New trend for hotels?

Came across a couple of  articles in a travel journal recently about a “pay what you want”  experiments. 

The Rancho Bernardo Inn Golf Resort and Spa is offering a promotion called the “Survivior Package“.  Basically, you decide your price by deciding what amenities you can do without.  For $219  per night you get deluxe accommodations plus breakfast for two.  However, if you can do without breakfast, it’s $199; without honor bar, it’s $179; without heat or air condition, it’s $159; etc. It’s a great way to attract budget conscious travellers.  Contact them for more details. 

A village in Austria’s Alps, Langenfeld, is offering tourists to test their hotels, restaurants, and leisure facilities in return for completing a survey paying what they think their stay was worth.  They are accepting up to 200 people to participate in this event.  The local tourism organization is looking to find out their strengths and weaknesses so they can improve for the future.

This actually reminds of me of another hotel that also offered a “Pay What You Want” promotion. In March 2009, the Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen Hotel allowed guests to choose the rate they wanted to pay. For a designated number of hours each day during the promotion, potential guests could bid on a price they would like to pay.  If they were one of the first to bid, they could win a night at the hotel for the price they bid.

Not sure if this could be a new trend but it definitely provides insightful information for the companies involved on the quality of their services and their current pricing strategy during these challenging economic times.