starflyergold

I was commenting on the suggestion that something akin to the suite certificates may emerge in due course in Le Club. I was not referring to the current FPC certs.

In any case other I am still at a loss what exactly FCP members are loosing, OTHER than the suite certs. I am surprised that Accor have not addressed the issue of what will happen to lifetime FPC members.

CanadaDH

If Accor was planning to introduce a similar benefit, they didn't include it in the communications. The FAQ they provided addressed the fact that guarantees upgrades at booking certs are replaced with upgrades on availability at check-in. If they had plans to introduce a similar certificate system in LC, it would seem a fairly stupid strategy to inform the opposite and drive members away, knowing those were the part of the FPC program that members valued highly.

I think the existing LeClub program is basically what we're all going to get, apart from the transition year where our 2018 certs will be issued one last time.

IMH

I share CanadaDH's concern that we may not see the kind of improvements to LCAH that would make FPC loyalists happy enough to stick around.

A crumb of comfort may be that Accor's approach to LCAH (and the order in which they say and do things) frequently appears "fairly stupid" to the rest of us. So their failure to announce anything regarding guaranteed suite upgrades today needn't necessarily mean that a benefit of that kind is not coming.

cwl

The email notification from Accor reads:

"Now there's even more to celebrate because, as of 2nd July 2018, Raffles, Fairmont and Swissôtel Hotels and Resorts will welcome Le Club AccorHotels members, globally! You'll receive your Le Club AccorHotels member benefits, earn points with each and every stay, and be introduced to some great offers."

There is plenty of time for clarification before this change but it would be helpful for Accor to clarify that it will be the check in date that is relevant for FRHI hotel stays. Reservations for FRHI hotels made prior to 2nd July for check in on or afterward 2nd July I assume will qualify for Le Club points and benefits?

Unfortunately I don't trust Accor to do the right thing by its members where there is even a slight degree of ambiguity.

tris06

Accor will increase or decrease benefits depending on how platinium member numbers are going. If 2018/2019 signals a big exodus of platinium members from the program then they will introduce more benefits. If there is an explosion of platinium members then benefits could be reduced.

By the way I Dont know why Accor could Just add certs for every certain amount of spending Done at certain luxury hotels. So Maybe 10,000 Euros spent only at luxury hotels for a garenteed Suite cert to be used at Any luxury hotel In the program. Each additional 15,000 Euros spent Would add an additional suite cert per stay with a maximum of 4 night limit?

sxc

It seems Swissôtel Eleva status + Le Club Gold status = Le Club platinum. And they status matched Eleva to Le Club Gold, so this is a good outcome for Swissôtel members to some extent.

RJ77

I beg to differ. It's painfully easy to get a FPC Plat with only 10 stays or 30 nights. You don't need to have minimum spend (or status point) to qualify on FPC. Your spending pattern has no bearing on the reasoning that Le Club is the easier program to qualify for top tier status. In fact Le Club has a 14,000 status point (or Euro 5,600 spend as you mentioned) or min. 60 nights requirement and that is some of the toughest programs to qualify. Most programs don't have a status point qualification (or minimum spend) and hence some will game the system by qualifying by stays and they don't do Gold/Platinum challenge like some American chains do.

The only saving grace for FPC has always been the suite upgrade certs (or used to be the free internet when everybody else charged for it). The reason FPC needs to do this is to incentivize customers to seek out its properties as its footprint is painfully small. In other words, they're maintaining a far more costly loyalty/rewards programs than other chains as it can't quite scale up and compete with the big boys. Commercially this is quite untenable.

As it is, there will be a great drop in "Platinums" from FPC in the coming years as they join LCAH as these people simply can't make it to Le Club's prerequisites. The similar pattern will be seen on its own Le Club members as well where it used to be quite easy to qualify for plats due to its various great multiple point offers are now finding themselves needing to qualify through status points or room nights only. That itself is a good thing for Accor maybe, as with far less Platinums they might be able to offer more benefits to its most profitable customers. And I do agree with you that the guaranteed suite upgrade certs are lovely to have, maybe this is something Accor should look at to reward its elite members.

