We will stay for now, but i have cancelled autorenewal for next sept, by when we will have done the majority of sits for the year anyway.
As a relatively new member of 2 years, i am torn. On the one hand, its transformed the way we travel as a family and enabled us to have more proper holidays as money that would have been spent on uk holidays/airbnbs has been freed up!
On the other hand, we can only really sit during school holidays, which is limiting. As is travelling as a family of 4! Next year we also have 2 house swaps organised through a house swap page so if they go well are more open to that in future although it does rely on people wanting to come to sheffield which isnt known as a tourist hub! We will go on maybe 4 or 5 sits at the most in 2026, and the following year it may be less as we hope to travel to australia to visit family- i believe there are better pet sitting sites for over there.
I think i worked out we would have to do at least 7 sits a year to make it worthwhile upgrading our membership. And in all honesty, its a no brainer to stay, as it is still a waaay cheaper option for us- as long as we can find sits in places we want to visit, which considering we want to travel to europe more, isnt that easy.
However i am sooo fed up with the app being glitchy and not sending me notifications. I also dont like the new arrival time feature as i think it rules people out without even having a conversation,which is a shame. If i could find another platform where they actually treated their members well, and had the volume of sits, i would definately be switching once our membership expires.
Mmm I’m still considering. As a new member, still in my first year I’ve had a great time, five fabulous UK sits. It definitely worked for me doing my Schengen shuffle. However I don’t think I’ll do that again. It would be great if I could pick up some European sits next year when I am over for my son’s wedding but I don’t know how likely that will be. I do prefer THS to an Airbnb because I think Airbnb is very problematic for the housing market so I’m very torn. I’m also wondering with border controls getting stricter everywhere if Mayfair might have bought a lemon. I can understand HO’s being hesitant to take a chance on us. I have a few more weeks to think about it and probably will pause membership just to give myself a bit more time.
I must say that, for some time now, I have been quite disenchanted with THS and the introduction of booking fees was the limit. Reading about lots of negative sitter and owner experiences, some entitled owners and the wrong type of publicity has not helped. But I’m definitely not enjoying this lifestyle as much as I was.
Anyway, it’s a long time before my renewal is due so I don’t need to worry. I will definitely be doing less sits although may try a few paid sits. I’m definitely not going to upgrade to Premium and, as I’m back in my home, I don’t need accommodation.
Just in a bit of a quandary at the moment. Do I give it up completely? Possibly….
We will stay. Partly as we have membership fees paid till 2030, & also that our sits are always in far flung locations and we haven’t found one platform that offers the same reach. THS needs a lesson in customer care & handled the booking fee intro appallingly but for now they’re the market leader in international pet sitting. #timewilltell
My membership is good for several years before renewing so I’m not too worried for myself. I do hope that the fees won’t turn HOs off, but of course they are likely to have to pay them only a few times a year.
I’m doing a 3 day sit soon, which is very unusual for me. I prefer longer sits so my travel expenses become negligible. I’m doing this as it starts the same day my present sit finishes and is half an hour away in car journey time. It’s a chance to make a new, mutually useful contact. I’ve chosen my areas where I like to sit. Seaside places whilst I’m In Spain and based in Madrid, Cotswold places while I’m
In UK near my other home there.
Would I do short term sits normally, certainly not with the new booking fee !
I feel sorry for Home Owners who have great places but need short term sitters regularly. In my case the owner works and travels abroad to teach. Well I’m a retired teacher so I sympathize. But a high turn over of sitters, plus lots of additional booking fees would soon exasperate me if I were the recently widowed home owner !
It’s a great shame that such short sightedness on THS will make short sits extinct.
Maybe Home Owners will have to look at some financial inducements to get people. A welcome HAMPER !
Some of my non sitting friends can’t believe a starter pack isn’t offered..of course things can be done privately, especially for repeat sits!
But I feel it’s been handled shabbily at best. Ham fistedly, for sure.
I’m lucky I have other options and I don’t rely on the advantages presented with this lifestyle choice.
Very sad “development”. So I’ve booked lots of sits before my renewal date, have a bank of Whatssapp contacts a file of my 5 star sits over the years and may go paid sits in the future or set up on my own..
Bleak Housesitters.com is becoming a sad reality, Hard Times for us all ahead, as I commented on another thread.
What the Dickens is THS doing?
Over to you, Scrooge?
I live in NYC and whenever I post a sit, there are always local people applying. Many of them have not great living situations with roommates so it would still give them a chance for more privacy and space. Some make money because they are able to rent out their space even on a short sit. One constantly booked sitter I was lucky to get once is an animal care professional who is studying English and taking a break. She’s managed almost back to back sits for housing. This might change the strategies to more long term sits, but a lot of these sitters have some kind of non-remote work that keeps them local.
@Cuttlefish is there a max? I couldn’t get a straight answer out of membership support. Last time (2023) I could only have my expiry date pushed out 5 years (2028) but have another 10 years worth at least on top of that. They said to get back and have it extended again once the expiry date gets close. With the current shenanigans, Im not sure I trust them, so tried to have it manually extended again last month. But the support member couldnt grasp what I wanted and kept telling me it will extend automatically. I’d prefer a hard date in the system rather than a promise. However, she did verify (manually??? she said) all my free months were valid.
They told me that 5 years extension was the max when someone tried to add some more months to ours recently. It was @Therese that helped. #merrychristmas
Why do you single out the USA? That doesn’t make any sense, Why would a reliable sitter anywhere in the world, agree to pay an extra fee, in order to undertake a sit, when they themselves are not being paid for doing the sit?