Loyalty notes
Convert benefits conservatively
Use cash value only for unrestricted cash. Discount expiring credit, discretionary rewards and items a person would not otherwise buy. Faster support has service value but does not recover gambling losses. Avoid valuing a maximum benefit when the terms say only a smaller or uncertain amount is likely.
- AUnrestricted cash standard
- BDiscount restricted value
- CDo not price the maximum by default
Loyalty notes
Include qualification and maintenance exposure
Turnover is not identical to loss, but it creates repeated exposure to a house edge and variance. Time, attention and the pressure to retain status are additional costs. A tier can appear rewarding while its expected qualifying loss is materially larger than any likely benefit.
- ARepeated edge exposure
- BTime and attention
- CMaintenance pressure
Loyalty notes
Do not let status set the budget
A budget or decision to stop should be made independently of tier progress. If reaching a level requires more activity than was already planned, the incremental reward does not justify the change. For Australian readers, the legal access barrier makes any qualification calculation informational rather than actionable.
- APlan before status
- BIgnore incremental pressure
- CInformational only in Australia