Why does Rover encourage people to book with several sitters?

I agree that many sitters aren't happy with the fact that Rover prompts new clients to send out multiple booking requests to find a sitter. My thoughts on why they do this! Far too many sitters sign up with Rover and never respond to any booking requests, leaving the client to send out requests again when they don't get a response from the initial sitter.

Personally I have experienced this when looking for a backup for my business. And it has been discussed many times by many sitters in our Facebook Rover Group as it happens all the time https://www.facebook.com/groups/Rover...

I hear what you are saying but Rover doesn't encourage customers to book with multiple sitters, only meet with a few before booking. It is disheartening to get contacted and never hear back from people. A total waste of time. But I wouldn't characterize them as disingenuous just because they didn't follow through with you. Perhaps they decided on someone else.

Have you changed your profile's service option to only accepting repeat clients? I would think that, if this is set properly, then you would not be penalized for contacts that are not turned into bookings. While your profile states you aren't accepting new clients, many people don't read.

Check with Rover about whether such contacts affect you if your profile is set to repeats only.