This issue has come up in a discussion with owners and sitters. Sitters are understandably concerned about getting sits when they need them. Many of us HO are very busy and although we post our dates, we may not be able to get back to a sitter right away. Or we are in an area with no service at that moment, traveling I’d love to be able to send an immediate auto reply. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thank you!
Hi there,
No, there is no auto reply. Even if there was one, it wouldn’t achieve anything for sitters - it would only notify them that their application has been received, not that you’ve actually read their profile, are interested and want to arrange a video call. Just as owners don’t appreciate a copy-paste application, sitters also wouldn’t appreciate an auto or even copy-paste response, as this is highly impersonal and appears as though you have not actually engaged with the sitter and their application.
You’ll get out of THS what you put into it. For best results, you’ll need to make response times a priority and will need to be available to chat to sitters. If you really don’t have time in the moment to read a sitter’s profile, but have seen their application and want to engage, you can at the very least send a quick (personal) message thanking them for their application, telling them that you’re interested and that you’ll get back to them to arrange a video call asap. If you don’t get back after that within about 2 - 3 days, however, many sitters will withdraw their application or may no longer be available for your sit dates. Sitters apply to multiple sits at once, and it’s often first-come-first-serve as to who gets back to them and organises a video call.
Hope that helps 
An auto reply would be meaningless to me as a sitter — the same as no reply from a host.
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@Loreemezz
As sitters we can see if a message has been read or is still unread , so I am not sure an auto reply message would achieve what you are hoping to achieve.
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If you advertise your sit, you need to be available to make timely replies and set up video calls with a prospective sitter quickly and then make a timely decision. Basically, home owners who snooze… lose.
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Also if you are on holiday with no WiFi, WiFi would have to be available for an auto response to be sent in the first place.
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I never understand why an owner would post their dates and then not be available.
On many occasions, I don’t receive a reply for days/weeks because the owner has gone away or on business or just busy. It doesn’t bode well for future communication if I accepted.
As @Crookie says, you must make yourself available
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Agree 
What is the point of creating a listing if you are going to ghost your applicants?
Post when you are ready to conduct your interviews or at least acknowledge your applications.
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Please, please, please Owners—do yourselves and everyone a favor to post your dates ONLY when you have set aside the next 1-2 days to deal with the applicants.
A personal, immediate acknowledgement of applications is great, along with specific expectations of what is going to happen next. For example, “Thank you for your application. We are reviewing applications today and tomorrow, and you will hear back from us by tomorrow with an update.” Then the applicants know what is going on, in a timely manner.
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The idea came about because of a myriad of complaints from sitters that HOs don’t reply immediately and how rude that is. Because their focus is the sit but HO likely have many things going on in their lives daily, sometimes getting back to a sitter immediately is simply not possible. I think a personal auto reply to let them know we are looking at all applications and will get back to them shortly, would help. Although maybe not! If a sitter expects an immediate reply as has been stated many times in a THS fb page, they may not get anything at all. It was just an option to possibly use for sitters that want an immediate reply and are not happy having to wait a day.
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We personally haven’t had problems with this, but sitters are waiting on their next sit and have been very vocal at not getting an immediate reply. And if they cannot wait for a day for a reply (we are in the mountains and may not have service for a day!) then I’m not losing because it will help me weed out panicky sitters. We enjoy calm enjoyable sitters that love the mountains and our fur babies.
Days or weeks or 24 hours? Sitters that want replies within 10 min likely won’t work for us. As I read the comments I realize that I have answered my own question. If you can’t wait for one day, then you aren’t the right fit for us. We have been with THS for 5 years and have had almost all wonderful experiences. We have a beautiful home in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. So we do look for easy going, fun but patient sitters. If 10 min ir even one hour is the criteria , we may not have WiFi in those 10 min. Thank you for your input.
Thank you for your input. We likely will not be able to respond “immediately “. We are in the beautiful Rocky Mountains which means we may take 24 hours to respond if we are driving out of range. Immediately likely wouldn’t work for us. But this has given me good input.
That’s actually not accurate. If you are in and out of range as we are in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, it could easily send at some point during our drive. And sometimes we drive through the mountain range. It’s part of why we love where we live and why our sitters enjoy where we live so much.
