TrustedHousesitters review: My honest 3 year experience

As a full-time traveller who spends most of their time away from their family dog back home, I will take any opportunity to hang out with animals. This is why I joined TrustedHousesitters in 2021 as a house sitter. I pay one small yearly membership fee (the same price as 1 night in a hotel) and get access to unlimited housesitting opportunities worldwide.

Thanks to the TrustedHousesitters platform, I’ve had some incredible adventures across the UK, Germany, and Mexico. I’m now on first-name terms with many awesome animals, some of whom I even hang out with regularly, like Pumpkin the Cat.

There is a lot of fun to be had! But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, particularly when I started on the platform and hadn’t yet learnt how to vet users. But the good has far outweighed the bad. By sharing both sides of my pet setting experiences over the last 3 years, I can advise on the best ways to use the platform to ensure you get only the best experiences.

In my TrustedHousesitters review, I’ll discuss the variety of housesits available, the platform’s usability, the opportunities to build long-term relationships, the importance of having reviews, and the necessity of vetting opportunities properly to avoid potential bad experiences. The platform provides incredible opportunities, but certainly not everyone using it is to be trusted!

Why trust my TrustedHousesitters review?

With a variety of TrustedHousesitters reviews on the internet, why read mine? Well, I’ve been using the platform since 2021 and have looked after numerous cats and dogs in a few different countries. During this time I have built up my profile from scratch and experienced both the good and bad sides of housesitting. I will be sharing my honest firsthand experience within this review, so you can make an informed decision!

My experience

I have been using Trustedhousesitters since 2021 and in this time I have sat for many different animals across the world. I am going to share all my favourite things about using TrustedHousesitters on my travels. I’ll also provide constructive feedback on my negative experiences, so you can avoid any potential TrustedHousesitters horror stories!

A huge variety of worldwide sits & sitters

The TrustedHousesitters platform boasts extensive listings all over the world, making travelling as a sitter very viable. Your yearly membership allows you to organise as many housesits as you like (as long as they don’t overlap). In my first year on the platform, I sat for two incredible dogs in Mexico, as well as a few awesome kitties back in the UK.

Opportunities constantly pop up on the platform and there are often hundreds of opportunities in major cities like London, New York, and Singapore, as well as more peaceful countryside locations. I’ve set up a few alerts that notify me whenever a new housesitting opportunity appears in an area I’d like to visit. It pays to be flexible with your time, but there really are so many opportunities to pick from.

For homeowners, there are tens of thousands of active sitters dotted across the world, either living or travelling locally to you. This means most homeowners will have a variety of options when looking for a sitter! As a sitter, I am always one of a fair few people that the homeowners are chatting with.

Because of TrustedHousesitters, I’ve been able to explore places I’ve never visited before in the company of animals, all while being supported by hosts, many of whom are happy to provide extensive information on the local area. Moreover, staying at someone else’s home makes your trip a lot more comfortable than showing up at a bare Airbnb in a strange new place.

When I compared them with their competitors, I found TrustedHousesistters had a larger quantity of opportunities and sitters worldwide than Nomador and Rover. TrustedHousesitters has over 200,000 members!

I have built long-term relationships

One of my favourite things about TrustedHousesitters is that you get to meet other amazing people on the platform. As a pet sitter, I can only talk about my experiences meeting pet owners, but what I can say is that I’ve made some lifelong friendships with both humans and their animals. This has meant that I’ve been able to return to a few housesits numerous times. Without TrustedHousesitters, none of this would have been possible!

For example, I have looked after a cat called Pumpkin 5 times now (pictured above). We have built a strong bond and I have a great relationship with his human (the pet parent) too! Despite some less-than-desirable sitters and homeowners using the platform (see below), genuine and friendly people far outweigh them.

Being able to discover new places around the world, or even new places back home, whilst in the company of some awesome animals is an absolute dream come true. I love nothing more than getting to meet new animals, discovering their personality traits, and seeing them eventually warm up to me after a few days. It is all very heartwarming.

Moreover, by creating long-term relationships and having a few return housesits under my belt, I have built up a trustworthy review profile that now helps me land future housesits. The same can be said for homeowners who have regular sitters.

I find the platform easy to use

The TrustedHousesitters platform is straightforward to use and navigate. I enjoy their map view search function that allows you to discover housesits in different areas worldwide. There is also a directory of sitters that is easy to filter through. It is very similar to Airbnb which most people will have experience using.

