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Any “traitor” Accor-ist inside this group ?

Any “traitor” Accor-ist inside this group ?

Old Jan 17, 2019, 8:06 am
  #16  
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Programs: Bonvoy :Ambassador , ALL :Diamond, Skywards :Silver, Krisflyer :Silver
Posts: 2,778
I tried to keep my Accor gold just because they acquire fairmonts raffleses and banyan trees.

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Old Jan 17, 2019, 9:55 am
  #17  
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Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Italy
Programs: Accor Gold, Marriott Titanium, IHG Diamond , Amex Platinum
Posts: 1,484
Originally Posted by 1P
I only use Accor in France, and then by no means exclusively. Best Western (in France and Italy) and Relais du Silence also figure somewhat.

Despite acknowledging my status in the program, Accor have consistently failed to credit me with points for any stays during the past 7 years. I have no idea why this happens (it began with a stay at a Moscow Ibis in 2012 and has continued ever since), and repeated phone calls have achieved no result. So now I only stay with them when there is a Mercure in town that is the best choice.

In the US, it will normally be Hilton, now that Marriott have downgraded me in the new merged program,though I do have several Marriott stays booked in places where it is a more convenient option.
...no points for 7 years ?? 😯

how is that possible?
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Old Jan 17, 2019, 10:44 am
  #18  
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Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Bristol, UK
Programs: HH D, Rad Plat
Posts: 5,352
As others have said, it depends on where you travel, your budget and your tastes as all of these will influence where you feel comfortable and can afford as well as what is available.

I'd expect many if not most on FT to be trying to game the system where possible with status matches, good promotions, leverage of points, etc...

In my case, I use Hilton as my main program and put about 1/3 of my total nights per year their way. They have coverage where I end up most weeks in the office and the points earning is fair plus breakfast is a nice benefit. Lots of negatives just like any other program though.

Accor used to be my second go to program (I was originally a Plat through Amex) and still stay enough to get Gold easily but not quite enough now to get Plat as my Vienna experience has me going elsewhere these days. I generally love the Sofitels and the Pullman/MGallery concepts, the breakfasts are good but never free and points or IT is abysmal with Accor. I don't travel to France so can still use Accor

I now tend to be more freelance with other chains or private hotels for the rest of the time and split between a few chains where they are good hotels and are convenient for that destination (Hyatt, Rosewood, Melia, etc...)

I have no qualms about using independents or hotels not in a chain I regularly use anymore though, there is no loyalty from either side anymore, only convenience on both sides and that is a good thing to remember these days.

Safe travels, as others have said, the grass is a different shade over there, it is not greener, however, you may like to sample that shade now and then.
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Old Jan 17, 2019, 3:30 pm
  #19  
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Paris, France
Programs: AF/KL Flying Blue Platinum for life/Club2000 Ultimate, Accor ALL Diamond
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Definitely the grass is not always greener elsewhere.
In APAC, no doubt Accor/LCAH is great (the same can likely be true for other hotel groups), but I am very happy with Accor there (100% of my stays or close to).
In Europe, LCAH treatment is not the best in France (except Pullman/Sofitel), but is not bad at all usually in the rest of Europe, so 90% of my stays are with Accor (100% when I have the choice and control).
In the US, legacy Accor is very good but little presence. New properties (Fairmont) are out of my personal and business budget. I travel a lot there and so stay a lot at Hilton, SPG/Mariott, Hyatt properties. Most of them are disappointing and even very poor sometimes. I spread a lot between the big groups and so am only Silver in some of the programs. But I have been Hilton Gold many times and have never been impressed by benefits (I mean not more than with Accor). Starwood properties (excluding Sheraton) are better usually.
- South America : I don't travel a lot there, but I mostly stay at Accor properties and had great stays.

The lack of life-time status with Accor is becoming worrisome...
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Last edited by Goldorak; Jan 19, 2019 at 8:03 am
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Old Jan 17, 2019, 5:33 pm
  #20  
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Join Date: Dec 2013
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Originally Posted by Kobetraveller
Anyway, here in Southeast Asia I have been extremely happy with Accor and am winding down my association with Marriott.

I am extremely happy with the quality, range and number of Le Club participating Accor properties in Southeast Asia. We now have top class brands such as Raffles and Banyan Tree (as well as Fairmont and Sofitel), Orient Express is coming and then there are a huge number of more affordable properties (Pullman, Novotel, Grand Mercure, Mercure), as well as the very affordable economy brands, and a few smaller but interesting brands such as MGallery, Angsana etc. I am also content with the various Points promotions. Importantly, for me, I have been extremely happy with Platinum treatment at many/most Accor properties, depending on the particular management culture, staff numbers and attitudes. I have not missed "Ambassador" treatment at these properties at all.
Originally Posted by Goldorak
In APAC, no doubt Accor/LCAH is great (the same can likely be true for other hotel groups), but I am very happy with Accor there (100% of my stays or close to).
Interesting views, I have the opposite experience so I would like to hear more details about what led both of you to this conclusion? Especially for APAC.