CanadaDH

Yes, they may have a higher night threshold, but the existence of a minimum spend option in Le Club is precisely what makes it easy to qualify for many people. With Fairmont, I had to stay 30 nights each year to get Platinum, with no consideration given to my spend. With Le Club, I will qualify in just under 5 nights (or less if they count spending on F&B and services at the property, I have no idea if that counts or not). Everybody is different, and I'm sure there are people out there, gaming the system as you say, doing mattress runs for $300/night to rack up cheap stay/night counts to hit a status threshold. That might work for business travellers, who have a lot of travel they can direct to various hotels. I don't know what percentage of travellers actually do that. I only stay at a hotel when I want to take a vacation, not just to collect points/nights/stay credit. High volume travellers and high spend travellers are two different groups, both are important, and I like that Le Club recognizes the former in their qualification criteria, where other chains do not. My beef is with the program benefits, or lack thereof.

IMH

Just ten stays would also get FPC Platinum, or have I misunderstood?

If I'm right, that also means that ten Fairmont stays in the first half of 2018 will secure LCAH Platinum until the end of December 2019. So FPC members will have plenty of time to see if LCAH turns into something they want to remain part of.

I suspect only a very small minority of FlyerTalkers would regard room rates of 300 CAD or USD as being in mattress run territory, let alone think that paying those rates was "gaming the system".

CanadaDH

Perhaps. But my point is not that Le Club is the easiest hotel program out there to qualify for, but it is easier than FPC. I might be a bit of an extreme example in my spending, but of those FPC Plats who stay 30 to 59 nights per year, I would guess only a very small number would have racked up those nights but not hit the 5,600 EUR Le Club threshold. That's an average of only 186 EUR per night (or less for those with more than 30 nights), so unless you're seeking out deep discounts and travelling only in off-season, it would be pretty difficult to stay 30 nights at a Fairmont and not spend at least 5,600 EUR while doing it.

IMH

According to this page it is possible to qualify for FPC Platinum with just ten stays, which could be one-nighters:

https://www.fairmont.com/fpc/benefits/

In some countries, those ten stays could be had for less than 1,000 EUR. That said, and in order to try to get us back on topic, it is clear that most FPC elites in N America will be spending at a level that will get them LCAH Platinum very easily indeed.

My guess is that before the end of 2019 either (A) Platinum benefits will improve and Platinum will become harder to achieve or (B) a new level will be introduced above Platinum.

tris06

Well they have already made it harder. Is Accor platinium level around the same difficulty to achieve as other major hotel loyalty programs?

Because the group is bigger maybe it is time for them to consider a new elite level. However no doubt there will be many Fairmont plat members who probably cant reach that level.
There a whole load of them that purchased platinium for life memberships as well for 2000USD.

Anyway I tried to talk some sense into them and some people don't even listen to reasonable opinions but trash it. I look it this way. If I want to spoil my family and get a confirmation suite at time of booking I use my points if I already qualified or they have no points promotions.

What I mean about no sense in this group is they argue with different standards. They complain the requalification is too low with low benifits as they will spend always like 5000 or 6000 EUROS on a stay because Fairmont is so exspensive. So I mention that if your spending that much with points promotions you will get well over 1000 Euros In accor points In that case which would mostly make up for a suite upgrade. Then I am told no...such and such spend 200 USD for a basic room to get a 600 USD per night suite as an example... I am like...but funny how now all of a sudden the parameters change to make your arguement fit.

Goldorak

tris06

So then you would suggest they should raise platinum to say 25,000 status points and gold maybe to 12,000 to satisfy FPC members spending and expectations with of course increased benefits?

RJ77

Most people, would not spend EUR5,600 a year on hotel accommodation, on their own dime. You're in the minority. If you're insinuating that there'll be a deluge of Platinums in the Le Club program, that simply won't happen for reasons I have stated before. If you see it from another angle, if one can be bothered to game the system at FPC, Plat. status can be had easily with 10 one-nighters. Essentially, these people are competing with high spenders like yourself for suite upgrades at choice properties, how does that make you feel? And in LCAH, you won't have to compete with them anymore as you won't be getting any confirmed suite upgrades anyway.

If you're staying at Fairmonts simply because you really like their properties, then having a reward program is just icing on the cake. If on the other hand, the benefits/rewards are what really motivate you, then you really should be looking at other programs. Hyatt Globalist has a min.spend of $20,000 (or 60 nights) but comes with limitless suite upgrades subject to availability, on top of the four confirmed suite upgrade certs and club lounge access. Maybe you should start re-prioritize what loyalty/rewards program to invest in.