We're told that too many cancellations can negatively effect our search rank. How many cancellations can you have before you experience a decline?
Do you mean you are canceling or declining requests? I don't think you are negatively effected if the client cancels.. If you are cancelling within seven days of an upcoming stay or within 14 days of a holiday, your account may be suspended. Per the Rover terms:
3.4.1 By Sitters or Hosts. Pet Care Service Providers may incur the following penalties if they cancel a scheduled stay within seven or fewer days of the scheduled stay:
cancellations within seven or fewer days (i.e., canceling an appointment which is on the 10th on the 4th) will result in account review and possible suspension;
cancellations within two days of a stay will result in immediate account suspension;
two or more cancellations within a three month time span will result in account suspension;
cancellations within fourteen or fewer days of major holidays (federal holidays and bank holidays) will result in immediate account suspension.
Rover.com may effect or waive such suspensions in its sole discretion. Any suspension under this Section 3.4 may be appealed in writing to customer support. Rover.com may accept or reject such appeal in its sole discretion. Pet Care Service Providers will be exempt from suspension in the event of a cancellation described above if the Pet Owner reschedules the stay with another Pet Care Service Provider referred by the original Pet Care Service Provider. Pet Owners that have had stays cancelled may leave a rating for the canceling Pet Care Service Provider.
A cancelled stay will affect your search score since part of the score is based on your the percentage of your requests that turn into bookings. That is, you get a boost by converting requests into completed bookings. If you cancel, the booking will make your percentage lower. You would need a significant number of cancelations though to really push your profile down in search results. One cancelation, every once and a while shouldn't really affect you.
A cancelation won't hurt a sitter with a lot of requests very much but it might be a hit to someone early in their Rover sitting career. As usual, it's important for new sitters to make a great first impression. Convert those first few requests into dynamite stays and your score will start off strong.
Give support a call if you have any other questions!