We feel ripped off.
We booked this apartment because of its flexible cancellation policy. And we ended up needing it. Trains went on strike in Germany and we had to leave two days early to be able to get home. I followed the airbnb cancellation procedure right away; was redirected by airbnb to changing the booking dates; and my request was sent immediately to the host for approval. The host sent me a message within an hour, but refused to reply to my cancellation request.
If he had accepted the request on time, we would have gotten our refund and his apartment's agenda would have opened up so the nights could be booked by someone else. Instead, after a week of correspondence and going through the airbnb helpdesk, it became clear he would not allow us to make use of the cancellation policy that we booked. Because of the host's own mistake of not responding on time, we had to pay for the nights that could now not be booked by someone else.