I started building Accor Status in November 2014 with a 10-day family stay in a Grand Mercure Singapore. As New Zealand residents we have around a dozen Accor hotels across the range of brands, and having reached Silver with last year’s stay, and had a bad run with another brand I decided to focus and build with Accor.

I had a stay of 5 days in August, which put me within reach of Gold. To this point all was working well online or via the phone app. I then booked for myself and my colleagues 3 stays of - 5 nights Novotel/5 nights Novotel/1 night Pullman. All booked online without difficulty, and all stays completed. But unlike the previous week, I didn’t get the points allocated and I lost all access to my account history, my online Card wouldn’t print out or show in my app, and my points balance was frozen.

The following week I booked 2 x 5 nights at the Ibis. I also contacted the Customer Care centre as the offer for the 3 Stay / 10,000 point bonus came out, which meant I would be able to achieve Platinum. My account was still stuck, no progress, and I couldn’t register for the 10,000 offer.

I have since phoned and emailed 3 times quoting my case number over the last week, to no avail. The account is still stuck, I still can’t register for the promotion (and have lost the bonus of 1,500 points which I would have got for booking before the 12th) and I won’t be able to book and earn the 10,000 points.

I have now booked 5 nights with Langham, and am waiting to book a total of 50 nights over October and November for myself and my team.

Yet nothing. No response, no email, no phone call no nothing. It is getting very easy to choose another brand and start supporting them. Unfortunately with a New Zealand base, Accor are the biggest chain represented here, other than IHG. I only build my Starwood points outside NZ, and Accor have the range of brands that suit my business.

It appears that the Loyalty programme and customer service are not important to Accor. To not even bother to reply is shockingly poor customer service.

I have 3 night across a Sofitel and a Grand Mecure this weekend, and then I'm off to build with another brand.