If the moderators are in fact paid, it would probably cost THS less to add a few more customer service reps who could answer the same questions posed here, and they’d have more control over the content. For example, a salaried THS customer service rep probably won’t try to solve a member’s problem by suggesting they try one of those other pet sitting sites.
While we did join before the 5 app rule (and dislike it immensely), we have come to the same conclusion. We have joined 4 other platforms at one time or another and recently joined an up-and-coming one that hopes to be a THS alternative but for now weighing all the pros and cons, we still get enough out of it to keep our premium membership.
Fees don’t affect us as sitters, though I feel for those who are impacted.
We figure even if we only do a couple to a few nice sits a year it’s still worth the fees as we only go where we really want to go and the membership is still less than what it would cost us to vacation in those places.
We just landed a once-in-a-lifetime kind of sit in an 18th century historic home (over 8,000 sq feet) with just two cats. More than worth our membership.
We also had 2 sits this year just steps to the beach with adorable dogs.
So, while there are many things about THS that have been frustrating since we joined in 2019, as GotYourBack says, there is no real competition out there so far. The pros outweigh the cons for us so far.
@carpediem16, congrats on such an high-experience housesit (wow!) and broader mindset. Carpe diem 
. We empathize. Hope that you enjoy a fabulous time with the cats and historic property.
That’s awesome! I hope you can find the cats when you get there? Actually, you should add a third that looks like one of the cats. They’ll never know.
Not sure what this 5 application limit is; This past February 2026, I put in more than 5 applications to various sits. Perhaps owners can only receive 5 applicants?
It’s for owner’s receiving applications. Their max is 5 per sit and then it goes to reviewing. You can apply to limitless sits if you’re available for those dates. #skysthelimit
Hey everyone,
I just wanted to pop on with a quick clarification! 
The Forum is a peer support space, available 24/7, where members help each other alongside the team. If something needs to go to THS directly, we’ll point you there or pass it along ourselves.
It’s also worth knowing that the Forum and Membership Services are separate things. For account queries or help with how THS works, the Helpdesk is the right place. The Forum is for connecting, sharing experiences, and getting advice from fellow members, and it’s also where we collect feedback and share service updates.
We have a great blog here which explains how the Forum works, if anyone’s interested!
Jenny
They’re already arrogant with 5 applicants, imagine they have 15 or 50…
HO used to get 15 or 50 applicants before the 5 limit, depending on how desirable their sit was.
Some hosts got multiple applications but at least they always had an option to pause at any time.
The five appliation limit was imposed several years ago. It means that a homeowner can only have five “open” appliations at a time. This impats desirable sits such as easy London, NY, Paris sits and the like that would likely get an overwhelming number of appliations.
The homeowner is not limited to choosing from the first five and may even initially recieve 6 or 7 or even 8 if applicants were working on the application and hit send after five were received.
When the maximum number is received, the sit automatically goes into “review” and sitters cannot apply.
For the homeowner to get more applications, they would need to decline applications until there were 4 or fewer open, and then “manage” the listings by “unpausing” it to get more applications.
Sitters, however, can apply to as many listings as they want and are not limited to how many different homes they can apply to.
As a homeowner in a popular locations, I care about finding the right sitter. I don’t care if that person is among the first five. I work my way around the five application limit to find the right person. Sometimes that person is in the first five. This means that I often decline applications quickly if I know they are not suitable eg no experience with my type of pet, no site experience or reviews from another site, something “off” in the note.
As much as sitters berate the rule which often makes applying almost impossible, if a homeowner understands the system, they can do some workarounds and open it up to find the right person. As a sitter, if I saw a sit “in review” I would keep watching it, as it might open again for my applicants.
Hey "Al"s 
. As a HO i can only receive 5 applicants and then THS automatically puts my listing on “pause”. I then have to go through them, decline those that arent a good fit, and manually “un-pause” my listing dates each time I get to 5 applicants in. Its annoying. But I manage it closely now that I understand how it works when I have a Housesit out there.
Heads up - I was looking at your Sitter profile, yay for your first 5 
review! The Pet Behavior (for Homeowners listings) and Pet Care (for Sitter reviews) rating line items are missing from your Sitter review from the HO and the review you gave to Homeowner. Its a glitch on the app only that I experienced with my last sit (me as the HO, and me as Sitter during same time). As i was making my review for the HO on the road from the app I realized the issue of the missing subcat line item before hitting save or post or whatever its called. Once I got home to my computer I was able to make my review for the HO with all 5 categories showing as they are meant to be. Then hen I received the review from MY sitters at my Housesit, I realized the “Pet Bahaviour” category was missing. In order to get that fixed, instead of bothering my Sitter to work on the issue, I went straight to email to THS support. support@trustedhousesitters.com
I explained the issue that is occurring from using the app for reviews, showed them the words from my sitter regarding my pets lovely behavior and asked them to add in the missing Pet Behavior category with the 5 stars based on that. They obliged and fixed it for me. Not sure if this is important to you, but I wanted to point it out. It’s frustrating that THS doesnt fix the bugs making extra work for us Sitters or HOs to make sure our reviews are complete and present as intended.
That’s a big “might” unless you are watching 24 hours a day.
It was missing when I reviewed my last sitter via the app as well. I just wrote in the review that the category was missing for some reason but I would rate them 5 stars in it. I suppose if the sitters wanted to they could go to THS and get it fixed but at least it’s written in the review what I intended to give them.
Hi Chrissie, I know a home owner who actually recieved 55 applicants. I had been one of them but did not know at the time. Had a phone conversation but then they gave it to a couple as thought they were a bit far out. It was just after/during covid, when people could start to travel but either restrictions or hesitant to attemopt travel abroad.
However couple were noisy around their swimming pool and elderly neighbours still covid scared etc. When they had another sit, a couple of months later they contacted me direct. It was then I learnt that I had been one of 55 previously. They could not face antoher 55 applicants. . We seem to have gone from one extreme to the other..Would be far better if owners could set their own limits, for example being able to freeze applikcats after about 12 and the owner being able to unfreeze if they wish.
When THS announced the five-applicant limit, they said it was to spread popular sits among its members, so that experienced sitters wouldn’t dominate them. If so, nothing has changed that would make THS want to adjust the limit/let hosts choose their own limits.
Pre the 5 application limit hosts could pause their listing at any time.
Some hosts now seem to think they should wait to receive 5 applications and then start reviewing. Some listings will never receive 5 applications.
Some hosts are unaware they need to unpause their listing to receive more applications.
I personally think the situation is more confusing now and don’t feel anything has changed regarding the distribution of sits. Only THS know how many sits are unfilled but I am currently seeing many excellent listings with no applications.
Your last sentence is exactly the type of observational data I’m referring to.
The key measure of success for that would be >who’s< filling which sits. Like are newer sitters getting more sits in say NYC, Paris, London, etc.
Of course, THS doesn’t have to share such info. In their place as a business, I sure wouldn’t. But if it’s working, then newer sitters wouldn’t be shut out of popular sits as often, which leads to greater satisfaction among them and presumably greater propensity to renew.
I don’t get the logic. New sitters have always been able to apply for popular sits. Previously they could have been 1 out of 20 applications. Now if they are quick they may be 1 of 5.
At the end of the day the host will decide who is the best match and if I was the host I would be looking at the sitter review history and their experience.