How does Accor treat you as an Elite guest?

[docjames]

Property: Novotel Barcelona City (adjacent to Glories)
Status: ALL Silver
Room Rate: ALL App (EUR 291-326/nt)
Room booked: Family room, saver rate, bed and breakfast
Room upgraded/type: Fractionally larger room with view
Early check in/late out: Not needed.
Welcome drink: Yes (4)
Welcome gift: no
When: July 2024 (4 night stay)

Had booked a different (IHG) hotel but when close to the date realised I’d booked the wrong one with no pool so this was literally booked two days prior to arrival in the middle of summer season. Surprisingly, this rate was better than the previous hotel chosen!

In the end, this was a great change. Rooftop pool and bar was an oasis and super relaxing, across from shopping mall (Westfield Glories) and Place de la Glories market, a pedestrian Rambla (del Poblenau) with restaurants (filled with lots of locals….) all the way to Bogatell beach, and we walked all over the city from here. Room Euro-small for 4 but did the trick and as usual we spent most of the time out of the room exploring the city or at the rooftop pool (kids) and bar (parents).

Staff were pleasant and helpful, lobby a bit dull (putting the euros or Wimbledon on the TV there would have made a significant difference). Large restaurant and breakfast selection was quite good but got very very busy and needed some refilling a little more (and selection really not as good as Ibis CDG….). Unsurprisingly noticed also lots of foreign aircrews staying there too. Lower ground function rooms (modest size) didn’t seemingly see much activity whilst we were there but possibly not a peak time for that.

It’s probably a little out of the way if you want to be closer to Latin quarter or Placa de Catalunya bu Barcelona is so easy to get around it really didn’t matter and iirc was preferable not to be continually in a Uber-touristy part of town (but still tourist-friendly).

 

[docjames]

Property: Ibis Budget Hounslow
Status: ALL Silver
Room Rate: ALL App (GBP 114 and 122)
Room booked: Two rooms - the last two (one was the accessible room). I thought i booked both with breakfast but only one somehow (for 2 persons)
Room upgraded/type: No
Early check in/late out: no (the opposite)
Welcome drink: Hahaha, no.
Welcome gift: Hahaha, no
When: July 2024 (1 night stay (more like 6 hours…..))

This is a quasi-trip report i guess as it is probably helpful to explain how we ended up at the Ibis Budget Hounslow….

Boarded BA at LHR T3 at 1800 for 1830 departure (via bus gate …..). At 1835 taxiing stopped. At 1845 Captain announced airspace closure at destination. At 1900 announced runway closed due to (light) aircraft accident. At 2100 decided no chance so back to terminal and see BA for hotel assistance. Even more annoyingly, stopped seemingly in some part of airport with no cellular coverage so unable to action anything or check any updates.

The BA “hotel assistance” on arrival was a staff member in the luggage hall “help deck” complaining she’d been there since 7am and rooms were long gone so good luck finding one and here’s a brochure regarding how to get costs back from BA.

So at 2200 whilst awaiting luggage (which took over 45 mins….) with two tired children, a stressed wife and no accommodation nearby, and having called a couple of options, I booked via app the closest hotel of any brand and any hotel group - a GBP40 cab ride away.….) figuring it couldn’t be that bad for circa 8 hours. On the plus side, we’d been auto-rebooked on the 0800 flight the next day (the other being 1700) so that was a win.

So duly we arrived via taxi at 2300. The staff checked us in and managed to secure a mini cab booking for the next morning’s departure.

The room is best described as awful, with all the ambience of a hospital room (noting is was the accessible room). The other room just along the same floor wasn’t much better….. Cue near 0030 trying to get to sleep and can hear loud vomiting from ? Upstairs or ? People Out on street. The view out the winder would best be described as “interesting” or alternatively “unsafe”.

After a restless sleep (don’t sleep through alarm, don’t miss new flight) we all awoke earlier than planned and headed downstairs where the staff were happy to let the kids start breakfast early (our two paid breakfasts) and for us to have a “complimentary” coffee. The spread was lean but ok for what it was (a very budget hotel) and I was appreciative they were set up and let us eat early whilst we waited for our cab.

So nice staff but can’t really recommend (haha). I think if we’d had a better timed arrival and a more leisurely departure, and gotten slightly better rooms, it would have been ok for what it is (a very budget hotel in a not especially great part of London). Was better than sleeping in the terminal, but possibly would have had the same amount of sleep and less hassle overall if we’d done so.

Highlights were seeing the A380s roar overhead early morning arriving whilst waiting for the minicab to arrive, as well as amusingly enough seeing the rental car we’d returned the previous day drive past the hotel (presumably going back to the Hertz lot for it’s next rental after cleaning!)

I’ll add we got the (total of ~AUD $600) costs paid for by BA in a fairly timely way, but they have refused the EU 261 / UK 261 compensation (probably fair - it wasn’t exactly their fault the destination airport was closed unexpectedly and totally out of their control). They could have been a bit fairer with the information provided regarding hotel rooms (sending us the the “help desk” was useless) - I may have had a head start and got a closer / better hotel if they had done so. We were possibly also somewhat unlucky that it was both late in the day but also a day that had seen (for a variety of reasons) a large number of cancellations - although it didn’t feel especially out of the ordinary for a relatively peak travel period…..

