---
title: "How Does Declining Bookings Affect Me?"
description: "You should never feel pressured to accept a booking. Declining a booking for a valid reason is completely fine—just make sure you select the correct reason."
canonical_url: "https://madpaws.brainfi.sh/articles/how-does-declining-bookings-affect-me-rVwe7shqfj"
md_url: "https://madpaws.brainfi.sh/articles/how-does-declining-bookings-affect-me-rVwe7shqfj.md"
---
# How Does Declining Bookings Affect Me?

You should never feel pressured to accept a booking. Declining a booking for a valid reason is completely fine—just make sure you select the correct reason.


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## **Best Practices for Declining Bookings**

✔ **Always choose the appropriate decline reason** – This helps us understand why sitters decline bookings and improves the experience for everyone.
 ✔ **Avoid selecting "Other" unless absolutely necessary** – This option is less specific and doesn’t provide useful insights.
 ✔ **Always click "Decline" in the system** – Simply messaging the pet owner is NOT enough to process the decline.
 ✔ **Clearly communicate with the pet owner** – Let them know why you’re declining to maintain a good relationship.


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## **Important Notes**

📌 **Update your calendar** – If you’re unavailable for a period, block those dates to avoid unnecessary booking requests.
 📌 **Declining bookings normally does not affect your stats** – As long as it’s within reasonable limits.
 📌 **Frequent declines may impact your visibility** – If you decline often or for the same reason without updating your profile, your ranking in search results may be affected.

For more details, check out related articles such as **"Pending Bookings.**


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***General Disclaimer*** - Mad Paws uses a fair algorithm that determines where a sitter shows up in the search results.

Sharing the specifics of the algorithm is not possible, asking customer support will leave you disappointed. We have provided as much excellent information in the knowledge base on how to be a great sitter and thus, rank as high as possible.