When a delay or cancellation means you have to wait until the next day, Article 9(1)(b) and (c) of Regulation 261/2004 makes the operating airline pay for the hotel and for the transport between the airport and it. The cause does not matter. If the airline refused, the letter below claims the night you paid for.
[Your full name]
[Your address]
[Email]
[Phone]
[Today's date]
[Airline name] — Customer Relations / Claims
[Airline claims address or online claim form]
Re: Right to care, Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Article 9(1)(b) and (c)
Flight [Flight number]
Route [Departure airport] to [Final destination airport]
Date of flight [Flight date]
Booking reference [Booking reference]
Dear Sir or Madam,
Flight [Flight number] on [Flight date] was
[delayed / cancelled], and the earliest departure you offered me was the
following day. An overnight stay therefore became necessary.
I asked your staff at [Departure airport] for accommodation and was
[refused / told to book it myself / given no answer]. I booked a room
myself for [Nights] night(s) and paid for the journey to and from it.
Article 9(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 requires the operating
air carrier to offer hotel accommodation free of charge where a stay of
one or more nights becomes necessary, and Article 9(1)(c) requires
transport between the airport and the place of accommodation. That
obligation is not lifted by extraordinary circumstances: in McDonagh
(C-12/11) the Court of Justice held that the duty of care applies even
where the disruption is caused by events outside the carrier's control,
and that the regulation sets no time limit and no money cap on it.
I claim reimbursement of the following, receipts enclosed:
Hotel, [Nights] night(s) [Currency] [Amount]
Transport to and from it [Currency] [Amount]
Total [Currency] [Total]
Please pay [Currency] [Total] within 14 days to: [Payment details].
This claim is separate from any compensation due under Article 7.
Yours faithfully,
[Signature]
[Your full name]
How to use it
- Ask at the desk before you book. A refusal on the record turns this into a simple claim.
- Note the time, the desk and the name or staff number of whoever said no.
- Book an ordinary airport hotel at the price actually available that night, not the cheapest room in the city.
- Photograph the departure board showing the delay or cancellation before you leave the terminal.
- Send the hotel invoice and the taxi or train receipts in one message with this letter.
Weather and strikes do not switch off the hotel. In McDonagh v Ryanair (C-12/11, 2013) the Court of Justice held that the duty of care in Articles 5(1)(b) and 9 survives extraordinary circumstances, with no temporal and no monetary limit written into the regulation. An airline that answers your hotel claim with a volcano or a snowstorm has answered a different question — the one about compensation.
The airline says the delay was not its fault. Does it still owe the room?
Yes. Article 5(3) excuses the fixed compensation in Article 7 when the airline proves extraordinary circumstances. It says nothing about Article 9. The Court of Justice confirmed in McDonagh that care is owed regardless of the cause, so weather, air traffic control and third-party strikes are answers to the compensation claim and not to this one.
How much can I claim for the room?
What was necessary, appropriate and reasonable in your circumstances — the standard the Court used in McDonagh. A standard room near the airport at that night’s price is reasonable; a suite, a minibar and a long restaurant dinner with wine are the three things airlines refuse most often. Claim the room, the tax and the transport, and leave the rest.
What if every hotel was full?
Then say so in the letter and claim what you actually did instead: a room further away plus the longer taxi, or a night in the terminal plus the meals. Article 9 is an obligation to provide, so the airline cannot both fail to book anything and then criticise the option left to you. Keep the booking screenshots showing no availability nearby.
Care and compensation are separate claims and a single refusal should not answer both. If your arrival was also three or more hours late, send the delay compensation letter; if the flight was scrapped, use the cancellation letter. Meals and other out-of-pocket costs go in the expenses letter. If the airline refuses in writing, take that refusal and the receipts to the national enforcement body.