Hi, new to forum so sorry if covered already but got to get beef off my chest.
Am a alone in feeling a brutal ‘decline’ hard to take after putting a considerable amount of time into a sit application. My holiday lies is in the wait, the pet owner can take all the time to consider applications and you’re waiting to hear so you an make plans ….
I’d like to know why you’ve said no . No specific detail necessary but should I try again, on this sit in the future or is it me they don’t want ? Happy to hear, not you this time or not going to work for us….. but no qualification seems heavily pet owner orientated.
I don’t think you are alone in feeling that way when getting declined and having no reason given. It seems that this is more the norm than sending any kind of message along with it, and it just is what it is.
One thing I will say though from my own experience, is that the times we have received a reasoning with the decline, it was really never anything about us personally.
Just the other day we got a decline because the hosts said she preferred a single sitter to a couple, and realized she had forgotten to update her listing to say as much. We obviously would not have applied if she explicitly noted this preference.
A month or so ago, we were declined by the hosts because their city was the favorite spot to visit of another applicant’s recently deceased father, and she was hoping visiting there would help her feel connected to him…the host said it pulled at her heartstrings and chose her.
These examples are to say that I often think declines are really not about anything specific to the sitters–barring perhaps a lack of experience– it is just about other applicants appearing to be better fit for the host personally whether they are more experienced sitters, logistics such as being more local, feeling some sort of personal connection because of a shared hobby or career,etc…
If you really want to know, you are free to ask. And nothing is stopping you from applying again, though I probably wouldn’t apply again to a sit if we were declined without any explanation.
It is easy for sitters to make all sorts of assumptions when they don’t have any sort of explanation for being declined, and the problem with assumptions is we respond emotionally to them as if they are hard fact.
It can be discouraging but luckily there are lots of sits, especially for the holiday season. And yes, hosts taking a long time to respond can be frustrating. It could be helpful from an ‘energy’ perspective to withdraw applications if you don’t hear back within whatever timeframe you prefer–I find cutting that ‘cord’ keeps me more open to new opportunities.
I submitted an application last week and got declined in less than 5 minutes. I messaged and asked if they could provide feedback on my application. They apologized as they hadn’t meant for the listing to be public but rather had meant to send it privately to a previous sitter that had already agreed to take the sit.
Fair enough but I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t asked. They did encourage me to apply in the future. I will think about it.
I don’t know if it helps but know that hosts hate declining sitters.
Also be aware that experienced hosts with anything less than a luxury property in a highly sought after location do not lallygag on processing applications. Hosts that do are still in the learning phase.
Just to make you feel better ( ), the decline messages we receive today are far more polished and less shockingly brutal than they once were. When I received my first decline four years ago, it gave me such a shock and left me so profoundly hurt that I was genuinely tempted to quit THS entirely. Seriously. Thankfully, after numerous complaints, THS has softened both the language and the heading (which, back then, read only: DECLINED)
When an owner chooses their sitter, the other 4, (or less if they didn’t have 5 applicants) will receive an automatically generated DECLINE. Some owners are not even aware that this has been sent on their behalf.
Ah, I did not know that. That will explain why some HO have previously written on here that they knew nothing about it, and were horrified that it looked like they had sent it.
Oh look, there’s another operating glitch that will no doubt be improved by the extra fees.
@GT54 try not to take it personally. Aside from the autodecline glitch mentioned above, there will always be people who just won’t bother to write personally to every applicant.
To minimize time spent on applications, you could have a standard cut-&-paste application spiel about yourself and why you’d be a great sitter, that you just add a few customized sentences to, when you apply to a particular sit. That way you don’t have to write up a whole new thing each time.
I probably wouldn’t bother re-applying to something I got an auto-decline for.
Again, don’t take it as something wrong with “you” and try not to spend the mental energy on it. They weren’t the right match for you; another sit will be, so keep on searching and apply elsewhere.
We always send a note to all applicants before we send a formal invite. We thank them, explain we are going with another applicant and, if that applicant accepts the sit, THS will send them the curt Decline notice.
The system kind of encourages owners by telling them they’ll let the sitter know. That said, I am combined and there are many times when I write sitters to ask for some clarification, set up chat, etc, and never hear back. So it happens. It isn’t personal.
As a sitter I’ve actually had owners who hadn’t previously written to me get in touch after I’ve written them a thank you for considering me note after an automatic message decline and even been offered those sits albeit too late when something happened to the chosen one.
I have had a previous HO (who gave me a 5 star review on that occasion) tell me that she is in talks with another sitter, who applied first, this was on 4th November, when I know I was definitely the only applicant at that time. So she is lying.
Anyway, her listing is still active, 6 weeks later? so whatever the reasons for her blatant lie, I withdrew my application 3 weeks ago. here we are a few weeks from her sit start date and her listing is still active with sometimes 1 sometimes 2 applicants.
Who is she waiting for, St Francis of Assisi?
This kind of home owner would be better sending a simple decline instead of wasting our time, Will be interesting to see if she gets back in touch with me a few days before the sit, begging for a sitter.
As a seasoned sitter of ten years with over 50 reviews, you are definitely not alone with being annoyed. I’ve brought this subject up before. Yes, I find it very rude. I’ve received over 10 invites for Christmas sits this week and have sent each homeowner a personal message as to why I declined their application. It doesn’t take a lot to be courteous. As far as the homeowners who just hit the “decline” button, I wouldn’t be bothered applying again as they just aren’t my type of people I’d want to sit for. I do realize though that newbie homeowners may not realize that when the accept a sitter, the remainder of applicants automatically are declined.
), the decline messages we receive today are far more polished and less shockingly brutal than they once were. When I received my first decline four years ago, it gave me such a shock and left me so profoundly hurt that I was genuinely tempted to quit THS entirely. Seriously. Thankfully, after numerous complaints, THS has softened both the language and the heading (which, back then, read only: DECLINED)
