The Rancho Bernardo Inn in Sad Diego, Calif., with three pools, two restaurants, a spa, and a golf course, as been offering rooms at $19 a night- if you don’t mind sleeping in a tent.
The resort typically charges more than $200 a room. But to help stimulate business during a slow period, guests from August 16 to September 17 were able to get a “Survivor Package” that dropped the price for each amenity they were willing to do without. Pass up breakfast, and the rate drops to $199. Give up air conditioning or heat, pillows, sheets and lights, and you could stay for just $59. Guests willing to give up everything—including the bed, honor bar, lights, linens, and toiletries—were charged a paltry $19.
To accomodate guests at this level, it takes the hotel staff about 90 minutes to disassemble the room, remove the mattress, unscrew the headboard from the wall, remove the fuse from the air conditioner and disable lights (except for one in the bathroom), says the San Jose Mercury News. Guests are then left with a small tent.
The inn’s General Manager, John Gates, says the resort hopes people who try the unusual promotion will like the place and come back later at full price.
The inn offered its first “Survivor Package” in early June and about two dozen customers—mainly families with young children—took advantage of the offer. “They treated it like an upgraded camping trip, only mom got a massage and dad went golfing,” Gates said.
Since re-launching the package, reports Gates, over 700 room nights have been booked at various levels.
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