So far, this site has been nothing but a waste of time for me. My bad. It is what it is. To my point, it seems like nothing but going back-and-forth messaging, responses is taking up to a week to two weeks to get back, on and on and on! Is this typical? I have great references excellent background rating. If it is, I’ll accept my loss and of the membership fee and just move on.
Welcome to the forum @Tip .
Whilst we have occasionally encountered hosts who either didn’t reply or took several weeks to respond, these situations ultimately did not result in a confirmed sit.
This kind of experience has been the exception Overall, our communication with hosts has been very positive. Most hosts have responded promptly, arranged a video call, and confirmed the sit quickly—often within 24 hours. This was also our experience when we were new to the platform and had not yet received any reviews.
How many sits have you applied for ? You can apply for multiple sits - even sits for the same dates . Once you and a host have confirmed a sit you can withdraw any other applications that overlap with the dates.
Another tip for quicker communication is to put your mobile number in your application- exchanging mobile numbers with the host as soon as possible in the process and not relying solely on the platform can speed up communication.
Unusual but apparently it is increasing as the site grows and new members don’t understand the need for speed! If the hosts have decent past reviews they’re likely to be better at comms so check those; yes to adding your what’s app number in there as @Silversitters suggests. You could also write a note that says, “please respond within 24 hours if I can be of help with your sit so I can plan my diary” or similar so encourage engagement. How many have you applied for? Are they new hosts? Are they reviewing? (Sadly THS tells hosts to wait for 5 apps before answering applicants so that could be a blocker too). You could also send follow ups if you’re keen. We’ve found good sits and hosts come from those who answer quickly, the record was 10 minutes the other day so you might be dodging a bullet with the non-responders. If you want feedback on your profile feel free to add it to here and members will offer advice. #keepgoing
It sounds like you probably have a bad profile and a bad initial message that you send out. We tend to get a response right away and also get a video call within a couple of days. Sorry to hear that you have had such a bad experience. But there is definitely something you can work on to make it easier and better for yourself.
Maybe go over your reach out message and Profile with AI and Ask it to interview you to create a high quality, trustworthy profile and initial message.
Maybe ask for advice from any newer sitters who don’t experience what you describe. Things that impact success are:
- Location of Listing (as a newbie apply locally for short sits to get actual THS Reviews, as References are only to get started).
- Your Profile, it might be sending the wrong message/red flags to HOs
- Your initial application paragraphs might need tweaking, or do you simply send a few sentences?
- Always send your WhatsApp number for all communications beyond the initial interaction.
Good luck as it really does work once you’ve learnt how to do it.
Hi @Tip
Welcome to the TrustedHousesitters Forum!
If you’d like our community to offer some advice and recommendations from their years of successful housesitting experience, the steps below show you how to add a link to your THS profile to your Forum profile.
What do you need to do?
- Select your profile picture
- Choose the ‘profile’ icon (the head & shoulders)
- Hit ‘Preferences’
- On the Preferences page, select ‘Profile’
- Paste the link you want to display
- Scroll down and hit ‘Save Changes’
How the link will appear…
It can be hard to get those first sits when you are new. Believe it or not, there are some kind hosts out there looking to choose new sitters because they want to give a helping hand. We got one of those. It’s the luck of the draw, though, because they don’t advertise that.
One thing my husband and I did to get those first invitations was we applied for sits that didn’t sound desirable to everyone. Cape Cod (USA) in February. Playa del Carmen (Mexico) in summer with rescue dogs during hurricane season, a little, totally blind dog in a touristy area out of season. These were all enjoyable sits and we learned a lot from them. Good luck to you and Good Travels.
You will have to give us more detailed information for us to have any chance of helping. Are you a sitter looking for sits or a pet owner looking for a sitter? What are you discussing in this back-and-forth messaging? On the face of it, everything you mention sounds not typical at all.
