Hi @MissChef! I went to the TH site, then Help, and searched for insurance. This entry:
has links to the T&Cs. Note that the T&Cs are updated occasionally. Glad they post the date at the top. Looks like they were updated … yesterday! 
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Might be because I complained! 
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@Laweeze sorry this has happened to you .
We are also new to THS this year and of the 5 sits that we have completed so far 2 we’re curtailed mid sit due to homeowners coming back several days early . These were both in U.K.
One was for an extra- ordinary circumstance , serious illness causing them to have to come home early . The other was because the homeowner had decided to come home early to attend a social event.
The second was reported to member services but there was nothing they could do other than remind the homeowner of the code of conduct and suggest that mention it in our review.
It certainly would be useful to know about the number of sits that a HO or sitter has cancelled previously.
This has been discussed on this thread too:
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The Premium membership insurance does cover sits that are cancelled upexpectedly ( a cancellation that occurs up to and including 14 days before the agreed sit start date or during the sit) ,
provided you’ve met all the terms and conditions - such as:
•Sitters must notify TrustedHousesitters within 24 hours of a sit being cancelled and provide correspondence that confirms the cancellation.
•Alternative Accommodation must be not be further than 20 miles (32 kilometres) from the location of the original sit.
•a limit of $150 per night will be reimbursed
•receipts must be provided for all expenses
•Policy Excess- sitter pays first $100
• $1500 total limit
The policy will not reimburse sitters for any of the following:
The sit cancellation is mutually agreed between the pet parent and the sitter.
The sitter had a reasonable option not to travel, which would have prevented incurring cost (such as refundable travel bookings, plans that could be amended)
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I have done 37 sits since Dec 2021 with THS and one other platform and in that time I remember three pet owners cancelling sits, not so close to the start date. Luckily, I found new sits to replace them for the most part (except for about 2 nights so I stayed in airbnb’s). I guess that so far for me, it is about 8-10% chance that owners will cancel? They had varying reasons:
1/ HO’s daughter decided to come and stay at parents’ house so she was the one who would feed/care for the pets
2/ cat died so a sitter was no longer required while the hosts went on holiday
3/ partner of HO needed cancer treatment so they cancelled their vacation/travels., ie stayed home.
Those are the only ones I can remember - maybe there were more but I don’t think so. I decided not to get THS premium membership as the cancellation insurance would not have helped me in those cases anyway.
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That must have been really upsetting and stressful for you. I do feel that if there were some sort of negative consequence (financial penalty or a red flag on on your profile) then people wouldn’t do this, except in emergencies of course.
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I started applying for sits about 5 months ago and within lining up the first 10 sits, 2 had canceled on me and 1 changed the dates. I was scrambling because I didn’t think they could cancel and both times I tried getting membership services involved and they were not helpful. They didn’t do or say anything with the HO’s and just told me to apply for other sits. 1 I was able to replace fairly quickly and the other one took me a couple months. I’m at that the replacement sit as I write this and I only got accepted a couple weeks ago. Do you have the premium membership? If so, check with membership services about getting reimbursement for lodging. I couldn’t because it wasn’t within the 14 day window. I feel bad for you. As we have lined up back to back sits, I always have a feeling of nervousness that I’ll get a another message of a cancelation or date change
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Hello, I’m doing this for several years and most of the time it’s not a problem. But I have also had a cancelation 5 days before I had to go. I was very disappointed and had to change all plans. Not to mention the sits I missed. My mistake, So bad but I never had the agreement on this site but by phone. This is a lesson i never do again. I even went Ithere for a visite because they asked me. I spend my time and the costs to go there all for nothing. So a lesson for all sitters, Make sure the sit is accepted on this site, because nothing to claim afterwoods. I think All depends what country and if the owners are used to work with trustedhoussitters.
Grtz
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Thanks for the sympathy. I’m sorry you had similar issues. We haven’t lost money so insurance won’t help us. It’s the stress and the rush to find alternative plans on the same dates that is the problem because we also provide respite for my elderly parents and arrange things to do with and for them around the confirmed sits. I really thought they were firm but it turns out they’re not, so now i’m questioning whether this site is for us.
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Sorry to hear you’ve had similar problems. It really doesn’t seem like there are any effective disincentives in this set up for unreliability. For us it wasn’t about money lost, so buying insurance wouldn’t be a solution either.
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@Laweeze don’t give up on the site just yet, as you heard from the others, there are many here who almost never get cancellations. There always a spectrum of quality people everywhere. There’s the homeowners who make every effort to make the stay for a sitter as good as possible and then there are homeowners who think sitters are part of “the help” nonpaid of course. There are sitters who make it to the sit no matter what and take amazing care of the animals, then the sitters who leave a dog unattended to go partying or cancel because a better sit becomes available. All spectrums. I wish the universe had some magic to match the good ones together and the bad ones together.
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as an owner, we have just had to cancel a sit for 2 months time due to sudden serious illness. I know I felt really bad about having to do this however I obviously explained fully why this was the case.
While I agree that just cancelling on either side is to be avoided as far as possible, there are also times of emergency on both sides of the equation which make this something that will happen and sometimes at short notice. All we can do is hope that it doesn’t happen to us.
Cancellation without adequate reason is another issue entirely and one that reflects badly on both sitters and owners who do this. If this is an increasing problem then perhaps there should be a way of monitoring this.
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@largo sorry to hear of your illness . It’s a situation that could unfortunately happen to anyone both sitters and homeowners at anytime.
Hopefully as the sitter has a couple of months notice they will find another sit . I see lots of sits listed for August and September.
Yours is an entirely different situation to a homeowner or sitter who changes their mind or cancels because something better has come up .
Wishing you a speedy recovery.
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Hi there, so you don’t feel alone, when we first joined aver a year ago (we’ve been sitting almost full time ever since) out of our first 4 confirmed sits, 2 we’re cancelled last minute. One was sadly a marriage breakdown so very much valid but the other seemed to be just a change of heart. Communications with that owner had been flaky from the start so looking back, that certainly provided a clue. I am now very conscious of owners who are not on the ball with communications and give them a wide berth. You will learn as you go along what to look out for. Good luck and don’t be too concerned at this point, it’s mostly a great system.
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Thank you for making us feel less cursed! Yes we can also see warning signs on one of them, looking back. We’re giving it another go!
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@Laweeze I’m glad that you are not giving up .
@Laweeze with hindsight what were the tell tale signs and could you have known about them before confirming the sit ?
We also have experience this year of a cancellation ( curtailment) out of the blue for a non emergency and even looking back I can’t see any warning signs that we could have picked up on … but we will be more alert to them in future…and I think ask more questions of the homeowner before we commit to a sit . Such as , have you ever cancelled a sit, if you had to come back early for an emergency what would you expect us to do ?
If you are a top tier member you are protected. If they cancel you will still be covered $150/day, up to 15 days.
We have done five sits in eight months and have never had anyone cancel, but I will always have the Premium membership for that reason.
Sorry that this has happened to you. Keep trying. Best wishes to you!
Michelle
Hello @Mdillard15 and a very warm welcome to the Community Forum and it’s lovely to see you joining in with this thread 
For reference, as a member, you can also add your TrustedHousesitters profile on to your Forum profile by following the attached link, should you wish. This will then enable others to offer you helpful advice and feedback.
If you are unsure how to do this, or if you have any questions at all, do not hesitate to ask, we are all more than happy to help.
Also, remember you can use the spyglass symbol at the top of the page next to the TrustedHousesitters logo and search for any questions that you may have as they have most likely already been answered on here and of course if not then please just ask! 