Search Category Suggestion re EUROPE

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Search Category Suggestion for EUROPE

Doing a search for European Sits today (January 2nd, 2025) using ONLY the Europe (Continent) option, an impressive 1,668 sits display.
However, of those, 1,521 are in the UK + 37 in the Rep of Ireland.

Thus of those 1,668 only 110 are in Contnental Europe: LESS THAN SEVEN PERCENT which appeared on Jan 2, 2025 when searching THS’ Europe (Continent).

Yes, it’s possible to use the Map to focus more closely on Contnental Europe. However, on a current search Jan 2, 2025, that will still display 1,331 of 1,521 the sits in the UK since they are in far south of the UK & zooming in on the map renders Scandinavia and eastern Europe difficult/impossible to see.

Of course it is possible to search an individual European country, then slowly zoom out to see neighboring countries, but many sits will be missed.

I think it would be useful to have a category distinct from “Europe (Content)” And, in fact, having (Continent) following Europe confuses things a bit.
Several alternatives come to mind:

Europe which would include the UK & Republic of Ireland
AND then directly below:
Continental Europe listing 48 countries (but not UK)
Schengen Zone listing 28 countries (Bulgaria & Romania 1/1/25)

Believe many THS Sitters & Home Owners would like this distinction so sits in Europe which might not get noticed under the current search option (Cyprus, Malta, Romania, Finland, etc) get a better shot of matching up Sits/Sitters.

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For those not yet familiar with the term Schengen Zone, here is an explanation. It includes many of the EU countries and some which are not EU but are part of the Schengen Agreement: https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/system/files_en?file=2020-09/schengen_brochure_dr3111126_en.pdf

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To be specific, I’m suggesting Continental Europe would include the 48 countries defined as European but excluding the UK.

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This has been put forward hundreds of times and simply ignored by THS. Another option is to allow the preferred map area to be “free drawn” by the user. This is very doable.

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Thanks for the link

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I totally agree, and I have posed the same question just a little while ago. I prefer looking at sits on ‘list view’ rather than ‘map view’. But, like you, Europe Continent is full of UK sits. It’s so time consuming to go through them.
This amendment should be so simple for a good IT professional but it seems THS are unable to implement it.

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Totally agree!
I assume THS doesn’t want to implement this purely for marketing reasons, rather than it ‘not being technically possible’
It sounds better to advertise +1550 ‘European sits’ than only +100 …

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@ASASG, it’s a great idea. plain and simple.
We have completed housesits in US, Canada, UK and various European countries.
Have raised this idea with THS on Forum at least once. To my knowledge, product update has been raised extensively. Illustrative weblinks below.

To my knowledge, and delighted to be advised otherwise, THS has no active plans to execute this product update.
Perhaps THS Forum members could rally around a single related product update and each “vote” in efforts to escalate (as appropriate to #votes) request.
Personally I don’t even think definition is that important. Schengen area, Eurozone, EU Customs, etc all are defined (though Schengen likely easiest). Importantly, given UK Brexit vote, UK is not part of most definitions of Europe.
Workaround is to select individual countries. Or use draw manual map in search function. We use two searches (West Europe and North/East Europe) to effectively capture geography of continental Europe.

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Europe is a continent. Uk is in the continent of Europe.

Europe is not the same as the European Union (EU) or the Schengen Zone.

I know and understand that people would like to be able to search for Europe excluding the UK, in the same way that some people may want to search for sits in the Americas, excluding the USA. However this doesn’t change the geographic continent that UK, or indeed USA is part of.

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I know what the definitions mean which is why my suggestion is not to eliminate the current category but to create a sub category that would make searching for non-UK Europe possible.
The way the category filters now, “Europe” displays results that are 93% UK and thus virtually useless for Home Owners and Sitters wanting to connect for sits outside of the UK.
It should be easy to make a category that is either EU or Schengen, both of which are useful for those needing ETIAS in 2025 and for those who need to be aware of the 90/180 limitation for travel in the Schengen Zone.

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@Debbie, not questioning definition of Europe. All good. But let’s add search for Schengen zone. While not a continent then it seems a large; visa useful; legally defined geographic area. Personally I can’t think of any downside to an incremental geographic area in search function.

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If new searches are introduced, why not one for Scandinavia?

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As someone who lives in the UK, but would like to experience a sit in mainland Europe, anywhere, I wholeheartedly agree with the original post.

After all, people searching for a sit only in the UK can filter down to search exclusively UK, so why not the same in reverse?

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Agree - and I think the lack of a non-UK Europe search results in too many HO outside the UK never having their sits noticed beause they are lost in sea of overwhelming UK posts.

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@GotYourBack The only reason for my comment was this statement!

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@Debbie, understood. This phrase was not intended to be controversial, political or otherwise problematic. Apologies if it somehow caused offense. As per graphic in my related response, there are numerous geographic definitions for “Europe” that include various subsets of countries. The definition of European geographic continent, rather than legal groupings, is incremental to those stated on graphic.
But search definitions more granular than continental Europe do impact housesitting - for example, eligibility/duration of visitor visas. For example, a UK resident that seeks to housesit in Schengen zone.

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@DianeS, indeed. Why not one for Scandinavia. Adhoc commonly used and legally defined geographic areas seem wholly appropriate for search function.

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A tangential gold-star THS functional approach would be to permit members to create custom geographic areas for their personal search use. Create custom area; Name area; Add/edit list of countries within area; Apply with search.
So if a Pet Parent or Housesitter wanted to create say Schengen zone, Scandinavia, Australasia, etc (all areas not available under THS current search parameters) then they could create/name/define a custom area.

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@GotYourBack I have not taken offence, nor did my comment give any indication of this.

I was simply explaining the difference between the continent of Europe, the EU and the Schengen Zone. This is a distinction that many find confusing, especially those from outside Europe. We are an international group with varying levels of travel experience, so it is helpful to be clear and accurate to avoid confusion.

I see your graphic is entitled “European Political Community”. The subsets of countries in your graphic are political / economic rather than geographic. Geographic subsets such as Scandinavia, Iberia, Balkans are not included.

I didn’t at any point say I was opposed to making an incremental geographic area in search function. I rather like @DianeS suggestion of a Scandinavia search, but to be geographically correct, that would exclude Finland and Iceland!

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We can all dream!!