Home > Blog > TrustedHouseSitters Search Plus
Quick Facts
| Feature name | Search Plus |
| Launch date | 14 May 2026 |
| Status | Public beta |
| Available on | THS app only (not yet on website) |
| What it does | Natural language search — type what you want in plain English |
| Example searches | "Sits in Europe excluding the UK", "1 dog that can be left alone for 2 hours", "beach sits where guests are welcome" |
| Community reaction | Mixed — one member found their "dream sit", others getting incorrect pet counts and wrong locations |
| Is the old search still available? | Yes — Search Plus runs alongside the existing filters, not replacing them |
TrustedHouseSitters launched Search Plus on 14 May 2026, the same day I am writing this. It is a natural language search feature currently available in public beta on the THS app. Instead of working through dropdown filters, you type what you are looking for in plain English and the system returns relevant sits. If you cannot find it yet, you are not alone. I tried updating my app and browser and the old search and filters section is still what I see. It is rolling out gradually.
I have completed 20 sits across 12 countries with TrustedHouseSitters. This article covers what Search Plus actually does, what the early community reactions from the forum show, and why I think the concept has real potential even if the first version is rough around the edges. Use our 25% discount when joining THS.
What Search Plus Does
Search Plus replaces the filter-click approach with a text box. You describe what you are looking for and the platform returns matching sits.
According to the official THS announcement, you can currently search for:
Sits in a region with exclusions. "sits in Europe, excluding the UK" is one of the examples THS gave, and the forum confirms this works reasonably well. For sitters who want continental Europe without British listings filling the results, this is a meaningful improvement over the current filter system which does not handle exclusions.
Pet-specific requirements. "1 dog that can be left alone for 2+ hours" is the given example. Early community testing suggests this is where the feature needs the most work. Multiple forum members reported that specifying one dog returned listings with eight dogs.
Location refinement. "sits in San Francisco or Boston" handles multi-city searches that the current filter does not manage cleanly. One forum member found that typing "within 5 miles of [city name]" returned only 11 results compared to the usual 864 spread across a 50-mile radius.
Lifestyle preferences. "beach sits where guests are welcome" suggests the system can read listing content beyond structured fields.
The feature is described as experimental and built to improve through use. THS is tracking how real members search to inform how the feature evolves. This is the right approach. Natural language search is only as good as the patterns it learns from real searches.
Why The Concept Makes Sense
The first search I ever typed that led to house sitting was not on TrustedHouseSitters. I typed "house sitting in Bochum" into Google, hoping to find something near where Caro's family lived. I had no idea THS existed. That one search returned a listing that had just been added, I applied, and we got it.
Three years later: 20 sits, 12 countries, 18 five-star reviews, and we are currently six months into a sit in Portugal looking after a cat and four chickens. That single Google search for a natural phrase. Not a filtered platform query. Changed the direction of our lives.
This is why Search Plus has emotional resonance beyond just being a useful filter upgrade. People who do not yet know what they are looking for do not browse filter dropdowns. They type something natural. "House sit in London with no pets." "Beach house sit in Portugal in September." "Cat sit in France near a town with a market." These are not search filters. They are travel desires expressed naturally, and the platform that can interpret them well is the platform that converts undecided browsers into committed sitters.
The forum member who said "it found my dream sit which I could easily have missed otherwise" is describing exactly this. A search that surfaces something you would not have found by clicking through geographic filters is a search that creates value.
What the Community Thinks So Far
The THS forum thread launched the same day as the feature. The reactions range from truly positive to openly sceptical, and both are understandable for a first-day beta.
One member described the feature as being in its "very early stages," noting that a search for "no more than 1 dog" returned results showing anything from one to eight dogs. That is not a functioning filter. It is a keyword match that captures "dog" but ignores the quantity qualifier. The intention is right; the execution of the critical detail is not there yet.
Another member found that typing "within 5 miles of [city name]" returned a dramatically more precise result than the existing search. 11 listings instead of 864 spread across a wide radius. For sitters targeting a specific city who have long been frustrated by the current search returning results from towns an hour away, that is a real improvement.
The member who called it "awesome" acknowledged it has "quite a few issues" but said it found their dream sit, which they could easily have missed otherwise. That is the case for the feature in one sentence.
One member's comment captured the whole situation: "Things can only get 'beta'." That is both a pun and an honest assessment.
The community response is fair. This is a public beta launched on day one. The expectation should not be a polished finished product. The expectation should be a feature that works partially, improves quickly, and eventually does something the old system cannot.
The Bigger Picture: THS Investing in the Platform
I only found out about Search Plus through Reddit, not through a THS announcement. I would have preferred a proper notification. An in-app alert or email explaining what the feature is and how to access it. A newsletter may be coming when the feature leaves beta. Until then, many members will not know it exists.
