I've read the first couple of your Frugal Fridays columns re the
true cost of comps. There's another side of the coin I think you
should mention: the VALUE of a comp.
If you use a comp to eat in a restaurant that you only "sort of"
like (because it's "free") rather than going somewhere you like
more, are you getting full value? If you drive across town to obtain
and eat a comped meal (or walk half an hour, or ride the bus, etc.),
and you could eat out at a similar place two minutes from your home
(albeit not for "free"), then shouldn't the cost of using the comp
be subtracted from its value?
If you get a comped room, the comp points are subtracted according
to the prevailing "rack rate". If you could have paid at
least "casino rate" at that hotel, or could have stayed somehwere
nearby for less, then is a $100 room comp (for example) actually
worth $100?
If you get bounceback cash and wind up scurrying all over town to
pick it up, no matter how hard you try, don't you wind up missing
some of it? Especially since some of the redemption periods are only
one or two days long! So the value of bounceback is not its FACE
value, but rather, the actual amount of it that you can gather, as a
practical matter.
I look at that free buffet coupon that Stations mails me every
month, and reflect that I could use points to get a buffet anyway,
and they would be half price at that. So what's the value of THAT
comp? Close to zippo.
My point here is that comps are rarely, if ever, worth their actual
face value.