Oh dear 
Thereās some other sites that Iāve checked in the past as well, but gave up, because they would yield 0 - 5 results each time. HouseSitMatch, MindahomeUK etc
Have you every tried āhousesittersUKā?
Omg the listings are SO bad!
No pictures.
Title: āpet sitter wantedā
Content: āI have 2 dogs in Walthamstow.ā
The end.
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Itās not unpleasant, itās just as costly and just as inconvenient. Weāre planning our travels and lives around often international sits and to be let down involves a lot of replanning and expense!
Letās try āWeāve just landed on the runway in Zurich and the HO has cancelled a 14 day Swiss sit whilst in the air. First 14 days of 3 month Europe travel, no sits close by available, most expensive country in the world. Hire a car, drive to Germany, fill with small sits, pay for gaps, cost Ā£1000sā or āBooked flights from Istanbul to Palma and then Palma to Stuttgart for multiple horse sit for a very enthusiastic and āfully committedā HO. Sitter checks up on HO one month before sit to be casually told āoh we didnāt get the horse licence, we donāt need you now.ā Six flights lost, 6 week multi country gap to fill. Ouch!ā
And, yes we have insurance!! It hurts equally on both sides. #ifyoureinyourein
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It is a big deal if they booked time off work which canāt be changed .
Itās a big deal if had planned to meet up with friends or family in the area .
Itās a big deal if they had planned their vacation around your sit - planning to spend time in that location . To visit certain places or attractions .
Missing out on their vacation will be just as disappointing as you missing yours and if itās their only vacation in the year then yes it will be a big deal .
This is a mutual exchange , both parties gain when a sit goes ahead and both parties can loose if a sit is cancelled.
Which is why the T&C say that members should only cancel for exceptional circumstances.
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I work and am well off compared to many. But nevertheless : If a host cancels - what is Ā«a big dealĀ»? I can Ā«affordĀ» to pay a hotel, but sure it would be super annoying to get a big expense I didnāt plan for or need. Imposed on me by the host. That might have a valid reason or not for cancelling, but the cost for me would be the same.
Many would have gone to that particular location because of the sit and would not have gone there without the sit. If one should compare - it would be much less of an economic cost to kennel a pet than for a sitter to get a hotel.
I think it is troublesome for both parties. I also would assume that anyone - host or sitter - that were asked in a videocall how they would react if other party fell ill would be polite and say these things happen. That is not the same as not being a (big) problem. If a host showed the attitude that their possible cancellation would be minor to a sitter that would be a huge red flag. Even if I could well find a hotel instead.
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@Pawzzle, I understand that a Pet Parent may prefer fewer or no cost.
As a housesitter, I perceive at least two reasons why membership payment by Pet Parent (and housesitter) is a good thing. For context, we are full-time housesitters and travel internationally to complete housesits. The housesit community is diverse and others, such as those that reside in same community as Pet Parent, may have different perspectives and risk appetite.
- Commitment. In accepting a housesit, we seek to minimize the risk that the Pet Parent will cancel the housesit. After all, we will commit time and likely travel expense in regards the housesit. If the Pet Parent cancels housesit then it would likely result in our financial loss. Personally, we perceive the presence of a membership payment as a symbolic hurdle of commitment by the Pet Parent. There are other red-flags of commitment, such as unconfirmed travel plans.
- Relationship. Housesitting is not a employer-employee relationship. Rather itās an adult-adult relationship of peers. A fair and uncompensated transfer of pet/property care in return for accommodation. A successful outcome requires both parties. Personally, if only one party is paying for the platform then this strikes me as an imbalance. Perhaps the party paying membership fees should also charge fees for housesitting services. Quickly gets messy and becomes a commercial relationship.
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@Pawzzle, I hope that you clearly state this mindset in your listings.
Suspect that your membership fee should include a supplement to reflect elevated probable payments under Sit Cancellation Insurance.
Hereās why a cancellation would be a ābig dealā for me and what Iāve done about it. Iām a combined member. If Iām going on a sit, chances are good my spouse is going too. This means that we will need coverage ā a THS sitter ā for our cats. So if a planned sit gets cancelled, we can still get some refunds or ecredits for our travel plans, but we would also need to cancel our sitter! Weād hate to do that especially if our sitter doesnāt have the premium or is still going to struggle with the insurance because $150 wonāt even get you a hostel bed in NYC.
