Originally Posted by
MichaelOLearyGenius
Airlines have contracts with hotel chains to handle their offloaded/delayed pax.
Sorry, but this is just plain wrong. They have contracted rates with individual hotels, fixing the rates IF a room is needed (that usually includes crew accommodation as well, to provide sad hotels with predictable revenue), there is no downpayment. The big hotel chains are just marketing and sales fronts, but except for a few flagship properties the hotels themselves are individual franchise businesses setting prices and conditions themselves.