Hello from beautiful British Columbia, we’ve been using Trusted Housesitters since 2022 but only just now joined the Community. We are semi-retired, as in my husband is retired and I still work part time from home and so we are making the most of life while we still have our health and time to travel. We tend to travel for 2 - 4 weeks at a time, so pet sitting for Minnie (see photo) became a concern when we moved to this new town and didn’t know anyone local who could sit for us. Fortunately some friends introduced us to THS and we’ve had some wonderful sitters, so this site has made our travel dreams possible.
We’ve really appreciated our sitters and I just can’t believe sometimes how people can be so organized with their travel arrangements going from sit to sit !! So we always offer our guest suite for a few days before and/or after the official sit dates to help out with their logistics, if necessary.
QUESTION - Sometimes I reply to an applicant with a question to clarify something (for example, do you have your own vehicle) and get back nothing. I had some applicants last time who never replied, even after I messaged again to ask whether they were still interested. So had to assume they weren’t really that interested. Are there sitters who simply go fishing?
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Hello and welcome from the other side of the Georgia Strait! 
You sound like a very considerate and generous host towards people that you don’t really know yet, fully realizing that it’s thanks to them wanting to stay with Minnie (who, btw, it’s adorable) that you can go away.
I believe that more than fishing, some sitters may have found another sit, some may have calculated the cost and logistics of getting to a specific sit and decided against it, and others might have decided to only consider HO’s who reply very promptly (for example less than 12-24 hours). IMO the reasons are as varied as there are sitters.
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Welcome to forum @janie33 !
Sorry you had that experience. Terms of THS says that a member should answer within 72 hours - applies to both hosts and sitters. Many sitters would like and are used to quicker responses than that. In my experience, when I apply to a listing that will result in an actual sit, the host will reach out within 24 hours or so to schedule a videocall, and often the videocall and the confirmation of the sit will be agreed within a couple of days.
I regularly come by hosts that take forever to answer, and those rarely result in a sit. I can imagine that is true for sitters also. The difference is that sitters are encouraged to apply for multiple sits at a time, so sitters will often have several fishing opportunities, so to speak. THS advice sitters to do that. But one should answer of course.
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Welcome from Kelowna. I’m both sitter and home owner. Sometimes the app can be glitchy and messages aren’t seen in a timely manner, (several hours). I applied to a sit almost 4 weeks ago, crickets. I’ll probably decline if they ever get back to me. I’m not offended but it says something about their communication style. I got a message from a ho, slso one from a few weeks ago saying how great I am. They still have low applications and haven’t confirmed anyone. I’ve lost interest. Not a good fit for me 
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I’m was trying to understand the ‘no replies’ – I get the feeling that some sitters want the instant confirmation. For short sits, and for sitters with lots of good reviews I can see that happening. But -
(1) our time away is generally 2 - 4 weeks, usually 4 weeks, and
(2) we live in a rural area that some might find too quiet during the off-season
so all in all it’s a bigger commitment and I want to make sure all parties are comfortable with the arrangements and have consensus on expectations.
Fortunately we’ve (almost) always had good results!
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Hey there neighbor. Well, this time I’ve paused after 3 applications so that I have time to deal with each of them promptly and do follow up Zooms promptly. Let’s see how that goes. But I’m not complaining so much as trying to understand - if a sitter finds another opportunity, aren’t they supposed to withdraw the application?
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Thanks for the heads up that sometimes the app can be slow with messaging. I agree with you – communication style is something that needs to be compatible on both sides.
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Some people don’t bother with that, but if you don’t find them suitable you can decline them, thus freeing up space.
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