No response from home owner

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
1

Do you send follow-up messages if the home owner doesn’t respond?

Don’t they have a decline feature? It would be much simpler if they declined.

2

@heejae, welcome to the forum.

You can find answers to your question here:
Thoughts on follow up messages

Do you ever send follow up messages?

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3

If the host doesn’t reply that IS a message.

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4

I don’t follow up but some sitters on here say they do and it has sometimes resulted in them getting a sit.

Yes there is a decline feature where all applicants will get a message they were not selected as soon as the chosen sitter confirms the invitation I believe.

So if you have never received such a message, then the host of any sit you have applied to thus far has either not selected their sitter yet, or they are no longer looking for one for whatever reasons, and never bothered to remove the dates–this also triggers a message to all applicants. I can’t remember the exact wording, but it is different than the decline message.

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5

You can also withdraw your application if you don’t want to wait for the HO to choose or respond.

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6

You can choose to interpret it as such, if you wish. However, you can’t possibly know why a host hasn’t replied. If you want to decide that it indicates something negative that’s your choice.

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7

Thanks I’ll have a look!

8

That’s pretty much how I interpret it too…:winking_face_with_tongue:

  1. The HO isn’t interested…
  2. The HO thinks they can do better….
  3. The HO is ‘too busy’…. which might indicate they’re too busy to do a welcome guide/tidy up etc
  4. The HO doesn’t understand that many sitters move on quite quickly if they don’t get a response.
    And possibly 10 further options.
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9

When I was a new member in 2021, that was extremely frustrating. Some owners didn’t respond for months.

It took me a while to learn “how to work” the THS system.

You can find other threads on this topic, but basically, the best owners respond to your application within 24 hours. Think about it for a few minutes: Owners who are serious and aware should be looking at applications as they arrive.

My approach is to apply to as many sits as I desire, and see what happens. I don’t “wait around” to see if an owner is going to respond. “Onward” is my mantra. Every owner is unique. Don’t mope, don’t pause—just keep applying until you find a good match. :smiley:

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10

@heejae, we tend to give related latitude in two situations

  • New pet parents. We find that newbie pet parents sometimes process process in an unhurried manner. Perhaps they misunderstand situation and perceive that they simply need to ‘choose’ a housesitter. Or have not (yet) experienced reality of house sitters withdrawing applications or declining an invite-to-sit. We all learn, eventually.
  • Desirable listings. If we do not receive a rapid response to a listing that, for whatever reason, we deem to be highly desirable then we simply let time pass. We discount progression and concurrently apply for other listings. But we don’t let the delay upset us or impact plans. Usually delay means decline, but not always. Sometimes people are simply busy.
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11

Good advice, thanks.

I’ve been applying to 1-2 for a similar period because if I got into one, I’d make the rest wait and cancel.

12

I’ve had many sits where the host has taken more than 24 hours to reply, some have been weeks. I don’t know how you can conclude that the best owners reply in less than 24 hours. Have you had sits when the owner hasn’t done so and have they been poor? My worst sit was with someone who replied very quickly.