It's Hard Gosh-Darn Work Getting Free Lodging

By the time you read this, we'll be back. Back from our trip to visit The Pony for his birthday, with a side trip for my own birthday. Not so much a side trip as a halfway trip. A stop for an extra night, to break up the 9-hour drive. Of course it involves a casino.

Farmer H and I have offers for free nights at a casino halfway to The Pony. Doesn't interfere with our schedule to add another day to the trip. Lodging is free!

I called to reserve a room. The desk clerk was very polite and helpful. She saw that I had two different offers, one for two nights, and one for one night. She explained that they couldn't be combined. I said I'd take the one-night offer, since that's all the time we had on this trip. She got it all set up, and asked if I had any questions. Of course I did!

Farmer H had a coupon for $10 free play upon checkout. I did not have such a coupon for myself. I asked if Farmer H could still get the free play at checkout if the room was in my name. Clerky said that he could not. "Do you want me to switch the reservation to his name?"

"I'd like that, but I figure you can't, since he would have to give you the information himself, and he's upstairs in bed right now."

"Oh, that's right. Well, he can call us and we can switch it over. Or you can do it when you check in! Just come to the desk, and all we have to do is change it into his name and player's number."

"That sounds great! We'll do that."

That part of my FREE ROOM QUEST went great. The next part, not so much.

We've been staying at the casino in Norman when we visit The Pony. I have free nights twice a month. Thing is, the free nights are Sunday thru Thursday, and now that The Pony is back in classes, he's available on the weekend. Specifically Friday (he's out of class by noon) and Saturday. He has other activities on Sunday evenings, with a chemistry organization.

I knew when I called that I could not get a free night on the days we were staying. However, once before, the desk clerk had finagled things around and let me use my two free nights at the same time, and not one during the first half of the month, and the other for the last half. I'd told her I was worried that I couldn't see any rooms available online. She assured me that their policy was to keep rooms available for the people with comp offers, so the rooms available to the general public sold out fast. Good to know.

When I called this time, around 11:30 p.m., I got a clerk who was polite enough, but didn't seem all that competent. I understand that they put the best workers on the day shift, when there's a lot more personal interaction. Rather than nights, when everybody is already booked, and not checking in and out. No complaints about the politeness. I just think maybe this gal didn't know all the ins and outs of her inn.

Clerky took all my info. Got my player's card number. Informed me that there were no free rooms, and that the cost was $199 per night. WHOA! That's a bit steep! I know that a lot of hotels down there raise their prices for weekends, and when there are OU football games and such. But I didn't know of anything special this weekend. Still, we needed a room, and that's where we like to stay. So I told her that was fine. She typed in a bunch of stuff, and then said, "OH! We don't have any room available those nights."

SERIOUSLY?

I think maybe she was confused, or was looking at the calendar that I saw on their website for booking. Why would she take my info as if everything was fine, and THEN look up to see if rooms were available? I'm not saying she deliberately shut me out of reservations. Only that she was confused. She'd messed up twice already. Forgetting her log-in password, and then trying to type in all caps. At least that's what she said when it was taking a while.

Anyhoo... I thought that maybe if I called back the next day, in DAYTIME, and got a different clerk, they might find some rooms. And they might give me a rate less than $199 per night. But I was done with it. Their loss! Let them spite themselves by not taking my $199 for two nights, and the four extra hours per night that I'd have been roaming around inside their casino, losing extra money while Farmer H was in bed.

I booked two rooms at La Quinta, two miles up the road, for $82 per night. Not free. But I figure it will save my gambling bankroll for another time. The Pony should plan on a weekday visit next time, I think...