Unit price versus cost per wrist

Replacement rate is the hidden variable

A band that fails part way through a stay costs its own price again plus the interaction that follows it. At a five per cent failure rate on a two-week stay that is a small effect; at twenty per cent it dominates the comparison completely. Very few properties measure it, which is why very few know which of their previous suppliers was actually cheaper. One season of counting settles it permanently.

Staff time is a real line

Every replacement is a guest at a desk, a member of staff who stops doing something else, and often a walk to a room. At peak that is the busiest hour of the day being spent on a two-dollar item. Properties that put even a rough hourly figure on this find that band durability moves from a procurement preference to an operations priority, which is where it belongs.

Where the cheap band genuinely wins

Short wear periods. A day-pass band is discarded before durability matters, so paying for a season-grade construction is money burned. The mistake runs in both directions, and specifying a durable band for a single-day use is as expensive an error as the reverse — it is simply less visible, because nothing fails.

Comparing two quotations honestly

Ask both suppliers the same four questions: what is the unit price at this quantity, what is the expected working life in your conditions, what proportion of a run typically needs replacement, and what ships with the order. A supplier who can answer the third question is telling you something real. One who cannot has not measured their own product, which is itself the answer.