Not sure if this question exists elsewhere (or whether this is the right forum) but here is the situation:

I just booked last-minute travel to the LHR (under 2 weeks ahead). Turns out it was $400 cheaper to book it with a hotel room as vacation package than to get the flights alone. Clearly a case of being in a lower fare bucket. My invoice shows the airline basically made me pay taxes only + the hotel room which happened to be cheaper than the base fare for the cheapest economy ticket. (and like any good traveller I had a coupon for it to boot!) This was booked through the airline not a third party.

So my question is: do I actually have to bother to check into my hotel to ensure they don't cancel my flight? I am staying with a friend so the room is not needed but I'd hate it to mess up my return flight. I made sure to pick something on my intended route just in case. I figured worse case is I can stop in get a free breakfast on the way to and from the airport.

I'm pretty sure I've seen this fare hack before so I'm hoping someone could provide some insight here.