Just to report my experience : booked business class fare YVR- BKK on September 3rd for a late January 2018 flight. Got a great deal at just over $5500 CAD for two of us, including return from Singapore in late February.
i am very new at all this so actually headed down to our local airport Air China desk, after being armed with some good information from this site. (Thanks Flyertalk members). Managed to talk to a very nice lady who said I would probably have to wait until pretty close to the flight to hear anything but she had it on her list.
well today I got an email from CA Service (not the local contact) advising that I would be getting a free transit hotel as requested. No mention of what hotel or how to proceed once I get to Beijing Airport but I will contact our local rep after the holidays to get more information.