Marky Marks

We had a good family package prize and the hotel gave us free breakfast for 5 people in two rooms due to my Platinum status. The Pullman didn't offer this, so after all we saved more than 150 EUR for a three nights stay compared to the Pullman. For me the Novotel was enough, as it was our first time in the city and we didn't need lounge, as usually we were out in the evenings.

SullyofDoha

if you are back in KL try the Pullman as well as the Sofitel

Kobetraveller

Banyan Tree Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

This hotel has its own thread so I will mainly post comments here with photos which may or may not pertain to the new Diamond status.

This is the only BT I have experienced. Last year as Platinum I did 3 X 1 night Stays booking entry level Room and being upgraded to their highest level Room.

I just checked out after a one night Stay. This time I booked their entry level Room and was upgraded to their one bedroom Sky Suite with full view of KL Tower, Twin Towers and various other tall buildings such as Grand Hyatt, Four Seasons, Pavilion Residences etc etc. Suite on 56th Floor, the highest floor for rooms. This is a city centre hotel.

Two welcome drink vouchers (see menu below) (10 water bottles in the Suite)

11 am check in

Welcome Amenity consisted of a pouch containing two masks, sanitizer and a wet wipe (fruit available on request)


Unrelated to Diamond:

Hotel sends Welcome email asking for preferences, allergies etc etc as well as a PDF file regarding health measures taken by the hotel

Japanese restaurant Ebisu from the adjacent Pavilion Hotel Managed by BT has moved into BT Lobby Lounge Altitude (53rd Floor) . . . all the Lounge type armchairs etc have been replaced by dining tables of various sizes however Altitude afternoon tea is still served

The private access way to Pavilion shopping mall is currently only available to BT guests, next door Pullman KLCC guests still not allowed to use it during this time

Hotel is operating a very decent menu based Assisted Breakfast Buffet. Very good and much better than breakfast sets but no where near as good as their pre-Corona breakfast buffet. See photos of menu below and my choices. Ignore the "Choose one item" instructions. Buffet for both in house and walk in guests.

While waiting for Grab the Concierge gave me a BT luggage tag with generic handwritten note.

Shlomo2515

I wonder if anyone has gotten invited to the Black status tier level? I have been staying at Accor hotels for over a year now, and had diamond status for some time.

Goldorak

For some time ? It cannot be older than january 2020 as this status did not exist before.
BTW, Welcome to Flyertalk . We hope to read your Diamond contributions here. It will be very appreciated for sure

Shlomo2515

It depends on how you define "for some time". In my case it has been much shorter than that, specifically it has been for a few months that I had the status. Considering I have been staying pretty much non-stop at Accor hotels for over a year however, I thought that I might be eligible for the black status level, because what I read those "practically living at Accor hotels" can get invited.

CanadaDH

We don't know what the rules are. I'm not even sure it's meant for those who stay at lot with Accor hotels. My theory is that it's meant not for those who stay a lot (who will already be earning Diamond status anyway), but those who have significant influence over others that do. For example, the head of a high-profile organization with a lot of travelling staff.

Based on what we've seen, it's not really worth much. Diamond doesn't have any useful benefits that aren't in Platinum, and I don't recall anything different in the VIP tier that was particularly useful (sort of like the entire ALL program in general). The qualifications may be a mystery, but the lack of benefits was enough to make me forget it even existed.

escape4

Welcome to FT!

Not knowing anything about your stay patterns and where you stay, I cannot comment on your personal situation, but if I may share my personal experience I have been living in hotels full time for over 4 years and I found that no hotel chain offers material benefits beyond 100 nights per year, consequently in my situation it makes more sense to spread my stays between many chains to achieve top tier status with as many programs as possible, rather than concentrate in only one chain, and if I had to pick only one it would certainly not be Accor. As others have stated the Accor benefits are modest after Platinum so Diamond does not offer a whole lot more, and staying year-round gives what if not Black level? Accor's sweet spot is Platinum; not Diamond and probably not Black either.

I guess depending where you stay it might make sense to stay with one chain only (for example Accor) but for me since I am staying pretty much everywhere except Africa, diversification works best. Depending on which city we travel, the best hotel tends to depend on the destination... sometimes a Fairmont is best, other places a St.Regis is preferable, or a Waldorf Astoria, or a Park/Grand Hyatt, or a Kempinski, etc. No single hotel chain dominates every part of the world.

If one chain was to give preferential treatment to people staying over 200+ nights per year then it would raise my interest but so far nobody stands out therefore nobody gets 100% of my stays. I wish Accor or others had something great to offer but so far nobody does.

Why is it worth exclusively staying at Accor in your situation?

perthite

I've not heard of anyone that has said they have it. I have heard "friend of a friend" typestories, but nothing directly.

Kobetraveller

Just one Diamond anecdote from one hotel in one city during the pandemic.

So far in 2020 I have booked 61 entry level room nights in Sofitel Kuala Lumpur and been upgraded to Prestige Suite with Hermes for 61 nights. Excellent customer service within the abilities of individual staff members and customized cocktails.

Actually had to move out of the hotel yesterday after just over half my most recent Stay due to the sudden reimposition of a stricter version of the Movement Control Order here.

escape4

Is there a specific reason why we cannot have our Diamond dining vouchers? Lots of hotels have a restaurant open despite covid, and many offer room service so vouchers can be spent that way.

CanadaDH

Maybe it's just too difficult for their crack IT professionals to figure out how to implement. The new program launched, telling us to stay tuned and receive the benefits later in the year, before they quietly removed them from the list of benefits. That measly hundred bucks or so, was the only tangible benefit of Diamond above Platinum. I'm not really sure what the point of Diamond is at all now, not that there was much point even with those vouchers.

tris06

Hi guys it looks like I might become a diamond member at the end of this month. I am going to be so close I might treat my wife and her mum to a nice massage (Christmas present) to get over the line. I know the benefits are not much more than plat members but I am thinking it would be worth it because likely they will make 2021 easy to renew (actually they already did) and if say in 2022 or 2023 I have some reason I do not travel much I can get a soft landing back to plat.

Did anyone notice any difference of how they were treated by hotels being diamond members? I hope they add 1 more benefit or 2 in the next 1-2 years. In reality I probably only usually spend around that 6000 Euro mark but with less flying I allowed myself to spend more at hotels nearby and hence the higher number of points this year.

Juntima

I do not see any real differences between being Platinum and Diamond. IMHO it is enough archiving Platinum, not worth pursuing Diamond unless one can get it organically without too much effort. I hope they provide better benefits to Diamond too.

patty canuck

Not sure if it is just the times with COVID-19 or the Diamond status, but most of my reservations this year with the Fairmont have been given the option - instead of using my SNUs certificates (I really would like to use them in specific places to get max benefit out of them), I have been offered to pay a small amount to upgrade and did for the following examples.

eg. 1) Fairmont Chateau Frontenac - Quebec - offered their highest specialty suite (VH suite) from a base room for C$100 pn extra so I took it;
2) Chateau Frontenac again with the Celine DIon Suite for the same price;
3) the Fairmont Orchid (Big Island Hawaii) offered an exec garden suite for USD100 pn extra from a base room; and
4) some others, I have had Gold floor suite upgrades from other Fairmonts automatically - probably in part with COVID cleaning/spacing.

SNUs are limited with the type of room you can upgrade from so the options given to me surpass those SNU rules/parameters.

I had to talk to the front desks for these reservations. For me, these offers are worth it. Never had that option as a platinum in the past.