Casino comps vs. hotel points: which loyalty maths pays better?
A roulette wheel in its polished wooden bowl. Photo: Oniff, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Hotel programmes reward what you spend. Casino resorts reward what you are expected to lose. Here is how comps are calculated and how they compare with a points balance.
Hotel loyalty programmes and casino players' clubs both promise rewards for coming back, but they use very different maths. Understanding the difference helps you decide where your money and your loyalty go furthest.
How hotel points are earned
In Accor's programme, you earn a fixed number of Rewards Points for every €10 spent at participating hotels, with a bonus for higher tiers. The value of a point is fixed too. It is transparent: if you spend €1,000, you can work out exactly what you will receive.
How casino comps are earned
Casinos calculate the theoretical loss of each player, often shortened to "theo". The formula is roughly: average bet × number of decisions per hour × hours played × house edge. A player who bets €25 a hand at blackjack for four hours, at about 60 hands an hour and an edge of around 1 percent with average play, has a theoretical loss of about €60, whatever actually happens at the table. The casino then returns a share of that theo as comps: free rooms, meals, show tickets or slot play.
| Hotel points | Casino comps | |
|---|---|---|
| Based on | What you spend | What you are expected to lose |
| Transparency | Published earn rates | Formulas rarely published |
| Typical rewards | Discounts, free nights, partner miles | Rooms, dining, shows, free play |
| Can you lose money earning them? | No, you pay for a stay | Yes, they follow gambling |
Which pays better?
For a traveller who does not gamble much, hotel points win easily, because every euro spent earns a predictable return. For a regular table player, comps can be generous: a weekend room, dinner and show tickets may all be covered. But those comps are funded by the house edge. Over time, a player usually loses more than the comps are worth. A comp is a discount on entertainment, not a profit.
Using both sensibly
- Join the players' club before you play even a few hands, so your play is rated.
- Never increase your bets just to earn a comp. The extra theoretical loss usually costs more than the reward.
- Keep your hotel stays in the hotel programme and your gaming in the players' club. Mixing the two rarely helps.
The best of both worlds is a hotel stay that earns points, with an evening at the casino treated as a night out with a fixed budget. For the jargon behind all this, see our hotel loyalty glossary.
