is that the cancellation process should just go through THS (granted it’s after the two week mark)…if it’s before two weeks I don’t see why a sitter can’t just cancel if they feel uncomfortable with the sit after getting new information that the host decided to withhold in the initial interview process. Just seems silly to have to ask permission to cancel when they can just relist their dates and find another sitter with more than two weeks wiggle room. I mean, it’s also a lesson to the host not to withhold information important to the sit until after confirming. Again, I realize this can be abused but I feel like all sitters are being punished under this assumption when HO’s already abuse this power of being able to cancel whenever they want and forcing the sitter to contact THS and “prove” that it’s a legit cancellation. I know because I’ve unfortunately had to deal with last minute HO cancellations and even though one was for an emergency…the other wasn’t. But you did make a good point about THS needing to track the cancellations so that they are being marked as legit and not too frequent and/or frivolous.

In terms of sending messages, maybe I’m just annoyed because my location is in a popular urban area and I get several unsolicited messages in a week that require my attention when this feels like it could also be solved with the calendar issue. If I was able to mark my calendar off and block dates like I want instead of highlighting my availability in green, I think it would be much clearer for people thinking about messaging me. Would it stop them? I don’t know but it does annoy me getting that many messages.

In terms of equality with the calendar, I just meant the imbalance is that the HO gets to see my calendar publicly (which I’m not allowed to even properly manage myself) and then send unsolicited messages after reviewing perceived availability. On the opposite end, HO’s will sometimes set tentative dates in a listing which is frustrating because in a search I will see something that fits what I’m looking for and then read on to find out they haven’t solidified the dates yet. Homeowners don’t get reprimanded for this behaviour or told not to do it, we as sitters just navigate it by having a conversation if we’re still open to it or move along. Gives HO’s lots of flexibility in posting dates and what feels like very little in structuring the calendar aspect for sitters. Feels one sided is all.

And yes, I was suggesting in my ending statement that the education and training be mandatory for people to resolve #5.

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That’s so odd, how were you able to cancel on your end? In any of my attempts to cancel a sit (which is not very frequent but one very recently) I have had to ask the HO to cancel for me. I even had an instance where the HO texted me and said they cancelled their trip but still didn’t cancel on their end so it looked like I was booked up through THS and I couldn’t apply for another sit during that time until I messaged them asking to cancel.

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How do you send a message to homeowners without applying?

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Really well written, articulate, to the point and fair. I agree with all the points presented and I too ask for changes to be implemented. Especially the ability to contact owners to ask questions before actually applying for a sit. Great job @pdxpetfriend Thank you for a great post.

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I agree with THS that pet sitters should not be able to cancel. The house sits I have had were home owners leaving for Europe and their house was in the US. THS does not want pet sitters to think they can cancel on a whim. Some of my sits are booked months ahead of time. The home owner needs peace of mind that the person they chose will show up and do a good job with their pets. If pet sitters think it is OK to cancel then a lot will who wouldn’t with the policy the way it is now.

I wouldn’t mind a home owner having a background check but they would lose a lot of home owners that way so it will not happen. I hope they at least get a copy of their license to match the property address incase a pet sitter is never heard from again.

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This has happened in Couchsurfing, an American girl in Nepal. The last address where she stayed was known, of course. Eventually, the host was convicted for her murder (he had kept her phone).

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As a HO, I think an identity check for HOs would be good. I don’t know why anyone would oppose that. Not all countries include address in the driving license, though. But I’m sure there are other ways to confirm the address.

I’m afraid two weeks would be nowhere nearly enough time to find a new sitter in many cases. Most of our sitters travel from other continents, and most like to buy their flights several months in advance.

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I was surprised when I discovered that there are many discrepancies between sitters and owners on THS platform.

However, I have confirmed 20 great sits through the platform. I joined so that I could be introduced to owners who wanted a house sitter . So THS membership has delivered the service I needed and for the membership price that I paid I think it was well worth it for me.

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@pdxpetfriend You can cancel a sit by either asking the host to ‘unconfirm’ you or by requesting THS to cancel the sit for you.
We recently had to cancel a sit urgently and (due to the difficult circumstances) we contacted THS directly to cancel the sit and immediately release our dates again, and they did so.
As a sitter, as long as you have good reason, you can always cancel a sit. If both sides have been open and honest and both have done their research etc there should rarely be a need to cancel. We’ve only had 2/3 cancellations in 6 years. I actually think it should not be so easy for an HO to just cancel a sit from their end especially without a genuine reason. This does seem to be happening more often. If a cancellation is done by mutual agreement between sitter & host then no problem.

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