Originally Posted by
cesco.g
There's a caveat: I was on a cxld overseas flight at ORD due to thunderstorms. Buy the time (1h30 a.m.) we got to an agent, all hotels were "sold out". i was later explained, they can only provide rooms at hotels UA has a contract with. Once they're gone, they're gone.
In a situation like that I would just book a hotel, pay for it myself and write to the airline afterwards to claim it back. I've done this several times in the past and have not been denied reimbursement.