There is a sit beginning next week with mutliple types of animals beginning next week in a not very popular area with no applicants. I offer these details as a way of saying that this is likley not a highly sought after sit.
Unfortunately I am busy but would REALLY like to sit in the future.
I don’t want to take an application spot from a person but I also don’t want to waut for the ad to disappear (It appears to be a first-time HO here.).
Is it poor etiquette to “apply” but explain to the HO that I’m busy but would love to talk about future sits ?
Again, this is probably not going to draw too many applicants because of the location and variety of animals. Thanks.
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We have done this on occasion in the past and it has worked out well. However, there was a thread a while back that a few owners stated they disliked people getting in contact with them but unable to do specific dates so I haven’t done it since then. Although I do favourite sits like this.
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Of course, everyone is different, but when I’ve “applied” in such circumstances, some hosts ignored me and others were happy I’d asked. I ended up sitting and being asked to repeat sit for such folks, for example. But when I apply this way, I start my application message clearly saying that I can’t make their existing dates and am interested if they have sits later that they’ve not listed or have other travel ideas for later. No host has been rude to me about such. I apply only to low-demand sits for those attempts. I figure high-demand sits don’t need to give anyone the time of day for such attempts.
Oh, in my application, I note that I will immediately withdraw my application, so I don’t block other applicants. I tell the hosts I could get in touch only by applying.
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Ignore etiquette when it’s a place that doesn’t get many applicants.
We’ve reached out with the future in mind and helped out many people by doing so, and none of them have minded us reaching out, probably for the exact reasoning you mention - they are in an area where they don’t get as many applicants.
Plus for the ones we’ve reached out to, we sit in their area on a regular basis, so we can do return sits for them too. So we’re a really good option for them.
So if you think you are the perfect match for them, I would totally ignore etiquette, and totally ignore those on the forum that frown on it, because for us, we’ve NEVER EVER had anyone that didn’t welcome us contacting them for the future. I think it’s just in certain tourist areas where that must be an issue, it’s definitely not in the areas where we sit, where the applicant numbers are naturally lower.
When we reach out we say we’ll remove our application within a couple of days, so that it free’s up space bla bla bla, and usually they get straight in touch anyway, so our application gets removed even sooner.
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As a HO, I have no problem with a sitter reaching out to me to tell me this. I would definitely remember for the next time I post a sit. If it’s a match, I would reach out before posting the sit. We’ve done this with a previous sitter we really liked.
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I don’t think it would hurt to reach out and state you are unavailable now but interested in the future and withdraw your application. What’s there to lose? Maybe they could directly invite you next time
I think they can also see if you favorite their listing, can’t they? I do this a lot for areas of particular interest or where I travel frequently. I just don’t know how or where they see it if you’ve favorited them, as I only have a Sitter subscription.
@toreishi, as @ElsieDownie noted then some pet parents do not like such “applications”. However, from related THS Forum threads, it is likely that this mindset mostly relates to pet parents with highly desirable listings. Such pet parents have no trouble finding housesitters. But your post refers to a low-demand listing with above-average pet complexity and no applications … if the opportunity interests you for the future then we’d encourage you to politely reach out.
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It is probably a difference between popular sits - where such messages would prevent the host to get a sitter for their sit at the published dates because they get loads of «applicants» that can’t do the sit - and sits like you describe that have been on Low for a while and is somewhat more rural/ demanding and recruit from a smaller pool of sitters.