I started house-sitting internationally with Trusted House-Sitters in 2017. I have had many lovely experiences in the UK and several repeat sits in Dubai. I went inactive during Covid but am back again now. I have a sit in Dubai coming up in October and I couldn’t be more pleased. I have had great experiences with all my “clients” and have made good friends in the process. Sometimes they roll out the red carpet, and sometimes the welcome is very basic, but things are what you make of them and I have never regretted any of the sits I have done. If you are a home-owner, you shd know that we sitters are vetted several different ways. And if you are a potential sitter, make sure you have contact with your people face to face on Zoom, research the area you are going to, have a back-up plan (I have never needed to use mine), and treat their home with utmost respect and it will be returned to you. I highly recommend this service.
I had a good feeling about this app with the background checks and the housesitting positions looked really great however after paying $129 which is not a small fee...I find two gigs that I like are close to me and longer term house sits. I apply to them but if they they don't get back to me or they don't read it or they don't have their app notifications on so there's NO way to directly contact home owners through email or phone?! Now, I think that is really unfortunate because I am able- I am ready-I'm verified- I did a background check and I paid a good amount of money (!) to be a house-sitter. Why doesn't Trusted House Sitters offer an option to mediate if home owners don't get back to you after a week? Because this way it just looks like a money scam. You take all these subscription fees and then leave us without any means of contacting the gigs that we apply for. That's easy money and I really don't like that! At the very least if there is no direct communication possible you should be able to notify Trusted housesitters that you didn't get a response and they should be able to mediate.... whether through phone or email to remind the homeowner that somebody applied to their opening!!! Not a good look, I'm sorry.
I’m super happy with THS. We have used it so many times and have always had such a great experience and met some really wonderful people. My only complaint is there doesn’t appear to be any way to make app and improvement suggestions, so I guess I’ll put it here and hope that somebody sees it and passes it on to the developers. A feature that would be super useful would be to be able to edit dates in the middle of a sit. For example, our plans changed, and our sit went from 10 days to five days and then I got sick and ended up coming home after two. The sitter and I worked it out privately and it was no problem on either end of ours, everyone left happy. She even ended up picking up another sit. But now, her dates look like they are overlapping. It’s not a big deal but it would have been better to be able to just edit everything so that we could close the sit out and do our reviews before she moves onto the next one. It’s still another five days before we can do our reviews. Just a suggestion that I’m hoping can get passed on. Thank you so much!
I really think this is a terrific app but I continue to have technical problems with it. It constantly freezes and usually when I’ve found a sit I’m interested in or when I’m writing an application letter to a pet owner or any time it feels like it, basically. The latest is that I received an automated message to submit a review for my most recent sit in Florence, Italy which was fantastic, but as I was tapping the stars for a five star review it stopped at four and it can’t be changed and the owner is not thrilled about it because obviously it might be a problem for future sitters. My only recourse at this point is to write a response to her five star sit for me which I just finished. I’ve written before about the ‘freezing’ problem, now this problem with the reviews. I received responses for fixing the freezing problem, none of which worked long term. It’s doing it even more now. I updated the app a couple of times, but the freezing continues. I have a friend who joined because I highly recommended it but now she a having problems too, so I know it’s not just my phone. It’s extremely frustrating. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH THIS APP???
Help and Support should have a link for app feedback since this app is so brand new. I read all the reviews and you keep asking for us to contact you, but neither is there a link to email you, nor is there a link to rate the app, nor is there a way to provide direct feedback. Getting redirected to the website is counterintuitive. My first experience with the app was today. You sent me multiple emails and placed popups on the website that the app is Apple friendly, I say you’re missing key components. Even as I type this review, I can relax again with my auto-capitalize settings and my ability to let my keyboard predict the word I want to use. I can double tap space bar for a period and all “I” ‘s are autocorrected to be capitalized. Maybe a different between UK and USA, but if you’re Apple friendly, let the auto’s work. Also when typing a response I can see about 4-5 words at a time....when I text someone, my text box grows as I type and when I need to review what I’m responding to, I can scroll up and see more while my phone auto-condenses my typing box to about the size of your normal default typing box. If you truly value our feedback, make this app more user friendly.
