Thanks Marc; I appreciate the input. 
Here is what happened —
I emailed the affiliate manager at one of my better performing programs (where I have earned a nice amount every month for nearly a year), and I explained to him basically everything that you wrote in your post, but in a shortened form. I mentioned how much I bring in each month, and I politely asked him what he thought about comping my hotel and plane.
The affiliate manager wrote back and told me (in one sentence) that they couldn’t do anything for me because they aren’t attending the conference.
I don’t know, maybe this is a good reason? I thought maybe we could work something out anyway; I guess not.
As a side note — I don’t know why a program would skip this conference. Isn’t this supposed to be a great way to network and generate new business? Even if they don’t have an exhibit, they could at least send someone to represent the company and meet the people who keep them in business.