<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Andrew Webber:
AC's approach is much more like the hotels', they'll bill you if you don't show up by 6pm, and even if they give your room to someone else later in the night, they still charge you. But one difference, if you show up and they have no room for you, they don't charge you for the night.
andrew</font>
A hotel has a different cost structure. They can (and do) schedule labour according to the projected occupancy. And, although this is the case with an airline (to some extent), variable labour costs make up a much larger percentage of overall costs at a hotel than at an airline. For instance you still need a crew of at least 3 if you are flying a B737 with one passenger whereas that will only increase to, say 5, with a fully loaded aircraft. But in a hotel, you can cut staff in restaurants, housekeeping, front desk, etc. based on demand.
c.