After 2pm on the day of check-in, the host messaged me to say that he was abroad and unable to let me in, new reservations should have been blocked; he was going to contact AirBnB to resolve it. I asked him to cancel the booking. He replied that AirBnB would do it, but that he couldn't call them from where he was. I asked him again to cancel the booking himself by internet before my arrival. I sent screen shots of the booking, AirBnB's advice "Ask you host to cancel", his own "strict" cancellation policy, an image of the main door to show I'd been there as agreed; my complaint to AirBnb. I didn't want the booking to pass as though I'd stayed there: I wanted a cancelled booking to be registered as cancelled. Any issue between the host and AirBnB was between them. The next day he replied "as is there [sic] policy when cancelling at very short notice". In the end AirBnB cancelled the booking for him.