TrustedHouseSitters "Recommend a Member": What's New

Home > Blog > TrustedHouseSitters "Recommend a Member": What's New

TrustedHouseSitters just rolled out a genuinely interesting addition to its review process: after you submit your written review, you'll now be asked directly, "would you recommend them?" It's a separate question from the star rating, and that distinction matters more than it sounds. We've had a sit we rated 5 stars that we still wouldn't recommend to another sitter. This new feature exists specifically to catch situations exactly like that, the ones the star rating alone was never designed to surface.

Review honesty has been one of the recurring problems in house sitting for as long as the platforms have existed, and it's not really the platform's fault. It's a genuinely human one: when you've just spent two weeks in someone's home, or handed your home and pets to a stranger, there's a real pull to be generous rather than honest, especially when you know they can see what you write about them. THS's own numbers back this up. This new feature is a direct, if imperfect, attempt to work around that instinct rather than fight it.

This guide covers exactly what's changed, why the new question is asking something genuinely different from the star rating, our own honest example of a sit where it would have mattered, and what it means practically for both sitters and homeowners.

We've completed 20 sits across 12 countries with TrustedHouseSitters, and this update, announced this week, addresses something we've genuinely experienced firsthand. If you're setting up membership yourself, our 25% discount is worth grabbing while you're here.

What Actually Changed

Once you write a review, THS now shows a preview of exactly how it'll appear before it goes live, then asks a direct follow-up question: would you recommend this person? If you select "Maybe" or "No," you're asked for a bit more detail, in your own words, directly to THS rather than as part of the public review itself.

THS has been explicit about why: to make it easier to flag things that felt like something you'd otherwise let slide, the small, nagging concerns that never quite made it into a formal complaint but genuinely affected the sit. This isn't meant to replace Membership Services for anything urgent, that still goes through the normal channel. It's specifically for the quieter, harder-to-articulate stuff.

Your answer stays private to THS staff. It's not shown to the person you're reviewing, and it's not visible to other applicants browsing a profile. THS has said action is only taken where a pattern of concern emerges across multiple responses, a single "Maybe" isn't going to trigger anything on its own.

This sits alongside the platform's other recent changes to how applicant profiles work, our full breakdown of the new Experience section covers the other side of how THS has been reshaping the way members evaluate each other this year.

Why "Would You Recommend Them" Is a Different Question From the Star Rating

This is the part that actually matters, and it's worth sitting with rather than skimming past.

Our sit in Tavira is the clearest example we have. On paper, everything was right: a beautiful property, a pool, an enormous space for the dogs so we didn't even need to walk them, a GPS tracker so we always knew where the dog was. We gave it 5 stars. In practice, the dog had undisclosed resource guarding and sound sensitivity, barking through the night, communication with the homeowner deteriorated over the course of the sit, she returned early without much notice, and there was no welcome guide at all. It was, honestly, one of the harder sits we've done.

We still gave it 5 stars, and looking back, we're not sure that was the fully honest number. We think that's a real, common pattern: sitters and homeowners both feel a pull to please each other in the review process, which quietly inflates the rating even when the actual experience was genuinely difficult. Would we recommend that specific homeowner to another sitter? No, not at all. That's exactly the gap this new question is built to catch, a sit that technically earned stars but that you wouldn't actually steer someone else toward.

The resource guarding and sound sensitivity issue itself is a good example of exactly the kind of thing that should be disclosed upfront rather than discovered mid-sit, our guide to reactive and aggressive dogs during a house sit covers what that disclosure should actually look like from a homeowner, and how to handle it as a sitter if it wasn't disclosed.

Our Honest Take on Whether This Will Actually Work

We think the framing THS has chosen here is smart, and it's worth explaining why compared to the alternative.

A "report" button carries real weight. It implies something has gone seriously wrong, and most people hold back from using it unless a situation is genuinely bad, the same hesitation that already keeps a lot of legitimate concerns out of the system entirely. "Would you recommend them" is a much lower-friction question. It doesn't sound like an accusation. It's something you can answer honestly in the moment, right after finishing your review, without feeling like you're escalating anything.

