Stuck overnight because of a delay? The hotel bill isn't yours to carry.

When your next realistic flight is tomorrow, the airline's duty to look after you extends to putting you up for the night. That right is separate from, and stacks on top of, any cash compensation you're owed for the delay itself. Airlines that hand you a hotel voucher and act like the matter is closed are only half right.

When the overnight duty applies

Once a delay, cancellation or diversion means your next reasonable flight isn't until the following day, the airline's care duty under Article 9 of Regulation (EC) 261/2004 as retained in UK law extends to hotel accommodation for as long as you're waiting, on top of the food, drink and calls already due once your flight crosses the 2, 3 or 4-hour care threshold for its distance (see flight delayed 2 hours for exactly where that line sits for your route). This applies whatever caused the delay, weather included. The extraordinary circumstances defence blocks cash compensation, never care.

Transfers, both ways

The hotel duty isn't just the room. The airline also has to get you there and back: transport to the hotel when you're stranded, and transport back to the airport in time for your rebooked flight. If they book you a room but leave you to find your own way, that taxi fare is claimable too, it doesn't stop being their responsibility just because nobody organised a minibus.

If the airline offers nothing

Long queues at a rebooking desk mean plenty of passengers get sent off with nothing arranged. If that's you, book something reasonable yourself, keep every receipt, room, transfers, meals, and bill the airline afterward. It cannot refuse a legitimate, proportionate receipt purely because no one at the gate handed out a voucher first. Send the receipts itemised, alongside your boarding pass and booking reference, when you claim.

What "reasonable" actually means

Reasonable means comparable to what you'd have booked for that trip yourself, not an upgrade you wouldn't otherwise have chosen. In practice that's usually a mid-range hotel near the airport rather than the city centre, since you need to get back for the rebooked flight, and one room shared between two passengers travelling together rather than a room each. Keep the standard defensible: an airline that refuses to reimburse a modest airport hotel after an overnight stranding has a weak case. One that booked a five-star spa resort on the back of a delayed budget flight has given the airline a genuine argument to push back on.

This stacks on top of compensation, it doesn't replace it

The hotel and transfers are one right, care, under Article 9. Cash compensation of 220 to 520 pounds (250 to 600 euros on EU departures) per passenger for a 3 or more hour arrival delay caused by the airline is a completely separate right, under Article 7. Being put up for the night settles the care claim only. If your overnight delay also crossed 3 hours at arrival, or your flight was cancelled with under 14 days' notice, you claim both. See flight delayed 3 hours or cancelled flight compensation for that side, and diverted somewhere else entirely rather than delayed at your own airport? See diverted flight compensation for how that delay gets measured. Once you have your figures, claiming directly has the letter template to send; the hotel and transfer expenses go in as a simple itemised list alongside it.