What Features Would You Like to See on THS?

Brighton up @Colin :wink:
That sounds Lovely.
:kissing_heart:

2 Likes

Hi @Daisy999 I just applied today to a very desirable sit that was on 4 applicants so I wanted to catch the last place! I pressed apply and then realised I didn’t know the HO name or the pets names! Aaarrgh!! So rather than navigating away on my own phone (where I’d started the application!) to check and then risk losing my spot - I went on hubbys phone & got all the details I needed! And as an added precaution I sent a quick message to ā€˜save the space’ and sent it immediately. So we got that last spot & it went immediately to ā€˜reviewing’ & then I knew I had plenty of time to write that winning application! Fingers crossed we get the sit!
Its a bit of a stressful way to go about securing a sit but can be worth it!

3 Likes

Hi @Lokstar thank you for the reply. I now also have the iPad open when applying for a sit as you’re right, sometimes you do need to go back and check the listing, just a shame it’s such a faff now and a race to nab one of the 5 spaces.

3 Likes

@Daisy999 true -but with this two-appliance technique you can reduce the stress a bit!!

1 Like

A criteria to filter searches to sits within a certain starting date is definitely needed, I mean, people may be open to sits of different length with and may be very flexible with their end date, but they will often look for something around a certain date to start from.

Also, an additional classification above city → region → country makes sense for people, who can travel flexibly. This additional classification can for example include things like Western Europe, Southeast Asia, Central America, …

And you should definitely NOT introduce a rating system like Airbnb has it. This solves nothing, just go to any related Facebook group and look at how Airbnb hosts are gaming the system. For every supposingly more fair rating system, there will always soon be a way to game this system and introducing blind evaluations, that can only be seen after both made their evaluation definitely solve nothing, even if some people think it will. They will actually make things worse. Anyone, who thinks it will, has never been introduced to game theory.

How would it make things worse? I read some of the Reddit Airbnb host threads and they are very concerned about reviews. I’ve never seen a mention about gaming the system.

3 Likes

So they are not gaming the system, but they are very concerned about reviews? Because they are so concerned about reviews, that is exactly the reason, why they are gaming the system.

I donā€˜t know about your experiences, but I travel worldwide and booked more than 100 Airbnbs in the past (donā€˜t use the platform anymore meanwhile, also because of the crooked ratings) and the ratings have become completely useless. Iā€˜ve seen my fair share of Airbnbs, with great ratings, that give a very different impression in real life compared to the photos and are nothing as described in the guest evaluations, including those, that have superhost status and lots of evaluations. My personal classification for quite a while was: >4.9 probably good, >4.8 probably mediocre, >4.7 likely crap, <4.7 definitely crap. By the time I completely abandoned the platform I wasnā€˜t even sure with 4.9x ratings anymore.

Therefore, if anything, it needs to be the other way around, and the current rating system has to be abandoned. Make 2 Yes/No evaluations (pets still alive, house not burned down) and let people give a free written recommendation what they liked, thatā€˜s it. You can give a guided template, where people can enter their written experience for each bullet point (did show up on time, dealt with difficulties, …).

Edited to comply with posting guidelines

1 Like

You still haven’t explained how blind evaluations will make things worse.

1 Like

@Colin we did an amazing free walking tour in January with Brighton City Greeters

2 Likes

I would like my sitter and owner profile to each have a link to the other. We can enter a link to Air Bnb, and to LinkedIn, so it only seems logical to me that we should be able to link to our THS profile/listing. It enhances the information that we’re able to provide anyone making a choice for a sitter or sit.

@Therese
is there an update on when it will be possible to do EUROPE searches for sits on the app?

3 Likes

There are sits I wouldn’t mind doing last minute and I have lots of flexibility, but last-minute flights can run high. In such cases, I wonder whether THS would consider a feature that allowed HOs with urgent sits to subsidize travel costs. Of course, that would be voluntary to the HO(s).

Personally, I find some of the pets so sweet and would like to hang out with them even though the location isn’t somewhere I’m itching to visit, so there’s no chance I’d pay last-minute airfares to do the sit. I wonder how many such sits go unfilled now, which is a pain for the HO.

4 Likes

I would like to be able to edit my saved searches rather than have to delete and add a new one. For example; if I have a search for France from 1 Jan to 28th Feb and then get a sit from 1 Jan to 15th Jan, I’d like to just change the dates on the saved search rather than have to do a whole new one.

10 Likes

This seems to be one of the most popular threads with many contributors.

Have any of the suggestions made on this thread been implemented?

6 Likes

Exactly! I have had to pay for 2 expensive last minute hotel nights because the HO returned the day before it was listed. It seems obvious to have a part of the Welcome guide where the Actual departures and arrivals from the home is listed.

3 Likes

@Elly-Andy-NOLA this is something that would be great to add to topics in the category below.

What Features Would You Like to See on THS? - THS News & Feedback - TrustedHousesitters Community Forum

I can place it there if you would like as this is where our team sees suggestions that members find important and possibly necessary.

This is becoming a big issue and I think there needs to be a streamlined way to report sitters who cancel. Right now, a homeowner has to initiate a chat to report the person, it is a bot replying so it takes several back and forths to get them to finally say, ā€œSomeone will be in touchā€. An hour later, no response so most people just give up. If a sitter cancels, there should be a questionnaire that we can fill out and file in a central resource center that is accessible to members who want to see if that person has a history of cancellations. Since THS won’t kick them out, homeowners need a resource to see who the repeat offenders are.

2 Likes

@Elly-Andy-NOLA I’m just going to go ahead and put this into that category for them to read.

As sitters who prefer to do longer term sits; another option of duration of sit would be very helpful i.e.: ā€˜2 months, 3 months, 4 months’…etc… This way, we don’t have to weed through anything over a month to 6 months of a sit. More specific duration toggles would help immensely! :clock12: :hourglass_flowing_sand:

6 Likes

to decrease the problem of unnecessary cancellation, all THS has to do is to remove the cancel sit button from the owner side and if any member needs to cancel a sit, the one wanting or needing to cancel reach out to member services and gets it initiated. That in and of itself would record the who, why, and whether it’s a true understandable reason or something different. That would prevent members from unnecessarsarily canceling sits

8 Likes