Originally Posted by
Ozymandias
The "hot reserve" that ABX has is not the same as airport reserve for a regional. In a regional, you'll get 8 hours of airport appreciation time where you have the luxury of wandering around aimlessly or sitting in the cheapest chair they could find and trying to sleep. At ABX, they just get you a hotel room for your entire shift.
For the sake of accuracy, I need to point out that the hotel for airport reserve is a temporary thing. Once somebody finally decides Covid is over, it will go back to being at the airport. Even at the airport, though, it's not like you're stuck wandering the terminal for hours on end. There is a lounge area with TVs and recliners and there are dedicated bunk rooms for the R1 crews. If you have transportation available to you, they also make allowances for you to leave the airport for a short time to get food.