I was quite excited at the prospect of having an app for TrustedHousesitters. However, the last few times I have tried to use it either with my iPad or iPhone it has been very glitchy. As I prefer to use the microphone for entering text it didn’t work at all which was quite frustrating. Even when I was trying to manually enter text to respond to an invite the text window would not open sufficiently for me to see more than two words at a time and the app would not rotate on my iPad to make viewing easier, instead it either had a quarter screen view or two times magnification view, neither of which were useful. My other pet peeve is with the daily emails to notify me of the latest house sits as soon as I click to start looking at them a pop up appears suggesting I go to the App. Even when I close it out it pops up again which is really frustrating. When I open the App it doesn’t retain my login credentials so I have to do it each time, would prefer a fingerprint option or the choice to retain my login credentials so I don’t have to enter them each time.
I started out over 10 years ago with a different housesitting company. When I switched to THS, it was the best decision I ever made. Not only do I have more choices and locations of homes, I was given much clearer instructions and ways to improve my searches. Originally, after retiring from the federal courts, I was looking for a way to visit my son’s family up north, without staying in their home, because of the elder grandson’s profound Autism. I found THS. Now I have a place to relax after helping out the younger siblings, the family and visiting time. Meanwhile I get to stay in beautiful homes with wonderful pets, keeping me company. All this at no cost to me or pet owners, other than the annual reasonable fee. Now I not only visit my son’s family, but my sister who lives in assisted living in Florida and several sits in wonderful places for myself to enjoy. Thanks all to Trusted Housesitters!
This is a much needed service, and in principle, it is a win-win arrangement for both homeowners (pet owners) and sitters; An exchange of pet care services for accommodations & hospitality. However, the mobile app and the website behave & work differently; Differently enough that the inconsistencies make it a confusing end-user experience. Worst is the calendar function that causes errors (you’ll have to use it and experience a miscommunication between sitter & pet owner) to truly understand the seriousness of the unfriendly calendar functionality. Also, the templates for writing Sitter Instructions or other important documents is restrictive, confining, and baffling at times; So it is utterly frustrating that end-users cannot upload a PDF or some kind of text file with photos, formatted in a way that is satisfactory or appropriate for a particular sit session. Despite the above app & website inconsistencies, the service itself is quite good (in principle): insurance, access to airport lounges, introductions to sitters & hosts. However to be clear, we’ve only ever used the introduction functionality and have not used any of the other services. Customer Support is at least responsive, albeit frustrating, in the sense that there is no straightforward way to report bugs or provide feedback about usability problems. So the pet sitter business model is a now a known thing. We’re ever on the search for a better implementation of the service.
I don’t know if it was instinct or luck, but I found the best and most humble pet sitter in a the world through THS. I had a piece of mind, and although skeptical at first, my selection and THS through process allowed me to select a trustworthy and honorably compassionate home and pet sitter for my two little puppies. The “five member and lock” process allowed me not be overwhelmed and really review the applicants. The process at the end helped me filter their commitment to the pet sit and not just a vacation home. Be advised this process can only be unlocked by a few interviews and honest Q&A’s after reviewing their reviews. Thank you Julie, your definitely my number one and only favorite.
Impossible to even apply for a sit, year-long membership
While the concept of this platform initially seemed promising, my experience over a six-month period has been disappointing. The platform restricts the number of applicants for each opportunity to just five, resulting in extremely limited access to even attempt an application. Despite daily notifications and prompt responses on my end, I have been unable to submit a single application due to the slots filling up so rapidly. When I sought a pro-rated refund for the unused service, the request was denied, citing a strict policy against breaking yearly commitments. The only advice offered was to download the app for instant notifications—a solution that may be feasible for those without full-time commitments but impractical for working professionals. While this platform may serve some, it has proven ineffective for my needs and, in my view, does not offer value for the investment required. I would caution potential users to carefully consider their ability to stay constantly alert for new postings before committing to a subscription.
