Hi THS community. This is only our 2nd sit invite since joining THS. Our first sit was amazing! I’ve sent out approx 70+ invites for our upcoming sit Nov 28-Dec 6. A couple of applications have had to cancel, but I have received only 4 that had interest.
Can anyone offer any advice? We are starting to panic. We can’t cancel the trip or we will lose a good bit of $.
Please help!
There are several active threads that talk about getting a sitter during high demand periods, especially the upcoming one.
Anything posted here will be a duplicate of what you can read on those threads.
You’re in better shape than many who can’t get any applicants.
At least you got 4. You only need 1.
You only need one sitter - pick the one of the 4 sitters that has applied and is the best match for you and your pets - arrange a video call with them asap ( today ) before another host chooses them .
If the video chat goes well offer them the sit .
Invites are a very low hit rate for success @CoffeyGrounds as sitters could be booked on another platform, elsewhere in the world, busy working, not interested in your location or dates & on it goes. The THS calendar is not a true reflection of a sitters availability at any given time as it can only see THS sits alone (inside info). If you have four acceptances already then you’re on fire! Alternatively, make sure your listing is tip top & appealing with lots of great pics, clear responsibilities, a welcoming tone & an attention grabbing cover image and headline! #yougotthis
Don’t make the mistake of waiting to start the vetting process. Do it asap for each applicant. When you have a good one, you’re done. Waiting for “enough” applicants before starting to vet likely means losing good applicants.
You got 4… and you need only ONE!! Why wait? Do you like any of them? You need to continue the process fast, most sitters would withdraw their application if not contacted within 48 hours.
I think what I said in my original post here was a bit confusing. I have only received 4 from those who were interested, and 3 have had to cancel, which leaves me with 1. I would really like to have a couple, or at least 1 more to talk with.
Thanks so much for all of your feedback.
If you haven’t already contacted that one you will have probably “lost” them too
It has been 6 days and you have not followed up with the 1 applicant? Because you’re hoping for more applicants? Not good.
Generalizing here a bit… applicants who tolerate a long delay between applying and moving forward on a chat are probably new to THS and don’t know any better. Applicants with lots of experience and good reviews tend to dismiss a sit if the host has them cooling their jets for more than a day or 2 (THS specifies that hosts and sitters respond to communications within 72 hours).
So there’s a fair chance your process is filtering out the best sitters.
From my experience as a host with a popular listing this is a poor strategy and has cost at least one sitter a sit in a very desirable location.
When we post dates, our listing is typically paused within the hour, and we end up with at least 7 applications to review. We choose the best potential candidate and offer them the opportunity to video chat. It’s usually the sitter that causes a delay in this process so the other applicants are “on hold” during this time. We’ve found that for various reasons many applicants are not acceptable so we work our way through the list contacting the next most potentially qualified sitter.
The second one on this list withdrew their application within the two days that they decided was too long to wait. They would have been the next one contacted but they blew it with their “I won’t be kept waiting!” attitude.
They were probably invited to another sit during the 2 day wait. We certainly never apply for a single sit for any given set of dates. It’s not about ‘attitude’ but about strategy.
Whilst your sit may appear desirable in respect of location and pets etc, it’s also vital that you share a similar mindset with your sitters, so if your reserve applicants are withdrawing whilst you arrange to speak with your preferred sitter, and given your comments regarding your assumptions for their withdrawal, it could just be that it’s working effectively as part of the matching process. This means it’s a win-win scenario, not that the sitter who withdrew ‘blew it’.
I thought the same. When I went to the application to invite that particular sitter to video chat and saw they withdrew their application my first thought was that I dodged a bullet but sure, you could be right, in that 2 day span they could have accepted another sit and it was nothing to do with them thinking “2 days with no reply, I’m out” which is apparently a strategy employed by some sitters as detailed by another experienced member (to which I was replying to).
Another element of this process is: we like to be consciously chosen for sits, so if our application doesn’t immediately resonate with HOs, or if they opt to arrange video chats with other sitters first (and some actually advise they are taking the ‘first-come, first-served’ approach) then we’ll withdraw.
You may assume that infers a certain conceited attitude but, when looking for sits, we immediately know which we really fancy, which we would know to more about and which are of no interest whatsoever. I anticipate it’s the same with HOs and applicants. If we don’t fall into the first category that’s perfectly fine, but we’d prefer to pass.
Sometimes, it becomes apparent in subsequent communications - usually in the video chat - that we simply won’t gel with HOs. In that case, even the most stunning location in the world wouldn’t tempt us to sit for them. And again, I’m sure the reverse is true, and again, that’s best for all parties.
The best matches make for the best sits.
See this is exactly what I meant when I referred to a sitter’s attitude. Not that they’ve necessarily got a bad or nasty attitude, but they take it too personally when they don’t get picked first or within 2 days of an application.
I may be looking at a half a dozen equally qualified sitters, just because I might offer a video chat to the first one who applied or there was something in their profile that caught my eye, doesn’t mean I thought any less of the second one.
Yet that second sitter may see it as a perceived slight, “they weren’t number one” so they withdraw. As I said I don’t see that as an effective strategy. There’s nothing gained by it and everything to lose.
They may have been thinking the very same thing. Good matches necessitate good compatibility. Possibly neither of you met the expectations of the other, in this case.
There’s no way to make that leap. Based on that sitter’s review history and profile, they were next on my list. Nothing to do with compatibility. If they accepted another sit, that’s one thing. If they withdrew because of no contact by me for two days, they did themselves a disservice.
Withdrawing after a couple days is not about having an attitude. In my experience, the vast majority of the sits I’ve done have been confirmed within 24-48 hours from the time of my application (that includes a video chat). I just confirmed one a couple days ago. I applied, was contacted within hours, scheduled a chat for the next day, and confirmed immediately after the chat - less than 24 hours from application to confirmation. I applied to two sits yesterday both in popular locations. I’ve already set up a video chat with one of them. If that one is confirmed after the chat which is typically the case, I will withdraw the other application.
I was replying to another sitter who said it’s a popular strategy for sitters to withdraw an application if they haven’t been contacted in 2 days, simply because they haven’t been contacted in 2 days. I’m aware there are other possible reasons a sitter may withdraw, I was addressing that particular scenario.
Perhaps “having an attitude” wasn’t the best choice of words. The sitter’s decision to withdraw (if it was for that 2 day no contact limit) cost her a sit. I think it’s a poor strategy whether or not it reflects an attitude -” I won’t be kept waiting, I’m worth more than that!” or just their way of doing things.
I disagree. You seem to think you’re offering some sort of prize to sitters, when only they can make that distinction. Just as you’re entitled to your own opinion, so too are sitters. In deciding to withdraw - and we can only speculate regarding their motives - they didn’t necessarily do themselves ‘a disservice’ but made a decision which was right for them.
I don’t ‘seem to think’ I know I’m offering a prize based on the hundreds who have favorited the listing, the high number of applicants for each date I list, the low number of comparible sits, and it’s ideal location on a mountainside overlooking the Saronic Gulf in a highly desired area in Greece where nearby AirBnbs go for $400 per night.