Too good to be true? Probably

It's funny how often the phrase "it's too good to be true" applies. Even on those times when you think it can't apply this time, this is legit. More often than not, it really does apply.

I had a voucher for a free night's room at a golf resort and spa place about two hours from St. Louis in Illinois. The deal had a special offer with it saying you could stay a second night with a round of golf for just $50. Sounded great. Drive over, stay one night, play golf the next day, stay the second night and it would only cost $50 plus whatever taxes applied. I was looking forward to a couple days off work and out of town to play some golf and relax. I watched the weather, picked out my days for this week, then called to book the reservation.

Then reality sunk in with the details and the whole thing unraveled. Turns out I was being penalized for being single and coming to stay by myself.

According to the reservation person, the whole package was based on double occupancy. They wanted you to come with someone else, and if you didn't, and came by yourself like I was doing, you would still be charged for the second person. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but that was the catch that made the offer too good to be true.

Here's the breakdown as the lady explained it to me. The first night would be free for the room, plus a $6 resort fee per person, and based on double occupancy it would cost me $12 for the free night - not unreasonable and I could live with that. The deal with the second night and golf basically broke down to paying for the room and getting a free round of golf. Still not unreasonable. But, and there's always a but, the room would be based again on double occupancy. So, instead of paying $49.95 for the second night for myself, I would pay that much for me, and that much again for the invisible second person with me, which would be $99.90. Plus, there was still the $6 per person resort fee even for that second night, and for the double occupancy charge, would really be $12. Plus, there would also be any taxes involved that would have to be paid for, and those would apply for both nights, and roughly cost about $10 extra per night. Now, the free golf thing was still the kicker, until they explained the free golf was for the greens fee, you still had to pay for the cart rental, which was $19.

So, what I initially looked at and thought okay, two nights, one round of golf, $50 plus any taxes, etc, turned out to be a lot more. Adding it all up, it would be:
Resort fee, first night = $12
Resort fee, second night = $12
Room for second night (double occupancy) = $99.90
Cart fee for golf round = $19
Estimate of Taxes for 2 nights in room = $20 ($10 per night)

Total cost: $162.90

That doesn't include the gas money to get there, plus I would have to eat out the whole time, and you know the prices at the resort place would be astronomical.

So much for a nice, quick, cheap couple days of hotels and golf.

And to think the whole time I knew it was too good to be true, I just refused to believe it because I was blinded by two words included in the deal: free golf.

Needless to say, that trip was cancelled and I will be staying at home and trying to find a place to play golf around here for most of the week.