That's pretty good for only a 5.5 hour delay. Unless it was overnight, then that's kinda standard fare.
You should always have travel insurance/credit card travel insurance as well. It's hard to know ALL the inns and outs but if the situations arise you're often entitled to a much better hotel (where you could also earn points on the CC and hotel points) plus more on the food budget. It also saves you some time from dealing with the AC agents, potentially you could make a phone call, get rebooked while on your way to a local favorite hotel. But again it depends on your insurance type.