I encountered something today which was a first and wonder if any other sitter has had this experience. I’d also like to know what the THS team think. I received an invitation to a local sit this morning over the Christmas period so not really the ideal time to spend in another’s home. I contacted my family members to see what their plans were for the Christmas period and then decided to accept the sit and help the homeowner out. I heard nothing back until this evening. The homeowner said she had invited other sitters to the sit and decided to go with someone else. I was rather shocked. I presumed that when an invitation is sent and it’s accepted that you have the sit. I obviously presumed wrong. I found it rather a slap in the face. I’m not upset about not getting the sit but found it rude that she had invited more than one sitter to see who was actually going to accept the sit.
When I have been invited to a sit, I assume that I am not the only invitee.
That has never entered my mind. I thought an invitation meant you are the only invitee. Will be curious to read more comments. Thanks for your reply.
Was it an official invitation via the THS system or was it a verbal invitation, @Globetrotter? If it was an official invitation, I didn’t know that it’s possible for a HO to issue more than one invitation at a time.
I haven’t done that many sits but when a HO has verbally invited me to sit, I’ve thought that the sit was moving ahead. I never thought they would invite another sitter at the same time.
My experience is that, unless you’ve sat before for the HO, they will have written to other sitters. I guess, while you were contacting family about their plans the HO had received a quicker response from someone else.
@Globetrotter Do you mean that you received the ‘you’ve been chosen’ email from THS or that the home host just told you that she wanted you to sit?
If the former then I have also learned something today as I thought it was only possible to send this to one sitter.
It was more likely the “you’ve been invited” note…
I always assumed when I got the “you have been invited to a sit” emails that they were going to more than one person as they are often not personalised to me. It’s the HO’s way of reaching out to many people, as we can apply for as many sits as we like at once.
Did you reply to them to say you were speaking to family or did you just leave them in the dark thinking “well that person has obviously read it, but not bothered to reply, guess they are not interested…”?
I got an invitation to a sit the other day, but no email to say I’d had one so it was just by luck I found it two days later. I normally take pride in responding, even in the negative ASAP as they can then continue with their search.
It is best to treat invitations as an invite to apply.
I find the invitation system amusing now and view it as a form of entertainment.
There are 2 types - a HO just sends out the invite with no message. I don’t think there is a limit. I have never proceeded with this type, I just send a polite message and decline.
Then there are the personalised ones. You would hope that as they have taken the time to personalise the message then they would have read my profile. While the majority have, there are some that have not and it is obvious that we are not the right fit.
Then there are the obscure, I recently received a personalised message to say that the HOs were now becoming desperate and would we do the sit!!! How to feel of value!!
As a rule I tend to advertise my sits and deal with any applications accordingly. If I didn’t receive any applications I would consider inviting someone, at which point I’d reach out to sitters who’ve saved my listing first, but I would issue a personal invitation and I would only invite one sitter at a time, only moving on if it was declined or no response was received.
Do you only apply for one sit at a time or apply for whatever takes your fancy and keep your options open?
Maybe the pet companion had the same idea.
I think I would have assumed that as well. They’d read my profile and wanted me to sit and the ball is in my court to accept or not. Interesting.
It was an official invitation and a personalized message. I’m not entirely sure whether the homeowner invited others at the same time. I saw she had other applicants after I accepted the sit. She said she “reached out” to other applicants. Whether in the form of an invite I’m not entirely sure. I had already accepted the sit though.
No I was invited but after I accepted I didn’t receive a confirmation of the sit. Hours later she indicated she had chosen someone else.
I received a personalized message along with the invite and got back right away and within an hour accepted.
I never apply for more than one sit with the same dates.
Thanks everyone for your comments - put a different perspective on being invited to a sit and next time I won’t consider I have a sit just because of an invitation to one 
I always keep my options open but each to their own.
Happy pet sitting. X
Not like you kept them hanging then. That’s a bit rough
as a homeowner I can tell you that an invitation is not a confirmation. I only send invitations when I’m not getting applications. I usually send out three or four invitations at a time because in my experience most people are going to decline. At the point I’m sending out invitations I’m getting nervous about getting a housesitter And become more proactive