But I see that some sitters want an immediate response which is not always possible. 24 hours is for sure but not immediate. A personal auto reply was a thought to find a solution. But we do value calm and caring sitters for our dogs. So perhaps I have answered my own questions. Thank you for your input.
We think good comms is key to a great sit whatever the balance. A response within 24 hours of applying seems polite & timely to us. You guys sound relaxed and laid back @Loreemezz , as well as experienced. I guess you could always add a one liner in your listing that says “we’re not always in range or online so won’t respond immediately to messages.” It would also weed out anyone who needed constant hispeed wifi as not a good fit for your home & location. #justathought
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I really don’t give it much thought as to when I hear from a host after I’ve applied. If there’s another sit that I want to apply to while I’m waiting to hear on others, then I do. If I accept a different one, I let the others know. I may apply to fewer sits than someone who is a nomad sitter, or a sitter who books their calendars further ahead than I do. Unless you have trouble finding sitters, we can all choose to move forward in the way that works best for us.
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Well, it seems both sides have expectations, and sometimes those just don’t match. That said, I would find it very impolite indeed to not react within a day (well, unless you’re having an issue that can’t be helped, but that’s easily explained). If you want to host, or you want to sit, you better be aware that you’re going to communicate in a timely fashion.
So, here’s my (HO) process:
I know that once I post dates my inbox will fill up within an hour, and the listing will be paused. I will of course have time reserved to deal with incoming applications right away. If my Wifi breaks, I have my mobile, if that breaks, I have a car to go somewhere where there’s network. That covers, I’d say 99.99% of all situations. If you live high in the mountains, your options are more limited. I would state that on my profile (“we live high in the mountains and Internet access can be flaky - if we don’t respond right away, don’t be alarmed”)
Now, with the auto-paused (why 5? Anybody have an explanation for this lunacy?) sit I need to quickly do the first cleanup:
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Applications without any message will be immediately declined, without any communication.
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Applications that clearly don’t fit get a “sorry, here’s why” message and are declined.
At this point, the listing is unpaused until it’s auto-paused again. If necessary, rinse and repeat.
In the meantime, I will already start to reply to all remaining applications with a “hello, I’m looking at stuff right now, tell me about…” message.
Sitters that don’t respond to this within, say, six hours I will also decline, unless their initial message (which is copy+pasted anyway, let’s get real here!) was so interesting that I want to know more.
(Btw, yes, we HOs know you need to sniper. But what’s the problem with a short “we like this sit, we will follow up with a personal message in a few minutes” - and then also do this?)
This weeds out “I just clicked to see what happens”, “send a canned text and see how it goes”, and bad communicators rather efficiently.
At this point I have five applicants, of which I normally really like two, am interested in two more, and one is clearly at the bottom of the list.
Communication happens now, we chat, and it will become clear very quickly whether we click or not. Sitters tend to send info about references and such, but I mostly try to read between the lines at this point.
This message exchange, alongside my preferences (far-away travellers, older sitters, families (if possible)), will let me get a feeling for who’s #1 on the list. If I can’t decide, the early bird…
I’ll now have my favo(u)rite, and we’ll agree on a videochat, while I tell the others that I’m still reviewing, but they’re not #1 on the list.
If the chat goes well and we agree, I’ll send the invite immediately, and it will be accepted immediately. Any delay at this point means somebody wasn’t honest in the call.
Now THS sends the dreaded automated “sorry” message, which I will follow up in the next ten minutes with a more personal note and thank you; I will almost always ask #2 and #3 whether they’d be happy to jump in if #1 needs to drop out, and they’re still available.
I find this process straightforward, polite, and pretty effective.
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PS: I have, in the past, for one sit, failed to follow up the THS auto decline message. I’m still sorry about this, folks. If you were on the receiving end of this, my apologies.
Love, love, love this! You have it nailed! 
This should be an Owner’s Guide to Choosing a Sitter!
Yes, 5 application limit lunacy!
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“immediately” is truly the wrong word; my mistake.
Within 24 hours is acceptable, and I completely agree with @Cuttlefish that it would be really helpful to mention in your listing that your responses to applications might be delayed due to Wifi issues or personal travel. Then at least the applicants would know why it might take you several days to respond.
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