Recently tried to book a room in London using points and have been left rather frustrated

Despite looking up hotels online that show they accept points bookings, when I called central reservations to book, they spent 25 mins trying to process a booking before giving up and trying to contact the hotel themselves. They weren't able to speak to the hotel so suggested I call them myself, which I did.

I called the hotel reservation line and was told they are unable to process points bookings for an unknown reason but the lady was very helpful and tried multiple hotels in the area, all unable to be booked by points. She then spoke to their front desk who didn't know anything, and then the back office who said the only way to book points rooms was to send an email to a certain address, which I did

The email was promptly answered however only to point out that if I wanted to book with points, I had to contact Accor customer service and not the hotel direct.

Explaining my path to get to the hotels email reservation department and Accor customer service had been my first stop, she checked up and then changed the story to points reservations can only be made through the app, therefore I checked the app again, but low and behold, no option to book with points.

I was told I could book a flexible ticket and use points at check in to offset the cost but with the run around I had already been given, I was not going to risk giving my money to a company that is run so poorly in case they don't feel like redeeming points at check in. Also the rate for doing that is quite a bit higher than the Book with Confidence rate that I would be able to utilise if a cash customer.

Exasperated, I went ahead and booked with another hotel brand and have no intention of using Accor for personal cash stays again

Sorry for the long read but I just had to rant. What a backwards system Accor is