I have had my membership for almost a year now. I have tried to use it several times but there has never been any sits where I was going. I know this ain’t the app’s fault but is disappointing given how much it cost. It’s extremely hard to see (on the app) dates more than a month in the feature. Which is really annoying for travel planning. I found I had to go to the website to see dates further in the feature and it would constantly pester me to use the app. Until I disabled them, I would get a notification every day that there were new house sitting gigs where I was going which was never true. I have done a lot of house sitting prior to using this app and thought this was a great idea. Unfortunately I found it to be severely lacking especially for the price. I tried to contact customer support 2 times during my membership and never made contact. Would not recommend, at least at this time.
In theory, this is a great app - and I did have 3 successful sits in a year - which means the yearly membership was successful in saving me money on hotels/air bnb. And I met amazing hosts and their furry loved ones. The reason for 4 stars; and me canceling my membership is basically that syncing time off work, buying plane tickets and being chosen as a sitter never went smoothly. Most sits are for dates that I couldn’t arrange without major hassle and ending up spending more $$ … so, I can save $400 in a hotel - but pay $700 more in airfare because I’m buying tickets too late … the houses listed don’t have a time limit to approve you - so you don’t know if you’re chosen until too far into travel plans … for me, i don’t like traveling with so much uncertainty, or so much last minute planning. I’m sure it works perfect for some.
Trusted Housesitter has allowed us the freedom to travel that we wouldn’t have otherwise. We love the whole concept and have 17 amazing sitters to date. The issue is the buggy app. There are periods when it’s kinda fine - absolutely non-intuitive and odd but still basically working and fine. At the moment though I have an issue that is rather untenable. On the dashboard view I see my capped 5 applicant so I click in and decide the first one to write. Once I send that first message the remaining 4 applicants disappear so can no longer see them or reach out to them. Back at the dashboard I can see that there are 5 applications but now that I have written one person, when I click into the dates I now just see the one person I wrote. 😕. This means the other good applicants are unavailable to me and I can’t even reach out to send a kind note or even decline them. Not being able to decline them means that because of the 5 applicant cap I can just decline the one person that I first wrote and then unpause to get one more applicant. The other 4 are just stuck in some hidden limbo. I talked with support and he was able to validate the issue and I hope open a ticket. I see nobody else talking about this here or on the community which seems odd. Anyway, it’s a bummer.
Inbox access blocked after membership cancellation
So for the past few months this app was pretty good. It allowed me to travel with my dog to some lovely locations and meet other really cool dogs and family. But recently I decided I’d go back to school and let my membership run out. Unfortunately I already had a sit coming up before I came to this decision and now I’m having issues with my student visa. So when I tried to log in to contact my next host to inform her I’d have to cancel, I realized I had no access AT ALL to my inbox. Including sits that I had set up before cancelling. Not only is that a huge “forget you” to me but also to the host that is expecting to hear from me. Now I’m having to deal with their customer service that closed out on me as soon as I switched to another window on my phone to check the dates and my hosts name (things they had asked for). I don’t understand how they can take away access to sits and messages that you’ve literally already paid for!?!
I have been using app successfully for a very long time and had outstanding 5 stars reviews from the pet/home owners until I encounter one home owner who personally disliked me and lied in the review about me. This prevented me from continue using this app since I start having a rejections. I reached out to support (Sunpreet P) providing evidence, a text messages between me and home owner showing that the information in the review was a lie and that she even wanted me to sit for her again, I explained that it is a personal dislike however it looks like THS doesn’t care about its members at all, there is no support on investigation of the case, they only making money on memberships but never put any effort to help when encountering difficult or unfair situation using the app. It is expensive membership and I’ve been using this platform for a years both ways as a pet/home owner and house sitter and it is not worth it unless you want to be completely unprotected from discrimination.
