# Flight Delayed Overnight: Who Pays for the Hotel?

> Article 9(1)(b) puts the hotel and the transport to it on the airline once a night becomes necessary — with no cap, and whatever caused the delay.

- Canonical: https://flightclaimletters.pages.dev/guides/flight-delayed-overnight-hotel/
- Section: Your situation, explained (https://flightclaimletters.pages.dev/guides/#explainers)
- Published: 6 Sept 2026 · Figures checked: 6 Sept 2026 · 5 min read
- Source site: flightclaimletters — https://flightclaimletters.pages.dev/ · General information, not legal advice.

If the departure has moved to at least the day after the time announced, Article 6(1) and Article 9(1)(b) put the hotel on the airline, plus the transport to it and back. The Regulation sets no cap and no daily allowance. Ask at the desk first; if nothing comes, book something reasonable and keep every receipt.

## Tonight, in five steps

1. Go to the airline's desk or app and ask, in those words, for accommodation under Article 9(1)(b). Note the time.
2. If they refuse or there is no one there, photograph the desk, the queue or the notice, and the departure board.
3. Book a room at an ordinary rate near the airport. Keep the confirmation, the invoice and the taxi or train receipt.
4. Eat, and keep those receipts too — meals are owed separately under Article 9(1)(a).
5. Before you sleep, write down the original scheduled departure time and the new one. That is what the claim turns on.

## What the Regulation actually promises

[Article 6(1)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2004/261/oj/eng) starts the right to care after a wait of two, three or four hours past the scheduled departure, by distance band. The hotel is not in that first tranche: point (ii) adds the Article 9(1)(b) accommodation and the Article 9(1)(c) transport "when the reasonably expected time of departure is at least the day after the time of departure previously announced". Article 9(1)(b) itself covers a stay "where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary, or where a stay additional to that intended by the passenger becomes necessary".

Two shortcuts are worth knowing. A cancelled flight brings care straight away under Article 5(1)(b), with no waiting threshold. And once a delay reaches five hours, Article 6(1)(iii) gives you the Article 8(1)(a) option instead: abandon the journey and take the ticket price back within seven days. The [UK retained Article 9](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2004/261/article/9) is word-for-word the same on what care contains.

> **"It was the weather" is not an answer to a hotel bill.** Article 5(3) excuses the airline from paying compensation under Article 7 and nothing else. In *McDonagh v Ryanair* ([C-12/11](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A62011CJ0012), 31 January 2013) the Court held that extraordinary circumstances do "not release air carriers from their obligation laid down in Articles 5(1)(b) and 9", and that the duty has no time limit and no monetary cap.

## What "reasonable" means when you book it yourself

There is no figure in the Regulation, so nobody can honestly give you one. What *McDonagh* sets is the measure of what you can get back: the amounts which, in the light of the specific circumstances of the case, "proved necessary, appropriate and reasonable to make up for the shortcomings of the air carrier in the provision of care".

In practice that means an ordinary room at the going rate near the airport or in the city you were stuck in, not the airport hotel's last suite at four in the morning if a cheaper option was bookable on your phone. It means a taxi where the transfer bus had stopped running, and the bus where it had not. If the only room left was expensive, keep the evidence of that — a screenshot of the search results at the time is worth more than an argument later.

Do not pay for a room the airline has already arranged and then claim both, and do not stay a second night unless the flight moved again.

## Claiming it back

Total the receipts and check what was owed on your facts with the [care and expenses tool](/tools/care-and-expenses/), then send the [expense reimbursement letter](/guides/expense-reimbursement-letter/) with the invoices attached. If the airline refuses outright rather than just delaying, use the [airline refused you a hotel letter](/guides/airline-refused-hotel-letter/) instead. The [thresholds page](/guides/right-to-care-thresholds/) sets out the two, three and four-hour rule in full. If the refusal turns on the cause, check it against [extraordinary circumstances](/guides/extraordinary-circumstances/) before you accept it. If you are still at the airport, the [next-hour checklist](/guides/what-to-do-at-the-airport-now/) is the shorter version of this page.

## The airline says the delay was not its fault — do I still get a hotel?

Yes. Care under Article 9 is owed whatever the cause; *McDonagh* is the authority, and it was decided on a volcanic ash cloud, which is about as far from the airline's fault as a cause can get. What the cause changes is the separate fixed sum under Article 7.

## How much can I spend on the room?

The Regulation names no cap, so the honest answer is that reasonableness is the only limit and it is judged on your night, not on a table. Book at the ordinary rate for the place and the hour, keep proof of what was available, and claim what you spent.

## Can they give me a voucher for the hotel instead of paying?

An airline arranging and paying for a room directly is exactly what Article 9 asks of it — that is not a voucher, that is performance. What you should not accept is a travel credit offered as settlement of the whole disruption: under Article 7(3) compensation is paid in cash or by transfer, and in travel vouchers only with your signed agreement.