So how, exactly, does one know whether or not points can be used on your stay? On my last couple of stays, I went to the front desk and applied points against my bill. Does that mean the hotel does some sort of validation of your rate before they agree to redeem points? The agent I dealt with commented that it was the first time he'd ever redeemed any points for a guest. After some confusion, and after realizing I wasn't trying to redeem an FPC certificate, he went into the office to get a supervisor to start the (very cumbersome and stupid) process with the text message confirmation, and then did a manual adjustment to my bill for the amount redeemed. He did say he'd only been with the hotel on the front desk for 8 months, but it was his first ever experience with Accor points. Was there really some sort of rate validation going on during the redemption? Does Accor even have the IT skills to program that logic?

I don't recall seeing anything on the fairmont.com site when making the booking that indicated whether or not points usage would be refused or accepted. My booking was not at the full 'Daily Rate', so is there some list of promotions or discounts that are considered acceptable or not? It doesn't seem like a huge deal, since if you don't use points on one stay, you can use them on the next, but how do you know that your booking will be eligible?