I mean an official mention on the application. Everything you personally offer to the sitter would be visible on your listing, and that changes a lot of things.
Unfortunately, the world operates too much on the kindness of people who give more than they receive. The system can hold up for years like this until the population is renewed by a new, young, and carefree generation.
Sure there could be a blurb that hosts are welcome to contribute to sitter’s expenses that might encourage a few hosts to pony up who otherwise would not have.
Sort of like a virtual tip jar.
HUH???
The person I was replying wrote “Why would a sitter in the USA……” and I was pointing out it is not exclusive to one country.
Sorry for the rant, but I am well aware of what sitters’ expenses are as I also sit.
I don’t have to pay fees because I have premium, but if I didn’t have premium, I wouldn’t be asking homeowners to pay an extra fee for me because that money doesn’t go to me. It goes to the company. And frankly I know this is a terrible image, but it would make me feel like someone being trafficked that is demanding someone else pay the traffiker.
I completely get why people are choosing to leave even when they benefit from the site. The site isn’t just asking for booking fees, it is de-emphasizing the exchange aspect and appealing to homeowners as cheaper option with “altruistic” sitters who are replacing paid workers because they “care.”
Asking homeowners to pay your fees in my opinion makes the problem worse.
You and I view both roles differently. Until recent changes, I belived that my version aligned with the values of Trusted Housesitters. I didn’t view sitters as volunteers spending hundreds of dollars to travel to my home in NYC to take care of my cats out of love and to help animals and people for altruistic reasons. My spouse and I have mostly worked for non-profits and for the public good, but we don’t consider sitting or having sitters part of that. I saw THS as a travel hack for people who love pets. I now see THS as a business that is trying to quickly make money or prove to investors that they have a plan to make money even though it is very short sighted and not sustainable in the long run. They have no “values.”
Here’s why I use THS as a homeowner: It’s better for my cats to have someone in the apartment overnight rather than drop in. Having someone stay over costs a lot so we woudn’t be able to travel for as long or as much as we are on a budget. A non-monetary exchange that benefits both parties aligns with our values and my experience has been that I’ve gotten great sitters who seem very happy with the exchange.
I recognize that there is a difference between “equal” and “fair” and “mutual.” But I go out of my way as a homeowner to make it a mutual beneficial relationship.
As a sitter, I have stayed at homes as a sitter that were much nicer than mine. Some had care instructions that were harder than mine, and some easier. But I always vet sitters and hosts and all the exchanges have been very fair. Maybe because I am a pet owner, I really don’t consider most of the pet duties on the sit a big burden. It’s what I’d be doing at home anyway.
There is no option for me to pay a sitter’s fee directly to the company even if I wanted to. Unless the sitter sends me a screenshot I don’t know when the renewal date is or if they even have a fee. So if a sitter demands that I reimburse them $12 – When? By venmo? Or if and when they show up? So what about sitters who are paying premium? Do I send them $12 any way to reimburse them for paying a higher tier? What about those sitters, and they certainly exist who are in a different stage of life than I am and are young and making great salaries with their online jobs? Or those that retired when they had enough money unlike my spouse and myself who were more or less forced out before we had all our ducks in a row? Do I need to pay their fees as well?
If I didn’t have premium, I would be paying a double fee – my own as a sitter and my own as a homeowner every time I sit. I chose to pay for the cancellation plan as an ethical option because if a sit gets cancelled on me, I don’t want to have to cancel on the sitter if I can’t find something else for those dates. I pay twice– to get to sits which I consider travel accomodations and to prepare my home for the sitter. This is still less costly to me than travelling to a hotel and paying someone for cat care. So if a sitter then asked me to pay fee that’s $36 every time I want to use the site unless I also decide to pass this expense on to homeowners. Either way – THS benefits. Not sitters and not homeowners.
You and I would not be well-matched. I’m not looking for a volunteer who feels they are entitled to my help paying their (unfair) fee to THS and thinks I should be responsible for paying it because they are sacrificing so much to sit for me. I regularly get many applications. It is likely there is someone who wants my sit and won’t ask me to pay the company extra. I am looking for a sitter who thinks I have something of value to exchange with them, and thinks the terms are fair already, and understands that neither or us work for Trusted Housesitters but both are customers of a business that is far from perfect but offers an easy way to connect.
My plan on booking fees is never to pay them. I have a long time until renewal. If THS starts charging fees at my tier and/or before renewal dates, I am more likely to look at other sites. Given my location as a homeowner I don’t think I’ll have an issue finding sitters. As a sitter, it may take a little more creativity for me to find the type of sits that suit me.
