Getting a distant "airport" hotel can happen in certain localities when using (otherwise useful) blind bidding sites such as Priceline, see this post wherein someone got a hotel room in the "CDG airport" zone that turned out to be a very expensive cab ride from the airport!

More frequently people reserve airport hotels and don't realize there are no tourist attractions anywhere near the airport in that city. There's no heartbreak like seeing a family of first-time visitors to Los Angeles in the lobby of a LAX Airport hotel with nowhere to go.