Having had the day to reflect on the albeit limited information available here are some intial thoughts:
1. Far too early announce the change. I am not sure what is to be gained from this. The start date is January 2020 and now I do not know what I will renew (if I do) to as Platinum (unlikely I qualify for some la-de-da super elite status).
2. Changes to tiers: At the moment there is precious little difference between Gold and Platinum. This is made worse by the very uneven implementation at hotel level. The constant begging and reminding wears very thin. Will this change, can this change? I have my doubts. Brand standards and enforcement are not Accor's strength. Also I do not really like these "super aspirational, semi secret status levels" some programmes have. It just smacks of, dare I say, American elitism. But again this is just me.
3. Experiences: call me old fashioned but I am a member of a hotel loyalty programme to make my
hotel stays better. I personally care very little about "experiences". But then again I am not a millennial...
4. Long term loyalty: I sincerely hope that those of us who were loyal for more than 10 years will finally see some movement in that regard. Haven't we suffered enough?
From Sofitel Privilége to A-Club, Le Club Accorhotels to ALL, it has been a rocky road. I know Accor HQ are aware of this. Time to give back n'est-ce pas?
5. Programme partners: Accor want to integrate onefinestay and restaurants into ALL. Fine, then make them status earning, after all I am paying Accor money. onefinestay is a hotch potch of offers with a very limited geographical scope. Restaurants (which are attached to hotels) need to up their game. At the moment the info on restaurants is at best limited, very few would be destinations in their own right. Most listings contain no information, nor can they be easily booked online.
6. New brands: I gather some will be added this year. The fact that with some brands only some properties are included is very confusing (Banyan Tree and Rixos)
7. Language: Please tone down the PR/consultants language.
8. Back to basics: Customer
service and IT infrastructure. None of this will make an iota of a difference if these two areas are not improved massively.
Again these are just some first thoughts based on the scarce information available. I reserve my opinion until more becomes available.
