Thank you for all your responses.

I am not sure about our fare rules. I booked tickets via cheapticket.com. When I clicked the underlined fare rules, the pop-up screen always said that "I am sorry, fare rules are not available at this time." I have tried this a number of times over the past months but still got the same answer.

When I called Korean Air, the rep. looked at our tickets and simply said that KE generally did not offer a free hotel room from May to September. It did not sound that we were not qualified. Maybe we are not qualified. When I was looking for the fare, both cheapticket.com and the KE website quoted almost the same fare (just a few dollars for the difference). However, when I clicked the "book" botton at cheapticket.com, a discount of $100 per ticket applied automatically. That was why I decided to buy tickets from cheapticket.com (a saving of $200 for us). Maybe this made a difference.

We had a layover on the way to Taipei for 19 hours or so. It is not an issue on the way back to Toronto because our ticket includes a stopover in S. Korea and we will stay there for a few weeks.

This hotel issue may not be an issue to us any more. We kinda decided to stay at a hotel in downtown Seoul instead of the area around the airport because we were planning on meeting friends the evening we arrive at Korea. While we have only 19 hours, it should be enough for us.

Again, I really appreciate all your input.