Overall the app itself is alright, I guess. Could have more filters and be more user friendly but given the little care the company shows for its users, I think that may be asking too much. If you’re a potential sitter consider this: you’ll be VASTLY outnumbered per sits available, vastly. For most sits that would be worth the time and energy, there’s so many applications that often, they don’t even reply to you. Most want experience, so if you’re new, good luck finding a sit! And if you have a pet of your own, forget it! I applied to sits without a pet and never got a sit and now with a dog of my own, its months later and I still haven’t been able to land a sit. Contacted the company and was basically told to “keep trying!” The $100 and thirty something bucks they charge for this is ludicrous given how little service they provide for the sitters. Sitters are pawns, just know that. There’s gotta be a better alternative to this company!
The current version of the TH app for iPad is a good start toward supporting a very valuable organization/service. The app occasionally shows partial pictures of host’s pets (ie: heads cropped off). It is cumbersome to navigate between different fields within the host database (can’t move between fields without backing up a level). Most irritating of all (and probably not related to the app) is the steady stream of email I receive announcing a sit that is a perfect match for me; then listing sits are not even on the same continent that I am interested in visiting. Then when one clicks for details the link takes one to a page encouraging one to JOIN TH. Duh, I’m already a member. What would be nice would be matches that fit the filters set in my saved searches. I’m certainly not criticizing TH which is a great service, but the app can certainly be improved.
Bad reviews are mistaken... this looks and works great!
Not sure what the other reviewers are complaining about! Searching by location, date, and duration works fine. The app is a little sensitive to touch and registers clicks sometimes when I mean to swipe (hence 4 stars), but I’m sure that will be fixed in later updates. Otherwise it works fine. It is also easy to navigate and view. The design is clean and uncluttered. I really appreciate that TH has come out with a phone app, and I’m sure the push notifications for my saved searches are going to come in super handy. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time! (Also lol @ the person who downrated this for being a paid service. TH is a great service and worth the money, and the yearly fee has nothing to do with whether the app is good or not.)
Great concept, but the App needs some major improvements
I love THS! I’ve been using it to travel Europe in addition to having sitters come and watch my 2 dogs and it has been a dream! But, this app needs some significant improvements. It’s rather clunky and hard to find things. It also will constantly say I have unread messages and I don’t. Additionally, after I open a message, it’ll still label it as unread. The Welcome guide structure and format is also rather clunky. Many sits I sign up for rarely use it and instead will send me a word or google doc. Further, the concept of reviews vs. feedback is rather confusing. I think framing them both as reviews but distinguishing between house sitter reviews and homeowner reviews would be clearer.
Normally Idon’t write app reviews but I wanted people to know that TrustedHouseSitters is amazing. We joined in 2016 and have been booked with house sits ever since. We joined with a coupon and were able to use a coupon to renew too. It has more than paid for itself. We have never had a problem with the website - it is easy to use and has lots of features - and the app looks great too. Most importantly they police for scammers, which other similar sites do not do as well. I highly recommend using the site if you are a sitter or need one. (If you search Los Angeles sitters you can find us and our 22 5 star reviews).
This goes for both the app, mobile, and desktop sites: inbox/message handling is TERRIBLE. Actions don’t sync across platforms, you can’t select a message without opening it or select multiple messages to perform one action, and you can’t delete messages, only archive. I don’t want all of the 80+ applications I receive for a house sit archived. You cannot archive messages from non-active members on the desktop site, only the app. I also want to be able to hide a sit from previous sitters even if I gave them a good review, for my own reasons. Website and app are mildly infuriating. I’d like an option to select non-automatic renewals. If you cancel automatic renewals, you cancel your membership, so you’re a hostage. I appreciate that I’ve always found quality sitters on this site, but it’s not an ideal service or app.
The website is glitchy, so I was looking forward to the app. Unfortunately, the app has problems as well. 1) I don’t see a way to sort the results of a saved search. So it sends me an alert that new listings meet my criteria, but then I have to manually go through all results to find which ones are new. 2) I created a search with limited date parameters - begin and end dates. The results include all sits that begin within the stated timeframe, but not all of them end by the requested end date. Why am I putting in an end date and then that date is ignored? 3) The search results using the map are glitchy. First the positive - the new map provider is much faster and more responsive than what was previously used on the website. That said, sometimes when I click on the map button to see results on a map, it goes to a full-screen map and other times to a half-screen map with results thumbnails below the map. More importantly, it’s not a map of the results, it’s a map of my current location. The performance is not consistent, as sometimes I can get it to show search results on a map. I love TrustedHousesitters and have used it to find many house sits over the past couple of years. But this review is for the app, and the app still needs work.
