I would not be surprised if the new marketing campaign launched by the Rancho Bernardo Inn eventually became the norm for the hospitality industry:
Called the “Survivor Package,” the hotel’s deeply discounted promotion lets patrons trim its standard $219-per-night rate on a sliding scale of deprivation, lowering charges with each amenity stripped from the room.
The most basic version: a room for $19 with no bed, toilet paper, towels, air-conditioning or “honor bar,” and only a single light bulb in the bathroom for safety. The next level up adds in a bed — sans sheets — for $39 a night. For a bed plus toiletries and toilet paper, the rate is $59.
Someone on a road trip, most likely, would rather fork over $20 to throw a sleeping bag on a floor of a safe room than to try and sleep in their vehicle in a sketchy truck-stop parking lot.
Not me, though. I’m thrifty (read: cheap).
T. Keith Edmunds
2 Responses to “Pack your own toilet paper, save $200”
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This is going to be like planes — tease you with a really cheap “room rate” and then tack on the charges for “amenities.” Heck, if I’m camping, I know to bring my own toilet paper. But if I stop at a hotel that’s advertising a cheap room, I like being able to assume they provide more than just the bare room.
At least it’s so far $219-minus, not $20-plus. That seems to be a better way to do it, since I would gladly take a room without a minibar to save a few bucks.
[...] — to sleep in a cave, remember, with no TV, telephone or minibar. Kind of makes Keith’s Rancho Bernardo Inn look prescient. [...]