starflyergold

I can exclusively reveal that starting from tomorrow Accor will announce a number of improvements in the Le Club Accorhotels programme in the following areas:

- improved website for members and non members alike, the new version will be a beta version which will be rolled out and subsequently improved. Accor have specifically requested the FlyerTalk community for feedback (good and bad) which I'm sure people here will have no problem in providing

Accor have reviewed their offering for status members and are introducing some new improvements from 10 October:

- loyalty perks for the economy and mid-scale hotel segment: Hotels starting at ibis, ibis style, Mercure and Novotel will also offer perks for silver/gold/platinum members. This may include free water, upgrades, newspapers, late check outs. The offer will be reflecting the level of the hotel and the regional "flavour" and of course the Le Club status level.

- improvements at higher scale hotels: Accor will improve the perks on offer for MGallery, Pullman and Sofitel and said that they have strengthened the standard operating procedures at the higher level to ensure consistency. This is very much in response to the comments made on FT. I also understand that upgrade policy is going to be strengthened for status customers. They clearly see the Asian hotels as leading in this regard.

- Special Moments: Over the next couple of months Accor will offer special moments for holders of larger amounts of Le Club points. Some of you may have received such a targeted offer via email some time ago where they offered a week at the Sofitel So in Mauritius at a significant points discount. These offers will be rolled out for all members across the world and in more hotels.

In conversation Accor have indicated that these improvements reflect their efforts to respond to the comments and concerns of the FlyerTalk community and they are are very keen to hear feedback. They also wish to remind loyal members that with over 2700 hotels participating in the Le Club these new improvements may take a little time to come on stream completely.

Accor's Vice President for Loyalty concluded by underlining the importance of the Flyertalk community as key customers to keep the programme competitive and customer focused.

stimpy

All excellent news. ^

The devil is in the details of course. And I will be interested in actual customer experiences, but I'm hopeful that this will be a real improvement.

Goldorak

This is great news
And it´s good to know that FT was a (the ?) source of the information (thank you Nathan / AccorConcierge and to our moderator Starflyergold.^)
Let's hope that it won't take too much time to be implemented across the network.

stimpy

I just noticed this part, which has me a bit concerned as I primarily stay in European properties. Does this mean that the Euro hotels are against giving good upgrades to Platinum members, but Asian hotels are happy to accommodate? This is currently the case it seems. Can this not be improved to be as good as all the other chains are in Europe?

PabloM

Thanks for sharing. I look forward to hearing more

barracuda93

Good news to hear.

Accor is a great chain in Asia.

Really hope they will widen their presence in Taiwan and Macau though. Both places have just one (!) Accor property each.

starflyergold

The news is based on a conversation I had earlier today with Accor's VP for Loyalty ^

starflyergold

What this means is that they know that Asian hotels, and especially Sofitels, are better than European hotels at customer service and they want the rest to come up to Asian standards.

PabloM

The Asian hotels are also way better than the Australian ones on service too. They could learn a lot.

FlytheTail

This (emphasis mine) will be very well received. Some hotels are generous with elite perks (room upgrade, lounge access), others provide very little (better room view and free welcome drink). I look forward to more information. Thanks, SFG.

gilbertaue

Great news..!
I have to admit that I was one of the "freeloaders" on the Plat signup last year. Living in Asia and staying mostly in Pullmans and Sofitel it was very valuable (& recognized). In the few Asian Novotels I stayed the GMs there did do their best to recognize the status (even though they didnt have to).
Through all this, I have now already reached Platinum requalification.
So the latest news shared by starflyergold sounds great.

Now for a some improvement on their BRG responses... (and especially response times). I submitted mine last Friday and am still waiting..

3544quebec

Didn't we also have an announcement months ago that there was to be a new enhancement for Le Club members staying at properties in the Asia Pacific of free internet? What ever happened to that new benefit? Or am I mixing up my programs/benefits?

gilbertaue

I have so far only come accross free internet in Asia at Accor properties... if you want faster internet you do need to pay though.

Goldorak

There is some resistance for a few ones, e.g. Novotel Singapore Clarke quay.

stimpy

Spain too has free internet at all properties.