Why was it necessary to stand again in a line and wait at flight connections to confirm the flight? During my last IRROP I phoned the GGL and asked them to re-book and confirm me straight away as the waiting at flight connections could be quite a lenghty one. Could this has something to do with hand luggage vs. checked luggage (as in the OP's case)?

And IMHO GGL should be about saving me time and hassle - and even the LH/LX SEN line would be able to achieve this little task immediately.

And with regards to the hotel, I once asked them and the answer was that they can't allocate rooms. So I don't even bother in a case like this, I organize it on my own and claim the expenses afterwards (but I always try to keep the costs in line). Yes, I do know it's not the "clean & proper" way, but it saves time and - worst case - there is still my travel insurance to take care of it. But so far that hasn't been necessary.