AirBnb doesn’t necessarily side with one side or the other, but rather, there, customer service is outsourced to the Philippines and they just don’t care. The side you wins is the side you can say the magic words that specific agent wants to hear.
I’ve had guests stay at our place and get a refund at the end by lying, and even admitted to me, he knows how Airbnb support works so knew what to say to them.
I’ve been able to get damage claims paid by Airbnb when guests refused.
Looking at this host though and reading the reviews, this looks like a complete scam. Claire, for one, is definitely not real. Also anything under 4.7 on Airbnb is generally not good. I generally only rent 4.8 and up. The first review (I hough it may not have been up when he booked) mentions being hit up for money, bad checking, etc, lol of which point to a scam.
Had it been me, I wouldn’t have cancelled and would have just said I’ll stay there and been done with it.