I had a similar issue. I have a vacation rental that I have been successful renting 95% of the time. Pretty much every guest that stays in our unit gives us excellent reviews.
On oct. 5th I had a guest check into our unit. They noticed some scuff marks on the master bed pillow cases (which occurred from the dryer) and immediately called Airbnb requesting a refund.
instead of communicating with the superhost, the guest was issued a full refund and was able to rebook elsewhere.
I have a strict cancellation policy and I find it ridiculous that the guests were able to cancel a $1700 reservation on the day of their arrival just due to some scuff marks on the pillow cases.
I live 5 minutes from the vacation rental and could have easily resolved the issue.
total bull **bleep** that Airbnb does not try to contact the superhost to try to help resolve.
once the cancellation was made, Airbnb support has been TOTALLY USELESS IN RESOLVING THIS.
It has now been 1 month and I have requested multiple times for a supervisor to contact me. Total waste of time.