Hoping someone can provide clarification on where I stand. I had a reservation for the upcoming weekend, however due to unforeseen medical reasons preventing travel, I sent the host a request to change my reservation dates to a time later this year. This request was sent 5 days out from my planned stay. The host contacted me and said they didn't receive the request to change dates (even though I received confirmation that my request went through and sent the host screenshots of this) and asked me to cancel my booking completely due to the short notice so that they could find new guests to fill the booking. Being none the wiser, I proceeded to cancel my booking and received a partial refund as per their cancellation policy. Of course now if I try to re-book to new dates, I have to pay the full amount.
I have contacted Airbnb numerous times to understand if there is a way that I can re-book without having to pay again, particularly because I never requested cancellation to begin and was simply following the host's request, however they have advised that because the booking has been cancelled, there is nothing they can do. This does seem unfair as whether it was due to technical difficulties or simply the host choosing to ignore the date change request, I have lost my money and don't have a booking either. Has anyone had this experience before?