starflyergold

Now that's Accor's A-club Hotel programme has been in existence for a year it seems time has come to give its own forum.

A-club encompasses such varied hotels as: Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Mercure, Suitehotel, ibis, all seasons and Accor Thalassa. Non hotel partners include Europcar car rental and airlines AF-KL, BA, LH, DL, SQ, QF, JJ, TP, TG and US. It also includes ClubMed and the French Mouvango Network.

The programme includes a three tier elite level: Silver, Gold and Platinum.

A paid for privileges programme Favorite Guest is also part of A-club.

Currently in the Other Hotel Programs Forum 76 threads reference Accor and A-club with an excess of 500 replies.

Over to the esteemed TalkBoard for your consideration

Cholula

starflyergold, thanks for the suggestion and for doing the research on this. Mucho appreciated.

We look forward to the discussion and any comments, pro and con, that FT’ers would like to offer regarding the creation of an Accor-A Club forum.

diederik

I'm definately interested in this! ^

I'm currently a gold member at A-Club, becoming platinum soon. Most of my hotel stays are at Accor properties (Mercure, Novotel, Sofitel mostly) - actually, I'm typing this message from the Sofitel in Fiji now - and I'm also organizing meetings at their properties. I'm no expert on their program, but can share any info if needed.

Goldorak

I'm also very interested in this new forum in which I can participate actively. I'm A-club platinum (ex-sofitel privilege gold) and staying a lot in Accor hotels

I just posted on the other thread :
"I think it's a very good idea to create a new forum for Accor. They are one of the biggest hotel group in the world and having a specific forum will stimulate the debate, rather than having threads mixed in a long list of various, unrelated discussions"

Cupart

I agree with the other posters that it would be nice to see a separate Accor section. Don't necessarily need a section for each brand (i.e. Pullman, Novotel, Mercure, Ibis etc) but an over all section would be very nice and I honestly think more people would be able to find what they are looking for (both readers and posters) instead of ignoring the "others" section.

I would like to see the "others" section being used for small independent hotels or the much smaller chains, something Accor hardly falls in under

Thanks,

F

dbuckho

Adding support for an A-club forum.

I am also an A-club platinum member via being an ex-Sofitel privilege gold (picked that up during a Europe trip a couple years ago). For the past few weeks have been researching an upcoming Europe trip and most places I am going there are Accor properties - especially in the small towns - but have not found that much information about the properties or benefits. Accor strikes me as being similar to Six Continents (Holiday Inn/Intercontinental) in size and structure -- if we can have a Priority Club Forum and even a Best Western forum, I think Accor/A-Club is big enough for their own.

NickB

I do not think that it can be compared to IHG. Regardless of the number of properties in the respective groups, the PC and AMB frequent stayer programmes have a richness and complexity that require much more discussion than the half-hearted attempt at a frequent stayer programme that a-club is.

That said, this does not in any way detract from the usefulness of an a-club forum on its own merits (rather than by comparison with IHG).

uproared

Count me in!

dbuckho

Most of the hotel forums have as many posts about specific properties or how to deal with customer service issues as they do about the loyalty program itself. So with Accor having 4000 properties to IHG's 3700 or so, and with the brands aligning across the spectrum from budget to luxury, seems like a pretty good comparison to me. In researching my upcoming Europe trip, my options in every small town seem to be a Holiday Inn/HIExpress or a Mecure/Ibis - hence why I was comparing the two.

Agree the Priority Club program is much better. But who knows - A-Club may get there someday too. Having an active forum of Flyertalkers can only help the situation. I'll even volunteer to write them a letter to let them know it exists and suggest they assign a lurker - similar to some of the other companies on here.

starflyergold

This indeed is a very valid point. A-club is evolving at the moment and changes occur both in terms of the actual programme and the hotels participating. Sofitel at the top end is continuing to restructure (see Hanoi and the first Sofitel Legends while others have relegated to MGallery level e.g. Amsterdam, Geneva, Vienna etc.). Accor is aggressively expanding in the Asian market while consolidating their position in Europe.

FT could provide suitable advice to users here (it does already) in a more targeted way and may even help changing the programme to suit the frequent traveller community (provided Accor is listening).

NickB

In a sense, this was what I was trying to say. The case for an a-club forum stands on its own two feet, not by comparison with the PC forum, as you are not going to get the kinds of threads you get on the PC forum about the program itself. It is more likely to have more of a tripadvisor flavour. In truth, it would, I suspect, be less of an a-club forum than an accor hotels forum. But I do not see that as necessarily precluding it.

Ha! Watch carefully for the huge cloud of pigs over your nearest Novotel.

Koby

I stay regularly at Accor hotels (and would stay a lot more if they had a decent program – something A|Club is not).

I agree that Accor deserves its own forum. ^
But I think it should not be limited to A|Club itself, but also allow for discussions on Accor properties in general. They have some (budget) brands that are not included in the program.
(I can imagine topics like, for instance, the hotel shuttle for the Etap at CDG )

starflyergold

Oh my, must we? Well I guess since such esteemed properties as Motel 6 in the US are part of A-club (redemption only) we might throw in etap as well. Seriously I thought the proposed forum would focus on Accor's A-club and Accor properties. Even some Ibis (all properties in China for example) are not part of the programme but that should not stifle debate in the spirit of FT's inclusive approach

JOUY31

This would also be a welcome addition for me, as I have several stays a year at Accor Hotel properties, in addition to my three main affiliations. The group has pretty good coverage for my travel pattern, although the previous versions of the frequent guest programme were not really attractive.

NickB

Does that mean that you find the current version of the programme attractive? Enquiring minds want to know...