After almost two years of extremely hard work by our team, we are thrilled to announce that TrustedHousesitters is officially a Certified B Corporation!
So, what is B Corp and what does it mean for TrustedHousesitters?
It means we’ve joined a group of global ethical business leaders with one unifying belief - making business a force for good. It’s not just a tagline - B Corps are held to the highest environmental and social standards and are legally committed to operating in the best interests of people, pets, and the planet.
The assessment to get B Corp status is a rigorous analysis, evaluating the impact a business has on its employees, members, communities, and the environment.
This wouldn’t be possible without our incredible members, who are all a part of creating a sustainable business that prioritises the wellbeing of animals through in-home pet care, while also reducing the environmental impact of travel through home sharing.
For more info about our certification and our commitments to people, pets and planet, check out our latest blog.
Please join us in celebrating this exciting moment,
That’s great and presumably an American thing.
Funnily enough I initially read ‘farce for good’ instead of ‘force’.
It would be great if THS could now concentrate on and correct the niggles members have been asking for for years please.
(edited by Forum team to keep the discussion on-topic - any feedback threads are reviewed by the Forum team and passed along wherever possible )
Thanks Jenny, you always do what you can but, as the saying goes “you can lead a horse to water but can’t make it drink”. Let’s hope at some stage THS sorts out the issues we’ve been asking for…….
I love to travel. I also care about the environment and do think about how my travelling might contributing to damaging of our planet .
I would like to be able to claim that by choosing to house sit, I am reducing environmental impact . However, my experience is that hosts travel more often because they have a “free” reliable sitter (Many of our sits have been repeat sits for hosts who travel several times a year and do so because of finding sitters on THS ) . The hosts that we have house sat for have travelled by plane or car to their holiday destination and then I travel by plane or car to their home .
So I genuinely would like to know the evidence that shows that house sitting with THS is reducing the impact of travel on the environment ?
I’ve spoken to the team, and the short answer is that TrustedHousesitters offers an alternative to ‘over-tourism’ and encourages longer, more community-based travel.
We realise that travelling by plane isn’t environmentally friendly, however, in today’s world, it is often the most efficient way to travel long distances. If pets stay in their own home, then pet parents aren’t taking them to boarding facilities, which would often happen in a car.
People will travel regardless of the impact on the environment, but house-sitting is not adding to that - so it’s also an alternative solution that doesn’t contribute to over-tourism.
This is just a basic answer, but if you’d like to read more about sustainability in relation to Trusted Housesitters, there’s loads of information about it here
If it would be of interest, we could look at setting up a Forum topic for sitters and owners to share any tips or thoughts on how they incorporate sustainability into their lifestyle?
Thanks @Jenny but I don’t agree with the above sentence.
Like @Silversitters , I fail to see the evidence.
Over the years, I have pet sat in Australia, twice and New Zealand for short visits. Although I appreciate what we have been able to do with the benefit of THS, we would never have travelled this far for just holidays.
It’d be a boring world if we all agreed @Itchyfeet if I’m able to share more information in future then I’d be happy to do so, and it might be an idea for the Forum team to set up a discussion around sitting and sustainability. as this seems to be a good talking point.
@Silversitters is totally right. When I saw the email about this, I said very similar words to my partner. THS actively promotes jet setting all over the world, it actively promotes it in almost all of it’s advertising. I love THS, it’s brilliant, it’s changed our lives as sitters. However, THS as an organisation may have ticked the box for the ‘global ethical business’ criteria… but the services for owners and sitters that THS actively promotes do not! Far from it! Fact!
I totally agree with the comments above questioning the THS statement "while also reducing the environmental impact of travel through home sharing.”
I’ve only been sitting for less than a year, and in most (but not all) cases the HOs have been flying long distances for a shortish stay, and I’ve felt that I’m facilitating that travel by a) keeping their pets happy and b) keeping their costs down & thereby making the trip more affordable.
I’ve not yet got the confidence to ask the HO what their travel plans are, so maybe my own contribution should be to cancel my sit applications if I find out that the HO is travelling in a way that I’m not comfortable with, with a carefully worded message so as not to appear judgemental - although I guess I am.
The points that @Silversitters@Itchyfeet@HappyDeb & @DianeS all raise are totally valid. We fly more than ever as global house sitters because that’s the only way (other than days and days long) to get to these destinations. Blowing a THS trumpet about becoming a B-Corp seems foolish however it was awarded & as only staff members are posting congratulatory messages, it shows it’s only really of interest internally. THS management demonstrate they have almost no interest in engaging with 99% of member issues on here when asked for amends to tech, features, calendars, app rules, blocking and reporting buttons and so on for months on end. Self promotion to that same mostly ignored member group seems very short sighted. #knowyouraudience
Thanks for your feedback on the point around sustainable travel, the team are aware of your feedback.
This announcement post isn’t a place to drill down into the specifics, so I’m going to set up a new topic for you to use.
I won’t be able to keep coming back to the same point, but after chatting to the team again I did want to mention that travel has a significant carbon footprint, and we facilitate reducing the carbon intensity of travel through home sharing i.e. supporting people to travel with a lower carbon footprint than if they were to travel more traditionally using hotels or hostels for accommodation.
Any further replies around travel sustainability will be moved over to our discussion post for sustainable travel, to keep this BCorp announcement on topic.
I’m genuinely sorry you feel that way, as we felt it was worth sharing with our members, because they’ve been a big part of us reaching certification.
It’s ok if you disagree though, I’ll pass your feedback over to the team, but I do hope that the positive impact of the BCorp certification starts to become clearer as time goes by.
No it doesn’t! I don’t mean to get at you, you do a good job, but the team has given an inaccurate answer FACT! No THS definitely does not promote community-based travel. They promote the Freedom to Travel… AROUND THE WORLD! That’s what the THS main homepage actively promotes, among other advertising/promoting.
Oh come on. You’re speaking to forum of intelligent worldly wise people. How does home sharing reduce the environmental impact of travel exactly?
Even THS’s YouTube Channel strap line promotes the site as a way for people to travel the world. It even uses the unfortunate word ‘fuel’. I don’t think your Marketing Department has got the BCorp message!
Hiii I worked in resorts before and I’m embarrassed to say how much laundry (especially the chemicals used) ruins the water quality. That run off ruins the soil, which effects the food and plant life, which effects small insects ergo the larger animals etc plus the fact someone else’s empty home that already has a full set up is better utilized than a bunch of hotels that are run down and just taking up space vacant. Plus boarding animals is so traumatizing for them, and few airlines allow them in cabin which makes it unsafe for your furry cutie in the cargo due to very real crush hazards. That last part isn’t necessarily environmentally relevant other than the spirit of your pet and the ambiance you’ll deal with afterwards
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