Have sent you a DM about September in Tuscany 
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Useful tip, thanks Evie_77! 
Iām just doing my first House/Pet Search after several months, from before these new Pause Application changes and have noticed a very marked difference with the same observations:
- the search results are way out eg. 50 miles out of London down on the South Coast, for a London search
- when searching for a specific location eg. Brixton, these arenāt showing any more
- hardly a chance of getting in at applications before theyāre closed
- not being able to see full details of āreviewing applicationsā
I used to marvel at wonderfulness of TH and ease of making applications. It all used to flow so beautifully.
Iāve written a msg to TH and really hope they are going to reconsider these awful new changes!
Iād imagine it would be difficult for an overseas person to know which areas are or arenāt in London proper(for example) and it be more cumbersome and time-consuming for them to have to look up locations to check.
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@Mina123
5 is a low number considering how many sitters are on the site. I like to read the entire listing before I apply. I like to check my calendar. I like to see what flights are available or if I can drive. I like to check to see if I can use public transportation. I just do not have time to do all this before itās too late. The 5 pause has greatly reduced the listings I can apply for.
Signed While I Was Sleeping
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After having used THS a number of times over the last 3-4 years and most recently last Christmas, Iāve just renewed and was then surprised to find a complete lack of London house sits. When I say London, I donāt mean results in Herts or deepest Surrey.
I sent a ticket to support asking why notified sits were immediately gone and the reply I received from Kimberley was: āAre they a popular sit that you have saved? Sometimes to do go very quickly. (sic)ā
No mention of the new 5 application rule that I have since found that is really the likely cause.
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Yes I agree it is most likely the result of the five application pause process. It is incredibly frustrating to chose āCity of Londonā from the dropdown menu and then be presented with sits in outlying counties often 1.5 - 2 hrs travel away from the city. Recently I get at most around 20 sits available in what I would term the city of London after focussing the map area to be within the M25 rather than the 400+ sits which are badged as London but in fact are all over the South East. It seems that THS do not wish to acknowledge that this is a consequence of the five application process.
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I have not read the whole of this thread so Iām unaware of the reasoning behind the application pause - Who is it meant to benefit?
Take a read of the Conclusion of Pausing Applications thread and if you can work out who it benefits please let us know.
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For London UK sits try this filter.
Greater London, United Kingdom
Region
HELPFUL: thank you for specifics on your smooth navigation there. I will get those apps now.
Thank you for this specific insight:
saved for future cross-London-ing!
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BINGO, I am getting a lot of great info in this thread, about what to be aware of. I can tell you every square mile of Maui, Hawaii, but London all new to me! Thanks for caring, Claire
- Lady Tarkina Snowfire, asst. dog at my side
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A post was merged into an existing topic: Conclusion Of Pausing Application Test - Updated Post
@anon84784007 the Citymapper app is excellent for navigating public transport, not just in London but many UK cities and the rest of the world.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://citymapper.com/%3Flang%3Den&ved=2ahUKEwiRnYKWjd79AhVyQEEAHXbbBsQQFnoECAoQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1ry7c_1hWMgf3oSJ3_AQ-t
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Thank you for your suggestion. I NEED this! Gratefully yours, Claire!
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Hey @Crookie! I found out about the Citymapper app on my last trip to Europe and the UK and agree, it was soooo good! Used it all the time.
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A post was merged into an existing topic: Conclusion Of Pausing Application Test - Updated Post
@Mina123 , welcome to the forum. I know itās been 18 days since you posted, but never too late for that I think. If you havenāt already discovered it, let me suggest you click on Sort by at the top of the page. You can select distance, and you will be shown those listings closest to your selected destination first. You can also search by newest, as well.
I have been to London but am not familiar with all the sections. I find Rome2rio very helpful, not only for the location of neighborhoods but also for the transportation options. Note: they are not always completely accurate regarding best routes and modes of transportation but in general, theyāre pretty darn good.
You may want to add your profile to your forum profile. Here are the instructions to do that: How to Add Your Profile to Your Forum Profile
Again, nice to have you here!
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Hi @JDub , just reading this thread now so I want to express a belated welcome to the forum.
The pause feature has shaken things up but there are still London sits. I just took a look and there are 20 of them. When you enter London, UK as your search, click on Sort by, then choose Distance and you will be shown the sits in London proper first. Good luck!
@Kootenaigirl very true and the same problem for Paris.
The London sits are there. Having the right filters and sometimes using overlapping filters (London, Greater London, City of London) will give you all the available sits. Whatās has been really disappointing is the responsiveness by London pet parents. We have tried to secure sits for the time frame March 1-11, Easter and the week after Easter. We have submitted about two dozen applications and didnāt secure any sits. We have 25 completed sits with 5 stars reviews. The 5 application limit was never been an issue for us. We are still able to submit our applications on time, but then the waiting game starts. HOs read our application and usually donāt say anything for days or weeks or donāt read our application at all. 1 week is the maximum we can we wait for someone to respond. We sent follow up messages 2 days after the initial message. As a test we have left some applications for as long as a month and they are still unread. When we have canceled our applications we often receive a follow up message by surprised home owner. We explain that we canāt wait for the last minute, since we would like to plan ahead and we are doing this full time. Waiting for the very last minute after the application has been pending for weeks, itās just not feasible.
We failed to secure a London sit for March 1-11, which cost us a good chunk of money since we already had booked a flight from Brisbane to London. We booked a Belgium sit which went well, but was expensive due to the strikes in Belgium and France. We kept applying for the period around Easter and today we just had enough of the waiting game. We canceled all our London applications ( 7 pending ones for the same time frame) and we decided to go somewhere else warmer instead. We had to listen to the signs, so no London sits for us. If you are a London home owner and you are reading this, please respond to your applications in a timely fashion ( within 3 days). If you need more time to decide, please communicate your timeline. Leaving sitters on read for days and weeks is just plain rude and disrespectful. Thanks for reading and good luck if you are applying for London sits.
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