I had great hopes for this. But after paying money for several years, I managed to successfully secure one pet/housesit, even though I applied for 30 or so. The culture seems heavily on the side of the home and pet owners and not the sitters. I had bookings canceled, most applications simply ignored, and I got ghosted more than once after I had sent sincere, time-consuming applications to housesit and pet sit for different homes. If you’re looking to have someone come housesit and pet sit, this might be great for you but if you’re looking to travel, wild house and pet sitting, you might find it disappointing. This could just be my experience, but I wouldn’t recommend signing up and paying a fee every year to get rejected over and over again unless you’re into that sort of thing 😉
I am absolutely discussed with this company! They require a paid membership but cancel it without reimbursement due to hearsay. 🤔 A lady reached out to me last night to watch her animals over Christmas and I simply said that due to several last minute cancellations over the past few months , I am not doing sits through THS over the holidays this year. I also mentioned that “ I am booked with other work during her dates anyway, but maybe another time.” She took her bitterness and notified THS with a twisted version of the truth and Ashley from THS sent me an email saying my membership was canceled. No questions, no mention about financial reimbursement for my dues being paid. Absolute insanity! - not to mention THEFT! Wow, I have been helping to build this company up for over two years and just like that, someone’s lies win. Not much integrity that I see here. Wow!
I really like having access to this app while traveling. It’s so much easier than trying to log into the full site on my tiny phone screen! The app makes it easy to quickly look up house sit information and message hosts, especially when on the move. I’ve done quite a few house sits with trusted house sitters and this app definitely makes staying in touch more convenient. Just a heads up: trusted house sitters is a paid service. If you aren’t signed up for an annual subscription, you won’t be able to apply for anything. You can still browse all the fun listings though 😊
Fantastic way to work while traveling and have animal companions as company.
I’ve had two week long stays and loved them both. I was able to work during the day and walk the dogs in the morning, at lunchtime and after work. Having an animal around helped me meet the neighbors and feel safe exploring new areas. I’m telling all my friends/co-workers and strangers about how fun it is to be a trusted house sitter. If you plan to travel and want to see how the locals live this is a wonderful way to meet new people and animals and to save a fortune on hotels. Try it! You will love it.
It would be really helpful to be able to save searches for locations AND include a country filter. For example, I have a bunch of searches saved in the northern USA, but get multiple alerts a day for homes in Canada (which I can’t do because of visa reasons). It’s pulling in different countries because of proximity. Seems like a bug or an oversight by the product team. Search -> select city/dates/country -> save search Good app overall, has some other bugs too: - dates and times on messages seem to be in a set time zone. For example, I’ll send a message and it will show it was sent 6 hours ago. I’ll receive a message that will show as “new” for 12 hours because it’s receipt time is - I’m assuming - in an earlier time zone. - messages get stuck with unread notifications although viewed - on mobile when viewing map, when I click on a tag it jumps to a different place. Seems like a bug. I have to zoom in really closely so it doesn’t erratically jump to different locations on click.
I’ve been happy with the service, the hosts, and the website, but the app is so awful. On iPhone 14 and newer, the dynamic island near the top of the screen blocks out the photos of the homes and pets. Push notifications have never worked for me. The battery drain from the app is ridiculous. I set my brightness to minimum and set a timer for an hour and just had the app open. It drained my phone battery 37% in one hour. Unacceptable. Messages have UK based timestamps, so all of my messages will say sent 11 hours ago or another inaccurate time rather than my time zone. Many times I’ll tap a listing or tab in the app and it just won’t do anything or work correctly. I’ll have to force close the app and reopen it. I’ve been using the desktop/ mobile website because of all of these bugs and I don’t think I can recommend the service to others until it’s fixed since the app is such a major part of using the service. I’ve been a happy sitter but it’s silly that I have to ask homeowners if they can text me instead to communicate to ensure I’ll receive messages in a timely fashion. PLEASE put some money into app development.
