The hotel room wasn't a loan, it was a reimbursement.  They had to reserve the room.  In a sense, at that point they purchased it, just like if it were a desk.  And they can sell it just like it's a desk, but only for fair market value.  And in this case, the fair market value was the cost of the room for X nights.  And a thousand bucks in NYC for several nights during the convention sounds about right.

There is nothing untoward here.  If you think it's unjust, work on changing the law.  But your arguments aren't compeling that there was even anything unjust or wrong.