starflyergold

For future Diamond members (not looking at anyone in particular)

Nick Art

gilbertaue

(.......)

tris06

My wife struggled to get it. At first I thought it was going to be a more Accor centric video like.

"Welcome to our hotel, we have upgraded you from our Superior room to Superior room with free drink voucher. Sorry our hotel is full tonight on upgrades. Sir/Madam we have an exciting special offer tonight we can arrange a better room for a small supplimentry fee." etc etc...

Funny at the end he was not even booked at that hotel.

Dav77

escape4

3.5 months since announcement and still no news about Diamond benefits? It is now getting too late in the year for me to shoot for this level without more information about it. I have started cancelling a few upcoming Fairmont reservations, unfortunately. I will let others be the Diamond guinea pigs.

R2

Same here...I'm at 14k status points and about to make several bookings for the second half of the year...If only I knew Diamond is worth it, I'd be happy to plan to hit the 26k...

escape4

I'm at 10.7k status points after 5 months so 2.1k pts per month, if I extrapolate I would get 25.7k and hit Diamond with a tiny bit of extra effort, no problem. However part of the reason I have been averaging over 2k pts per month so far was to position myself to make Diamond doable in the second half of 2019 should the benefits prove to be worth it once an announcement is made. Now that I am turning the tap off however, even if they release attractive information later this year it will possibly be too late because I am about to have a string of months with nothing at all, or barely, just to hit 14k by the end of the year.

So I am out folks, but I will keep my eyes open and ready to change course if fellow FTers report stellar treatment as Diamonds next year which would prompt me to get back on board as I would not want to miss out!

In fairness, the issue has not just been information about ALL. The problem is that benefits as Platinum in my experience so far in 2019 are more often than not inferior to what I get with other hotel chains. On occasion when I book with Accor in a city where other hotel chains have good options, my upgrades with Accor are hit and miss so there are times where I end up having an inferior room compared to what I would have had elsewhere due to relatively stinginess of Accor upgrades, all that just for positioning for Diamond in 2020. Not mentioning that sometimes I have no breakfast with Accor, and I would have had free breakfast elsewhere. In locations without competition for example in Bermuda, I don't mind paying top dollar for the couple of Fairmonts there so I am not banning Accor entirely and if I don't get an upgrade then it's not the end of the world so I will return to those properties in the future. Same for Fairmont Jasper or Lake Louise. But if I travel to cities with lots of choices, I am no longer willing to accept having only an upgrade to a view room when the competition gives suites more liberally. I was willing to tolerate it for a while in anticipation for bluer skies with ALL, but my optimism has faded

For example, I had a flexible booking at Fairmont Barcelona for next month. It was a successful Best Rate Guarantee 167 EUR and with Fairmont gift cards bought during the 3-hour window on May 10 to earn the 20% bonus, it theoretically brought my net cost down to less than 140 EUR per night. BRG + gift card, I simply cannot squeeze the lemon any more than this. In the mean time I saw the new Hotel SOFIA Barcelona from Hyatt (Unbound Collection) less than 2km from Fairmont which has sharp looking rooms for 144 EUR, I could use one of my 4 annual suite upgrade certificates of the year on a 6-night stay and get the First Wish Suite which sells for 700 EUR, including lounge access and free breakfast. So for a whopping 4 EUR extra per night I get a suite, lounge, and breakfast, none of which I would have had at Fairmont unless I was in their good graces and scored a Platinum suite upgrade at time of check-in, but breakfast was highly unlikely and this Fairmont does not have a lounge. Unfortunately for Fairmont, the math simply does not work even with BRG and gift cards. Perhaps I am greedy, but I need more benefits than that as Platinum given what I get elsewhere, so I cancelled Fairmont Barcelona.

Oh well, I did enjoy the lively discussions on FT in the Accor sub-forum whenever I have posted hotel reviews in the last few months, more so than in other sub-forums such as Hyatt, Hilton, or Marriott. But I cannot make my hotel choices based on how friendly FTers are in each sub-forum

starflyergold

Yes you can ^

Dav77

gilbertaue

Ditto.
I'm at Accor because of two reasons.
1) The support group here on FT plays a massive role. Many of us are friends on and off FT and share a passion of our love-hate Accor relationship.
​​​​​​- this I don't get in any other forum.
2) The friendships I have made with hotel and Accor management.
-Yes, this I may get out of other chains too. But being a French (means European) chain, I think I am more attracted to friendships with mostly European management rather than North American management.

So yes, call me weird, but this is what drives my dollar towards Diamond.
I know it won't be perfect. I know it will be lacking. But I have faith that by 2035 it will be ok

3544quebec

The problem is that by 2035 I don't have faith that I'll be OK

Dav77

escape4

Yes I can if.... you folks are sooooo friendly that you want to chip in and subsidize my stays by contributing the price difference between a Fairmont Gold suite relative to the basic room (which I will pay for myself), since after all when booking at other hotel chains more often than not I end up in a suite with lounge access. If via your valuable hotel management connections, you can successfully convince a Fairmont hotel to upgrade me to a gold suite then you guys have nothing to pay, but if I am not upgraded, then I send you the bill!

In that case, I can be your humble servant and I can review all Fairmonts of the world if you wish me to do so, and we all stay friends with this win-win arrangement

I even promise to improve my writing skills and the quality of my hotel reviews and try to match the allmighty @Goldorak

escape4

I am assuming that on average, you are right, Accor has more European hotel managers than North American hotel chains. With that said, with North American based hotel chains, when travelling in Asia I have come across far more European GMs than North American GMs. I am assuming that it would be even more so in Europe.

It seems like if travelling outside NA, elsewhere in the world there is no lack of European GMs despite a chain being NA-based.

If you are referring to relationships with home office (= Paris) then indeed there is no substitute...