Slightly off topic I know but related to such spend not qualifying as real income to the travel company... I had some Delta buddy passes given to me by an employee many years ago that allowed you to travel on stand by. You still paid a fare and after checking following our ordeal it was about the same amount of cash as the consolidated fare from bucket shops with guaranteed reservations. So we spent about the same as we would have for LHR-SFO via ATL using these stand-by tickets as we would have for confirmed reservations.

Needless to say, we got stuck in ATL on the way back and were unable to get on a flight to Europe (forget the UK) for several days. "Welcome to the world of non-rev" the Delta agent told us when we'd spent as much on these tickets as we would have with confirmed reservations through an agent. We ended up buying tickets on AA from MIA to LHR and driving the length of Florida overnight to get home. Never been on Delta since.

It's not just hotels that use such tricks to get real money out of you without actually acknowledging that you're giving them money.