@anon9376833 Thst was an excellent analysis of the situation. After reading it I’m not inclined to pay a sitter’s booking fee either. How would that work anyway… my initial idea was to add to my profile that we are willing to pay a sitter’s fee. Then what. As you said each sitter’s situationis different. Some are premium, some haven’t yet renewed and be subject to fees, others don’t mind paying a fee that is about twice the cost of cup of coffee. So they’d have to say something like “it says in the profile you’ll pay the fee, hand it over” Then I ask to see their membership details and past income statements? Awkward at best.
If a sitter has an issue with the fee they’re probably not a good match for us and probably don’t belong on THS in the first place.
I wonder if the genius who thought up the booking fee has read this thread. So many complications that I’m sure they never thought of. This is a supply and demand business at the end of the day. If you are a good host in a good location with reasonable request you will likely have no trouble getting a good sitter. I really feel if sitters can’t afford the extra fee or premium maybe this is not the format for them. As a sitter I don’t like it but I’m not full time and probably won’t be sticking around that long anyway so I don’t think it will impact me much.
HO’s forget that it is not free to board their pets in kennels. And the fees are usually more expensive than an Airbnb. Not to mention the added bonus of the pey not disrupting their normal schedules and being at home.
I honestly think they don’t care about this thread, or the number of members that will leave, or how this impacts on the actual “service.” They care about showing investors a plan for raising revenue. And they aren’t “geniuses".
There are several sites that offer paid and unpaid options and where sitters are directly competing with sitters who don’t charge. In my mind this does more harm than good to people who depend on petsitting as a business as it forces the wages down even further. Those sites don’t have as many homes as Trusted Housesitters but they mostly charge much less in fees. Maybe someday you will get your wish and THS will have a paid section or people will bid against each other on popular sits. But depending on them to change is not a plan re booking fees.
Can you say “thank you” without saying “thank you”? Hopefully when you tell them they did a fantastic job, sitters understand that to be your way of thanking them.
Yes of course. I’m happy to express appreciation and gratitude for the care of our property and pets when it’s deserved. For some reason I have an issue with saying the words “Thank you for sitting for us”. Just seems off.
@idocsteve You can very easily say “Thank you for taking such great care of our pets and home” If ofcourse you are happy with how the sit went. The sitter may also say “Thank you for your hospitality, we enjoyed our stay” etc Bearing in mind no money changes hands why would you objected to expressing appreciation in other ways? Saying a simple “Thank you” to a sitter that has put heart & soul into caring for your most precious things is actually the very least a great sitter would expect from a grateful host.
Best I can do is “The place looks great and the pets were well cared for, I hope you enjoyed your time here and we hope to see you again”.
I am sorry THS is losing such a good sitter. May I ask, do you sit in the US? I am from the US but mainly sit in the UK and Europe (30+ 5 star sits since 2018). I have not encountered ungracious hosts (yet). The US is particularly tense right now. Do you think there is a connection?
Shella I loved your lengthy response in the ‘please can we stop merging all the threads’. All the changes over the past few years, 5 application rule/overlapping sits/forcibly signing us up for T&C’s echoes how I feel perfectly. We have been sitters for over 10 years all over the world all with 5 star reviews. I am still fuming and in disbelief they have introduced the booking fees, despite us having a premium membership. It just adds to all the other issues and reinforces the completely tone deafness of management. They clearly do not care about their members who take their roles very seriously and I question the point of this forum as it would appear they never take on board any of the feedback. We are on four other sites and have currently paused our auto renewal. I just hope management have the good grace to acknowledge a serious error of judgement and reverse their decision. I too have also signed up for Worldsitters so lets see where that takes us.
(Edited to remove link in line with Forum guidelines)
Thank you for this analysis. My idea was to leave the option on the side of the HO’s and not the PS’s.
I say thank you for choosing me and usually leave a gift. Each to their own . I know some people have trouble saying Thank you. I’ve met them.
I don’t go back.
You do you.
Agree to disagree.
Our sit wouldn’t be a good match for a sitter who was put off to the point that they’d never come back despite everything going well, with mutual appreciation being expressed by both sides simply because two particular words were left unsaid.
Perhaps delve deeper into the source of the extreme anger and consider that your apoplexy might be an overblown response to impersonal decisions made by perfect strangers who invested their hard earned cash and are motivated by nothing more than profits.
It would be like having one’s blood pressure go through the roof because Google started charging for internet searches, or Amazon started charging an extra delivery fee or Microsoft started charging for Windows upgrades.
Mild annoyance and frustration, and perhaps disappointment that this platform no longer works for you because of a small fee that might amount to $100 per year in exchange for services or accommodation worth thousands perhaps makes sense. Thinking “yeah, no thanks it’s no longer worth my time I’ll take my business elsewhere” is a reasonable reply. Seething with fury may require some further introspection as to the root cause.