I doubt that the dude who wants to book his own hotels would like it very long. An airline the size of SWA has leverage with large hotel corporations like Marriott and Hilton and IHG. They're not paying the same rates a walkup would pay. Thousands of rooms per month = discounted rates and likely large discounts.

A couple thoughts.

The hotels here are better than when I was at a regional airline. Not massively better, but better in general. Some are literally the same property. Others are actually way better than I used to have in the same city. Generally few complaints.

Serious question: Why do we not have a hotel committee? I honestly don't know the answer. Is there an agreement between the company and SWAPA to not have SWAPA involved in hotels?