The Vegas Internet community is all abuzz tonight with the news that a great discount code (SDM060, “The Ultimate Escape”) that had been shared all over the Internet–on normally trusted sites–was only intended for certain MGM player’s club members, and many, many unhappy travelers have received emails from the MGM Grand telling them, essentially, that the reservations they had booked (and received confirmations for) are no good and they have to either rebook MGM (at a higher price, of course) or book another hotel. You can read more about this at The Strip Podcast.

What a mess. I don’t want to get involved in the debate about whether or not MGM is telling the truth about what happened or whether, given the economy, they would have been better off just honoring the deal. Whether or not they made the right call on that, I’m at least glad they are alerting people ahead of time that if they weren’t eligible for the code in the first place, that the reservation won’t be honored and they should rebook. Imagine the uproar if hundreds of people showed up in Vegas only to be told they’d have to pay the regular room rate of $129/night! (Or worse yet, told that they have no reservation and the hotel is full.) I do feel for the woman described in the above blog who did the right thing by calling to see if she was eligible, was told she was, and is now being told she isn’t. In cases such as hers, I think MGM should just honor the rate. That was clearly their mistake and their records should show that.

The upshot is that this is a cautionary tale for all of us who scour the Internet looking for great hotel rates. Be very careful about where you get your codes and discounts and read the fine print to make sure you are eligible for them. You might even have to call the hotel. In the case of Vegas, if you don’t even have a player’s club card and you’ve gotten a screaming deal code off an Internet site that isn’t showing up on the hotel’s “Special Offers” page, chances are, you’re setting yourself up for heartbreak.