Hi Rebecca,
I reached out to AirBnB customer support, as the host stopped responding to my messages. Customer support messaged the host and gave them 24 hours to respond, but the host didn't respond to them either. So at that point AirBnB cancelled the booking and gave me a full refund. Customer service at first wanted me to go ahead and stay at the apartment despite everything, but I said I wasn't comfortable with a non-responsive host who clearly didn't want me staying at the apartment.
It was a very disappointing situation for me, fortunately I was able to book a different place through another website to accommodate my stay.
I was bummed that I couldn't leave the host a review, and I saw after my stay was cancelled suddenly, another person had a similar situation happen with this host, but they must have stayed at the apartment still, so they were able to leave a review and let people know that the host really shouldn't be booking right now as they're unavailable and out of the country. Hopefully people will see that review before booking with that host!
I understand that things come up in life suddenly, but as a host I think communication is key. And if you're going to be unable to accommodate stays for a while, you should go ahead and cancel the bookings honestly and then push pause on new bookings until you're back and able to take care of your guests (either that, or have a friend who can help take care of everything while you're away).
I've learned that I'll no longer book with anyone besides Super Hosts, because this has never happened to me before.