@Catscatscats It does not bother me, it does not really matter to me. Two weeks ago I applied for a three-weeks Christmas sit in Amsterdam - no reply yet.
Last night I applied for a three-weeks Christmas sit in Berlin. They replied this morning, video chat scheduled this afternoon. If my application gets accepted, I will cancel Amsterdam. No problem, I will still keep them marked as a favourite.
Sounds like an easy solution @Catscatscats would be a prompt from membership services at the 72 hour point to remind you. @Ben-ProductManager - can this be added to the “to do” list perhaps? And then everyone’s a winner 
I get that some people are busier or less able to reply promptly than other HOs. I don’t take that personally. I just don’t see why their issue with replying promptly ends up as an issue I should take on voluntarily, when there are other HOs who can reply promptly. Shrug, I just move on. Whether the HOs who can’t reply promptly find a good sitter or not is simply not my concern.
I agree that a sitter, should not be made to feel uncomfortable or somehow to blame, if an owner is so late to reply that you have another sit or have changed your plans, that’s just tough luck and acceptable.
The person above who said they had someone rant at them, was clearly dealing with someone who doesn’t know how the site works or just thinks the world revolves around them and that’s very unfortunate. Being ranted at is, imo, unacceptable.
and yes perhaps a prompt would a good idea for everyone? Definitely for me.
@Catscatscats I think it is lovely that you can at least accept responsibility for some shortcomings that you have in responding to sitters applicatios. To acknowledge your faults and state you are going to do better and that the Forum has helped you, it takes a strong person to openly admit that and I compliment you on that. You HAVE been naughty in your actions by being so slow to respond, despite your busy lifestyle, but at least you have acknowledged that and are prepared to change. Just remember that we don’t apply for sits for the fun of it, for some it is our whole life, so we depend on sits and can’t be waiting around for HO’s to reply at their leisure. We need to move on if not given the courtesy of a relatively rapid reply. But again, you have acknowledged this error so I feel you will do much better in responding moving forward. Well done for accepting some fault, maybe you will get a few kicks in the butt prompts to respond quicker in the future 
Oh, and you are definitely not alone on your dislike of the autopause and five limit!
In my previous applications, I used to request a response within 72 hours, but this caused a misunderstanding last year. The homeowner took great offense, emphasizing that a thorough review of all applications takes several weeks. In my reply, I clarified that I wasn’t seeking a quick decision, just an acknowledgment that my application was received. Unfortunately, shortly after the homeowner promptly rejected my application.
This year, I adjusted my wording to inquire about the anticipated decision timeline. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been effective, as homeowners tend to ignore the question. It would be beneficial if during the listing creation process the site prompted homeowners to specify their decision timeframe, such as including a question like “When do you plan to select your petsitter?” with a simple slider offering options like 1-3 days, 1 week, 2-3 weeks and 1 month.
Ditto, 4 months on one for me. My message unread.
Hi @Catscatscats
May I suggest that you compose a one line response acknowledging the application and that you will get back to them shortly.
You can then cut and paste onto each applicant.
If you do that as soon as you receive the application, it will take you one minute and everyone will be much happier.
I applied for three sits within the past 24 hours and have already heard back from two of the HOs. We plan to video chat.
One of the sits is for nonholiday December and the other, for February-March.
That’s by contrast with HOs who are slow — that’s what their competition looks like for sitters, especially good ones.
I’ll give the third sit’s HO maybe 12 hours more before withdrawing if I don’t hear back.
Some HOs want to take more time. For instance, I read on the forum today that some HO told a sitter it would take them a few weeks to decide. 
@rosawoodsii I did something similar a little while ago but have since discovered that applications may be marked as unread on the app but if you check on the web-site it has been read. Yet another glitch between the app & web-site that has yet to be sorted. Why can’t they both be the same?
In this case, I was looking on the website, not the app, and when I checked the listing, it was still listed as not having much activity. My thought was that the HO was waiting for more applicants, but if they don’t even read those that apply, it seems pretty counterproductive to me. The other thought I had was perhaps their trip was up in the air but they didn’t want to remove the listing?
Either way, bad manners.
I have been more active of late as I am applying for USA sits.
2 cases both took 17 days to respond - I then had to withdraw as they had not read my profile so not a good fit
15 days and counting still awaiting a response on another
A couple more just reached the 72 hours and still no reply.
As all our threads are illustrating the the breach of T & Cs I am wondering who, in THS, would want to respond on this?? What can be done?
I wonder how many of the “live” dates are really just trials or tests or maybe we need someone on these dates let’s see who replies.
There are no sanctions for owners who breach T&Cs so nothing will be done.
Personally I leave my application live so it takes up one of their 5 slots and in the rare occasions that someone has responded with interest weeks later I advise them that I am no longer available. Even if I were available my experience has told me anyone who acts that way turns into a problem later (cancelled sits, changes to dates, not leaving or returning as discussed, sit and pet details ‘accidentally’ not advised upfront)
THS won’t do anything about this sort of thing. I say that, because there are even more egregious things that they don’t intervene in. Given that, sitters can decide for themselves.
Like I just withdrew an application for a sit I applied for a couple of days ago. I’m probably going to do a dozen sits a year at most. And I have lots of flex, so I can optimize for speedy HOs and get good sits.
If more sitters declined to wait on slow HOs, they’d have to speed up. Frankly, HOs need most of us more than we need them. For me, sitting is optional. To travel, I could pay my own way, use rewards points or stay with friends or family. Or I could travel less. I bet many sitters likewise have such options.
Good idea. I do answer once I’ve realised I’ve had replies, but yes, this I will do. X
Hi @Keldin I do what you do.
However, the 2 owners who both took 17 days had no reviews so new to the site.
Probably never read the T & Cs
I think it’s common sense to reply to folks promptly. It shouldn’t take reading terms and conditions to figure out to not let say 17 days lapse before answering, and that goes for sits or other parts of life.
One thing we need to keep in mind: the messaging services on the App is terrible and rarely lets you know when you have a new message. It’s totally different on lap top: we just followed up with a HO who wanted to do a video call, which we replied to straight away with our whsapp details and a Time slot for a call (the sit in in 10 days), after 50h with no reply and no “READ”. As soon as I sent a follow up message, it triggered something in her inbox as she replied straight away, at 6am…So, sometimes, the issue may be the lag in the THS app messaging services, hence why taking all communications to WhatsApp or email from the start might be best. It might be interesting to send a follow up message when we see “unread” especially when it makes no sense.
I just had the following experience. Applied for a sit and it went unread for one week. Cancelled the application & added a short message with reason. Reply from the host within the hour- she had not seen the original application! But this was mainly because she’d not received a notification to check her inbox and was on holiday at the time. But the second message HAD triggered a notification.
However I am, in general, always surprised when hosts post a listing then don’t keep an eye on it and check regularly for applications- whether they receive notifications or not!!