No they don’t I’m afraid.
Thank you for responding to my question, shame as it sees a sensible thing to do.
I am also getting a bit frustrated by the lack of pressure from THS side on HO in the process of reviewing their (only 5) applications. It might also make sense for THS to inform/remind HO that the order in which they receive the applications does not mean any priority because I noticed also that some HO interpret it like that. This means that quick replies (even without checking their own availability or travel options) have more chance of being accepted. But may decline later because they find out it does not work. I had a recent experience with a new HO, who simply did not reply at all, even did not read the messages. That lasted until after the first period expired (still “reviewing”) for which I had not applied. I would really like THS to impose some sort of time limit by which a HO must process his/her 5 applications.
In the beginning I patiently waited. Now if they can’t even acknowledge my application, I just withdraw whether I have another application in with conflicting dates or not. I had one in Canada where I received a message stating they were interested in having us petsit. Well they should have sent an acknowledgement then. Too late
Found a very informative thread!
Why? You can impose your own time limits.
THS says members should reply within 72 hours. This could be made stronger by showing members’ responsiveness on their profiles, either with a points based system or with an average response time to applications/invitations. Then sitters wouldn’t waste their time applying to HOs who don’t reply to applications and HOs wouldn’t invite sitters who don’t respond to invitations.
@LauraT This is how it is done on an Australian site and it works. When a HO posts a sit, their page shows their response time out of five. I have contacted HO’s with three or less out of five for response time, just to gauge how slow they really are, and every.single.time. they have taken forever to respond so now I don’t apply for those. I think it’s a great idea and leaves sits open to those who want to apply and the response rate doesn’t matter to them.
This is exactly what I put up a post about some time ago, there was a vote on THS doing something similar but no word. I applied on 3/1 to UK sister site of the aussie site you mention. The owner had 1 point, read my application but didn’t respond. It was then archived by the site and owner now has half a point. I sent a message today to her explaining how discourteous it was and the fact she has a reputation for not responding quick enough! Funnily enough she replied to that!
Hello, @Smiley Apologies if your suggestion was not acknowledged. I have checked with the Product team and the reply response time showing on a profile or listing is on their suggestions list. If it is something they are likely to implement they will let me know so I can share it with you and the forum. Thank you as always for your feedback and suggestions
Good news! Thanks @Carla & fingers crossed
Yes, great suggestion!
@LauraT @ziggy & anyone else who missed my original posting, here it is:
As @Carla mentions, she’s brought it to the attention of THS in case they missed it the first time! If you didn’t vote the first time round maybe, if you agree with this, you’d like to vote now?
@Smiley I’ve never really been aware of that voting bit so I had a look and there it was! Live and learn I voted
Hi. OP here with an update. First, I guess the universe will have us where we should be when we should be there. The HO1 in my original post invited us to a sit a few weeks later. Turns out it also fits our schedule after a few weeks in Baja. And I’m still super excited to sit there with a Tri-pawed dog. So alls well that ends well.
The comment about responsiveness…I’ve had the same thought. Like airbnb. Maybe not exactly like airbnb. I don’t need to know if a HO responds 100% within an hour. But maybe x% within 48 hours and y% within 5 days. Or something. Would help. And it could be both ways. As sitters we should always respond reasonably promptly.
Thanks @Smiley, I hadn’t seen that and also had no idea about the voting feature. I’ve voted now!
Found it! And voted also. Thanks for the reminder about the voting.
@Carla I don’t understand why my separate post with a vote has been deleted and cannot believe members of the forum flagged it up to THS for deletion….
@J0e I thought that I was experiencing this sometime ago and checked here on the forum. I discovered that there is a discrepancy between the app and the site. If the HO reads the message on the site it still appears unread on the app or something like that. Now, if I see my application unread on the app, I check on the website
I’ve applied and been unread for weeks or simply no response and I’m review status for weeks or one even a few months.
A quick update is nice.
But I do know some HO have had challenges with the app so this could be the reason. Maybe they miss notifications or didn’t receive them at all.
I had app problems myself where some features only worked in desktop and notifications didn’t arrive. Appears fixed.
My one gripe is the weird time stamp. I can reply to a message and it says ‘8 hours ago’ which happens to be the time difference to the UK. So I assume the time received is + 8 hours, but it gets confusing. Wish it worked on local time now.
Also wish there was a confirmed cooling off period when planning over 3 months out. To allow for changes especially with overseas trips across multiple locations and needing to coordinate flights etc to fit plans.