Hi there;
I do not believe that you can initiate a conversation without an invitation (or an application on the part of the sitter).
An invitation is not an a request to confirm but rather an invite to apply and initiate conversation but I will tag those that may be able to provide information with certainty.
@Vanessa_A @Angela_L
Whoops see they’re on it 
Hi @BunnyCat Apologies for the late reply. Thank you, I have seen your message labels in your inbox.
To confirm, homeowner’s can certainly contact sitters at any point to see if they are available for sits. This will appear as an Invite/message. On the App, you would need to put in dates, either public or private dates, however, on the website, a homeowner can message a sitter without putting in dates. (at the time, there is a message asking to send dates but homeowners can bypass this … Send anyway).
Either way, Invites are fundamentally a means of making that initial contact so members can connect further. To commit to the sit is a two fold process, whereby both the homeowner have to agree on either side, so this makes it more formal.
I hope I have managed to explain it properly, but please let me know if you need any further explanation.
Kind regards
Therese
Great to have this clarified, thanks!
I think they did? When you invite the sitter for the fake, made up date …… you write that in your invite message. That is when you say it’s not a sit.
This is when you say you have done this because you liked their profile, and would like to get to know them…. etc
I think that’s what they are saying anyway
