IS BARTER BETTER ?

Barter deals are common within the advertising industry in Thailand. What that means is that a publisher will give space to an advertiser, who in return will allow the publisher to use their facilities or services up to the value agreed for the advertising.
We have one or two - one that has been especially useful is a deal with Bangkok Airways. They get advertising and we get flights to our office in Chiang Mai. We also have ones that have still to be redeemed, such as visits to spas and a few hotels. They're good if we can make use of them, but not good if we don't - obviously.
Earlier this morning one of my colleagues told me we have just agreed one with Asia Books - Thailand's number one English Language bookshop. They will be taking space at our forthcoming Business Fair, and in return we get 20,000 baht worth (about 300 quid) of credit to order books.
Now given that I am the only native English speaker in the company, can you understand why it suddenly feels like Christmas has come early?