cancellation policy ?

I try and get the owner to book within the first 24 hours that the stay is confirmed by me. If it's still pending on the second day, I message them to make sure they know it's going to expire soon and they'll need to book it if they're still interested. If by the third day, the end of Rover's 72 hour pending, they still have not communicated with me, I message them and let them know that since I haven't heard back I assume they no longer need me to watch their dog and I archive their request, that way I show up back in the search results. If the stay was still pending 24 hours before drop off (or whatever time frame you set for yourself) I would call the owner's Rover number to confirm over the phone. If they don't pick up or answer messages within a couple hours, I would archive the stay and assume they were no longer coming.

I agree that it's annoying the refund policy doesn't do anything if the owner never confirmed the stay but your calendar was still blocked out. Maybe that's something you could email Rover and ask about - could they create a 'pending' option, so you'll still show up in search results but owners will see that you're currently pending for those dates?

If the owner doesn't officially book you and pay for it,, then I would immediately archive the request so that I am still available in searches. Archiving doesn't delete a request. If the client wants to book you, then the message will be resurrected. After 72 hours, the unpaid/unbooked request expires. You can also always resurrect them if you want. In the meantime, I would let the client know that they have 72 hours to complete the process but you may not be available after that time because you only take one dog at a time. Do a follow-up message closer to the end of the 72 hours, but I wouldn't hold the space open for them.

Always let people know that you are first come, first serve. If I don't hear back in 24 hrs after meet and greet, I archive so I am available for other days. It puts some pressure on them to commit too. I am also strict.

Since you only take one dog at a time, the easiest way would be to let the know at the m&g and/or when setting up the booking, that because you only take 1 dog, while you look forward to spending time with their dog, there is a 72 hour timer on booking requests, so that if you have other pending requests, you will book whichever dog confirms first.

After the M&G, if I still want to accept the booking and they have not confirmed the stay, I will wait 24 hours and message them, reminding them of the 72-hour clock. I ask if they still want me to keep the dog and to let me know if their plans have changed. I archive the request at that point, saying owner didn't respond. Sometimes they are new and don't understand the process, once I had an owner say they forgot to finish the process.