California resort offers $19 'survivor' package 加州酒店推出

在经济不景气导致客源下降的情况下，美国南加州很多豪华酒店都在现价基础上推出了很多额外服务项目以吸引客人入住；而一家名为兰乔•贝尔纳多酒店的度假村却反其道而行之，将每晚219美元的客房服务大肆缩水推出最低至19美元的所谓“生存者套房”，客人可以通过减少各类服务来减少房费。据悉，如果客人选择“19美元套房”，将不能享受早餐服务，入住的房间里没有空调和灯，甚至没有床，连卫生纸也要自带。该酒店推出的同类型的经济套房还有带床但不带被单的39美元套房，和带床、卫生洁具以及卫生纸的59美元套房。

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While many of Southern California\'s luxury hotels are battling a severe slump in business by offering extra services and more amenities², the Rancho Bernardo Inn is luring guests with the exact opposite -- no frills and barely any basics.

For their one-and-only family getaway this year, the Billingtons checked in to an upscale San Diego resort on Sunday with many of the usual vacation accessories -- bathing suits, board games and golf clubs.

But they also brought flashlights, sleeping bags and an inflatable mattress⁴ because the pool-side room they booked for just $19 comes with a tent where the beds normally would be. They even had to pack their own toilet paper.

While many of Southern California's luxury hotels are battling a severe slump in business by offering extra services and more amenities, the Rancho Bernardo Inn is luring guests with the exact opposite -- no frills and barely any basics.

Called the "Survivor⁵ Package," the hotel's deeply discounted promotion⁶ lets patrons trim its standard $219-per-night rate on a sliding scale of deprivation⁷, lowering charges with each amenity⁸ 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.

Maureen Carew, assistant general manager of the four-star inn, called the promotion "clever marketing⁹ in a downtime."

THRIFTY¹⁰ VACATIONS

Herman Billington, 39, a personal trainer who owns his own business, says it's the only vacation he, his wife and their two sons, aged¹¹ 9 and 10, plan to take this year as they concentrate on "keeping it lean."

"The boys get to feel like they're camping, and I get to go to the spa," said their mother, Erica Billington, 37.

Luxury hotels and resorts have fallen on hard times during the recession, as corporate¹² travel planners shy away from lavish¹³ spending and consumers plan thrifty, if any, vacations.

Across the industry, occupancy rates have dropped about 10 percent Carew said. The slump has pushed room rates down, with many of California's more luxurious¹⁴ properties throwing in a breakfast, a round of golf or extra night's stay for free.

The outlook for the rest of 2009 is bleak¹⁵, according to Smith Travel Research, which predicts that U.S. hotel revenue per available room will fall 17 percent and demand will drop 5.5 percent by the end of the year.

Carew said Rancho Bernardo's promotion drew more than 420 reservations, including 240 bookings at the $19 rate and 116 at the $39 rate.

Like the Billingtons, mortgage banker Brian Sciutto, 36, is watching his pennies. His Sunday night stay at the hotel is his first getaway in two years, though he brought his iPhone and mail from home to keep busy.

"I feel like I'm on vacation but I'm not," Sciutto said as he enjoyed the cool breeze blowing in from the golf course outside. "I feel like I'm being spoiled for 19 bucks¹⁶."