Hello, @SalomeL I wanted to share a previous topic/post that hopefully explains what may have happened to your application. Normally as long as you keep an application open before it reaches the 5th one it will still send it through to the owner.
That also means that once the application is open as long as you do not navigate away you can take as long as you need to write the application.
I am glad that the owner reopened it so you could apply 
I completely agree with your two points. I saw a post recently on a local FB page where there was a need for accommodation for a family to visit relatives, and someones suggestion was housesitting. Now it could be that this was a suitable option but equally itās not for everyone.
I think added to this and the reason for your first point is that HO membership is also increasing through articles about THS. Iāve seen so many sits from new members wanting a sitter, practically the next week or month, which in peak holiday season is unrealistic when most sitters are already booked.
Experienced sitters dont have availability as we are like you are booked months in advance.
Another aspect Iāve not seen mentioned yet in this thread is that a lot of sitters who traveled fulltime or nearly fulltime pre-pandemic settled down somewhere in 2020 to ride out the virus and havenāt gone back to traveling as much since then. I know quite a few sitters like this. Vanessa and @Angela_L are just two examples of the many I know. They still sit a few times a year, but not nearly as often as they used to.
Thereās been an influx of new sitters as a result of THS expanding so I would expect to see a much greater portion of applicants to be new and inexperienced. I suspect the ratio of owner to sitter has skewed a little as well so I would not expect them to get experienced very soon.
Add to this the application limit and I think many experienced sitters are either relying on old connections to directly link-up (most of my sits are direct contact now not THS) and an inevitable churn as people only last a year and realise they either cannot get an application in or they get rejected for having no experience when they do get one in.
One of my first applications in THS got rejected with an apoplogetic note that as they had had a bad experience before they wonāt ever accept anyone with less than 5 reviews. SO I started doing very local sits where I offered to meet up days before to go over everything and to assure then it would be ok.
I am curious as to why you want only couples though. My experience is most people want single sitters even specifying single women (which I find odd enough to red-flag it and never apply). Would an experienced single sitter not be good enough?
@Karen_E If that is the case why arenāt offering any incentives to old members to return or is it of no concern to THS to have so many people not returning to house sitting. It could be that while they have so many couch surfers/backpackers joining to see the world for free that it matters not so long as the spreadsheet is showing a similar figure each month.
post moderated due to posting terms
2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Conclusion Of Pausing Application Test - Updated Post
Those are three different catagories of people with different needs. While I feel like I must have offened you in some why I do appologize. But do some basic research for each of the group in the mind set of a property owner and see what catagory best suites your needs as an owner and what would make you feel secure about the choice you make. While you are at it make a few seprate lists that you can compare passport needs for your location from different locations, age of application, average monthly income for age and country of origin, avaiability short term versus long term, how many houses-sits have they had and were where those site, and frequency of global traveling. By default people will come to a reasonable conclusion of what works best form them.
@Karen_E Then there are others like my hubby & me who had a one year enforced break during the height of Covid and have done intensive sitting ever since, even more than pre -Covid!
Itās true that as an experienced sitter, because I am selected for pretty much every sit I apply for, I have the luxury of planning well in advance and prefer when thereās plenty of notice. I realise that for an owner that can be a risk as people do sometimes cancel. I would still recommend posting earlier when experienced sitters have not yet been booked. All our/my HO ask to be repeat customers so you can imagine the demand on an experienced and qualified sitter. Best of luck.
For THS itās all about revenue. Fair enough. Thereās a better way to do that thoughā¦ improve your features so we can connect in the ways that serve us (preferences for the number of applications included) and we wonāt leaveā¦youāll get the rep for having the best listings bc you keep the best sitters. Currently, most Australians use Aussie House Sitter thatās why there are so few Sydney listings on here. Most of my sits in Sydney are secured there. I noticed very few from popular countries like Italy and thatās very strange. Thereās room for improvementā¦.
Thanks Ben on behalf of all the newbies. Obviously as the old saying goes, āEveryone has to start somewhereā. And yes so true, I would be hoping to get a great review when we do our first sit. Cheers Kev
I see the info that member services gave to me months ago. We are experienced sitters and weāre unable to apply for most of the favourite listing that we get dinged for on the mobile app.
Last Christmas, we lost 100% of our favourite European/Australian/New Zealand listings, because every single one came out when we were working or sleeping. Even now we receive mobile app notices for our saved Christmas sit search for this year. At least 50% of the time the notice has no new listings, since they closed before we were notified. A system failure all around.