When I was hired at UAL in July, 2000, we paid for our hotels and food. We received guarantee paid and not per diem. I doubt that has changed much.
If you didn't get per diem, it was because you were domiciled in Denver. I was domiciled in ORD and received per diem. Because of that, I usually didn't leave DEN when I had days off. The per diem was more than the cost of my room at the Red Lion.
As for the lack of a 401k match, it's not necessary. As JetPilotMike stated, United puts 16% of your salary into your B/C fund without any need to match it. So if you make $100K/yr, you get an additional $16K/yr going into your B/C without putting in a dime of your own cash.