I know how much my (airline) company pays for our hotel rooms, because the crew are required to sign the bill, on check out, at many of the them.
The price ranges from USD30 - USD60 between hotels. This is at hotels where the rack rate is double and triple that which my company pays for us.
These hotels usually provide crews with a free buffet breakfast (which is extra again, for John Citizen), to try to keep the crews happy in order to retain the contract.
A month or so ago, our usual hotel in one port was fully booked, due to regular seasonal group bookings (which pay close to the rack rate), and several crews were overnighted at an airport hotel for the month.
The cost to the airline was almost 50% more than our regular stay hotel.
Airport hotels generally have a very high occupancy rate at any given time, and by accepting an airline contract for their crews, are going to cut their profit margins considerably if they do accept.
Willy's actions are going to send a shudder through the ranks of many of the bloated middle "management" levels in many of the airlines throughout the world.
These people have delighted in reducing the levels and conditions of the average, hard-working, productive employee, upon whom revenue is dependant, whilst at almost the same time they have swelled the numbers of their "assistants"/secretaries to garnish their own sense of import - but WITHOUT adding any more income to the company.
It was well overdue in BA, and is still overdue in the majority of other airlines.