That said, my overall reaction after sitting with it for a few minutes is more positive than my immediate instinct. The immediate instinct was: why build this when the map search already works well? The more considered reaction is: the future of search is conversational, and a house sitting platform that handles natural language well is a platform that is easier to use for people who are new to house sitting and not yet trained to think in filter terms.
THS has taken criticism over the booking fee, the five-application limit per listing, and various bugs in the system. Some of that criticism was valid. But the community mood online has shifted into a pattern where any THS announcement receives immediate negative responses, and I think some of those reactions are reflexive rather than considered. The forum response to Search Plus includes members who gave it truly positive reception within hours of launch alongside others who had not managed to get a useful result. That feels about right for a day-one beta.
What I am more encouraged by is the direction. The live AI chat assistant, Search Plus, the ongoing bug fixes. These are signs of a platform actively investing in the product. The booking fee was unpopular but it is evidently funding development. I noted as much in our THS booking fee guide. Whether that trade-off is the right one for the community is a legitimate debate. The investment in the platform is real regardless.
What I Would Actually Like THS to Build
Search Plus is a useful direction. It is not the feature I would have prioritised.
The feature I would most like to see: cross-platform review portability. If a sitter has spent two years building a five-star review profile on one house sitting platform and wants to move to THS because of better listings, they currently arrive with a blank profile. All that trust, all those verified sits, all those homeowner accounts of reliable and caring sitters. Invisible on the new platform. Building a mechanism to import or verify reviews from other platforms would lower the barrier to THS adoption significantly and would benefit the wider house sitting community, not just THS.
It is technically complex. It requires cooperation between platforms that are direct competitors. But the sitter community would respond enthusiastically to any platform that solved it.
On the live support side: during our first Portugal sit, the dog was aggressive and I truly needed guidance. Not an emergency response, but a human who could help me think through the situation. The AI chat assistant directed me toward emergency options I did not want to select, and waiting 24 to 48 hours for a substantive response at a moment of genuine concern is too long. Better live human support. Or at minimum a clearer path to reaching a person quickly. Would address one of the community's most consistent complaints more directly than a new search interface.
How to Find Search Plus
If you have the latest version of the THS app installed, Search Plus should appear as an option alongside the existing search. If you cannot find it, update the app and try again. THS is rolling it out gradually, so it may not be visible on all accounts immediately.
The existing filter search remains fully available. Search Plus does not replace it. The two run in parallel and you can switch between them. Our THS mobile app and platform guide covers how to use the platform effectively in the meantime.
How We Actually Searched
Caro and I used the map view almost exclusively. We would zoom into the region we were interested in. Switzerland during school holiday periods, France for specific months, Portugal when the six-month sit came onto the radar. And browse the listings that appeared. If something appealed, we applied. The map view is still the most intuitive way to search for sits when you have a region in mind but not a specific city.
For Search Plus to truly improve on this, it needs to handle exclusions, time periods, pet counts, and lifestyle requirements simultaneously and accurately. It is not there yet. It will get there faster if members use it and provide feedback through the app.
Conclusion
Search Plus launched in beta on the THS app. The concept is right. Natural language search is how people think about travel, not filter dropdowns. The first version has clear limitations with pet counts and location precision that the community has already identified. The feature will improve as THS tracks real usage and iterates.
In six months, when Caro and I return to the road in November and start searching for sits in France and Spain for the winter, I expect Search Plus to be meaningfully more capable than it is today. That is the right timeline to judge a beta feature launched on day one.
The first sit I ever found came from a natural language search. The phrase I typed changed the direction of everything that followed. There is genuine potential in a platform that makes that kind of discovery easier.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is TrustedHouseSitters Search Plus?
Search Plus is a natural language search feature launched in beta on the THS app on 14 May 2026. Instead of using filter dropdowns, you type what you are looking for in plain English. "sits in Europe excluding the UK" or "beach sits where guests are welcome". And the platform returns matching listings. It runs alongside the existing filter search, which remains fully available.
How do I find Search Plus on TrustedHouseSitters?
Update the THS app to the latest version and look for the Search Plus option alongside the standard search. It is currently available on the app only, not the website. If it does not appear after updating, THS is rolling it out gradually and it may not be on your account yet.
Does Search Plus replace the existing THS search filters?
No. It runs alongside the existing filters. You can choose which search experience to use. The existing filter-based search remains fully available to all members. Search Plus is experimental and optional during the beta period.
Is Search Plus available on the THS website?
Not yet. It is app only at launch. THS has indicated the feature will evolve over time based on how members use it during the beta. A wider rollout including the website is expected once the beta matures.
