GolfNow can get around any “floors” on what they charge for Hot Deal rounds by bundling the purchase:
Even if the round is priced on the GolfNow website at full price, this bundling of offers (with a ShipStix voucher and a Promo Code for the Hot Deal) allows them to monkey with what they actually charge. They can offer HUGE discounts on golf to the consumer, while (at least on the surface) telling the course they are charging based on a “floor”. This entire marketing effort brings absolutely no benefit to their “partner” courses – it is valid only on Hot Deals.
The truth is it takes AWAY from any possible benefit to a partner because it allows them to market directly to customers that are traveling to a particular market, and restrict them to a Hot Deal before they ever leave home. A golfer that buys this deal will search a given destination market, and if the course they preferred to play is not available in a Hot Deal, they will have to choose another course.
This one promotion alone has the potential to “steal” a huge number of rounds from the market by restricting the play to Hot Deals only. Yet golf courses that “partner” with GolfNow seldom realize this is happening, and there is absolutely no way to know for certain it HAS happened… GolfNow accomplishes the discount through a Promo Code that is never revealed to the golf course in any way. GolfNow justifies this by saying they ARE setting a “floor” on the prices they advertise – thus because they discount in addition to the “advertised” price they are abiding by the floor.
That is if anyone is wise enough to even catch what they are doing!!
What do you think? Any validity to the points made?
