gav0106

Booked 4 night at Pullman Khao Lak, Phuket

Booked with non-refundable rate, using points to pay balance.

Just got this email, with 2 weeks till booking:

As of 31/12/2016, the hotel Pullman Khao Lak Katiliya Villas will no longer be part of the AccorHotels group.

Your reservation is still valid within the hotel, however, your stay will not enable you to enjoy the benefits of Le Club AccorHotels loyalty program such as earning points, in-hotel benefits offered with your status, Places by Le Club AccorHotels, and more.

Furthermore, Le Club AccorHotels Rewards hotel vouchers will no longer be accepted by this hotel. If you have made your reservation with the ‘Booking With Points’ service, your points will be credited back to your account and you will have to pay the total amount of your invoice using any other means of payment accepted by the hotel.



Complete shock and now very annoyed and angry. Not sure what I can do! Needless to say, need to find the extra money now for the booking!

Called reservations, no one there knew anything about it.

Called head office. No one there knew anything about it, they are off to check.

Called hotel, they confirmed changing brand.

Looked at T&C's. Nothing in there mentioning if hotels changes brand etc. Does anyone have experience of this, and do I have a case they need to honour it.

They are still selling hotel in Jan as an Accor Hotel

cwl

Can you clarify that you have already had the points deducted for your stay? Or were you intending to use vouchers on arrival? I assume the former.

Accor T & C's are as with most larger corporations heavily worded in favour of Accor and I would expect Accor to try to rely upon them. T & C's also state they are subject to French law and not the law of the guest nor the hotel. However they do not (and usually cannot) exclude any consumer protection legislation which may be in place in the guests home country.

I assume based on your profile you are UK (although under Scottish law)based and therefore might benefit from protection under Unfair Contract Terms consumer protection legislation. However I'm guessing you would prefer to avoid getting embroiled in a legal fight involving a French corporation and a Thai hotel.

In your position I would kick up a huge fuss and expect Accor CS to find a satisfactory resolution. Their T & C's despite being worded by their over paid lawyers looks onerous I would make it clear to them they cannot rely on those to fob you off and they breach UK consumer protection legislation. Their T & C's don't seem to entirely cover this scenario and as they are generally onerous against the guest I would expect any UK court to be sympathetic to the consumer. You will probably need to escalate this to a Accor/hotel person with sufficient discretionary powers to do the equitable thing for you the guest. Basic call centre staff will try to (incorrectly) fob you off with excuses that your booking is not cancellable and Accor can do what it likes.

Might be worth also checking other available hotels options as part negotiating service recovery with Accor.

The only time I have been in your situation was also with a Thai hotel which was swapping from Four Seasons to Anantara. When Four Seasons gave up managing the hotel they did the right thing and offered the option of transferring the booking to Anantara or a full refund (which I took). I would hope Accor would do likewise in this position. It would be the right thing to do although Accor CS doesn't always see things in a way which is fair and sound customer service.

Good luck with this and let us know how it turns out.

gav0106

Thanks cwl for your words

Indeed based in UK, and used points upfront as part payment

The MD of Accor UK got back to me and his team is looking into it.

The more frustrating thing was when you call Accor no one seems to know anything or be able to give you an answers.

Will see how it goes

Gav

Often1

This is all rather fishy. I just pulled up the property and it is still accepting bookings under the Accor brand well into the new year. The "loyalty program" is specifically advertised as a benefit of the stay. This could be poor IT or laziness, but it could also point to some hacking of the property's reservations database or anything else along the way in a high-fraud area.

Given that your local contacts know nothing of what has happened, I would suggest calling the property directly during the business day out there and speaking with the GM or other approrpriately senior manager and simply having a neutral conversation to make certain that everything is intact with your reservation and form of payment. If it is, then reference the email.

When you call, use a phone number from the Accor website and do not use anything provided in the email.

markis10

Nothing fishy at all and SoP for a rebrand, in fact the same thing happened two years ago at the hotel when it stopped being a Le Meridien. Loyalty programs and benefits are usually the main victims when rebrands occur, reservations tend to stay, although it's usually expected the manager brand will offer a transfer of the booking to a similar property not leaving their portfolio.

starflyergold

This Pullman is indeed leaving the brand and Accor. Reflagging of properties happens all the time in any chain. It's only been two years since this property changed from Le Méridien so something is not quite right there. I presume a difficult owner.

What Accor should do is offer you a transfer to another Pullman in the area. I would suggest you push hard for the Pullman Arcadia Naithon Beach (I say current staying there).

As we all know Accor can be slow to respond, best to go via Twitter or FB.

gav0106

Hi starflyergold

How do you find the Pullman sat Nathon

Cheers

starflyergold

Definitely one of the best Accor resorts out there, but don't just take my word for it: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/accor...hon-beach.html

M@rcoPolo

Same thing happened to me with Sofitel Hanoi moving to Pan Pacific on the first of October 2016.

I did not use points to pay for my stay, when I arrived in mid-October it was already re-branded Pan Pacific however they were happy to extend Accor Platinum benefits during my stay including lounge access. Obviously I did not earn Accor points during the stay but everything else worked as expected.

namdas

I stayed at both in a row last Dec, while Khao lak is a lovely location the Pullman Arcadia definitely knocks spots off it in other respects.

Might it be worth dropping an email to the Arcadia's GM to see if they can do anything for you? They are the closest alternative, after all, and the place seemed very well run so they may want to ensure you have a happy outcome. Personally I can't wait for an opportunity to return to the Arcadia

gilbertaue

I think this may be your best option as I believe Brett Wilson, the Pullman Arcadia GM, to also be the area GM and may be able to do something.

I don't have his email, but possibly someone here may be able to PM you.