Beware: Accor hotel in Frankfurt selling rooms at closed properties
 

Looking at hotels in the FRA area I came across this:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re..._Hesse.htmlacc

The Mercure Frankfurt City Messe seems to sell rooms and collect payment, even though the hotel is closed. Once they receive your money they move you then to another property....... :td:

Do you have first-hand knowledge here, cesgo.g, or have you started this thread based on a Tripadvisor complaint by someone we don't know?

If the report is factually correct, the 'villain' in the piece is Accor, not the hotel or its staff.

I have a couple of issues with the Tripadvisor review:

1. This review is this user's first review on Tripadvisor
2. Review does not state if they booked direct with Accor or third party. If they booked third-party, and provided bogus contact details or were otherwise uncontactable, the hotel would obviously have no means to contact them

I am not convinced that their review is entirely reflective of what actually transpired. For example, see the review below that one where a guest who never even stayed at the hotel (according to the hotel response) posted a negative review because the hotel refused to refund their non-refundable stay.

That being said, the hotel is available for booking on the Accor website and the hotel description does state that the hotel is closed - I am not a particular fan of accepting bookings for a hotel that is closed. Presumably (hopefully), guests are being walked to a hotel of equal or greater standard, as per standard "walking" procedures.

While I had enjoyable stays at Accor hotels, if a chain / hotel is selling rooms even though it is closed, I stay away from it.
The intent of this post is, to make fellow FTers/travellers aware of it before deciding about booking a room at this particular location.

If you know which properties you might be moved to it could be a good deal. For example the Doubletree in Bangkok is closed but still allows bookings, which they move to the adjacent Hilton. So if you had wanted to book the Hilton, you could book the Doubletree for less and get "upgraded" for free.

I suspect likely Accor alternatives one would be moved to in the instance cited on TripAdvisor would be the Mercure Kaiserhof on Kaiserstraße, which is about a 10 minute walk from the Mercure Messe, or the 25hours Trip which is just around the corner from the Mercure Messe in Nidderstraße. which would probably class as an upgrade (I'm not familiar with the 25hours brand)

It's not great that the booking engine is accepting reservations for locations that are closed if it's not clear where you're ultimately going to end up but if it's the same area and the 'price' of the inconvenience is a better hotel / enhanced benefits then it's just about allowable in the current circumstances. By way of example I just got done with a booking at the Ibis Blackfriars in London, UK where Accor have shut the Ibis and consolidated all the bookings into the Novotel next door (the hotels share the same building) which meant I ended up with an Executive room and complementary breakfast in a Novotel with a pool (that's actually open right now!) for the basic Ibis room only rate so it all worked out okay, though clearly being 'walked' halfway across town would be a whole other thing!

I actually just checked out of the hotel yesterday. Asked the GM about this issue and he said that they reopened bookings, but for the first week, they only received 2 bookings, so they sent them to the nearby Mercure, (which is more expensive). However, after a few days, they started receiving bookings again and reopened. It's a great deal though if you are in the area. I stayed for 2 nights for 83 EUR including breakfast. (For 1 person) Staff were very nice and the hotel is quite nice. I would surely recommend it.

I would give the hotel a bit of a break in this highly unusual situation. Since March, most hotel reservations that I have had for closed hotels were cancelled completely with no alternative offered. I would much prefer the hotel offer to put you in an alternate hotel for no fee than just cancel it entirely leaving you to fend for yourself... If you don't want to stay at the new hotel, of course you can receive a refund, but at least you have an option...

Accor is very promptly closing sales via website and app (and just as promptly reopening them), as properties decide / are forced to open or close. Even if this is true, it must have be a one-off mix-up, not standard practice.