I miss you guys!
 

I know. I know. Off topic.

But this is the Accor forum and we are the best bunch of people on here anyway.

So just a little shoutout to everyone here. Hope you're keeping well. Hope the family is healthy. I hope we are coping with travel-less syndrome.

I'm glad I'm now living in Malaysia and not Singapore. So that allows us to travel a tiny bit and explore places. Unfortunately outside of Kuala Lumpur there are very few Accor properties. But still better than those stuck in Singapore and can max travel 42km end to end!

So that was my short hello and looking forward to us being able to share more again.

Hi gilbertaue
nice hearing from you and to know that everything is fine. I understand what you mean for MY vs SG for being able to travel at least somewhere outside your home town. I think we are very lucky in Europe, as we have been able to travel almost everywhere within EU, even if it’s becoming more complicated now. But I have not put a foot on a long-haul plane since early March :(
Take care

Yes, off topic, but I think this is a good thread.

Here is my situation ( Mid Sep 2020 - for when people look back )

Had a few UK stays in Jan / Feb 2020. All good and not worried.

Went to our "holiday home" just south of BCN for a short stay either side of our 14 days in Skopje. Trip ok, but started to get worried. Watching Sky News coverage of Italy did not help !

Decided to stay in Spain till the Covid 19 went away ( ok it was wishful thinking and 1 day before Spain locked down so could not travel to UK anyway ), and have remained here since, apart from one short "trip" to Andorra for tobacco in August. - Stayed in Parador - outside Andorra as felt safer there than in Andorra, but cut the trip to one night.

Have Accor Platinum ( and don't think I can renew ) as it expires in Feb 2021 - no idea why. Cancelled all UK stays for Christmas. Parents / Children not happy - but UK regs make it impossible now. Cancelled 15 day hotel stay in UK to quarantine in ( kids scared of our health - as we were coming through France as well to get to UK ). We are both in the Covid risk zone, health and age, so playing it extra safe. May find somewhere for point run in Nov here - possibly down south here for a week. Prob is Accor not that good away from Madrid and Barcelona ( Not going anywhere near ). Was thinking of Poland in Jan but rates there now rising fast ( so relatives have confirmed ), so thats not going to happen..

Have other statuses , and similar for them too. Oh well back to humble levels. On the other hand it makes me get more "value" on our forward planning for next year as have no loyalty now. Been doing building / repairs to house till builder decided to quit Spain ( for Poland / Ukraine as "safer" ).in May, and don't think they will be back till 2022 at the earliest.

Do not think we will be traveling now much if at all before mid / late 2021 ( if vaccine available ). Have Spanish residency ( thanks BREXIT ) so stay here no problem - Just worried by very high number of cases.here.

Stay Safe.

This is a great thread!

We sound in a similar situation hotel_user! I just got my plastic residency permit this week in place of the paper card thing. I guess at least I have a proper ID here now. The 'B' word has been banned in this household.

I am in Valencia and thus far the situation is not as bad as Madrid or Barcelona, but I'm not counting on that lasting as we head for winter. Sadly, Accor in Spain is pretty irritating, because yes, outside of Madrid and Barcelona there aren't really any properties which interest me. I like the Mercure in San Sebastián (primarily because I am happy just to sit on the balcony and watch the view) but I ended up cancelling my trip to Bilbao last month because I wasn't convinced with all the restrictions how much fun it'd be. It was still being fairly pricey despite everything.

I did manage to get in a trip to Bali this year (and managed to get the last Cathay flight out in March before they suspended the route...) which was all Accor. Apart from that it has just been Ibis and MGallery in Prague.

I'd like it if Accor had some properties by the beach in Spain. I need to stay one night this year to get the bonus nights to reach Platinum. I am thinking about the new Mercure in Malta since flights from Valencia are permitted there without quarantine or a PCR test (at the moment). Apart from that, I can't really think where I would be able to go (that interests me) before the end of the year. I miss Madrid! I used to regularly go for the weekend (I really like the Novotel Madrid Center) but goodness knows when I'll be back there again. My last time was New Year at the party the Novotel were having... seems very strange now.

I was thinking about going to a Melia somewhere in Spain, but I don't like their loyalty scheme. It's a waste of time to be honest.

I hope you are all doing well and keeping safe! As an Australian (not in MEL), I am pretty satisfied with how we have gone. Internal and external border controls are frustrating, but understandable. Internal borders are finally starting to relax, so I might be able to fly home to see my family for Christmas. Being in a long distance (international) relationship isn't ideal - not only has Australia closed the border to foreigners, but forbids citizens from leaving. Fun times!

We'll all (eventually) get there!

I was only holiday in early February, which made the beginning of the lockdown more bearable.

I landed in Singapore at the beginning of February when there were just 6 o 7 coronavirus cases. There were bottles of gel everywhere, but it was business as usual. (I think the virus didn't even have a proper name at that time.) I went to Malaysia and returned to SIngapore to fly home 2 weeks later -- suddenly everyone was worried about the virus. To enter most hotels and office buildings, you had to have the temperature checked and hotels had introduced special forms for guests to fill in at check-in.

From mid-February till mid-September, I stayed in Poland. 98% of the time I didn't even leave my neighbourhood, visiting places and supermarkets within walking distance. I don't remember the last time when I stayed in the same country for 7 months!

Recently, I've relocated to Spain. I'm in the deep south, on the Atlantic coast. The numbers are rising in all parts of Spain right now, but on the whole my province is among the least affected ones by the coronavirus. On the other hand, the Barajas airport and the centre of Madrid were deserted last week (even before the local authorities introduced a lockdown on some neighbourhoods). A bit scary, to to honest.

