CanadaDH

So, I just finished my first stay with "Le Club" points. The points have been credited to my account, but I'd like to figure out how they are calculated.

I was given 6,276 status points for 5 nights at the Fairmont Banff Springs (not all paid, since I used up a pile of FPC certificates) and 13,886 status points for 5 nights at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Not that I need them, since Plat status is comped for 2019, so my question is more academic and knowing for the future. In total, I received 20,162 status points for about 7 paid nights, although it gave me 10 nights credit on the stay credit section of my points history. It looks like the free nights counted toward the night credit, but not the points. I would have assumed zero night credit on a free night, but again, it's academic since I would qualify on points.

In addition to the base room charges, I paid for the following items during the stay. Which of these are supposed to count?

• Various taxes (which I assume don't count)
• Resort fees
• Valet parking
• Hotel spa
• Hotel dining
• Purchases from on-site stores

I also redeemed 20,000 points on my Lake Louise stay, which credited a bit over CAD$600 when converted from EUR, which were earned from the Banff stay, plus 10,000 bonus points awarded on the conversion from FPC to LeClub for reasons I don't quite know. Does the redemption of points reduce the points awarded on the stay they are redeemed against?

How do the points work on dining charges? The hotel invoice has a total for each restaurant, but included in that would also be taxes and tips. Are tax and/or tips on the restaurant bill deducted before calculating points? I also redeemed about $600USD in FPC dining certificates, which I assume reduced the points calculation. Or are restaurant charges excluded entirely?

Finally, where does one see the exchange rate used, converting from CAD charges to points calculated in EUR? Is it the hotel rate of the day on the sign at the front desk, or some other rate stored in Accor internal systems?

With so many variables, I'm not entirely sure what to include and exclude, to see if the calculation is correct.

Thanks.

cwl

From Le Club T & C's

The exchange rate applied by the hotel at Check-out is taken from the "Multidevises" database (a Reuters Bank database of monetary and financial information).

Eligible expenses for point earning

"Only the following expenses are eligible to earn Points and only if they are paid for by a Member who is actually staying at the hotel:
- Expenses for Member accommodation and, if applicable, for one other room at the same hotel on the same date (for a maximum of two invoiced rooms), provided that (i) the Member is staying in one of these rooms and that (ii) the second room is not occupied by another Member; note that if the Member books two rooms, Points are earned for these two rooms, but the number of Eligible Nights is based only on the Member's room;
- Services in addition to hotel accommodations, namely: minibar, telephone, room service, pay television, Member meals at the hotel restaurant, and drinks at the hotel bar;
- Expenses for thalassotherapy and balneotherapy services provided at a Thalassa Sea & Spa centre connected with the participating hotel, provided that the Member stays at the hotel.

Points are calculated on the basis of the total invoice for eligible expenses, excluding tax. "

"The following expenditures do not qualify for earning Points:
- additional expenditures incurred as part of a non-eligible stay (even if settled at the hotel);
- taxes (notably VAT), tips, taxis, transfers to/from the hotel, service charges and other applicable charges;
- advances;
- expenses incurred as part of organising a company seminar, banquet or any other event – including private events – settled globally by the Member (except for the Meeting Planner promotional offer);
- all charges and expenses which are not specifically listed as eligible expenditures."

"Eligibility rules for the following expenditures vary depending on the infrastructure of each participating hotel:
- business centre;
- boutique purchases;
- spa products and services;
- hair salons;
- beauty parlours;
- golf green fees;
- parking;
- laundry services."

With these infrastructure items basically if the hotel runs these they earn points, if they are contracted to a third party operator they do not earn points

Regarding part point paid stays:

"- all reservations and expenses deemed eligible as per these Terms and Conditions, but paid for in full with Rewards Points, are not eligible to earn Rewards Points. They do, however, entitle the Member to accumulate Eligible Nights, provided that the conditions for so doing, as defined in the Programme's General Conditions of Use, are met.
- when reservations or expenses are partially paid for with Rewards Points, points will be earned on the portion that was not paid for with points."

Having taken all the above into account you can use the Le Club point calculator to give you a rough idea of what points should be granted. You can input the price paid in CAD$, the exchange rate doesn't seen to update daily so it is only a rough idea. https://www.accorhotels.com/gb/leclu...n-points.shtml

My experience is hotels often calculate it incorrectly. My most recent Fairmont stay was out by about 1000 status points.

CanadaDH

Thanks for the info. The exchange rate used in the online calculator (1.5138) is very close to the rate used on the points redemption (1.5089) I applied at check out, so I'll take that as a good guide of what the rate was.

I broke out all charges on my invoice to pull out the taxes and tips, removed retail purchases and tourism fees, and it looks like I was shorted by a bit, but not much. I figure it should be just over 14,100 points (or ~24,800 rewards points) for the 5 nights, and at 13,886 status points given (or 24,439 reward points), that's not far enough off to argue about. Still, it would be nice if there was a section in the points history on the site to see their calculations, to make it easier to verify and keep them honest.

gilbertaue

Very good summary cwl Thanks!

CanadaDH

Sorry... one more question!

As far as I can tell, the value of points is constant. It's basically EUR 40 per 2000 points redeemed, and the redemption rates don't increase as you redeem more points? I've seen other programs that basically incent you to save up your points, and redeem them in larger batches, but that does not appear to be the case here. Are there ever any 'redemption sales', where occasionally points redeemed are worth more? If not, I'm assuming that there's never any reason not to just redeem all points on hand against the very next stay?

dimon84

I have not seen any "point sales" for 3 years I am participating in this program. It is a fixed 40 eur per 2000. On one side it is great as it is transaprent and I have never seen a blackout date or ineligible rate for redemption, on the other hand, no chance for arbitrage.

starflyergold

No, it always stays the same. The only reason to accumulate more are the occasional "dream stays" which require a higher number of points https://secure.accorhotels.com/gb/le...am-stays.shtml

CanadaDH

Thanks. That's what I figured. Part of the fun in many programs is looking for sweet spots in redemption tables, like redeeming miles for great airline seat opportunities and just paying cash for others. Same with the old FPC, you'd look for those better opportunities to deploy the upgrade and free night certs, to extract max value. This is basically an ongoing flat rate discount code.

cwl

Accor seem stick with only two types of promotion:

1. Rate sales where the room rate is discounted hopefully by more than usual but here your 2000 points is still only worth EUR 40 but the overall rate is lower (Accor have in the past had an unfortunate habit of excluding point redemption on some sale rates).
2. Extra point earning promotions 2x, 3x, 4x point earning or a set point bonus.

No reason to horde points to increase point value. There can however be a disincentive for redeeming points when there is a decent point earning promotion running. Point earning promotions usually have this condition "Any stay partly or entirely paid with Le Club AccorHotels Rewards points will not be eligible to receive this offer" in the small print. eg redeem a single 2000 point block against say a 3000 CAD$ reservation which would be eligible for 4x point promotion cancels the entire promotion point bonus so you only earn the normal non promotion points. Accor on occasion forget to enforce their own T & C's but if they do using points in the wrong circumstances can be costly.

CanadaDH

Thanks! That's good to know. I haven't booked during a bonus point promotion yet, but I'll keep that in mind.