The whole system begins to unravel! Therefore we have the cancelation insurance so we can still get on the plane and get reimbursed for some of the hotel bills and we donāt leave the sitter in the lurch.
Getting back to the topic, this is also why THS probably works best for us. I havenāt had to use the insurance as a sitter or as a host, but I could see it being a lifesaver (or at least a vacation saver) in both cases though I think theyād need to scale it up a little to really sell it to more members.
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We have been members of Kiwi House Sitters for about three months now and have applied for 32 sits, all of which were rejections. The main challenge there is that weāre still considered new to the platform. While we provide a link to our 45 -5 star reviews on THS, that hasnāt helped us secure any bookings. Many homeowners seem to think, āThose reviews are nice, but theyāre from another site.ā
Weāve decided not to renew our membership. While their system encourages responsiveness by tracking reply times, thatās one of the few positive aspects. Homeowners do not pay a fee there, so many listings are disappointingly sparse, with no photos, minimal descriptions (just one or two sentences), and unclear responsibilities. We did have 2 video chats, but one felt like a job interview the other one like interrogation.
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Unfortunately for THS members, the company doesnāt have real competition.
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Yeah. The concept of pet sitting itself is still quite new/unknown - most people I explain my life to have never heard of THS or any type of program like it. They often think itās a brilliant idea, and never knew something like that existed, and are amazed that we travel Europe this way. Most people just rely on their friends or family to care of their pets when theyāre away, or put them in a kennel if they really donāt have anyone.
I still have to explain it to my dear old dad over and over again, because he just doesnāt get it, and asks every time if weāre paid to look after the pets
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Yup. And in some cultures, itās unusual to invite strangers to your home, much less to have them live there.
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We did manage to secure 3 short pet sits through Kiwi pet sitters. The sits were not as good as THS, but did save us about $1000 USD in hotel costs. The siteās annual cost is about $40 USD, so we decided to renew our membership for another year. They just announced a major site upgrade and a membership fee increase of $5 NZD ( from 84 to 89 NZD) The big surprise is that they are ending the free membership for homeowners. Now homeowners will have to pay the same fee as sitters. I was wondering if the other sister sites like Aussies pet sitters, UK pet sitters are also changing their membership prices?
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Yes @BunnyCat, I received an email from Aussie Housesitters saying the same thing and that photos will be mandatory. Great to know theyāve actually listened to their members and implementing changes that have been requested!! I can see these sitting sites growing even more in popularity.
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HouseSittersAmerica just sent an email that they are switching to $49/year (after one introductory $29/year) for new HOs after their upgrade rolls out. All HOs who join before the upgrade are given a $20 discount for life, so $29/year, with no stipulations about starting the membership immediately or keeping it current.
Iāll certainly keep on as a member there. Looking forward to their site improvements!
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I like when membership is on the high side for both sitters and homeowners. You get people who are serious on both sides and less flakes. You get what you pay for holds true.
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It seems an appropriate time to revive this post. Itās been two years and itās likely other house sitting sites may have changed.
Any updates on your experiences with other house sitting sites would likely be appreciated by many right now, given the recent TrustedHousesitters changes.
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Iāve done really enjoyable sits through mindmyhouse - which was my first ever experience of pet-sitting. I would thoroughly recommend that platform, and it has remained kinda old skool. I doubt I am able to write the full web-link, but to anyone interested, just put mindmyhouse into google search. 
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I also love MindMyHouse and honestly itās only the smaller membership pool that prevents it from being my primary housesitting platform. So everyone should move over there and let me use it full time 
Seriously though, they have a much better ethos: itās all run by a husband and wife team who refuses to advertise their site, they regularly update the code based on member feedback, and they do personally respond to member complaints/feedback. The site isnāt as fancy but they do have a response rating and show the full count of completed housesits, so no invisible non-reviews to worry about.
(You can port your THS reviews to their site as well!!)
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@adelia. . . . I agree with your āreviewā of the quirky MindMyHouse - although I hadnāt realised I could port my THS reviews. Wonderful! (Iāve also communicated with the owner!)
I signed up with THS pre-pandemic because it seemed, at that time, to have a bigger pool than other sites, even though it was comparably expensive at that time - and even more so now. I took quite a long break these last few years from sitting - but since reactivating my membership with THS, a few months ago, I have struggled to find appealing sits. It has felt to me that the THS pool has diminished since I was last a member. I had decided not to renew my membership, even before these announcements today.
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