Agreed, @Mark116, while technically, it doesn't qualify under the EC policy, there's no reason on earth why Airbnb couldn't - and shouldn't - make an exception... especially when you consider some of the ridiculous, undocumented reasons they do give all sorts of refunds for, every day of the week (and the frequency which which they usually quite happily violate the terms of their own policies)
And unscrupulous hosts absolutely do insist on keeping full payouts - very often, in fact - even when there's clearly been a mistake on the guest's part, and the booking has only been in place very briefly. I've seen hundreds of complaints about this practice on various consumer websites over the years, and it was actually the primary factor behind the introduction of the 48hr Grace Period.
It's pretty clear that @Sandi153 is obviously telling the truth here. We all need to put ourselves in her shoes for a moment and imagine how frantic and distressed she must have been at the time of trying to make the booking, and anyone who has ever made a booking on Airbnb know how convoluted and confusing it can be, even at the best of times. And this deceptive practice they have of returning listings in searches that are literally miles away from the location that the guest has entered in the search field, causes untold problems for both hosts and guests.
At some point, common sense, human decency and compassion, have to take precedence over sheer greed.