i spoke to Accorplus agent in Malaysia, he told me he has a member renewed this month successfully retain his gold status till next year, and there is no memo saying any change in qualification method.
and
peacefultraveller has accorplus thailand telling him this longer status still valid
but, both malaysia and thailand agents could be wrong, because official website removed this.
i suggest
peacefultraveller to get confirmation via email if you plan to take advantage of this renewal benefit.