This is a good app, don’t believe the sensationalized news
Today, July 31, 2024, THS got some bad press about people being denied access to countries due to “no work permit”. These must be isolated cases to be sensationalized. We’ve been doing THS for years, have been to many countries, including Canada, and have had NO trouble! It is a great way to travel, to help people in need out, and to learn about other cultures by staying there, not just passing through for a day or two! We highly recommend THS and will continue to do house sits and have them at our house!
I love trusted house sitters and have had many great experiences using this app! However, the app’s glitches and poor design make it extremely frustrating to use. I wish that there was a function for house sitters to put in their available dates and search for listings based on dates, rather than simply location. Other times, when I am looking to house sit in one specific area, it would be extremely helpful to have to ability to be notified when any listing in the area is posted. The current process is extremely tedious. I am disappointed that this app is not more user friendly, especially given the cost to subscribe to this app each year.
After returning from a 10 day trip, we came home to a spotless home, a happy dog and a delicious meal. Who could ask for more. Lynn and Steve never complained about a week of rain on Hilton Head. Instead, they picked up the umbrella and walked Winnie her usual 3+ miles every day. Shared many photos of our dog and the surrounding areas. Despite just recently joining the Trusted housesitter network, do no hesitate to call them when you need a quality couple to take care of your pets. You won’t be disappointed.
I signed up to be a petsitter because I love animals, but if you’re in the US be very careful. All the general inequities and exploitations of the culture are replicated here. I ended up caring for two not potty trained dogs for four days in an uncomfortable apartment on a high floor when the elevators were broken. Because I cared about the dogs, I wanted to see it through, but it was truly awful. Another house essentially asked me to be there while they had part of the house remodeled after I’d agreed to be there to care for the pets. People will take advantage of you. A few mellow cats in exchange for staying in a town you want to be in seems fair, but my experience on this site was that many animal and home owners are using the site for free labor. I was incredibly disappointed and closed my account.
The app itself is pretty glitchy but it's the customer service that really blows. I have used this multiple times with no issue, but the most recent time I had an issue with the sitter and THS is unwilling to reciting the situation. She left before the sit was over forcing me to take time out of my vacation to arrange (and pay) for somebody else to fill in. When I got back I found 5 dog poops throughout the house that hadn't been found/cleaned up accompanied by warped floorboards where pee had been. If it wasn't for the marijuana on the bathroom counter and open window (on a 28 degree day) I would have thought she had never shown up at all. The concept is great and I want yo love it, but given the lack of accountability, I will not be renewing my subscription.
We were delighted to find this cool organization and heard from neighbors and friends how well their pets were treated. We found a wonderful pair of funny and clever people to care for our dog and that changed the way I felt about traveling. (I’d always hated having to leave our sweet girl. To the point of hoping I’d get ill to be able to stay home!) Once we’d gotten used to the joy of traveling without guilt, we realized that the whole other side of the equation was waiting for us. Now we have begun to imagine going to our bucket list destinations as sitters! What fun lies ahead!!!
I love this platform! Hanging out with pets and travel around the world…I have been housesitting throughout Europe, which is amazing. Usually, the owners are very nice and pets are amazing. The app is not perfect but it does the job. BUT Some pet owners make you feel like they are hiring you for this service by letting you use their house. NO NO NO. This is an exchange of mutual respect. Sitters focus on the pets, and if you have other chores and requests, put it on the posting BEFOREHAND. We do spend a lot of time with the pets but not on a standby for you for some requests you have out of the nowhere.
I am by no means an experienced user of this site, but I had have just great experiences so far and highly recommend it to everyone interested in traveling in a very meaningful way. My last sit was my first international experience and my longest and I bonded with my pet family that we became very good friends and I am sure we will stay in touch and meet again soon. TH gives enough tools for user to find the right match and secure a just right sit.
