As mentioned, all the major carriers in the US have redeyes leaving around the same time. CO should be able to book you on one of their flights.

Not to be a jerk, but as for upgrade compensation... really? Why should you get one when the rest of the plane is also stuck overnight?

As for hotels... though there is the incentive and tendency for airlines to blame weather a disproportionate amount of times for delays, offering a hotel room to every passenger on every weather misconnect means insolvency for the airline very quickly.

With all due respect, *&% happens. Continental hates having events like these happen as much as you do. No reason to ever count on the air transport system to be 100% reliable.