We think this will genuinely surface real patterns over time. If we'd had this option after Tavira, we'd have clicked "No" without hesitation, and if enough sitters had a similar experience with the same homeowner, that's exactly the kind of accumulated signal that could reasonably lead THS to look into an account properly, review the history, reach out to the sitters involved, and take action if the pattern holds up. That's a meaningful improvement over relying on star ratings and public reviews alone, which, as our guide to the blind review system covers, already have real, acknowledged limitations around honesty and inflation.

For Homeowners: What This Means for You

You're getting this feature first, rolling out now on the app, with sitters and web users following in the coming weeks.

The practical upshot: your account isn't affected by a single "Maybe" or "No" from one sitter. What matters is whether a genuine pattern emerges across multiple people. If you're running your listing honestly, disclosing pet behaviour issues, providing a proper welcome guide, communicating clearly throughout the sit, this feature shouldn't concern you at all. If anything, it's a chance for the platform to genuinely distinguish reliable, communicative homeowners from the small number who aren't, which benefits everyone playing it straight.

Our guide to what house sitters wish homeowners knew covers the fuller picture of what actually earns a homeowner a genuine recommendation, not just a technically positive review.

For Sitters: What This Means for You

This gives you a genuine, low-friction way to flag something that felt off without escalating it into a formal complaint. Use it honestly. If a sit was technically fine but something specific made you hesitant to recommend it to someone else, that's exactly the situation this question is designed for, say so.

It's also worth using this alongside a genuinely honest star rating and written review, not as a substitute for one. Our guide to what to do if you're not sure whether to leave a negative review covers how to write that kind of feedback constructively, and this new question is a natural complement to that same honesty, not a replacement for it.

If you're new to the platform and building your own profile and review history, it's worth understanding this system early rather than after your first difficult sit, our guide to getting your first sit without prior experience covers the broader foundation worth building alongside it.

The Bigger Gap This Points To

Reading through the community discussion around this update, one comment stood out to us specifically: someone mentioned seeing a listing that included "walking the neighbour's dogs" as a stated responsibility, on top of the homeowner's own pets. That's a genuine example of a listing drifting into unpaid labor territory, and it's exactly the kind of thing a "would you recommend them" question could help surface over time, even if it never rises to the level of a formal complaint on its own.

More broadly, we think this points to something bigger than any single feature: the house sitting community, across every platform, would genuinely benefit from clearer education at the point someone signs up, what's a reasonable ask, what isn't, how the exchange is actually supposed to work. That's a big part of why this site exists in the first place, and we'd like to see every platform build something like a short onboarding guide into the sign-up process itself, not leave sitters and homeowners to work it out through trial and error.

Have you had a sit like our Tavira one, technically fine on paper, but not one you'd actually recommend? We'd like to hear about it, drop it in the comments below.

Our guide to what to ask a homeowner before you house sit and our pre-sit video call guide are both part of exactly the kind of upfront groundwork that would make features like this one less necessary in the first place, since most of what ends up as a quiet "Maybe" traces back to something that should have been discussed before the sit ever began.

The Bottom Line

The star rating and "would you recommend them" are genuinely different questions, and treating them as the same thing has quietly let real, honest feedback slip through the cracks for a long time. This update gives both sitters and homeowners a low-friction way to say what a star rating alone never could. It won't fix review inflation on its own, but it's a real, sensible step, and it's the kind of change that rewards honesty rather than punishing it.

Caro and I have completed 20 house sits across 12 countries, driven 19,000km across Europe in our 1998 VW T4, and saved over $26,500 in accommodation costs over three years of house sitting. If you've used the new feature already, we'd genuinely like to hear how it felt, DM us @housesittersguide, we answer everyone.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is TrustedHouseSitters' new "recommend a member" feature?

  After submitting a review, you're now asked "would you recommend them?" with options of Yes, Maybe, or No. If you select Maybe or No, you're asked for additional detail directly to THS. This is separate from your star rating and public review.

• Is the "would you recommend them" answer visible to the other person?

  No. It's visible only to THS staff, not to the reviewed party and not to other applicants browsing a profile.

• Will a single "No" recommendation get someone removed from the platform?

  No. THS has stated that action is only taken where a pattern of concern emerges across multiple responses, not from a single answer.

• Why is this different from just leaving a low star rating?

  A sit can genuinely earn a high star rating while still not being something you'd recommend to another sitter, due to undisclosed issues, poor communication, or a mismatch that wasn't the homeowner's or sitter's fault but still affected the experience. This question is designed to capture that gap directly.

Related Guides