Hi, I’m very new to THS, so this is just a general query. Is it common that applications to homeowners go unanswered? I have only applied to 3 so far, and I can see that they have all been read, but none have answered so far. It is early days; I only applied to them two days ago but it did occur to me that maybe having applications go unanswered maybe a common thing in general anyway. What have other sitters found in this regard?
Some may remain unanswered, for example if the HO cancels their travel plans or find a solution outside THS.
When the HO selects one of the applicants, you will at least get a system message that you were not chosen for this sit.
You are doing the right thing by applying for several listings in parallel. Since you are new and have no reviews, your success rate will be a bit low.
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Hi @Kell and welcome to THS. As @pietkuip mentioned, it can be a slow start when you are new.
We don’t know what your sitter profile looks like, so it’s possible to ask this forum for suggestions by including a link to your sitter profile in this forum profile (not in a reply, as the moderators will remove it).
How to add a listing or profile link to your FORUM profile
If you are applying for in demand areas, where lots of others apply quickly then it can be harder to make your application stand out.
We built up our reviews by choosing “low applications” sits, typically multiple dogs in rural locations that required a car.
Hope this helps 
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Thank you for your replies, very helpful to know
Yes it is. They may never get answered, they may answer after several days or you may just get a automated declined. If the listing is still open (hasn’t reached it’s 5 limit) they may just be wating a bit before replying.
Some sitters see owners taking very long periods to answer as a indicator the owner is a poor communicator has a less than favourable attitude to sitters and then either withdraw or decline if there is a response.
You should definitely apply to multiple listings though even if they overlap as you never know if or when you will get a reponse
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Welcome @Kell
Yes it’s not uncommon even for well reviewed sitters to be ignored after applying. I label such HO’s as non responders so I don’t try and apply for future sits with them and waste more time.
BTW. It took me 23 applications to get my first sit when I started. So keep applying.
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Since I usually write a warm application I have found it very disappointing when I don’t get any response to it but it is fairly common. Sometimes people are just busy and they are waiting for more applications to choose from so don’t hold your breath waiting. We have gotten some lovely responses when we have not gotten a sit but we’ve also gotten the reject button, don’t take it personally. Sometimes it does take quite a while for a homeowner to make their choice.
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Hi @richten1
I also use labels to identify non responders.
Unfortunately labels are being phased out.
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Hi @Itchyfeet
Yes unfortunately I know THS doesn’t value labels as I trialled the new inbox for a very short time and missed my labels!
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With some tourist places it seems quite common. The places we apply for aren’t usually tourist destinations and are in the UK so we typically get a very quick response.
But also it depends on your profile, and what message you send too.
I am now at a sit where it took 12 days before I got a response (that was in March). Also after that the HO was not really fast, but we got the sit confirmed on day 18.
And it turns out to be a very attractive sit: “just a cat”, café’s etc around the corner, walking distance from the center of Bath, hospitable owners, and as a home it is the most pleasant interior that I have stayed in so far.
So it does not hurt to have some patience.
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Maybe it doesn’t hurt to wait, but I do think it’s just inconsiderate not to reply to anyone who has expressed an interest in sitting for you. I’m speaking as a pet owner and it must be very frustrating as a sitter.
I know that we have been lucky in where we live as it looks attractive (and is!) so we have always had immediately filled 5 applications from people interested, but we always try to reply within a day and also take our decision within a couple of days. Then let everyone know.
The pain is having to contact everyone you haven’t chosen before actually confirming your sitter as then the other sitters get informed by THS before you have had a chance to contact the sitters direct and that seems rude to me.
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Did you wait 12 days to respond? Unfortunately being a patient sitter and just waiting encourages HOs to procrastinate and take even a longer time to respond.
We follow the site guidelines, which we agreed to follow at the time we joined THS. All members, regardless whether they are sitters or pet parents/home owners should be respectful and follow the same guidelines. It takes less than a minute to respond with " I am traveling, I will get back to you soon"
I sent an application on March 6. The HO responded March 18.
That was for a sit that started yesterday, so there was no urgency. And they had had their first baby.
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Wow it’s been way longer than 72hours. I can wait. Not the end of the world 
Sounds good, but keep in mind that during the actual sit you may need to urgently receive a response from the same HOs. You wouldn’t want them to respond in a week or longer. We learned that the hard way.
Now there is no problem at all. I got a quick response when I could not find the secret cutlery drawer inside that other drawer, for example.
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Consider yourself lucky. In our situation we needed to find out asap if we should keep the cat alive by any means possible or follow the doctor’s recommendation and put her to sleep.
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