Thank you to the experienced Accor people who explained this Accor rule. This is extremely useful information for an Accor newcomer like me. I had no idea about this. This means, for example, that people who have already reached their 2019 Points target can check into an Accor hotel anytime in December 2019 and provided that they check out anytime in January 2020 the Points for that Stay will be credited to their new 2020 Points total which reverts to zero on 1st January. I think I will take advantage of this rule,
(Of course the opposite is true for people who are rushing to reach their Points target by the end of 2019 so it is very important that this rule is applied consistently one way or the other.)
Last year with Accor and my previous main chain I was only counting nights for Status, points were only important for rewards. But everything has changed with this new spending based Diamond Status.
Actually, I still wish that Accor had allowed a dual pathway to Diamond . . . either Points or Nights . . . setting a number of nights which was profitable to them. But that ship seems to have sailed so Status Points have suddenly become far more important.
On a related note, I have suddenly become far more aware of those hotels which operate their own spas, laundries and transportation and therefore provide Status Points for this sort of incidental spending.
This is by no means my first consideration when choosing a hotel but it has now become one consideration when more than one option is available. As much as possible, I will avoid those hotels where all three incidental spending opportunities (spa, laundry, transportation) are third party. Recently I have found hotels where two or even three of these categories have been eligible so if other variables are positive then I will favour these hotels for repeat visits.
I understand the business reasons for using third parties but I hope that Accor will encourage its hotels to provide more incidental spending opportunities now that they are introducing a spending based highest tier.
(Completely unrelated point: recently noticing a move away from plastic water bottles to glass water bottles, and am now staying in a hotel which two months ago began a new policy of recycling its damaged sheets and duvets into laundry bags. Planet21 initiatives.)