I’m relatively new on THS but as a sitter I’m very careful about applying for many sits as many I’d love to apply but flights at the moment from the UK can be both very costly (and too much for my budget unfortunately) and get cancelled at short notice. I’ve had a BA flight cancelled 15 days before my sit abroad was meant to start. Rather stressful trying to sort new flights out at short notice.
The other thing I’m noticing are lots of HO’s only wanting 1 or 2 days sit. That for me doesn’t work unless they’re down the road as travel costs and time to travel from my workday negate the benefits of sitting. Others may have a different viewpoint.
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If there are multiple animals homeowners may have to pay.
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I luv your posts, Collin! So eloquent & diplomatic yet expresses the sitters needs/requirements so well. Post more please!
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Great idea!
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That’s a great point!
I agree, the pictures are so important! I pass on listings that only show pics of the animals & exterior of the house.
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Totally agree. It’s a lot of work to apply, connect, travel to & care for an animal/s for a night or two. I see those sits not being filled quite a bit. I don’t think it’s a realistic expectation unless your home is in a high demand location like NYC, LA, etc. I guess it could happen but doesn’t seem likely.
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Let’s just cut to the chase. There are a lot less sitters actively looking. Period.
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I’m a sitter who is actively looking but there are less sits available inthe areas I’m looking and when I see one I’m interested in I have not been able to apply as the sit has already received 5 applicants, the new maximum allowed until the homeowner rejects some of them
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@Tourmalinequeen I am puzzled as to how you can make such a generalized and somewhat negative statement. I’m not averse to discussions of current conditions in house and pet sitting (owners & sitters), but I struggle with reading unsubstantiated statements.
As members, we do not have access to any data that can support such a statement. Also, such statements can be off-putting for owners - those who are new, experienced, or are considering joining.
As @Sherel has clearly stated, there are sitters actively looking, but for a multitude of reasons are perhaps not applying. I can support that statement as I am also one of them. We are all aware that various reasons have affected sitter availability, especially over the past two years, but not actively looking for sits is not always the case.
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I make these ‘unsubstantiated’ statements by randomly typing in “looking for sits” in various areas, including major cities in the U.S. and seeing how many sits say 0-3 . Sure, someone said they felt most listers have TWO applicants, but that’s really sort of ‘unsubstantiated’ hearsay, too. At least I can see how many unfilled sits there are…Do as I did, pick some cities, looks to see the dates the HO’s have listed and do your own research. I guess if we were managing the THS site, we could see for sure just how many of those 0-3 applicant sits actually have ZERO applicants. Off putting for new owners, darn right! It’s not cheap to subscribe to a site that now has less active sitters than ever, but isn’t honesty the real ultimate goal here? So right now, take a few minutes, do a little on site research and see what you are coming up with.
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Hello ! Just to add my word.
I will look at assignments of a couple of weeks or more if I have to spend money for a plane ticket and or rent a car.
Otherwise, if I can use my own car, let’s say five hour drive from home or less, no problem to apply on a 4-6 days assignment. If less than a two hour drive, I’m ok for two days. I even accepted once a one day sitting for one dog and 7 cats. The HO lived at 45 minutes from my place. Had a lovely day by the river. 
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How do you know this? THS recently announced their 100,000th member. none of us has any idea of the sitter/home host ratio of that figure but my guess would be that they are both growing steadily year on year
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@Tourmalinequeen You stated, There are a lot less sitters actively looking." I already do all the things you suggest, but that doesn’t correlate to the statement you made. Your response and your observations (‘research’) are, in my opinion, unrelated to the number of sitters.
If a store increased their purchasing power (stock), the amount of stock left at the end of a season doesn’t directly relate to the number of shoppers. There’s no direct correlation as there are so many other factors to consider.
At this point I suggest we agree to disagree. I won’t respond further.
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I would have agreed with you Collin six months ago. However the influx of sits which stay on THS for so long then no reviews after their sit dates. And not being able to find really good sits in sought after areas anymore. I tend to wonder if this person is right. I hope not!
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Yeah… I went back to contact owners I’d loved sitting for to check in for the holiday season. THREE of them are no longer on the site 
makes me concerned.
Yes! I agree with ElsieDownie as well.
I see a lot of listings describing the pets as covid pets who are used to having humans around most of the time. This is a huge expectation for anyone doing this to travel and see new places. Unless a sitter is also working full time remotely, it would be hard to find people who want to come sit in someone else’s home most of the day.
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I think that one of the reasons there are unfulfilled sits is that some home/pet owners profiles show incorrect information. Today, whilst looking for sits, I found one which was listed as no pets, but then at the end of the profile it, briefly, stated that there were 5 pets to look after (this was also commented on by a previous sitter in their review). I also found a profile headline stating the sit was for September but the dates were for October, and another one where the HO hadn’t listed any pets, but reading the description further they have a young puppy to be looked after - there were no photos of the house or the dog or of anything at all.
Whilst I accept that there are certainly issues with how THS have organised the website, and the process of applying for sits (including the current pausing trial), and that the examples I listed above may be isolated examples - although I do search for sits most days and find incorrect profiles every time I look - if homeowners reviewed and completed their profile correctly, it would make it easier for sitters to search for, and apply for, sits.
EDIT: When I do find incorrect/confusing profiles, I flag them with one of the forum moderators who pass this on to the relevant THS person to follow up with the homeowner. Many thanks to the moderators for all the work that you do - it is most appreciated
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There seems to be a problem if the dates are embedded in the title. I’ve seen some queries asking how they get rid of them.
Otherwise I agree. I always read very carefully and do my application accordingly. Then when a conversation strikes up everything changes. That’s why I like detailed listings, no surprises
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