AMAZING APP! Life-saving. I can’t believe how much money we’ve saved and how positive an experience we’ve had using Trusted Housesitters. We were skeptical at first. Was it too good to be true? No! It’s as great as it sounds. We have had about 8 sitters now and completed one sit ourselves. Some quirky personalities of course but we always have a video call with potential sitters/sits ahead of time but our home and cat have received loving care consistently, which is obviously priority!
I LOVE this platform!!! I’ve been petsitting for more than 2 years already and I hope more and more people join the community!! I just REALLY wish the app and the website could improve in the duration filter when searching for sits :( I prefer doing sits for at least 2 months, sometimes (like right now) even 4 months. And when you search sits the duration filter it’s only: 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month and 6 months+. It’s terrible to search for bigger sittings, because there is not always a lot of 6 months sittings and there is A LOT of 1+ month sittings mixing with 3 and 4 months… I wish they implement a “2+ months” and a “4+ months”, PLEEEEASE!!! Also, sometimes some bugs make the “It’s a match” sittings notifications appear repeatedly on my phone and it’s annoying. Thanks again THS, I hope you can work on this! :)
Great concept—enjoying free accommodation & travels!!
I am so happy to have joined TH. I’ve been able to get out of town far more often, and get some breaks from usual stressors/roommates with local stays near my own neighborhood. If I were able to work 100% remote, I would be traveling the world—there are so many amazing opportunities domestically and abroad!!! The app is a little glitchy at times, but just have to close out and reload to solve most of these issues.
This was a wonderful house sit. I was traveling to Florida and found this amazing family that needed someone to watch their fur babies. I’m so glad they elected to allow me the opportunity to stay in their home as they traveled to see the grandchildren. If you’re looking to spend time alone then this location is what you need although it’s located in a community it is far enough to fill secluded. Their home was amazing, Joan and Bill Thank you so much. Christine
Christy has come to sit for our four kitties a few times now and all the way to Arizona from Wisconsin. She is reliable and extremely organized and loving to all of them. We received some great pictures she took while we were away (better than we could take). We look forward to having her sit again in the future and highly recommend her for consideration on any future sits she applies.
Could be an incredible service with a few basic, obvious changes
Very few homeowners know how to use the service properly. Dates on listings are often inaccurate. Sitting in your local area? Everyone thinks that’s odd. Sitting somewhere far away? Everyone thinks that’s odd. You’ll have the same agonizing conversations over and over. Most homeowners don’t go too far with the responsibilities but some are full time jobs which defeats the purpose of the service. This type of thing could change the way people choose to live out their younger years if there was some thought and more automation in the design
Love this site and have pets at for some amazing folks but I do have a worry about what happens when you get pets that have serious separation anxiety? I feel like there need to be some options because visiting and having to take care of a pet with serious issues isn’t an equal exchange. It should be done by a paid professional or be taken to a vet. I’ve had one bad experience on the site and it’s making me wonder what the steps are and ways visitors/sitters can be protected.
I’ve been using the app for a month now and it gets stuck often which results in me having to delete and reinstall the app or restart my phone. When it gets stuck, listings don’t open, refreshing doesn’t do anything, nor does it allow you to go back to the dashboard. Also, applying to a listing from the app is a hassle. While you’re writing the screen scrolls up. You have to scroll back down to continue writing while making sure that you don’t submit the application prematurely.
The app overall is good but could use some updates. An option to edit your saved searches to changes dates etc would be a great feature. Also the dashboard “tab” no longer works. It just spins. I have to pull up the website to see welcome guides, leave reviews and see my dashboard. This feature worked when I first downloaded the app but “broke” and hasn’t been fixed yet.
Anyone that rates this app or community poorly has obviously not put any effort into using it or being a part of it. TrustedHousitters is an incredible community that is growing and improving every day. This app is a true testament of that, with consistent improvements with messaging, layout, etc. I have no problem applying to sits and consistently communicating with home owners through this app. I look forward to further improvements and personalization! :)
I just joined TrustedHousesitters and I’ve done Pet Sitting in the past. I like that it’s possible to check the reviews that other pets sitters leave as it helps to get a good idea of what the experience will be like. I did my first pet through the site last weekendand it went well. I think it’s very important as the Sitter to use the same type of scrutiny with your host that they are extending toward you.
