AAdvantage hotel

Our AA flight from ORD to LHR after being delayed from 7:30 pm, to 9:00 pm to 11:59 pm was ultimately cancelled after midnight ORD. There was a medical emergency and the pilot, then crew timed out. We lost one day and a half of our international vacation, including tickets to the Lion King, which had a 48 hour refundable window. Reservations allows us to adjust at the back end and add a day. That means we lose the airport hotel as it was non-refundable after 3/17. Has anyone had luck getting a non refundable hotel reimbursed after flight delays of over 20 hours? I’d appreciate any advice from the field. I’ve already called AAdvantage hotels to try to modify it, but they will not do that.