Finding a destination for a refreshing family escape in Texas can be a tall order during summer, when cool breezes are hard to come by. A good contender: The Horseshoe Bay Resort Marriott, northwest of  Austin, in Texas’s famed Hill Country. It offers a terrific lineup of family-fun enticements:  four pools, watersports (the resort is set on man-made Lake LBJ), a spa, kids' club, and golf on three Robert Trent Jones, Sr. courses (even cooler, no doubt, if you snag early tee times). Tennis is also a big attraction here. Besides the 16 regular tennis courts, there are three USTA-sponsored “Andy Roddick Kids Courts,” scaled down for young beginners.

The resort is offering a Summer Family Fun package that seems to pile on the discounts. It includes:

• two-night minimum stay (in July, a double guestroom with resort view normally runs $199/night midweek, $300/night weekend)
• $200 resort credit per stay towards golf, spa, dining, watercraft rentals or kids’ club
• 20% golf discount on midweek golf fees or 10% off Fri- Sun (greens fees normally start at $118/person during summer)
• 20% spa discount on all midweek spa services, and 10% off  Fri-Sun (a 50-minute massage starts at $110)
• "Fun Pack" for each child 3 to 12 (with tote bag, full size beach towel, resort-themed Rubik’s cube, crayon and small toys (valued at over $70)
• unlimited soda for each child (let's assume $25/child x 2 kids = $50/day x 2 days = $100)
• 50% off at the kids’ club (regularly $40 for a half day, $75 for a full day, and $55 for the evening program)
• daily breakfast buffet for four at the Lantana Grill ($22/adult x 2 + $5/child x 2 = $54/day for a family of four x 2 days = $108)
  

Without the package, a family of four booking a standard room would pay $398 for a two-night midweek stay or $600 for a weekend stay. When priced out the deal, we were quoted a two-night package rate of $750 midweek or $922 on the weekend. So the package price is significantly higher than the room-only rate—$352 more for a midweek stay and $322 more on weekends.

Now let's add up the package inclusions. If you're smart and apply the resort credit to meals, you'll save $200 on dining plus $108 on breakfasts plus $100 in kids' beverages, which totals $408 in savings on meals and beverages. That sounds great until you do the math. For all the hoopla, the package nets you less than $100 in savings over two nights—just $28 per night midweek versus $43 per night on the weekend. 

Those discounts for golf, spa, and the kids' club are nice to have, but remember, you'll have to spend to save. 

We didn't factor the kids' gifts into our calculations. They may be fun to get, but they certainly wouldn't contribute $140 worth of value ($70 per kid) to a family's stay.

Deal or no deal? Eh. There's a lot of ridin' and ropin' with this deal, but when the dust settles it leaves you pretty much where you started. You pay significantly more for the Summer Family Fun package than you would for just a room, so those meal-and-beverage "freebies" aren't really so free after all. A family of four that was watching their dollars could probably do just as well by opting for the room-only rate and budgeting for meals and drinks. The exception: If you plan to spend time on the golf courses or in the spa or kids' club, you'll appreciate those added discounts.

The package is good from May 22 through September 6.  You can't book online through Horseshoe Bay's direct site, but you can through Marriott’s site. We were able to get a lot of good infomation (plus a delightful twang) talking to a rep on the hotel's reservations line at 877/611-0112.

Note: Neither the room rate nor the package rate includes the mandatory $15-a-night resort fee.