This was a huge problem last year during PAX Prime, which is a very busy gaming event in Seattle with about 70-80 thousand attendee. I saw a lot of "help I booked something early host found out about pax prime and canceled my booking to hike up the rate." My group end up booking the Fairmont at the conference rate of 240 a night plus tax, which is an excellent rate and less stress.
I been steering some of my friends toward hotels if things get busy enough, the price hike isn't really justified in a lot of cases, people can get overly optimistic about how high they should set their airbnb prices for.
That said, you can get in touch with Airbnb, with four months out there will be other options, and they will usually give you some credit to use in finding your next spot, you are absolutely right that it's good that you still got some time to rebook.
superhosts are less likely to cancel, as even one single cancellation without a guest violation will end the superhosts status. Other hosts don't quite have the same incentive other than the promise of your booking, unfortunately.
it sucks to get canceled on, but with instant booking, hosts are generally allowed to cancel penalty free, twice a year, so for whatever reason people can decide to use it sometimes. It's unfortunate but since it's someone's house their vacation timing could have changed, so it's a tad less reliable than if you are booking hotel rooms. I generally go with hosts with lots of good reviews that show me they are a good person with a kind heart who want their guest to be treated with the right kind of customer service. But when you are dealing with people one on one, some of the things I enjoy with hotels don't always happen
-booking, cancelling, booking again, cancelling again, or keep changing dates, I can tell potential host don't like it when I send a message and then my target arrival date keeps changing lol
-arriving super super late. The host has other things to do, hence it's different than a hotel with a full time receptionist.
-If I know I will be flaky, I book a hotel, that said, there are def moments where I miss certain things about hotels. Airbnb can be great if you are staying longer, and your host is a good host, or if I needed a large house to stay at with friends and we plan on throwing a party on the last day(with host permission of course)