Thank you Louise for taking the time to detail your story. Remarkable how well you interleaved the logistics with the emotional authenticity. Right there with you.
It appears this is still happening. Very soon (though not instantly, more than 2 minutes) after booking I had on my bank statement:
Pre auth AIRBNB LOC: SAN FRANCISCOCA
The host cancelled 10 hours later. Unfortunately my bank edits its own history so now I only see two transactions on the day *after* I booked that cancel each other out:
DBT CRD … AIRBNB 888 BRANNAN STREET SAN FRANCISCO CA
POS CRE … AIRBNB 888 BRANNAN STREET SAN FRANCISCO CA
At least it looks as if my money was only tied up for one day. Next time I’ll try a credit card instead of a debit card and see if that helps.