CPMaverick

I relocated to Australia about 2 years ago and while quite loyal to my old US brands (Diamond on Hilton, Platinum in IHG, Gold SPG/Marriott) they have limited properties in Australia.

Finally I found myself without a 'preferred' choice in Yulara and so I decided to finally join the Accor program and book at the Ayers Rock Resort. My experience is to always book through the program directly to avoid inconsistencies and get the most benefits. Accor is much more popular in Australia than other hotel brands, so I was looking forward to seeing what the experience is like. I also travel to Europe at least once a year, so maybe I could use benefits there. The property was over A$500 a night, so at least I would earn some points.

1. Booking Online: There is only one rate available, a 'flexible' rate that allows cancellation, but requires you to pay 100% up front (this was 6 weeks in advance). I posted about that here, and it seemed unusual, but calling Accor didn't help. They messaged me on FT (to their credit) telling me to call the hotel directly. The hotel said sorry, that is our policy. So I just book online at the Accor website and pay 100% up front. (Note I did not end up using vouchers as I had suggested I would try in my earlier post).

2. Checking In: I check in and the hotel gives me a form to fill out (address, etc). As I am filling it out I say I am surprised that this information wasn't pulled from my profile. The check-in agent says I don't have a LeClub number attached to the reservation (!). I say that is strange, can I add it? She says sure, but you won't get any benefits, this was booked on Expedia. I've never booked on Expedia in my life. I ask her to check on that and she says 'Sorry our booking staff is in Sydney'. She says I need to contact Accor not them if I have any problems. After pressing her, she called the booking staff, but says they say the same thing, contact Accor.

It has only been 5 days but no points posted to my account yet. Totally unimpressed by my experience and while it might just be a problem with this property, it reflects badly on Accor.

Any thoughts on how my number doesn't get added to a resveration booked online while logged in? Any idea how it gets shown as booked through Expedia?

FGunawan

That is very bizarre. Even with the myriad inconsistencies with their IT/CS that have confounded me more especially so since Jan 1, 2017, I never once experienced this. Whenever I checked in in the past, all data were pulled straight from my Accor profile and no "you booked through Expedia" nonsense.

Upon completing your booking, you did get an email confirmation from Accor with confirmation number didn't you? You can use this email confirmation as proof of booking directly with Accor when you're contacting the hotel/Accor CS.

CPMaverick

Yes, and I pulled it up on my phone and showed the check-in agent, in fact that is where I found my LeClub number to give her to add to the reservation (so it was definitely part of the original booking). She didn't seem to want anything to do with my questions about Expedia, only that her computer said it was an Expedia booking.

cwl

Certainly all sounds bizarre and not a good experience for a new Le Club member.

Generally Accor flexible rates require payment at checkin. Discounted rates requiring payment up front.

All I can assume is with this being a "Resort" property they adopt this policy as the hotel is very confident it will attain high occupancy despite its policy. Ultimately it comes down to demand and supply. Typically booking 6 weeks out would offer a choice of rates.

Was it high season or was there any event taking place at the time? I can only personally recall one occasion where a hotel was only offering one "Flexible" or rack rate several weeks in advance without their being a special event in the vicinity but even that didn't require payment up front.

In terms of points earning Le Club T & C's state you should allow 7 days to receive points before contacting Customer Service although points usually post within 24 to 72hrs of check out. Point promotion T & C's often specify allowing 10 or 14 days for points to post before seeking rectification.

If points haven't posted after a week submit a claim online and include both your Accor checkout invoice plus in this scenario a copy of the Accor reservation confirmation. All going well Customer Service should respond with a automated email confirmation within 24 hours of your claim with a full response within 7 days. You will however see lots of examples of where things take longer or encounter additional problems on this forum.

Good luck chasing the missing points, hopefully your next stay will be better.

pb9997

CPMaverick may expect Accor CS to be somehow similar to SPG or Hilton; It is not, quite the opposite I ought to advise. While SPG or Hilton CS would clearly notice the mistake and are empowered to immediately correct the issue to minor any inconvenience on the customer, Accor CS approach simply relays the request received from the customer towards the hotel and waits for either the hotel to answer back or the customer to complain again for nothing having been done after a week.

In my experience the guest gets a more expedited service when they contact directly the hotel's General Manager. Either way, through CS or directly, it will have the GM involved somehow due to proper procedures not having been followed.

I would thus suggest you e-mail the hotel and clearly state that you request the GM in the loop and expect a written comment from the GM for the Expedia invented booking.

Good luck

Goldorak

Hi CPMaverick
I feel sorry for you for this bad 1st Accor/LCAH experience. What I can tell you is that this is not the typical Accor experience, so you can clearly expect much much better normally, but on the other hand that kind of problems are much more frequent with Accor than with other brands.

I have no explanation of course for the Expedia thing, this is indeed very bizarre, but:
- having to fill all your details while they normally already have those in your profile is still very frequent
- do not care attitude / lack of empowerment is also not rare. In your case, you showed them on your phone that your booking was done directly through Accor and so was eligible. As a member at the entry level, the only on-site benefit for you was a drink voucher, so they could have given it to you. Even if finally your booking was not eligible, how much would it have costed them : €2 for a soft drink or €5 for a cheap glass of house wine ? No big deal. And for the points, the minimum would be to say something like "we'll investigate and post your points if we determine the Expedia thing is a mistake. But instead of this, you got a move-on response and we transfer the problem to CS and we don't want to lose time on this

I don't know precisely for this hotel, but in general, Australia was (is ?) with France a country where hotels resistance against LCAH was the strongest. Does anyone remember the exceptions for club lounge access in Australian Sofitel ? Things have improved fortunately, but there could still be some resistance pockets

You should send a private message to Accorhotelsconcierge (Amy) here. She could be of great help in bizarre cases like your.

Let us know

gilbertaue

CPMaverick​​​​​​,

Pls check your DM

gilbertaue

Hi CPMaverick, I think the points at least have been sorted? Could you check?
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CPMaverick

Just an update, I received a call from the hotel manager and he apologized about the issue (without really explaining it) and said my points would be credited, plus some bonus points for my trouble. I just checked and these have posted.

I appreciate the help @gilbertaue and I think that was the main reason it was sorted out so quickly.