Good apartment with noise probs (thin walls), but host was the big issue.
I had an urgent event and asked to shorten my stay. He refused and said things along the lines of, "it's against Airbnb rules for me to accept the request / I already have the money". Since I'm not an idiot, I repeatedly tried explaining to him that accepting my request is NOT against the rules, and that you as the host have sole discretion over the choice. If you're a good host, you'd understand my situation and accept; if you're not, you can screw me over. Simple as that.
After more back-and-forth he escalates this to support to see their response (???)... so I told them to tell him the policy: he has SOLE DISCRECTION to accept/deny.
Eventually with support literally reiterating what I said, he accepts, which I appreciate. But why was this so difficult? I want to believe this was an honest mistake, but I'm having a hard time, especially given the amt of effort to stop me. Regardless, this left a bad taste.