In my MBA accounting class, the seasoned professor who is a banker, started to talk about the hotel industry. In our fixed/variable cost analysis problems, we had to figure out what a hotel had to charge to break even. The problem we did calculated that the variable cost for one nights stay was $12. Which seems a reasonable cost to wash sheets and have housekeeping clean the room. I highly doubt that variable cost changes at all based on the room you stay in. In his discussion, he mentioned that most hotels have an occupancy of 63% on average. I figure if you can get a room at a great rate, chances are the occupancy for that time period is estimated to be very low. If it is low, the hotel has NOTHING to lose if they bump you to a nicer room with a view. They do have loyalty and reputation to gain. Comments? -JB