I also find that user profiles are clean and easy to read. You can browse through all of their reviews, even click through to the reviewer’s profile, and read what the original user wrote about them in return. On top of this, a sitter can display countries that they would like to visit on their profile and also update their availability which makes it easier for homeowners to get in contact with any potential opportunities.

You can also use their mobile app to communicate with other users and find opportunities on the go. The app also allows you to see empty reviews on profiles, which are a result of a user choosing not to leave a review for a sitter or owner. This isn’t visible on the desktop version.

Not all users can be trusted

Whilst I love the service that TrustedHousesitters provides, your experience can vary depending on the users you interact with. This is why most negative reviews of TrustedHousesitters on Reddit and Trustpilot stem from individual experiences between sitters and homeowners and are not indicative of the platform itself. These instances are relatively rare since untrustworthy users are the minority, but negative experiences often receive more attention and engagement online.

I learnt that it was important to thoroughly vet users at the beginning of my TrustedHousesitters experience. On one of my first housesits I had an owner send family members to check in unexpectedly and I dealt with pets whose bad behaviour wasn’t fully disclosed beforehand. These moments, whilst rare, taught me valuable lessons about setting clear expectations and asking the right questions upfront.

Fortunately, these experiences are the exception, not the rule. The vast majority of my housesits have been fantastic, and I’ve learned how to spot potential red flags early on. By refining my vetting process, I’ve been able to avoid similar situations, making every sit more enjoyable. Check out my tips on how to ensure smoother experiences here!

It can be tricky without reviews

When you first get started on the platform as a sitter you may struggle to get accepted to sit, and as a pet owner, you may not get many sitter applications. This is because users rely heavily on other user reviews to vet opportunities. Otherwise, you may be more vulnerable to difficult experiences (like those you’ll find shared in Reddit forums).

It took a little work for me to win my first housesit. With zero reviews on my profile, it was understandably quite hard to display my trustworthiness. So I asked people I have helped in the past to add an external review to my profile and I wrote extensive and personal applications to housesits. All of this helped me get accepted to my first housesit after 4 prior applications! Upon receiving the review from my first housesitting experience, it got accepted a lot more regularly.

Here are some of my top tips on helping you build reviews and trust when you first start on TrustedHousesitters:

For sitters:

• Write a thorough and engaging bio that includes reasons why you are a trusted housesitter.
• Go into plenty of detail about your previous experience looking after animals or housesitting.
• Use plenty of up-to-date photographs with your face in them (bonus if you can include any animals).
• Gather external references from people you have previously sat for.
• Apply for short sits in your local area to build reviews (check out the reviews I’ve been building up in my hometown London).
• Apply for sits with low applications
• Write honest and personable applications to sits – this helped me get my first sit in Mexico.

Find out more about becoming a housesitter here.

For pet owners:

• Write an honest bio about your home and your animal(s), and include reasons why you have signed up for the platform – the more honest you are, the more likely you are to find a suitable sitter.
• Upload plenty of photos of your home (yes this matters, a lot) and animal(s).
• Offer video chats to potential sitters to build rapport.
• If people off the platform have housesat for you consider providing their contact details to potential sitters so they can supply an external review.

Mixed customer service experience

Thankfully I haven’t had many reasons to contact TrustedHousesitters’ customer service. But on the one occasion that I did, when I was having a difficult time at a housesit, I felt like their customer service operations could have been a lot more balanced.

I was looking after two dogs for a month and upon arrival, I discovered they had some severe grooming issues – including old faeces matted into their fur. Moreover, they behaved very aggressively and required professional 24/7 assistance. Then the homeowner’s mother paid me an unexpected visit and came through the house checking on me and locking several doors. I felt very uncomfortable.

I checked the Terms of Service and after finding out that the homeowner had broken a fair few of them I decided to contact TrustedHousesitters’ customer service. Their initial priority was to support the homeowner and I felt like my situation wasn’t given enough consideration. However, after a few days and a couple of lengthy chats with a few different staff members, I was able to transition over to another sitter.

I understand it is tough for their customer service to mitigate horror stories like these, particularly when the housesit is underway, but I do believe there is some room for improvement when it comes to supporting sitters during difficult situations. For instance, the introduction of a policy that requires parties to arrange professional support when terms are breached.

That being said, I learnt a lot from this experience – it taught me how to properly vet people. Looking back, I am now able to notice the warning signs that the homeowner presented from the beginning. This has ensured I haven’t ended up having a similar experience again, meaning no more customer service calls!

