In my experience no. But it puts the renter at a disadvantage. I have had them cancel 5 days before my flight to a small island. Least to say it was extremely expensive to rebook a new room that matched the "quality" of the airbnb I was expecting. Of course if I had cancelled 5 days before I would have been on the hook for half the amount of the stay and the service fees, due to the cancellation policy the host choose (Do the host choose these?).
No, it's a huge inconvenience. I suspect that once their place gets booked via AirBNB, they jack up the price on HomeAway/VRBO and see if they can get a better price, then cancel the AirBNB if they do. It's risk free for them to cancel, so why not.
He meant that the owner can cancel for free, while if the renter wants to cancel they will most often end up paying a fee. The wording confused me too for a minute.
