What’s the suggested etiquette for declining applications? Is it ok to just decline an application that is not a good fit? Or should you sent a short note first thanking them for applying, etc.? Once you confirm a sitter, are the other applications automatically declined?
Hi @tcle322 and welcome to the forum. As a sitter, I take time to personalise my applications and appreciate owners recognising this. A short message accompanying a decline is always appreciated by sitters. You don’t have to say why (sometimes it’s good feedback for sitters as to why) but just to thank them. Do this for all applicants as a courtesy rather than them just receiving the automated Decline email from THS. There may have been another sitter who also would have been suitable so by being polite, it may mean they might apply again for your sit another time and you accept them.
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@tcle322 it is always polite to acknowledge your decline to a sitter. It leaves a positive feeling for the sitter that they are respected enough to receive one, as it is just as important for a sitter to send a quick note to a HO who sent an invitation. But even more to it is that it is just polite…which there just isn’t as much these days as there should be!
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Timing-wise, you probably don’t want to send a decline note until you have a sitter confirmed. That could result in the note coming in after the auto-decline. Any way around this? If you send the note before you’ve confirmed a sitter, you run the risk that your chosen sit may decide not to accept the sit and you then are left with no sitters.
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You’re right @tcle322 about the timing. But so long as your note is sent nearly straight after you’ve confirmed your sitter, that would be fine.
And remember @tcle322 that the sitter has to agree to the sit as the last stage so that is when you would need to send the notes as that triggers the auto-decline.
I always send a short, thank you for applying but am now sorted… If they look like potentials for another time I offer to contact them for future sits. So far all have replied yes please!
I have a sitter coming shortly who had previously applied but missed out, so I flagged up these dates and he jumped at it. A few short messages only takes a few minutes but may payback greatly.
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Good point; I’ll give that a try.
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The perfect way to go about things
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Noted, thanks!
Being declined after taking time to write a personalised, thoughtful application (and sometimes waiting a while to hear back) is a bummer, and par for the course, but I don’t understand why a HO wouldn’t write even one line saying “Thanks for applying, but we’ve found a sitter this time.” That’s all I’d ask - acknowledge! When HOs click the decline box without saying anything it just feels a bit cold. I like to think that’s not their intention but with only 5 applications being allowed at a time now, they’re also not inundated and have no excuse. Just copy and paste a polite one-line acknowledgement, it’ll take 10 seconds and not leave a (probably already disappointed) sitter feeling a bit 
.
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Being declined with not even a thank you kinda feels bad to me (it’s only happened a couple of times, when I was first starting out with no reviews so I did understand). I think you could go with two levels of “thanks but not thanks”
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one, for those that really weren’t suitable “thanks so much for your interest, we’ve decided to go with another sitter, but wishing you all the best in your adventures!”
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one, for those who you like to apply again in the future “thank you so much, you do appear to be super well qualified, sorry it didn’t work out this time!” – that leaves them with the impression you’d be open to future applications.
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As others have said if a sitter has gone to the trouble of sending a nice personalized application it is really nice to receive a quick note from the home owner when not the successful applicant.
It does feel a little rude to me when the HO doesn’t even acknowledge my thorough application especially as they are only receiving 5 at a time.
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Has anyone received a denial because HOs are wanting to receive more applicants? Curious how HOs word this.
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@ExploreDreamDiscover - they usually word this in their listing, to the tune: “We will decline ALL applicants in order to receive more than 5 applications. This does NOT mean you are unsuccessful. We will be in touch with all applicants in due course.”
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@botvot I haven’t seen this but it’s a very good response and a great way to handle the situation.
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That’s one way to get around the 5 application limit, assuming the HO can still choose one of the declined sitters.
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I ALWAYS send a message to whoever I am declining but most especially if they gave us their time for an interview. Maybe it just wasn’t the right fit for a verity of reasons but I find as both a sitter and homeowner it’s polite to leave some kind of message, doesn’t need to be detailed but it’s so much nicer than simply being declined and not hearing anything from the homeowners.
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HOs, PLEASE respond to declined sitters. Being declined is not taken personally, but it’s so deflating to not even get the courtesy of a one-line acknowledgement from the HO.
At my end I’ve done the search, read through the profile, the owners’ and pets’ needs, checked the location, worked out the travel logistics and pencil-marked dates on the calendar, then written personalised messages. And in many cases, waited days to hear if I’m even going to be considered.
Now that HOs are limited to max 5 applications at any one time there is no excuse not to send declined applications a “thank you for applying to take care of our pets but we’ve gone with another sitter this time”. (Copy and paste if you have to.) It takes 30 seconds.
Thank you! 
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If you want them to apply again in future, you might want to send them a note.
If someone declines me with no message, I don’t apply again to them.
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