I had a strange experience today. I was invited for- what seemed to be- a perfect sit I.e it ticked all the boxes for dates, location, a cute dog, lovely house etc and it happened to be a Sit I’d already spotted and put in my favourites. A happy cooincidence I thought! So hubby & I happily applied, thinking it was just a formality really, because we’d been invited, only to be almost immediately declined! We were pretty taken aback and there was also no personal message or explanation! We actually found this rude & disrespectful and not in the spirit of Trusted housesitters. We sent the hosts a message to that effect but many hours later it is still unread. Have other sitters had this experience? What do you make if it?
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I have been declined for a sit I was invited to apply for. The pet owner wasn’t rude. I think they had invited likely people and picked the best match for them. As we do when applying for sits. We apply for the best fit sits listed and whoever decides first gets our wonderful care and attention.
If I think a pet owner has been rude they are ignored and put on my definite no list. I don’t think anyone intends to be rude they just have a different way of communicating.
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Yeah I agree. The first time we were invited for a sit, I assumed we were the only ones but later I began to realize that HOs often invite a bunch of people.
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The messaging should be changed to say “ You have been invited to apply for a sit”. Unless you have sat for the homeowner previously and they are sending you a private invitation without posting the sit, this just means that you are one of many who have been invited. They really should also include a short personal note thanking you for your interest instead of just using the auto decline response. I always send a personal note to HO who invite us thanking them for the invitation, even if I must decline the invitation to apply.
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I have just looked again and it does say “ invitation” with a very nice personal note from the pet owner. There is nothing to say you have the sit.
I made a similar post just a while back as I had the exact same experience! I had never encountered this before and I also thought that the invitation meant I had been chosen for the sit. Now I know better - homeowners may be inviting more than one person at a time.
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Thank you all for your comments! I will not get too excited next time I get ‘invited’!! The owner who declined us did reply in the end- he was very apologetic and did not realise he’d declined us- he said it must have been an automatic group decline- once they’d chosen their sitter-as they had a huge response to their invitation. So all is forgiven there. But its definitely a little confusing. I always send a polite reply to every one who invites us even if they have sent the invite without a personal note. But I do also hope to receive the same courtesy from the host side.
I do think there should be more clarity in the way invited are sent so you know the difference- a personal invite that you only have to accept or just an invite to apply.
We’ve been with THS 3 years & have done 18 sits but still get confused with the System at times! 
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I imagine home hosts that invite sitters trawl through profiles and invite a few that they like on the assumption that most will decline.
I agree however that it is rude not to add a note of apology when they decline seeing as it was them that initiated the process in the first place.
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This has happened to me once and I was quite taken aback. However, as mentioned by others, when I questioned the owner she had invited others before me and had just accepted someone.
Yes that’s what happens and I guess the owner can easily forget to respond to the unlucky ones, especially if they’re busy
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This is an interesting discussion, I am new to House sitters and I don’t apply when I see the HO have multiple applications for a house sit. I don’t understand why they invite multiple people, I would not have know about this until I ran across this thread. Thanks for sharing. I am hoping for my first sit, I finally applied after getting over COVID.
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Speaking as a HO, I when I first signed up, I invited one sitter at a time and waited for them to decline before inviting another. I realised that most of the time this approach didn’t work, unless I got very lucky the first time and found a match.
The way I see it now, the process seems to be a a way to draw attention to my sit to some of those that I am drawn to as sitters. It does not guarantee that any of them will be able, or want to, do it. For example, I invited around 10 sitters in the first batch for my previous advertised sit, and all of them declined despite my listing meeting the things they were looking for, and their dates looking available on the calendar.
I will also say that if you are really interested in a sit, don’t let that stop you from applying. Just because sitters have applied doesn’t mean they are suitable. For example, my sit isn’t suitable for children, yet quite a few applicants are from sitters who want to bring their children regardless and get declined immediately. You might just be the gem that the HO is looking for!
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@Nita Just to clarify for you -when you see the number of applicants listed e.g 4-7 or 16-20 etc these are people who’ve found the listing and chosen to apply. It does not indicate the number of invitations sent out by a Host. Although some invitees maybe included in the figures. If a Host has many applicants they are less likely to send invitations unless none of the current applicants match the criteria. Hosts who have no/few applicants or put up a last minute listing are more likely to send invites to speed up the process of attracting applicants.
The theme of this post/threat started with the issue that when you receive an invitation it does not necessarily mean you are the only or chosen one (as I had thought after getting declined for a Sit to which I’d been invited!) It can all be a bit confusing at times!
By the way- do not let the number of applicants put you off! If you really want the Sit just go for it & send them an irresistible application as you may just be the perfect sitter that they have been waiting for! Its happened to us twice (30+ other applicants already)and both times when we asked why they chose us the told us- you guys just ticked all the boxes! You just never know!
Good luck!
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We have had a similar experience only once: we applied, got declined, then invited, then we declined ourselves. There was never any communication on their part, it was like writing to a ghost ;).
I wouldn’t let other applications stop you. Just because a HO has had other people apply doesn’t mean they’ve found the right people. I’ve gotten sits where they had 20+ applications before I applied. Also, just as most sitters apply for more than one sit at a time, it makes sense that HOs would invite more than one sitter at a time. When you’re inviting random people, odds are VERY good that most are going to be unavailable. Doing just one at a time would be a huge waste of time. So better to invite a bunch and see who fits best from who is available.
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their dates looking available on the calendar
I would never use this as a guide. The calendar UI is awful and most people don’t bother because it’s so terrible to use.
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Yes, I learned this recently from this forum! I have to assume if the calendar is free, then the sitter may be also, but more often than not they aren’t!
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Yeah, it will be nice when the fix it so it’s usable. I’ve not even tried to use it for years because the UI is just completely backwards from what it should be that there is no way I could keep it updated. I hope when they update it they also add the ability to add areas during timeframes. so you could mark off that you’re in england from may-june and france for july and august. so people don’t bother contacting people for a sit in scotland when you’re going to be in south africa.
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Must admit, I’ve stopped filling in the calendar. Mostly I’ll be applying, it’s only very occasionally that I’m invited and not sure they’ve always checked the calendar anyway
Thanks everyone, this is great advise and good perspectives… Fingers crossed I will get my first house sit.
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