Be thankful…VERY thankful. 
It sounds painfully obvious that only and ONLY the replies to the survey that suits and are relevant to whatever it is TH are looking to do, are the ones that will eventually have a comment such as "Due to the overwhelming response from both homeowners and sitters, we have decided…blah blah blah.
I see a pattern here insofar as the acquisition of TH by Rockpool Investments. An investment company will not provide $US10 million to a company and just let it cruise along. It has invested to increase profits, dramatically, then onsell at a huge profit. That’s what investment companies do. They don’t make this investment simply because they love pets, though I’m sure they do love them!! Already the member numbers for the USA have grown to the highest of any other country, with over 40% of TH members being from the USA. When I joined there were very few, and great that US residents are now part of it. I think there is also the possibility of the company going public and listing, which would mean the original owners and investors would pocket huge $ because they were first investors. I do believe that everything started to change, slowly but surely, when Rockpool came onboard. As a company that specifically deals in profits and onselling, I think we are in for a lot more changes that will profit the company but not the members personally. There are employees of this company that have been around from the beginning and I know they are in it for all the right reasons, the pets, so my points are not directed at anyone specifically. I love TH, my life has changed dramatically since I first started with them, I’m just not happy with everything that is going on, all the changes that so many don’t agree with and how it has affected me personally. I have not experienced this on ANY other site I use, such a shame, a huge shame 
Just my assumption and I think it is relevant to the survey post. This information is all on the public domain so I am not breaching any rules or laws.
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From a business/ investor perspective it would be logical to have paid sitters and the company gets a percentage of the sitters pay for each sit.
There are complications. In many jurisdictions, paid sitters would then be regarded as employees and the company would be an employer for them with all the obligations that would entail. For example Uber is experiencing this.
Imagine: an employee on duty 24/7! That is not a good fit with labour laws…
So it may make sense for THS to avoid such hassles. And write Terms & Conditions that no sane sitter should agree to!
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@pietkuip - I agree the paid model
wouldn’t work well for international sits .
With the requirements for Work visas etc . Can envisage sitters being stopped on arrival and homeowners left without a sitter at the last minute.
Any business model or tier that involves payment to sitters is far from the original idea that TrustedHouseSitters was conceived on . Sitters might be happy to be paid but will homeowners want to pay ?
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I agree @Silversitters but I joined THS because it was more altruistic and based on mutual exchange.
Unfortunately It no longer feels like that.
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Comment deleted.
To be honest, after about 4-5 years with THS and having recommended to dozens of people: now we would rather recommend Nomador and being on multiple other platforms.
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That’s why I think some sort of elite squad of sitters for posh homes in California is in the offing. A paid subsidiary. Regardless, this isn’t the THS I’ve loved for the last few years and I’m now looking for a viable alternative. It is a shame as I have nearly 50 five star reviews 
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That might be the plan. With maybe the possibility for experienced US sitters to migrate their reviews from here to the subsidiary for the exclusive properties.
Same thing. We are slowly backing away from THS and are heading for Nomador.
I’m sure every time THS comes up with a new “improvement”, people at Nomador are rubbing their hands 
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If Nomador or other sites were a strong competitor, most people who’ve been complaining would’ve already left. Unfortunately, the competition isn’t great. And it’s not likely to strengthen much, because a business like THS doesn’t generate enough profit to draw many entrepreneurs. It’s a niche business as-is.
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But isn’t it the members who make a site good? Isn’t that what most here on the forum claim? That it’s all about trust and the mutual benefit both home owners and sitters gain.
If many home owners and sitters move to a competitor, even if only as a second site to try out until the paid period here is over, then shouldn’t the opportunities there get better?
I think many have already set up at least one other profile/listing on a competitor’s site. I have done so.
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To me, not when basics are missing, like with Nomador. I’m a member there. I joined because THS doesn’t have many sits in certain locations and find that it lacks basic infrastructure that THS offers. I’d say that kind of thing keeps more users from joining.
Which basics do you mean?
it’s not as if THS have their basics sorted.!
2 years ago I thought they were fantastic, but now I think they are bordering on hopeless.
The only advantage they have over their competitors is size, and they know that which is why they’ve had this terrible drive recently to increase their numbers, which in turn seems to have attracted many of the wrong types of applicants, which has led us to the situation we are in now with former loyal experienced sitters joining other sites as a backup. It would have been unheard of just a couple of years ago.
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@Wildcolonialgirl have you taken screenshots of your reviews? That’s on my to do list.
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I’m actually talking about the infrastructure, which Nomador is significantly behind on. The rules and processes are separate from that.
" when my landlord takes ____ as payment, then I will accept that form of currency as well"
Have you been using Nomador? They return search results of sits long past, for instance. They don’t have even basic inboxing down, agnostic of THS. And so on. Any matchmaking or marketplace service should have that sort of thing. That’s agnostic of inventory (for services like Nomador or THS, the sitters and hosts and their sits are inventory.) They don’t even have templates / forms so you can see sit basics like on THS.
FWIW, customers always benefit when there are strong competitors in a space. They have to keep trying to outperform the other. In the unpaid sitting space, there aren’t strong competitors, unfortunately for us.