I think we all know the 4S $234 rate is an outlier - a unique opportunity that most of us would jump on if it fit our travel plans, regardless of our satisfaction level with our preferred mass-market chain.

The other thing is that whenever I'm going to somewhere in an off-peak season (like PHX at the end of the summer), I see stuff all over the board - especially if I'm booking the trip a few months in advance. Some hotels load crazy-low rates well in advance; others don't see to load them until a few weeks in advance.

I also see this when we travel over Christmas or Thanksgiving to cities where those are the lowest-demand weeks possible. One mainline Marriott/Westin/Hilton type hotel will be showing $89/nt. The one next door will be showing normal weekday corp rates of $199/nt. Then, two months later, the latter realizes it's a holiday and also drops to $89/nt. (I run into this in Minneapolis often. There, the area Marriotts tend to load Christmas rates earlier in the year than the Starwoods.)

So it's possible that Camelbak has a special event that weekend and is genuinely close to selling out at high rates. But it's also possible that they simply haven't bothered loading promotional rates for that weekend yet. I'd say "keep looking", but why bother when you can go check out a 4S at a sweet rate? @:-)