Collections of people who work at lenders, investors, and especially third-party providers spend a chunk of their time in hotels, probably rack up loyalty points with certain hotel chains. They’re an “asset” for you, but a “liability” for hotels. Hotel and motel chains have to literally account for the fact that they technically owe their customers money. This adds up: seven large hotel groups collectively owe $11.6 billion to their guests , squirreled away across millions of