Wanted to shorten my trip by 1 day - through the app it was asking me to contact the hotel.

I emailed the hotel 5 days before arrival - no response. Chased the day before and they said they couldn’t make the change and I should try contacting Accor CS.

I did so and Accor CS stated
“As we are unable to answer your request concerning booking modification, we have forwarded it to the hotel who will take charge of your file and return to you as soon as possible.”

At checkin the staff told me it’s not even letting them change the dates manually - they need a code to be able to do so.

As the hotel passed me to CS and CS to the hotel, I emailed Member Services (I’m ALL Gold). They said Accor ALL is a distinct programme and “We kindly request that you contact Accor ALL customer care for further assistance”.

Anywhere I can escalate this as I seem to be getting nowhere!

Assuming the rate was higher when you do a new search for the dates you wanted? Given you are at the hotel now, can you ask for an early departure? (check the cost).

Generally speaking, Accor reservations can not be amended, has to be cancelled and rebooked as a new reservation.

Thank you for your reply and clarification.

I wasn’t aware that Accor reservations can only be cancelled and rebooked and not amended.

Doing so a few days before arrival - the two nights were costing almost same as the three nights I’d booked 2 months ago.

The hotel wishes to charge the full amount even if I depart early.

If CS had just explained what you’ve told me it would have been so much more helpful!

Thanks!

Via Web or application, yes.

However, I don't recall not being able to shorten a stay when asking the hotel direct with fully flexible rate.

Best when you are not sure of the length of your stay, to make several successive bookings.

I have shortened (or extended) a stay directly dealing with the hotel by email in advance or on-site. No need to cancel and rebook.

Of course, you can contact the hotel or Accor customer service to amend a reservation. However, you can’t make changes to the booking online yourself. The OP was getting the runaround from both the hotel and Accor CS. The simplest solution would have been to cancel and rebook.

Cancel and rebooking so close to checkin was much more expensive and the hotel wasn’t willing to amend in advance by email or on-site.

When I review, I’ll make future guests aware of this idiosyncrasy!

In these situations, if rates have increased and rebooking is not an option, you are really at the mercy of the local hotel. Accor reservations isn't going to modify your reservation, by dropping a night and holding the nightly rate. AFAIK, only the local hotel can do that. Of course, they don't have to do that, so if they say 'no', then there really is nowhere else to escalate that to. While they're not obligated to, I've always been successful getting the in-house Reservations Manager to cooperate on such requests at the hotels I stay at, as long as I wasn't on some sort of promo that required a minimum number of nights, or a 'book 4 nights pay for 3' scenario, where my existing rate would never have been valid on the shortened number of nights.