I’ve recently applied for two sits. One application was submitted 12 days ago, and one 7 days ago. Both sits say the status is “reviewing applications”. Does THS have a formal requirement as to how long the pet parents can continue to review applications?
We aren’t applying for any conflicting sits at the moment, but normally I’m accustomed to much faster responses. I’m wondering at what point we should pull our application if the pet parent hasn’t completed their review process?
There is no formal requirement by THS as far as how long a pet parent can continue to review applications that I know of. How long to wait is entirely up to you. If they are sits you want and waiting is not holding you back, then wait. If you need to book a sit soon, you can find what you want and withdraw your other applications.
I don’t have any expectations of hosts to get back with me within a certain amount of time. I have waited weeks and been rewarded by getting some very desirable sits. You control if you wait or not, but I wouldn’t necessarily read anything into it if you don’t hear right away.
There are guidelines that ask both parties to reply within 72 hours but no hard & fast rules. Go with your gut. If you don’t like slow hosts then withdraw (we do this after 48/72 hours as it’s not a good indicator for us on comms style in general) Other people leave it open if they have no conflicts or until they find another sit. You can also nudge them in messages if you want to and ask for a progress report as you have other options. #yourcallonthisone
Responses are a lot slower than they used to be. They’re supposed to respond within 72 hours but many aren’t. How long you leave it open is a personal choice. Generally I archive my applications immediately after submitting them and move on to the next. I don’t go back and withdraw them. The only exception is if I’m talking to multiple people at once and then get offered a sit. I’ll then withdraw from the sits where I was talking to other HOs. Otherwise I don’t much care and if/when I hear from a HO I just let them know that as I didn’t hear from them, I moved on to other sits. I do make sure that I point out that it’s because I didn’t hear from them in a timely manner that I went with someone else in the hopes that it’ll save some other poor future sitter the annoyance.
Thanks everyone for your responses. I decided to leave them open until they either responded or I applied for and got a conflicting sit. I ended up getting a holiday sit so withdrew my application for the other two I had applied for. The other one was a desirable international sit and we were eventually declined for that one.
Thanks for the update. It’s always nice to hear back from people who start a thread.
Is there a place we can request that the HO needs to reply so many days prior to the actual stay start date? Seems tricky if you are trying to plan international travel. Also, a courtesy as well.
best to just send them a message. But surely if the sit is confirmed this would have all been discussed and you guys would be in communication. if the sit isn’t confirmed and starting that soon I’d consider if it makes sense to take it.
In our case, we followed others’ advice and just left the applications open but continued to make other plans/apply for other sits as well. We ended up getting an alternative sit and withdrawing all of our other applications except for the one who had eventually declined us. I think some HO’s think it’s OK to wait until they have 5 applications, even if it takes weeks to get them.