NEWSFLASH
Hotels cost money, and if you put lots of people in lots of hotels, it will cost lots of money!
I guess that might be a little hard for a baggage handler to get his head round!
Yeah well it's a lot cheaper than employing the number of crews you would need to eliminate HOTAC, especially when you consider the reduced rate an airline gets HOTAC for.
Of course the airline could have just informed a whole bunch of crews that, with immediate effect, they were based in some place hundreds of miles from home, but they chose not to do that.
There are other issues around changing aircraft types, extremely rapid expansion, and a ton of new routes. Add to this an antiquated crewing system...
The problem is a little more complex that you apparently realise.
I left because, good as flybe might be for a regional carrier, there are other opportunities out there. I would happily go back if I ever needed to, though.