Well I did after you suggested it 
They wrote a nice long, detailed review of the sitter. I think I’ll give them three business days to reply and not count the weekend days.
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I had a very quick response. Then offer to sit. But no other communication. Before I accept, I asked time of arrival, departure, do they have an early flight, do I need to be there the night before. I do not understand how I can be offered a sit without talking details.
are they new hosts? new hosts seem to think that all they have to do is select the sitter they want and then the sitter is obligated to accept the sit and no need to discuss details because the sitter accepted. Definitely don’t officially accept until YOU are comfortable you have all the info you need and if they’re not willing to provide it then that should tell you all you need to know about how they regard you as a sitter. I.e. someone who just has to do what the HO says vs someone who gets to choose what sits they want to do.
This is helpful, thank you. I am in a situation at the moment where I’ve applied for a Christmas sit and the HOs wrote to me saying they’d look at my application on Monday. It’s now Thursday and I’ve had no communication from them so I’m considering just going ahead and applying for another sit. I’ve held off as it’s less convenient, but evidently, the HOs in the first sit aren’t able to communicate the way I would like.
no , they have several reviews
I would 100% apply for any other sit that fits your needs. sitters for the holidays are like gold, any HO that doesn’t realize that is going to be in a bad spot when they finally get their act together and start actually trying to find someone. IMO sitters willing to do holidays have a decent amount of power to choose what’s best for them. Good luck!
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Then I’d keep pressing them. Personally none of those details matter to me when accepting a sit because I’ve got the ability to be super flexible with arrival/departure. It may be that they’ve only had sitters similar to me for which exact details aren’t very important too far ahead of the sit.
Thank you. I thought the same, surely you’d snap up a sitter who applied over Christmas? But my experience so far has shown me sitters are no more valued at Christmas than any other time of year! I’d like to make firm plans rather than waiting for a home owner to get their act together, so will proceed with other applications.
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They got back to me pretty quick. They gave me times, but haven’t booked flights. Last time that happened, I need to come the night before, they are staying near the airport for early flight.
I’m in my third year on THS. Most people respond in a timely fashion, but some appear to have no idea of the niceties of using the site. Four days is a long time but I’m coming across owners who read their applications but don’t reply after seven! I had one contact me to say that she liked my profile (I have almost 50 5 star reviews on this platform alone, plus happy private clients) but wanted to wait to see who else applied. That was 4 weeks ago.
I’m not going to renew my membership this year. I’m so tired of people who see house sitters as their staff (as one referred to me) or as ‘lesser’ people (those who leave welcome guides that aren’t very friendly, or even add locks and padlocks to doors). And as for owners who don’t even bother to reply to applications but reject out of hand? A polite message takes a few seconds.
Personally, from all of my experience, I’d walk away from someone who doesn’t appear to value your time. Good luck!
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I applied for a sit less than 48 hours ago and have heard back and we’re supposed to chat this weekend.
It’s not hard: Post a sit and be prepared to reply promptly. Or don’t post a sit if you’re so busy you can’t respond in reasonable time. And don’t apply and ghost someone. Even if you no longer are interested, let them know. Takes a minute or two.
If you have a catastrophic emergency, that’s different. But those are rare and some people are just rude, self-absorbed or haven’t got their act together.
Fortunately, there are a good number of folks who aren’t like that. For me, better to partner with good hosts or not sit at all.
And for holiday sits, hosts are clueless if they don’t reply promptly. The number of sitters vs. sits is ridiculously skewed. Plus, many sitters get holiday invitations to sit way ahead of holiday season.
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We have applied for three sits in the past few days .
The first application was sent just over 72 hours ago . The listing quickly reached “reviewing applications “ stage
Second one we applied for at 11pm one evening, there were already 3 applications in . When we checked at 7 am the next morning it had reached “reviewing applications” stage . We were chosen as sitters at 8am that morning.
Third one, a New listing we applied just after Noon , no one else had applied at that stage - it soon reached “ reviewing applications “ we were chosen as sitters less than 3 hours later .
Meanwhile our first application , submitted over 72 hours ago still hasn’t been read .
… in our experience there is no “typical response time “
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Thank you for sharing your experience. It baffles me that a sitter of your calibre, with 50 5* reviews, should still be told by a home owner that they want to see who else applies. Unless they are looking for something very specific (someone closer, for example, but this should be mentioned on their profile anyway), it just seems unnecessarily picky and unattainable. And for a HO to refer to you as ‘staff’ completely betrays the ethos of the site.
If only more HOs viewed sitters as equals and treated us accordingly, I believe a lot of issues mentioned on this forum would naturally be resolved.
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So we just video chatted and agreed to the sit. Straightforward and easy. Terrific in-city location in a major metro on the U.S. West Coast. Two cats without special needs. The host had read all of my reviews (and I hers) and the call was confirmation for both of us. The sit is for January, since I don’t sit during year-end holidays. I have a similar sit planned on the East Coast for February. Also a prompt, decisive host.
These are the kind of hosts who keep me interested in sitting.
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