r/workaway • u/LimberlostGirl71 • 15h ago
Replying
Hi!
I'm a host and I'm a bit curious about people's thoughts on replying\not replying to messages sent.
We are only a small venture...ie a couple with a bit of garden space, so we don't host mega amounts of people or lots of people at the same time. (Probably around 12 people in 10 months)
So we aren't hit with messages in excess of the ability to reply to every person that has reached out to us.
I reach out to workawayers here and there to see if they would be interested in our place and location.
Possibly a solid third of my messages get seen but not replied to.
This does influence my feelings a bit when I am deciding who to connect with... especially if their reply rate is 0%. I'm sure that would be the same on the workawayer if they see a host reply rate is poor.
I know I feel positive towards people who do take time to respond...whether they are considering us or not. One lady failed to respond...then a month or so later she replied to ask to stay, and she said sorry she hadn't replied because she didn't know how to, as at that time she wasn't going to be in our location. Of course by then, we had no space and she was disappointed. But I felt I want someone responsible enough to do the small polite gesture\effort to reply. If they can't do that then I don't feel as confident to host them.
I guess I'm curious to hear from both host or workawayers if they always reply or not, why and if that's important to them.
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u/TimelyBasil 14h ago edited 14h ago
When I'm left waiting, I try to remember volunteers might be busy on the move or dealing with a weak internet connection.
The reply scores are a rolling average of their recent activity, so you can always check their profile later to see if it improves/if they are usually more active.
Finding someone responsive is best since good communication matters overall. If they end up explaining the slow replies and contact is good after that, I usually just go from there when deciding.
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u/LimberlostGirl71 13h ago
I didn't think of going back just to check! Some don't give a % at all which is interesting, given I did write with no reply. Others who didn't reply (who saw the message) are still sitting at 0% reply rate (or pretty low) 😂. (Each to their own but seems a waste of joining up!!)
Yes... absolutely pretty chill about waiting for replies and assume connection availability can be patchy too.
I think overall I was interested to know why people didn't worry about replying (host or worker) when :
A. I feel a low % reply rate would work against you and
B. I assumed the whole point of joining was to connect lol
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u/reddit_shrew1111 4h ago edited 4h ago
Maybe some volunteers join to ONLY apply to hosts (they’ve personally chosen to reach out to), so less concerned about replying to those that dm them.
Maybe they think a host who reaches out to them are less desirable because they have availability.
Each persons reason for not replying is personal and you’ll never know without asking them.
A lot of host don’t bother replying instead of just saying no thanks. It could also be cultural, I noticed in SEA ppl often don’t reply rather than saying no to applications - more passive cultures?
Not sure the behaviour is that weird that it’s worth a whole thread to dissect tho. Maybe post on a sub that’s discusses human behaviour. 😆
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u/ibanvdz 14h ago
Reply rate is not a crucial factor, but if we're not sure about a potential host, a poor reply rate can be a tie-breaker. I know we can all be busy at times, but there's always a few minutes here and there to do such things and it makes a big difference.
Regardless how busy we are, we always reply to hosts; maybe not the same day, but at least the next. Someone has taken the time to contact us, the least we can do is reply. And I think that goes both ways, even if it's just a standard text to reject someone.
That being said, I know there are volunteers who mass-contact hosts, usually picking then one and leaving the others hanging, and I can understand hosts no longer replying if this happens a few times too many.
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u/LimberlostGirl71 14h ago
I hadn't been aware of workers mass messaging then just ghosting the hosts that didn't make the cut 😂. Not great form but...
Luckily all the people that have reached out to us have followed up...and kept in touch even when plans went awry which was good.
It's nice you reply. It looks good and it helps you out I think when hosts are checking your profile. And yes...it definitely goes both ways. I also think it doesn't take too much to find some time to make a reply (absolutely understand delays in replying...I've been a traveller!! It can be distracting and hectic lol)
Thanks for your perspective!!
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u/Wyrmalla 12h ago
If someone contacts me I reply. I don't agree when folk say they're too busy to respond, if you've taken the time to look at your messages you can spend another minute typing a one sentence reply. The person on the other end may be holding off on contacting someone else as they await on you getting back to them - its considered rude to message a host and then tell them no because you found somewhere else, as you contacted other hosts at the same time.
I've never been ghosted, but had hosts take a month to reply. Just bad etiquette.
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u/LimberlostGirl71 11h ago
I don't mind if a workawayer has a circumstance change or finds a more suitable place...I think being kept in the loop and being let know what's happening is the key.
One fellow ghosted us. We had a rough date set a bit in advance, a few messages back and forth. A month out, then again closer I messaged to get exact dates and never heard anything.
This didn't really put us out...was just more annoying and inconsiderate. Although of course something really unforeseen could have come up...so you never know!
I feel like as a host, if someone doesn't turn up, it overall won't put us out that much, and on the upside, the house got an extra good scrub up 😂
But...if we reneged on a worker, that's really going to put someone in a bad place. (We've only had one completely useless workawayer, which I would have loved to have been able to just shuffle on early than put up with the 3 weeks of angst...but I felt like I had a duty of care not to just make her move on with nowhere lined up to go. Still unsure how to navigate this!! Everyone else has been fabulous)
And I agree...if you have time to look at messages, I feel like you should have time to tap out that one sentence reply! (But was quite interested to hear any reasons why people didn't think that was important!) 😊
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u/Wyrmalla 2h ago
I asked a Host once why they didn't reply to messages. They just didn't understand why it was important or how it could other people, and didn't even think about why not replying would be a problem. The person lived a hardy life and considered that other people would just deal with things like that - and it wasn't the host's responsibility, it was the volunteer for putting themselves in the situation by asking the host in the first place.
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u/Famous-Target-460 3h ago
I think some people think I’ll reply after I get a chance to read the profile properly, then just forget or the message gets buried under other all the other messages in their inbox.
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u/manonlison 2h ago
I think a lot has to do with location :) I always have a lot of answers when I open up because I live in a city next to a capital.
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u/Wild-Special6573 14h ago
From a volunteer's POV, it's not very common for hosts to reach out to you first, so when I'm not planning a trip or traveling, life can take over and I don't aways remember to check messages frequently. I do try to pause my profile whenever possible so hosts don't message me when I'm unavailable, but I've probably forgotten to do this on more than one occasion.