Synthesis

I haphazardly opened up my ALL app this morning and was very pleasantly surprised to see the card now turned to a black Limitless one too!



And this despite only having stayed only 26 nights at Accor hotels the past year, albeit those few nights easily qualified me for another year of Diamond. I actually had cut down my stays at Accor the past year due to a few disappointments towards the end of 2021.

I admit I was also somewhat disappointed not having reached Limitless status despite knowing of some people that got there through mostly staying in budget/medium-end hotels with a relatively low spend, though a high number of nights.

So I'm guessing either they noticed I was a very high per night spender, or it was because of my previous years' spend (2021 I would have qualified for 4x Diamond).



To be honest I am glad about calculations being done this way. If I was a marketing director I would also value the business of higher spend/ROI clients higher compared to those simply staying very frequently but spending way less. That's my main gripe with Marriott's Ambassador program which requires spend AND staying 100+ nights, so even if you spend a lot but stay few nights, you miss out on the Ambassador perks.



Despite that I still ended up staying 100+ nights the past 2 years with Marriott (no free credit card nights) as I do value my Marriott Ambassador Elite status the highest by quite a long shot - their huge footprint, 6000+ properties and so many new properties in the pipeline that they'll reach 10,000+ very soon too.

They also have the highest percentage of high-end hotels. I also love the fact that many of their hotels do feel quite unique or boutique too, something I find such a shame with Accor - only their higher end brands and some of their Mgallery properties are like that.

But Ibis, Novotel, a lot of Mercure's...bland bland boring. Even Marriott's entry level Moxy is a relatively more exciting and fun brand.



Having said that, some of my favourite hotels are still Accor ones. Would still love to see more Mgallery (which I'd put as the equivalent of Marriott's Autograph Collection) or a new category that is similar in branding as Marriott's Luxury Collection but where every property feels quite unique and has less of a bland chain feel to it.



Nevertheless, I'm curious to see what difference this Limitless status makes and will be spending a relatively higher percentage of nights in Accor properties in 2023 compared to 2022, mostly at the expense of Hyatt. I did enjoy and love Hyatt Globalist extra's, but that's the only major loyalty program I didn't requalify for and likely won't attempt to in 2023 - simply because they have a way too small of a footprint where I visit.

Synthesis

I'm actually quite surprised about that. I would have thought you'd have been invited to Limitless this year too now... One of the reasons I logged back in to FT was to check whether other ALL members, especially you, would have gotten Limitless by now.

Regarding SNU's, wasn't able to use a single one of mine and ended up having about 20 SNU's expire the past year. Not too fussed about that though as the properties I'd have wanted to use them at last year didn't accept SNU's. Ditto with the expiration of the 100€ worth of spa/dining vouchers.

CanadaDH

I'm not really surprised, as I never figured the tier was really based on spend. Clearly, we now know for certain that it isn't. There are probably multiple factors. For example, I may spend a lot, but my stay count is very low, unlike a business traveller. My 2022 stay history is this...

Fairmont Tremblant - 7,000
Fairmont Lake Louise - 14,000
Pullman Montpelier - 1,000
Fairmont Lake Louise - 45,000
Fairmont Banff - 24,000
​​​​Fairmont Montreal - ??? (will post in a few more days)

The rest of my stays we credited to my wife's membership. So, while it was 91k+ points in my account and 39 nights, it was only 6 total stays this year. Not exactly a very high frequency traveller!

While my spend was up, at only 91k points, my point total was well down this year, as I imagine most were, due to the 2021 carry forward and double points not repeated in 2022.

This also may be a blessing. I'm very transactional in all business dealings. Had my status been bumped to a tier with no known qualification level, I might have been tempted to concentrate my stays in my own ALL account, in order to maintain it. At the same time, I'd be receiving far fewer benefits. Having the benefits of two Diamond accounts with double the SNUs is more valuable to me than a single Limitless membership. I need more than 12 SNUs per year, or it will cost me significantly more to complete my travels.

Goldorak

We are very curious too to know more about this mysterious status, so please report here your experiences

BTW, I am still Diamond

Jasper2009

Congrats!

And please do report any experiences / insights etc.!

I reached out to a few hotel contacts and even they have never heard of this new status.

Btw, a program called "Accor Live Limitless" and a ("secret") status called "(ALL) Limitless" seems truly moronic to me. You wouldn't even be able to search the status in any type of database / search engine.

IMH

A blog article in January 2020 talked about "Black" status (which I'd never heard of) being renamed "Limitless" (which I never heard of again until posts here a week or so ago) and had copied a table showing the benefits. The additional benefits (over Diamond) were being able to gift Platinum status, free points transfer (presumably to another ALL member) and access to a "personal assistant".

I can no longer find the graphic (or many references to "Limitless" status) on Accor's website, so can't link to it and will post it instead. The pictograms are Accor at their best:

5mSvGlow

This is correct. I've already successfully gifted platinum status, and the recipient immediate got 2 SNU vouchers. The webpage also displays contact info for personal concierge service.

kaizen7

IIRC I earn around 40k status point last year.
Still Limited to Diamond 🤣🤣🤣

alldiamond

Where can I see the number of SNU on my account ?

Goldorak

In the reward points section, below the list of stays.

alldiamond

You can see this in the app or only on the website?

CanadaDH

Both

Goldorak

yes, both.

Goldorak

I just realized that the person "I gifted" Gold status, as part of my Diamond benefits has been downgraded to Silver. I did this early 2020 when I got the Diamond status and I am sure I did this on the website. This is what I see on the website



I didn't do anything in 2022 with the renewal of my Diamond status, and the person was still gold in 2022. But it seems that I need to declare again this person for 2023. But I can't do it on the site (or I can't locate anywhere how to do out while I am sure I did it this way in 2020).
Is there a way to do it on the website or do I need to call CS ? Thanks

finarg

I am amazed why anyone would pursue Accor status when the USA programs (marriott hilton hyatt) are first class and ACCOR IS t FOURTH CLASS FOR BENEFITS.