I find that not enough Accor hotels have lounges so that limits the value of Platinum status relative to other hotel chains. In addition, in my experience suite upgrades are less frequent at Accor although I am sure that varies a lot depending on which hotels you go to and what cities so others could very well argue for the contrary and we can all be right. It comes down to doing the research in advance to know which individual properties are stingy and which ones have great elite benefits. So I end up being flexible of my choice of hotel chains based on feedback from FTers on individual properties.

Yes Accor has a wide range of brands, but so do others, no? From Hampton Inn to Waldorf for Hilton, from Aloft to St.Regis for Starwood / Marriott, and from Hyatt Place to Park Hyatt for Hyatt. So I am not sure I am missing much in that range that I would feel Accor is helping me materially by offering something others do not have.

In 2019 I intend to renew Accor Platinum in large part because it's easy to achieve on spending if you stay mostly at Fairmonts so I only need a handful of nights to get it done. But that means the lion's share of my night count will go to Marriott+Hilton+Hyatt to renew top tier at those chains and Accor is my #4 choice.

In many cities where there is a Fairmont I am facing the situation where I can get free lounge + breakfast + suite upgrades at competing chains, or a more modest room upgrade at Fairmont, no lounge, and no breakfast, although with better service and sometimes better hardward. Sometimes Fairmont can still come out ahead, but many times the answer is no. In cities where there is a Sofitel at least I get breakfast unlike Fairmont, but many of Sofitels do not have a lounge so there is a similar disincentive to stay at Sofitel when there is a JW Marriott or Grand Hyatt across the street.

Overall I am happy with Hyatt Globalist but they do not have much footprint so by default they cannot get the majority of my stays. Those go to Hilton+Marriott/Starwood. No program is perfect but I do find the grass greener outside of Accor. That said, Accor has some good properties in some parts of the world so I am not tossing them to the curb - there is some value there.

The key is to have a balanced and thoughtful approach.
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Old Jan 17, 2019, 8:22 pm
  #21  
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Programs: Bonvoy :Ambassador , ALL :Diamond, Skywards :Silver, Krisflyer :Silver
Posts: 2,778
Currently I concentrate my stays at Marriott and Accor. Marriott do have more options in luxury segments (Accor catching up with recent acquisition) but Accor have more footprints in Australia and Asia.

So far combination of Accor and Marriott serve me pretty well in terms of hotel availability.

Accor status point qualification and Fairmonts Raffleses and Banyan tree inclusion make it easier for me to qualify in LCAH
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Old Jan 17, 2019, 9:34 pm
  #22  
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Southeast Asia
Posts: 264
Lots of very interesting contributions from different FTers who are finding, or have found what works best according to particular interests, experiences and travel patterns.

@escape4: Thank you for your very comprehensive and balanced summary of your conclusions which are obviously based on a huge amount of personal experience. I don't disagree with anything you write, and cannot add anything from my own experiences. Accor is working very well for me now with my travel patterns however I fully agree that a balanced approach is the way to go, and that no chain is perfect. I am certainly envious that you can obtain top tier status with four of the biggest hotel chains ! That sounds ideal.

And I definitely agree that is very useful to identify particular properties (within the same brand) which are either overly stingy or overly generous and make repeat bookings accordingly. I really learn from the amenity/lounge/mini-review reports (as well as the excellent full reviews) . . . both positive and negative . . . which are posted here.

And I also agree with @BotB that going freelance with independent hotels can be very rewarding, especially with promotional packages that provide top tier-like benefits . . . and especially when big hotel chains reduce Loyalty benefits.

Last edited by Kobetraveller; Jan 17, 2019 at 9:52 pm
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Old Jan 18, 2019, 3:30 am
  #23  
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: UK
Programs: BA Silver, IHG Diamond Amb, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 650
Accor used to be my chain of choice as it was easy to earn plat status with the bonus points offers and I could plan enough UK stays for the "Stay 3x2 nights and earn 6000 points" and burn all of my points when staying in Sofitels in Asia where the cost/quality is very high as a platinum member.
When Accor added the AccorHotelsArena to their portfolio of rewards, I was really pleased at it is an experience that me and my partner really enjoy. I have booked a couple of events that I wasn't really interested in just because we have enough points and like spending the weekend in Paris.
What I like about a chain is to be able to earn with cheaper hotels in Europe and get the rewards of top-tier status from the luxury hotels in Asia, Accorhotels is perfect in this sense as all hotels we have stayed at in Asia have had a lounge so we get free breakfast and usually an amazing treatment as platinum members.

Now my situation has significantly changed and most of my stays are in the UK for work and outside the UK for leisure. We plan our holidays fairly last minute too, so I can no longer make use of the Accor 6000 points promos as I can't book in advance.

Looking at 2018, I stayed ~170 nights in hotels, 80% of these nights were for work.
My main clients were in the middle of nowhere so no points earning this year from stays. 90% of my work stays were booked directly with the hotel.

My main trip this year was 3 weeks in Asia. As I am no longer platinum with accor, we didn't include a single accor stay (as a platinum I would usually stay at Sofitel hotels) and I stayed in Marriott/Hilton hotels instead.
Our 1-off stays wouldn't be enough to qualify for platinum with Accor any more, so it is more valuable to go for the IHG accelerate promos, and have shifted our random nights there.