How I avoid bad experiences

My bad experiences taught me to be more cautious when vetting people, I’ve since only had good experiences! There are a few steps to this process, but I’ve had a lot of success following these:

1. Examine reviews

To successfully vet people, you need to examine their reviews and compare them with their profiles carefully. You should read between the lines of any reviews made before August 2023, and look for any hidden negative sentiment. This is because Trustedhousesitters used to have an open review system that allowed the other party to read your review before publishing their own, and vice versa.

This scared people away from leaving honest and constructive reviews, in case it were to influence the other party’s review of them. Sometimes, it would even leave both parties in a stalemate situation and neither would leave a review.

It can sometimes be quite obvious when there is negative sentiment hidden within a seemingly positive review. For example, if a review mentions that the dog loves chasing squirrels and is super energetic on walks, but the pet owner has said in their writeup that their dog is an absolute angel on the lead, then you may want to question this.

Thankfully, in August 2023 TrustedHousesitters rolled out a new reviewing feature similar to Airbnb’s. Essentially, your review will remain hidden until the other party has left theirs, or until 14 days have passed. After this period, neither party can leave a review. This means that you can leave an honest review without worrying that the other party will see it and adjust the review they write. It also means that I am more likely to trust reviews that were left after this transition.

2. Check the mobile app

I also make sure to check out user profiles on the mobile app. If they have a lot of empty reviews from different people on their profile (which can only be seen on the mobile app), it may suggest that people have decided not to leave a review because they are too scared to be honest. While you are there, you may notice that some users have multiple reviews from the same person, which is a great sign!

3. Organise a video chat

If you feel confident that the other party is trustworthy, this is the point where you should organise a video call to chat in person. Plan some questions, like ‘What are the responsibilities for this sit?’ and ‘How much time do you anticipate being able to commit to my pets?’. If you have any hesitations, this is your opportunity to air them out. If you leave the call not feeling confident in the other user, don’t go ahead!

My verdict

In my experience, TrustedHousesitters has been and still is a worthwhile experience – I continue to use it on my travels to this day! As long as both parties are thorough with their vetting, the platform offers incredible opportunities to travel as a sitter while forming meaningful connections with furry companions worldwide. For pet owners, it ensures their beloved pets are cared for by responsible and caring individuals.

Despite this, the platform isn’t immune to chancers or inconsiderate people. I have experienced first-hand just how difficult it can be when housesits go wrong. It was nearly enough to put me off using TrustedHousesitters altogether, but then I remember all the amazing experiences I have had on the platform. So, I spent some time analysing the warning signs to avoid when searching for future sits and I now always make sure to arrange a video chat before accepting a pet setting opportunity. This has been working out well for me ever since!

Getting started can be a bit daunting without any reviews, but I firmly believe in the necessity of a review system for a service like this. It only took me a few months to build up some extensive and helpful reviews. Applications are now that bit easier!

While there have been a few hiccups along the way, they’re not indicative of any inherent flaws in the platform itself. Any service reliant on trust and honesty will have its risks, but exercising caution and providing honest reviews can mitigate these concerns, making TrustedHousesitters a more transparent and reliable platform.

When it works, it is absolutely incredible. I’ve been warmly welcomed into homes, given insider tours of local areas, and even invited to events by the homeowners’ friends. And let’s not forget the incredible animals I’ve had the pleasure of meeting along the way.

As I continue to use TrustedHousesitters in my travels, I am looking forward to seeing more honest reviews shape the platform, making vetting that bit easier. I’m also excited to share my experiences here on this TrustedHousesitters review as I head back out to Latin America!

TrustedHousesitters discount

Get 25% off your first year of Trustedhousesitters membership with my exclusive discount code: VEGAN25. Make sure to enter this code at checkout to save on your first year!

Where can I sign up?

To get started with TrustedHousesitters you will need to sign up for one of their memberships directly from their website – trustedhousesitters.com.

There are a few different memberships for you to choose from, including basic, standard, or premium. I am on their ‘Standard’ membership which I chose because of their additional vet support through their ‘Vet Advice Line’. I’ve never had to use it, but it is good to know that it is there if I do!

The prices are pretty similar for sitters and pet owners, but you will get a discount if you are after a combined membership which allows you to list sits and also sit for others. You can find out more about each TrustedHousesitters membership below: