@Laura2592
Laura, you dodged a bullet here! There appears to be a pool out there of entitled 'hosts' who are well aware of the rules and know how to exploit them to their own advantage.....and the thing that buggers me is, most of them are Superhosts! They wouldn't like it happening to them, but they are quite prepared to do it to someone else!
Laura, Superhosts do seem to have some revered status amongst the CX phone pool, every time you phone, they go to great pains to compliment you on being a wonderful Airbnb host! For future reference, just ask for their assistance in cancelling a troublesome reservation and they will do it as a neutral cancellation meaning neither guest or host will be penalised.
I have done that a few times and it does work.....but you have to ask for their help, not demand it!
Cheers.......Rob