@James3080 Ah, well that is a different story, then. A host is free to cancel any reservation, just as a guest is. They just can't force a guest to pay more.
However, the host receives penalties for cancelling, one of which is that they dates they cancel are permanently blocked by Airbnb so they can't be rebooked. So the host, in this case, has probably screwed themselves by cancelling.
Exceptions to a host not getting screwed by cancelling is that if they list on other platforms, like VRBO, they could book those Airbnb blocked dates, they just can't rebook them on Airbnb. And also, Airbnb lets big players, i.e. property managers with dozens or even hundreds of listings to get away with stuff small-time hosts get punished for.
For that and many other reasons, it's always safer to book with a small-time host than corporate managed listings. Of course, I have no idea if this pertained to the listing you booked.