Some of the most useful features I hope to see implemented on the Trusted Housesitter website in the future are:
Sit length written on the ad i.e. 15 days
A reply rating, like what is seen on House Sitters UK
House sitters have the ability to cancel sits (not just the owner!)
Better search filters i.e. search by region, distance to city
I hope Trusted Housesitters grows in a positive direction for the community. It already does many things well, but there is always room for improvement!
In general, I would love TH to focus its development on app/website functionality, especially around searching for sits.
Although I have often found this to be inaccurate/misleading as HOâs do not update their listing correctly - for example, I saw a sit yesterday that said something like âLook after 2 dogs for 3 days in Septemberâ, yet the dates were for 7 days in October!
I would like to see a function that stops HOâs advertising day sits which is against THS T & Cs. I have seen a number over the past few weeks (some of which I reported but then gave up). I imagine it would be very simple to design a piece of software that simply comes up with a notice saying âinvalid datesâ if start and end date are the same. The HO could then be referred to the T&Câs.
Does anyone else find it frustrating that most of the location listings show the name of a town without any indication of where it is? Iâm constantly switching screens to search the name of a place that I have inevitably never heard of and have no idea where it is. We need to have counties added to listing place names.
Name of nearest train station and distance from the sit. ânear a stationâ isnât much help when trying to plan routes.
Nearest airport and distance - as above.
HO to provide info should the pet require a trip to the vet. Whether that be a friend or local taxi service willing to transport an animal. - for sitters without transport/with a hire car.
Photo categories that have to be fulfilled before a listing is published.
Medication - yes/no, if yes, further info supplied in listing.
Better filters. E.g.
-car not required or included
proximity to or quality of public transport (I think someone already suggested this) - e.g excellent public transport links, poor, or none.
-ability to have 'no pets as an option in conjunction with specific types of animals. E.g. No pets and/or cats and small animals OR exclude types instead E.g. No dogs or farm animals.
add multiple locations to a search E.g Singapore or Melaka or Kuala Lumpur
Also - are they expecting the dog to sleep in my bed? (Deal breaker). Under house and location there is often no mention of basic house details. Some basic stuff should be mandatory.
Not sure if anyone mentioned this already (I didnât read all the responses, although I did see Timshazz brought up âcar not required or includedâ) but has anyone else noticed that there are a lot of HO that have âuse of car includedâ in their post, when it is in fact not? I often see both âsitter needs a carâ and âuse of car includedâ on the same post, and I see both of them on the same post very often! Leads me to believe that theyâre not aware of the meaning of it or they are somehow all accidentally adding it to their post, as if itâs easy to click on?? idk
I find it frustrating too! For example, a sit listed under London is very vague. London is huge and every district is different, itâs really hard to figure out how close a sit is to transport links which is a deal breaker for those travelling without a car.
I use the App more than the website and it needs many improvements especially the filters and saving a search.
I always enter a two week minimum and often 2 day sits pop up in the results.
You canât filter with an open ended date. If Iâm available October 15th but with a flexible end date the system wonât let you leave it blank. When you have to search with very specific dates, very few listings pop up.
At least on an Android you have to use the back arrow to return to your search results, if you happen to swipe left it takes you back to the home page and you have to start all over again.
Thank you for listening!
I really hope that more time will be spent on fixing things too! The app is very buggy and I end up using the website instead. For tech-oriented people, itâs very noticeable. Thanks for posting!
Thank you for starting the conversation! 10 years in San Francisco rubbed off on me. Sadly that city has lost its humanity now I live in Santa Fe, the least tech city, and I appreciate people looking at me in the eyes every day!
In addition to the very good suggestions already listed, Iâd find it helpful if homeowners were required to state how long theyâre comfortable with their pet(s) being home alone. Only about 10% of the listings I read specify a time range, e.g. âPluto can be left on his own for up to three hours.â This is an important factor for many sitters, and with the 5-applicant pause, it feels especially crummy to take up a valuable spot by messaging to ask for this clarifying information.