All of this leads to a year where I have soft landed to Silver with Accor with only 2 stays.

This year will be very different and I have a lot more opportunities to book chains for work, I just need to decide on a chain that will most benefit me for leisure trips really.
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Old Jan 18, 2019, 4:29 pm
  #24  
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Great Britain
Programs: Air: QR Silver. BA Silver Emirates, Hotels: CC Gold, IHG Spire AMB, Hilton Diamond.
Posts: 1,486
I was Platinum with Accor for 3 years but have barely done any stay with them since and have dropped to Gold and now Silver (God bless soft landings).
I have €1,000 worth of their points to use up and being Plat when I do would be nice but no chance !!

I have since got myself to Hilton Diamond (8 stay status challenge to be fair but I did have 20 stays in the last two months of 2018 and already have 25 lined up for 2019 and at least double that to go) and the IHG Spire (through hitting the stay requirement).

So yes I guess I am a traitor.

I would certainly start using Accor again if they gifted me Platinum for a year or two to entice my stays back their way. I did enjoy Accor Plat and felt I had some great treatment by some of the hotels & staff because of it.


Anyone know if they status match ?
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Old Jan 19, 2019, 2:10 am
  #25  
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Join Date: Jul 2018
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Programs: Accor Gold, Marriott Titanium, IHG Diamond , Amex Platinum
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Originally Posted by Sisyphus1carus
I was Platinum with Accor for 3 years but have barely done any stay with them since and have dropped to Gold and now Silver (God bless soft landings).
I have €1,000 worth of their points to use up and being Plat when I do would be nice but no chance !!

I have since got myself to Hilton Diamond (8 stay status challenge to be fair but I did have 20 stays in the last two months of 2018 and already have 25 lined up for 2019 and at least double that to go) and the IHG Spire (through hitting the stay requirement).

So yes I guess I am a traitor.

I would certainly start using Accor again if they gifted me Platinum for a year or two to entice my stays back their way. I did enjoy Accor Plat and felt I had some great treatment by some of the hotels & staff because of it.


Anyone know if they status match ?
not “officially”, for what I know.

Nothing on Accor website, nothing by credit cards

Maybe you can try to send an email.
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Old Jan 19, 2019, 4:33 am
  #26  
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Sorry to be harsh but to be honest it was not hard to get platinium until even a few years ago. Too many people would love to get a few perks for little loyalty. Plat qualification really toughened up in 2016 to 2017.
I think 1 person a year or two ago complained Accor took away their plat membership when they got it for free (Some sign up) and did like 2 stays over a couple of years. Accor learnt a lesson I think.

I think it is a little better now with less plats too. I rack up 40,000-50,000 points each year with promos currently which easily qualified under the old program. Now I barely get over the 14k for plat. With some added benefits like the free breakfast in Asia (hopefully expanded worldwide), soft landings introduced (big plus) plus it seems some hotels are going above a beyond to make their top members happy (Impressed Raffles was upgrading above junior suite from what we hear)and personally some fantastic treatments last year.

Status matches for airlines and hotels are less common than before (5-10yrs ago) that is for sure. My preffered airline offered elite membership like candy to a baby for elites from competing alliances. It has not been offered for a few years which tells you something.

I think status matches maybe could work if the company required you to book non refundable stays over a certain value before gifting a status match.
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Old Jan 19, 2019, 7:34 am
  #27  
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
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I qualified for Starwood Platinum six years in a row (with a few backup programmes). Due to the culture shock called the merged with MaRiot, I'm no longer a happy camper and started switching to Accor late last year. This year I will go for Hilton Diamond, Accor Gold or Plat and IHG Plat.
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Old Jan 19, 2019, 7:58 am
  #28  
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Join Date: Jul 2018
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Originally Posted by remymartin
I qualified for Starwood Platinum six years in a row (with a few backup programmes). Due to the culture shock called the merged with MaRiot, I'm no longer a happy camper and started switching to Accor late last year. This year I will go for Hilton Diamond, Accor Gold or Plat and IHG Plat.
it’s funny,... “unhappy” Accor guests run to Marriot and “unhappy” Marriot gusts run to Accor 😃

Even if I think it’s normal, we should meet at the middle of our way and drink a beer at least 😃
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Old Jan 19, 2019, 11:23 am
  #29  
1P
 
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Location: LAX and LHR. UA lifetime Gold 1.9MM 1K , DL Gold Medallion, HHonors Gold, Marriott Gold, Avis President's Club
Posts: 3,590
Originally Posted by Dav77


...no points for 7 years ?? 😯

how is that possible?
I wish I knew! I kept asking and they kept being unable to tell me. Obviously there is some kind of computer glitch with my account, but they can't find it, so I gave up on using them as my default France chain, as mentioned above.
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Old Jan 19, 2019, 1:06 pm
  #30  
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sometimes good to not worry about programs, and just pick hotel/airline

especially if not traveling on business nor exclusively via credit card points
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