I friend of mine had her host cancel a couple of days before her several-day Christmas trip. Of course everything else was crazy expensive by then so she ended up missing Christmas. Airbnb refunded her $16.
The host is probably listing the suite on multiple listing sites (Or even just with multiple listings on AirBnB), for different prices. When someone books the more expensive listing, they tell the person who booked the cheaper one to pound sand.
