Hi Jason,
Airbnb was very swift. At first, the person kept on messaging more and more about more possible, yet non plausible, causes for her "dry sore throat in the morning." I went onto Twitter to accelerate the process so that Airbnb jumps in faster.
Within a few minutes, I was assigned a very polite and reassuring mediator. He was very professional and assured me he would review everything and decide the following day. It was a Sunday so it was all the more impressive that he would get onto it and read all the exchanges that day to make a decision on Monday.
Sure enough, on Monday, I received a resolution: Airbnb declined her request for a full refund and the message also said they would take it over from there with her.
So yes, Airbnb is with us for such incredible demands.
One interesting thing I have noticed that you might want to know too is that I systematically ask potential guests to verify their offline identity and that woman was no exception: she did it. When I went back to her profile, her offline ID was no longer there. I don't know if it was her doing or Airbnb's.
In any case, I went to her profile to flag her as a non-commendable guest for future reference.
I hope this helps!
Liv