SFO_FT

What’s the “best” way to earn points to extend account balance validity? Best being defined as cheap but also high likelihood of actually getting credited (cheapest approaches sometimes aren’t worth the effort needed to ensure the credits actually post).

patrickw

At the moment the advent calendar definitely the easiest and free way to achieve points extension. All you need is win 250 points in one of the days and all your reward points will get extended by a year when it is credited to your account.

monahos

https://collections.accor.com/

Takes 2 months to credit from the date the transaction shows as pending, which occurs more or less reliably depending on the merchant (0% for groupon, 100% for itunes in my limited experience). If not an Apple user, I recommend ordering a cheap doodad from aliexpress (about 80% success rate on over 20 orders here) on the French website (merchant was removed from US website last week), e.g. a >$1.25 charging cable with free shipping.
If you use the US site, beware that it appears ALL actually credits 1 point per €, not per $, despite the posted rate.

Once you get the 'Your x Points are on the way' email, points reliably post in almost exactly 2 months, 2 days after you get the 'You've collected x Points' email.
If no email within a few days of the transaction, it was not registered properly. Temporarily authorizing all cookies, disabling adblockers etc. helps.

monahos

0% win rate all month here...
I don't live in one of the countries eligible for the prizes.

Maelstrom

Dine at a participating hotel restaurant and pay with an eligible card registered to your ALL account.

Surveys through Club Opinions.

Castleford Tiger

Club Opinions is very good advice.

CT

monahos

... for members based in the UK, France, Canada, Brazil, Australia, China, Germany and United States.
Like most survey sites nowadays, they are proficient at detecting VPN's.

fifty_two

book a one night stay in a hotel (anywhere on earth) where you can earn rewards/status points/nights

Then after the checkout date reach accorhotels support and tell them you had to cancel your trip due to covid (for instance XXX shut down borders or forbid citizens from your country to enter, etc .... like in UK for instance ) you do not want reimbursement/vouchers/etc cause you know you won't come back soon .... just to credit the night/points even if you did not check-in (i guess the hotel need to accept but i think its not going to be a problem, as they have their money and you would have receive the nights/points in case you could check-in anyway)

This year i had 2 times such case when corporate trips got cancelled and none of the options available were suitable

Maelstrom

I would be cautious pursuing this strategy. The hotels are under no obligation to provide rewards and status if the guest has not physically stayed at the hotel, regardless if the room is prepaid or not.

smf_ltn

I was just planning to stay one night at the Pullman in Redwood City for around a $100. It is the cheapest Accor, among very limited options, in our region. This brand is mostly for my non-existent Europe travel, sigh.

fifty_two

Yes , i do agree , and this is why i mentionned that hotel most probably needs to agree , but covid changed the game , so i just gave OP feedback about what happened to me

perthite

I find even a takeaway coffee works (even if I only get 3 points, it moves the date along...)

Maelstrom

Yeah when I worked at an Accor property last year, I paid for my staff meals with my registered credit card and earned points that way, which was a pleasant surprise.

Maelstrom

I think you can also donate points to charity, if you were looking to just extend your point expiry date. Not sure what the donation amounts are.

SFO_FT

Does using points extend validity? I was told only earning points does.