I'm staying at my partner's flat, which feels safer than a hotel. There are better views (approx. 100-150 metres from the beach) and fully equipped kitchen. I'm going to spend at least 2 months here.
Last year the apartment was fully booked till the end of November. This year there are very few international visitors in the region and Spaniards only go on holiday in August. No point in keeping the flat empty. At least, we can enjoy the Spanish autumn by the sea and eat lots of fish!

I missed South-East Asia so much, especially Malaysia and Singapore...

The food, the value of 5 stars hotels (in Malaysia), the climate, the very high standard of service...

Really hope to be back soon, burn some points at the Sofitel Damansara or Banyan Tree KL, and eat some Nasi Lemak :p

If we don't see the european second wave of cases translating into diseases, hospitalizations and deaths next months, we may see a certain degree of reopening in early 2021 (I hope so).

Nice to hear from you gilbertaue :tu: I haven't stayed in a hotel since January (the forgettable Novotel Century Hong Kong). And yes I miss travelling but my employer has grounded all travel, domestic and international, since the pandemic broke with no end in sight. The only trip I made was to Spain during the all too brief virus lull in August and then I was staying with a friend. Being based in Belgium means that travel is severely restricted anyway and even for a brief family trip to Germany a PCR test was required (and having to deal with German bureaucracy as rules vary state by state). Needless to say my annual Christmas trip to Asia if off too. I will miss escaping the miserable winter in Europe :(

Big HELLO from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. :D

Since Malaysia gov easing the lockdown back in early July, i am having staycation at Sofitel damansara every weekend.
Sofitel Damansara rates dropped from pre-covid MYR 330 to current MYR 177, and there was a flash sale last week at MYR 139, such a good price to pair with the 6,000pts boost offer.

Our friends in singapore are a bit unlucky, singapore hotel rates are much higher compare to pre-covid, quite expensive to book for staycation..

Hi all, nice to see people touching base.

In mid-March we spent a night at the Heathrow T5 Sofitel (see, this isn't off topicl!) before hearing the US President speak and concluding that flying to Texas wasn't a great idea after all. We flew back to Hamburg and the Fairmont Austin became our first Accor cancellation (and was gracious and generous).

The past six months have seen more cancelled plans, long and short haul, and the next few months look similar. We won't be flying to Japan next week and the 'sabbatical' trip we had planned for December-January now looks like a bad joke: SIN / KUL / PER / MEL / SYD / TYO, including some nice long flights in F -- booked with miles at ungodly hours -- that we'd been looking forward to. A couple of hotels still left to cancel (3x Accor in SIN, KL and PER, plus the T5 Sofitel again) but fortunately most accommodation was still to be booked.

Missing out on (or delaying) those trips is only an inconvenience on the grand scale of things, of course. Not getting to see family is tougher, but we're fortunate not to be seriously concerned about anyone's health at the moment so can't complain too loudly about anything really.

In the meantime, we get to do new things. Wandering rather than rushing around the city we live in. Going on short-ish trips by rail and road. Without SARS-CoV-2 we almost certainly wouldn't be planning a weekend in Wolfsburg, for example... ;)

@ jackr27: I'd take a closer look at Meliá, given your location. There are sweet spots and you might be able to get a status match or status via a credit card.

Good to hear everyone is keeping safe! :tu:

In our case, we had our January and February trips go just fine, but things started shutting down in Canada in early March, and we end up cancelling our March trip just as it started. We basically made it 90% of the way to the resort the evening they announced the closure of the ski hill for the season, so we turned around and drove home the next morning. The Fairmont Tremblant had no problem cancelling our reservation and immediately refunding the first night paid, which they had charged the day before our scheduled arrival. The hotel remained open (for another week or two, before it eventually closed too), but with no ski hill operating, the trip had absolutely no purpose. We weren't flying for that trip, so other than about 12 wasted hours driving out and back, it didn't cost us anything.

Things started opening up in June, and our July Rockies trip went ahead as planned in mid-July. Trying to find the positive in the situation, I was able to cancel existing reservations and rebook at current rates, and it ended up costing much less than otherwise expected, and crowds were down with no international tourists being allowed in Canada.

As we get into the fall, and virus cases are starting to spike again in Canada, I'm feeling concerned. At this point, I still have plans for our winter 2021 ski trips. Hotels and flights (domestic) are booked, and season ski passes purchased, so fingers are crossed things remain open. I'm hoping that it might even be a better experience, with reduced crowds, since borders here are still closed and there is no indication they will be opening any time soon. Winter is my absolute favourite time of the year, so when ski trips don't happen, I get upset, and there's a good possibility that things may shut down again, if people don't act responsibly.

I'm not expecting to take any international trips for quite some time, but am perfectly happy travelling domestically. We have a lot of space here in Canada to explore. Actually, it gives me a good excuse when my wife wants to plan a trip to some place warm, that I can say we can't go and blame it on COVID, instead of having to tell her the truth that I just don't want to go! But by 2022, I'll probably get dragged out on a long-haul to visit overseas family.

Glad to hear you are all safe. I have not done any long haul since February and will not this year or until Summer 2021, now. Did some travel in summer, a couple of flights and more by train. Accor is Ok represented in Germany and I got to try the 25h brand as a novelty. I think doing some staycation in Frankfurt and around might be a good idea for Winter, there is a 25h there, the Sofitel (and Hilton).

I like this thread :)
here is my current state of mind :D (picture taken in Berlin this weekend). So tired about this mess...

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...12e74366a9.jpg

Do you do mail order ?

He doesn't need to:

https://look54.de/f-k-the-virus-tshirt-schwarz.html