Originally Posted by
tris06
I think why I put up this price per night is because pre merger quite a few members of FPC , and I wont say who was always saying they can easily earn platinium membership staying just 1 week at a Fairmont. So to be honest you created the perception to argue your case before. Now times are different you argue a completely different case to suit your statments.
That would be me, and I did earn 14,000 points on a 5-night stay last August. But it's also true that I took a full 18 nights to reach 14,000 points so far this year. Jasper is correct, in that rates at Fairmont properties can be very seasonal. My summer trips to Lake Louise cost well over $1,000/night, and that's even with using an FPC suite upgrade. However, my winter visits cost less than half that. And, by finding deals (which are also more easy to come out of peak season), I never pay close to the full daily rate. I've managed to get some really great rates on my stays... really great rates. Definitely, I would characterize Fairmont rates as not consistent, and I think that has a lot to do with the very high percentage of leisure travellers, particularly at their resort properties (I rarely stay at city properties).
Originally Posted by
tris06
Compared to the old statuses:
Premier required 5 stays or 10 nights min. According to FPC members the hotels would usually cost a good 300-600USD if not more per night. So unless you really tried to game the system and staying at less prestigious fairmonts which do sell for like around 150 USD per night the number of points you would have earnt would come very close to getting platinium membership with Accor.
Platinium FPC program required 10 stays or 30 nights. Again possible someone could book all 1 nighters at Fairmonts but that is Just gaming the system. A regular platinum member doing say a more standard 20-30 nights but qualifying for 10 stays is still going to usually earn around 20,000 points.
And I said that right from the beginning when the merger was first announced... the benefits of Accor LeClub were much worse than FPC, but at the same time, I also fully admitted that it was far easier to achieve LCAH Platinum than FPC Platinum.
Now I'm not sure I've ever stayed at any of these sub-$300 rates at Fairmonts that have been mentioned. Certainly they exist, but really, who wants to go to Winnipeg in the winter! One could certainly have gamed the FPC system easily if they had the time, but doing so would have meant spending some time in places one really would have no desire to go, and at off times of the year, and in room categories that are less than optimal. I don't think very many people did that.