Pretty much a word-for-word quote from kipper fleet 2 star circa 1999
"We have to do tents. Makes no economic, or security, sense (SAS et al please note), but if we don't do it, we gonna get put in the spotlight and binned"
Glad that worked out then
This is the crux of the problem. If there is a genuine argument for hotel accommodation, whether it be on financial, operational or security grounds, then do the right then, but be prepared to justify it. If this is a true and accurate quote, then I would suggest that this particular 2* could not justify the requirement for anything other tents - if he could, then he wouldn't have had to use the "spotlight" argument.
This goes for the RAF too (all three services, in fact). There's nothing wrong with choosing a more expensive option, as long as it can be justified without embarrassment.
Like I said in a previous post, if the justification for this particular example was noise and mozzies, then you deserve all the unwelcome attention you're getting. I suspect that there was much better and more relevant reasons for choosing hotac on this occasion, so for God's sake, just state them.
Having been in aviation for around 20 years, I can assure you that I understand the importance of flight safety, including in operation environments, but it's very true that the RAF use the FS card as a catch all to make arguments against decisions that they don't like. Therefore, I can understand how those that perhaps don't understand FS quite so well, often liken the issue to the little boy crying wolf.