When I was looking for hotels in Auckland, I came across the Best Western President Hotel Auckland at 50% off via American Express Travel, bringing the nightly rate to just over 60USD. Had it been a complete disaster, I would have been able to walk away from the room and check-in to another Auckland hotel. For the rate, the stay was comfortable, but obviously not the lap of luxury.
The front desk clerk was friendly during check-in, but the more manager-type working the desk began muttering "look at the rate for his room." I played dumb and asked what the matter was to "discover" that the going rate was just over double what the hotel was being paid. I'm still not quite sure if the point of this exercise was to lower my expectations
even further given the rate I was paying.