I applied for a sitting opportunity by eight weeks away. The posting says it has low applications. It’s been four days and we haven’t received a response from the owner. How long is typical to hear back once you’ve applied?
Terms of THS says within 72 hours.
In my experience - if it results in a confirmed sit - within 24-48 hours (often both videocall and confirmation within that time). If it takes longer I usually don’t get the sit or never get feedback at all (which means that they don’t confirm a sit on THS at all, otherwise I would have an auto-decline).
It is up to you how long you want to wait, ofc.
I would advice to just apply to multiple sits and if you get a good match just take it.
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In my experience, people either reply immediately (within a day of seeing your message) or they drag it out for ages, often not replying at all. Having experienced the latter too often, I am now only interested in home owners who send prompt responses, and who are enthusiastic about having me as a sitter.
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I would consider 4 days to be unreasonable to not even have a confirmation or a “hey we’re busy but will get back to your soon” message sent.
As HO we respond within 48 hours and usually 24 and expect the same back. If I don’t hear from someone in either direction after about 36-48 hours I send a follow up. If after that, still no response, I decline/cancel or leave it open for kicks but have mentally moved on.
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I withdraw within 48 hours if hosts don’t reply to set a video chat. For my purposes, hosts who reply promptly that way also tend to share welcome guide info well ahead of the sit and to write reviews promptly, without needing to be nudged.
To me, that’s logical, because people who have their act together tend to be that way typically, not just with sitting. I say that, because I’ve managed loads of people, for instance, and you see patterns in behavior.
People who are disorganized and / or tardy tend to usually struggle with that. And other people can be equally busy (or even more so) and still have their act together. Like I’ve managed some folks who are parents of young children, with lots to juggle, and yet they’re always on the ball at work, too. Like the person I chose as my current deputy has kids, does sports coaching, travels a lot, etc. Has never dropped the ball. Even when their spouse traveled for six weeks and left them to single parent, I never saw any difference in their work, communications, personality, etc.
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You keep saying that you withdraw after 48 hours and I just wonder why you don’t wait the 72 hours?
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1000% this
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Because I think 48 hours is enough time for someone prompt to reply. And I’m filtering for good partners for me, not anyone else.
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After you have sent follow ups, have the HOs ever responded back?
Hi @Lucysdad
Welcome to the Forum!
You have been patient in waiting for four days to hear back from the HO.
I have had HOs respond back right away (usually the same day) and I have had other HOs that have read my application without a response. If I notice that HOs have read my application and they have not bothered to respond within 2-3 days, I will withdraw my application. In my opinion, waiting 2-3 days for HOs to respond to sitters’ applications is long enough.
I had applied to a sit a few days ago and the HO had read my application, but didn’t bother to respond. After three days, I withdrew my application and almost immediately, the HO reached out to say that she had been busy, but loved my application / profile. I get it. People can get busy. Yet, she found time to write those few words, but could not find the time to acknowledge my application. 
It is amazing how people can find time–when they want to find time.
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Sometimes yes, sometimes no. (Same with HS) I don’t take it personally though. I just move on. I have also had HOs respond after they get the decline message saying they’re sorry but they were interested in me. Usually it’s too late and I’ve confirmed something else or I just don’t want to work with someone that disorganised. It’s a huge flag for me if comms are already that bad before anything has even started.
As an HO, if we post dates, we do so knowing we are ready to engage in conversations with people who apply to our listing. It’s not that hard to even send a courtesy message to say “hi, got your message, busy over the next x days but will respond by y.”
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Exactly. By the time HOs finally decide to respond, as you mentioned, it is “too late”, I have moved on, or I have lost interest.
And good point, why do HOs post dates if they are not ready to speak with potential sitters? As I mentioned, people can get busy, but is it too much for HOs to take a few seconds to say, “Thank you for your application, may I contact you later in the week?” And if they are not interested at all, why not just decline the application instead of having sitters wait on them.
For the HOs who take their precious time in responding, they will surely lose out on amazing sitters.
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A host replied to my application with a thank-you and said they’d reply as soon as they could — no mention of when that might be.
So I withdrew within 48 hours, as usual. There’s zero value to me in a reply like that, because I can already see if someone has read my message. An open-ended time frame to follow up doesn’t make me any more likely to hang around for follow-up.
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These are all very helpful thoughts. In my case the HO hasn’t even read the application yet. Somehow, that doesn’t seem as rude as reading it, and then not replying
I always provide a timeframe for a response for exactly this reason. Open ended is incredibly poor communication imo.
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It is possible that the HO has read your application. Unless things have changed, if the HO read your application on the app, then it will not appear as “seen by…” on the website and “read” on the app.
In general, if I don’t hear from a HO within 24 hours I’ll conclude I won’t end up on the sit. I can’t generally be bothered to pull my application but I assume it’ll go to someone else or I’ll be booked by the time the HO gets around to replying.
Keep in mind you can and should apply for multiple sits at one time there are multiple that fit your needs.
4 days? I say onwards and upwards and put this one in your rear view. Personally I archive applications as soon as I send them. Out of sight, out of mind.
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The app only says “unread”.
The HO gets 5 star reviews so won’t pull the application just yet.
Based off of the responses you have received so far, how long are you willing to wait for the HO to respond?
Keep in mind @Lucysdad that the vast majority of reviews for either HO or sitters are 5*! Have you read the reviews they gave their sitters as this can be informative in making a decision to apply or withdraw?