I love this site - this is purely a software suggestion… From the sitter’s view, using the map feature when searching for available sits, you cannot zoom in and simply click on the individual pins in the area you have zoomed in on. Each time you tap a pin, it automatically zooms back out to a larger area and you have to zoom back in multiple times to take a look at the sits in that given area. It’s infuriating. Please fix this!
We have had very good pet sitters from Trusted Housesitters in the past, but I have spoken to some of our sitters who feel as we do about some new policies. Since we moved to Fl near the gulf beaches, we notice that if we put in dates to be away, we get 5 choices of people to sit with our dog. We are forced to decline all five before we are offered more choices. Not happy with this, because often they have a limited number of reviews or no 5 star reviews at all! Also, our year is up today, and Without warning we were automatically billed $195 this morning. This is a terrible policy. How do they even know we still have a dog? It is nearly impossible to get a live person to speak to or to cancel my membership. So disappointed from the early days. Does this company have new owners? We have great pet sitters in our neighborhood. I would prefer to pay the extra money and use them rather than struggle with this company. Thank you! Kathie Forlini Hilton Head Island and Venice, Fl
As a sitter…. I’d like to be able to “hide” sits that I know I’m not interested in so I have to click through them every time I look for a place. Also need the ability to filter out sits that already have applicants. Generally, the first applicant is the one who gets the sit. I don’t want to have to check every single sit, only to find that I probably won’t get it, since there are already applicants. I should be able to see AVAILABLE sits.
Looking for a kind and caring house and pet sitter, or love pets and want to find your next adventure? Download the award-winning TrustedHousesitters app and connect with the community of trusted pet lovers who are exchanging pet care for unique travel experiences. “We cannot tell you how rewarding this lifestyle is. You simply have to try it..” — Stephanie D, TrustedHousesitters member Why do pet owners love it? Rated 9.6/10 on Trustpilot with over 9,000 reviews, TrustedHousesitters helps you confidently connect and keep in touch with sitters, whenever, wherever. It’s pet care in your pocket that provides true peace of mind, offering sitter verifications, 24/7 support, and a dedicated vet advice line. Why do sitters love it? With thousands of sits in over 130 countries, TrustedHousesitters helps pet lovers like you find accommodation with adorable animals around the world. You can gain verifications and reviews to stand out from the pack when applying for sits, and even leave owners feedback. What you’ll discover in the TrustedHousesitters app: HOUSE AND PET SITTING AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Use your free account to explore our community or start your annual membership plan to arrange house and pet sits, safely and securely. Already a member? Just log in to your app using your usual details. FIND SITS AND SITTERS FAST Choosing pet sitters over boarding or kennels? The app includes fantastic filters designed to help you find the perfect person to care for your pets. You can also use a wide range of filters, from ‘Small pets’ to ‘High-speed WiFi’, when searching for your next exciting sit. NEVER LOSE A PROFILE OR LISTING Discovered the profile of a sitter your cat will love or a listing with the dog of your dreams? You can store all your favorite profiles and listings safely away to view anytime, anywhere. SAVE TIME WITH SAVED SEARCHES Want to stay somewhere with a particular type of pet over a certain period of time? Simply save your search and you’ll get an alert straight to your phone as soon as matching sits are added. MANAGE YOUR DASHBOARD You can use your app to view your owner listing or sitter profile, and manage all your sits. EASY-TO-USE MESSAGING Contact other members on the go, and share updates and photos so you can stay connected wherever your travels take you. SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES Tap and swipe to leave your dog’s much-loved sitter a five-star review or leave helpful feedback about your time caring for a cat in the countryside. REFER A FRIEND Met a fellow pet lover on your adventures? Use your app to share your exclusive discount code with ease. When they apply your code, you’ll get two free months of membership — a special thank you for growing the pack. Winner of the Most Effective B2C App in the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards 2018.