The host cancelled the booking the night before the stay. Host promised a refund, but went silent afterwards... No response over text, unreachable by phone...
Eventually had to reach out to AirBnB case manager to have him override and cancel the booking from the system side...
I understand last minute schedule changes may occur... But this kind of unresponsive-ness is not cool, especially if you are a guest who has to deal with customer support over an international phone call...