I suggest letting forum members review your profile. I take it you are a sitter, correct. Maybe another eye can see something you can’t that can be very helpful. If you don’t want to reveal who you are just cut and paste the body of your profile that does not reveal who you are. Also post an example of your introductory letter. It does take several tries for newbies to get their first sit. With good reviews from hosts that you build up you will see it is a sitters market right now. Try local sits that have low applications just to build your reviews before you try for your dream locations.
It takes much more than this to get your first THS sit. You need a strong profile (well written to show you are a realiable, good human, trustworthy who loves animals. And you want to sit for the love of animals and combine it with your interest in travel…). Your application emails should be very specific to the sit you are applying for - use the pets by name, say why u are interested in their area, what you like about their home, why you align with being a good fit for their pet/home, etc. You need to try to connect on a personal level with the Homeowner to catch their attention.
For those that do not reply within a day or 2, move on. They are not the right fit for you. I agree about adding in your WhatsApp or cell or email to take convo offline and specifically say something like "if you are comfortable, I find this THS messaging can be buggy, delayed and suggest taking the discussion to another method for a more timely convo. "…
I was a Homeowner for a year, then turned Dual Member to sit. I got my first sit on my first try on a 9 night sit with the “Low Application” note. I secured it with a well formed initial message, a very solid profile and mentioned my THS Homeowner experience. Along with liking their area, their sweet old kitty, which i had lost 2 of within the last couple year, and wanted to explore their beautiful city. We had a videochat and was offered the sit at the end of it, maybe 15 minutes in.
Don’t give up! Good luck.
if someone suggested to me " a CONVO " I would scroll on to next applicant.
Maybe that’s just me but I simply prefer someone who speaks proper adult English
I scroll by when I read the words DOGGO or FUR BABY too.
please note that i said “something like”… this is a casual forum, I am not taking the time to use proper english here.
And to clarify, it’s not so much getting a response. It’s host changing dates, interview times being changed, cancellation of host states. It just seems like a lot of running around. Great if you’re fully retired or maybe looking for lodging.
My background has saved rescues, which is on my profile after natural disasters, involved with pilots for pause, help build a shelter that has pups involved with puppy bowl every Super Bowl. It’s not so much my profile. It’s the back-and-forth. It must be just the nature of the beast. And I get that.
I mean, just the fact you need to get approval for each and every post. And you’ve already paid a membership. That’s another frustration. I wanted to put my membership on pause, and here they’re trying to upsell me other memberships and I have figured out the first one. I mean, seriously?
The veteran user of this site that referred me, was unable to help me properly set up the references. Also tried to get two users to assist, they couldn’t figure it out either. The experience once on this site said they’ve changed it since we’ve used it. What does that tell you ?
Thanks for your tips. I pretty much do all of them. My bumble number is on the introduction and application. With both of my residence. Thank you again. It’s the jumping through all the hoops. It lacks streamlining. And that’s just me.
If you’re that uptight about a casual form or proper English, it’s probably a good idea to pass to the next applicant anyway. Good luck to you.
I do not know what you are doing wrong, but it is not really that difficult. Honestly, we usually send one message to the house owners, they reply, and then we organize a time to do a video call. After that, we exchange numbers. It is super simple. I would really be interested to see your entire application process, because it seems a little bit off.
Are you on the forum page applying for housesits, or are you applying through the website itself? You do not need approval for each application.
@Tip, welcome to THS Forum.
Not sure of your objective as it appears that you’re not seeking advice (THS profile not included on THS Forum profile) and appears that you’ve made up your mind.
As @Silversitters & other regulars have noted then your experience seems atypical. It can be tricky to get started on THS (and frankly on any review-based technology matching platform).
If you’re interested in constructive feedback then suggest include THS Profile on THS Forum (per @Mark_B). Lots enthusiastic volunteers here that may offer targeted advice. In broad terms, better profiles (takes time/effort) are more attractive to prospective pet parents.
If you seek to housesit through an alternative platform then good luck. THS is, by far, the dominant monopolist. There are a good handful of other platforms but they have negligible listings, often limited listing information and may waste your time even more (we’ve tried two other platforms).
Hope that you find joy in chosen path.