Right?! If it takes that long even though we’re at the top of the list, that’s a red flag for me.
Cat lover here too!! 
Love your approach and attitude. Healthy and inspiring!
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You know what else I experience? Hosts that book the first person that applies, then say they’re ‘sorry, I wish we had seen your message first’. I’ve then had those people reach out again because the person they chose fell through.
Yep, there needs to be some sort of time-frame…maybe a section on the listing that hosts checkmark to indicate response time. I’m going to reach out to TH and suggest something like that.
I’ve learned my lessons over the time I’ve been sitting…not always fun, haha. But, valuable. Now I’m focused on the right fit in all ways.
So lovely to read this about your hosts being so thoughtful despite the things they were going through.
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I’ve not had that exact experience, but a variation — they were already awaiting confirmation from another sitter and that fell through, so they offered me the sit.
Follow up. We are now on the 22nd of March for a sit that was on “reviewing” since the 10th of January. End of February I contacted THS support and asked them what to do. After which they contacted the HO. I also send them a kind reminder message. The response a few days later was: “Very sorry for the delayed reply. We had to pause applications due to changes in our dates.”. They changed the dates. I replied immediately that it was possible for me and confirmed them. That was 19 days ago. Again nothing happened since. I am now cancelling of course…
Just getting to this thread now. Smart to contact TH Support @markhellemans
It happens that we’ve been left on read for a few days or more from some potential hosts. My default is to just let it be, if they’re not able/interested to reply, that communicates something in itself.
The reason I think contacting support was smart is because of this clause of the terms which applies to all TH Members:
5.1.13. respond to communications from other Members in a timely manner, but in any event, within 72 hours
Then TH Support can remind them of the terms.
I am going to keep this strategy in my back pocket for if I’m in need of it. Thanks for sharing. Sorry you’ve had to deal with that, and hope things are going better for you now.
Funny this came up for me now…. I’m (almost) on a sit which was a slow starter. Apparently the husband read my app and took several days to say his wife would be getting in touch w me. 3 days later she texted and 2 days after that we talked. Now, day 1 of said sit, I show up at 1, as discussed, and wife tells me to come back at 8(!) cuz she’s going to classes, etc. apparently her husband is not ok w me being in the 4k sq ft house w my own guest room till the wife is back? Wtf. I’m tired, the time change yesterday means it’ll really be 9, and I’m
Annoyed. Anyways, this was a slow starter sit and now I’m wondering if I shoulda known the HO didn’t have my convenience in mind all along the line!
Addendum: sure nough, no Food consumption of any kind allowed, Much less a meal shared! Millionaires w hard uncomfortable guest bed, and tub for bath wasn’t able to Fill more than ankle Deep before hot water ran out:laughing:
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Start setting boundaries now and remind them the time was agreed, you are staying, and if the husband wants to leave he can go anytime.
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As someone who sits solo as a telecommuter and is an older woman, I’ve found that getting sits is increasingly easy, especially as the number of sits has continued to grow vs. the number of available sitters. (You can tell this by the number of hosts complaining about how they’re having trouble finding sitters, for example, especially ones who say they’ve been on THS for years and used to have no trouble vs. struggling now.)
A while back, I switched to withdrawing my applications within 48 hours if a host doesn’t reply to schedule a video chat. That’s worked really well for me, because I’ve found that hosts who reply promptly also tend to decide quickly, to share welcome guides promptly (whether in THS format or otherwise) and to write reviews quickly, without nudging. Those hosts and I also end up having great communications before, during and after sits. I figure it’s because people who have their act together tend to be consistent in getting things done promptly.
They’re my kind of hosts and I’m not interested in others. I can be choosy. For me, sitting has always been just icing.
Personally, my sitting availability also has shrunk as I’ve prioritized non-sit travel. Like this year, I’ve done only a handful of THS sits. Meanwhile, I’ve done a lot of traveling in the U.S., Asia and am now in Italy for a month.
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What the heck is non-sit travel?
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Travel you don’t house sit on, ie you pay for your own accommodation and have no responsibilities. We do predominantly “non sit travel” because a lot of places we want to go to rarely or never have sits available. Sits are “icing on our travel cake”. Fun but not essential.
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Ah. I have a rather odd term for travel that I don’t house sit on, hence the confusion.
I refer to it as “travel”.
Sure, but I thought you were a home owner not a sitter?
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Yes, homeowners travel while the sitter sits 
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That’s why sitters have two “different” types of travel. Maybe we win 
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If he actually needs an explanation for that, I don’t think we can help him.
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I missed the part where I was asking for help.
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