Absolutely. It happened to me a few times when it’s around 4 to 5 hours till next flight. Previous flight landed 12:30am and next one is in 06:00 so boarding is around 5am. 4,5 hours is enough to get to the hotel (30 min to one hour one way) and sleep around 3 hours. So what’s the point to pay for taxi (it’s night and most transport unavailable) and hotel for 3 hours of sleep? Lounge can be nice and affordable. But if not it’s just some chairs in airport and it’s not so bad.

Yeah, pretty regularly as a poor student. Not justifiable to spend hundreds extra to avoid a long layover or get a room for said layover.