Other Hotel Programs - A-Club: new and lost!

Hello folks,

I never stayed at any Novotel before but I received an advertisement informing me about Accors "Accor's Asia Pacific City Super Sale". So I tried that out, registered myself and proceeded with my booking. I was very suprised to learn that I was unable to complete the booking because my brand new A-Club number needed to be "activated". It took almost 32 hours before the Novotel web page accepted my number. Is that usual behavior?

I proceeded with my initial booking attempt and managed to book myself a nice little room in Australia. I was specifically selecting a room with two duble beds and even wrote it into the comments box, just to be sure. I was waiting about 1 hour for my booking confirmation mail, however I am still waiting. I also noticed that although I booked my room with my a-Club numer, I cannot access my upcoming reservations by the A-Club web page? Am I overlooking something or is that really the case?

I was really concerned about the reservation since I did not receive any confirmation yes, so I tried to locate my data on the novotel page. I can access my reservation from there. It seems to be confirmed but only with one king bed?! How could things like that happen? I selected a room featuring two beds! I tried to find information on whom to call at the A-Club site, unsuccessful. I called my local Novotel reservation office and they told me that they cannot assist since Novotel back here has no connection to Novotel Australia?! What is up with that, I really cannot believe that! Has any of you had similar problems ever?

Couple of different questions there:

1. Activation of a-club membership. Yes this can happen at times but once done you should not have a problem.
2. Reservation on a-club website. This is a known problem with a-club that you cannot access your existing reservations on the website. This is only possible on the accorhotels.com website.
3. Room type. The room type you selected should be the one your reserved. If it is not best to contact the hotel directly and sort it out. Email them
4. Novotel around the world. they are grouped by regions and US reservations might have problems accessing data from other regions. It is not true that they have no connection. They are all part of Accor, either as franchisee or directly owned.
4. A-club contact. As standard member you will only have email support. Phone support is only available to Platinum members.

In general A-club is a fairly decent programme and despite some other FTs problem with it I for one like it. As with all programmes you will have to gain status before your will see benefits. Enjoy your stay!