 

[docjames]

Property: Movenpick Hotel Stuttgart Airport
Status: ALL SIlver
Room Rate: ALL App (EUR 269/nt for one night booked)
Room booked: Family connecting room King - flexible rate, bed and breakfast

When: July 2024 (0 night stay)
Per the above, we booked this months out as an overnight stay arriving into STR before heading off to Karlsruhe. Also per the above, it didn’t happen, but i also couldn’t cancel by 6pm local time due to the incurred delay. So technically a “no show” fee would be payable.

I contacted the hotel by email on the evening of the issue requesting they consider not charging me the no show given closed airport and no way of foreknowing or possible way of getting there that evening. Initially was told no and the fee was charged (EUR206), but asked for escalation and they did eventually refund the room a few weeks later which i thought was very decent of them.

Shame, was looking forward to staying, and at EUR269/nt was clearly looking like better value than the GBP236 we ended up paying (well, BA ended up paying) at the Ibis budget Hounslow…..I know which I’d have preferred.

 

[sudoer]

Property: Pullman Tokyo Tamachi
Status: Accor Plus Gold
Room booked: Deluxe Suite
Room upgraded/type: N/A - top category
Rate: ACCOR PLUS - LONGER STAY - COMPLIMENTARY BREAKFAST (non refundable, ~$790pn)
Free internet: Yes
Free Breakfast: Yes
Early check in/late out: Proactively offered but not needed
Welcome drink: 2 x digital
Welcome gift: Free minibar for entire stay (6 nights), small chocolate plate, bag of senbei

Stayed here with my wife and our 5 month old on their first international trip. We had been upgraded to this room before, and I decided to book it outright for a few of reasons:

• It's incredibly hot in Tokyo at the moment, and we knew we'd be spending a lot of time in the room
• We were asking many friends in Tokyo to come visit us and meet our little one, and wanted a property conveniently connected to public transport with a room that would allow us to host a group of up to 7
• The standalone living room was a big selling point so we didn't need to sit in the dark after the little one goes to sleep
• Immediate access to a supermarket, pharmac_, and several decent and relatively child-friendly restaurants in the adjoining building
• $790pn for a room like this in a 5 star Tokyo hotel is an absolute steal
• I had ~$2.6k worth of ALL points to burn (mostly from ALL Signature)

As there's only a single room of this category, it's not bookable online - you need to call/email the property. For comparison they quoted about $1k per night for an Accor Plus flex rate.

As I've reviewed the room before I'll focus on what was different this time around..

• Breakfast at Kasa was significantly improved with an impressive selection of both Western and Japanese options, including lots of healthy options (think sauteed veges, salads, etc). The made to order egg menu had the same options but they were bigger portions and a bit tastier than our last stay. Service was excellent and there was never a wait for seating.
• Breakfast is no longer offered in the lounge, although it is open for 'morning refreshments' (yoghurts and pastries)
• Free minibar was an unexpected but incredible perk given the number of people we planned to have round. At check-in, it was presented as being 'in lieu of an upgrade' as we were already in the top category. We would have consumed 120-150 drinks total across the whole stay including alcohol, and the front desk were more than happy to send up housekeeping with refills several times a day, also allowing us to designate exactly which drinks we wanted.
• We had group lunch at Kasa on one of the days which was quite reasonably priced ($30 for two courses plus a soft drink) before Accor Plus discount. Used welcome drink vouchers here which included a few different beers and wines.
• The property provided plenty of baby equipment on request - in addition to the cot pictured, they offered a steriliser, nappy bin, high chair, baby bath, and change mat. The only thing they couldn't provide was an in-room microwave. There were baby change facilities near reception and on the 9th floor near the exec lounge
• Exec lounge has shifted from the tapas plate to a buffet style for canapes - they had a few hot options such as yakitori when I briefly stopped by to check it out. As usual, free flow tap beer all day and an extensive range of soft drinks.

 

[sudoer]

Property: Mercure Haneda Airport
Status: Accor Plus Gold
Room booked: Superior Room with 1 king bed, bathtub, Non smoking
Room upgraded/type: Privilege Room with 1 king bed, bathtub, Non smoking
Rate: Red Hot Room, 14,750 JPY
Free internet: Yes
Free Breakfast: No
Early check in/late out: Late checkout proactively offered, 6pm granted as I have an 11pm flight. Later extended to 6:30pm.
Welcome drink: Yes, digital
Welcome gift: Bag of senbei, free soft drinks from minibar

Stayed for one night while transiting from a domestic to international flight on separate PNRs and didn't want to risk the chance of a typical Tokyo August typhoon causing a misconnect.

This property opened nearly a year ago. It looks incredible for a Mercure and appears in nearly brand new condition. The service is also far better than I am used to from Mercures.



The rooms are well appointed with everything you're likely to need for your one night stay including fast charging USB-C ports on both sides of the bed. Notably there was no iron in the room but housekeeping swiftly brought one up on request.





Another free minibar was a nice touch. Maybe this is an Accor Japan initiative?

Two negatives -

• My room was on the 10th of 11 floors and there was some minor noise from a train line that runs behind the building. It didn't interrupt my sleep, and the trains cease completely from around midnight until 5am, but you might consider this if you're a light sleeper. Definitely request a high floor in any case.
• The lights in the room are a bit of a puzzle and it took me a few minutes to switch all the different lights off. A button marked "master" does not really act as a master switch.

A lounge area on L2 caters to early arrivals and late departures - I didn't realise someone was sleeping on the couch when I took this photo. There's a shower room on L2 also which is chargeable for regular guests, but was one of the perks listed on my welcome card. There's also a small gym.



Welcome drink menu including coughtails!



I used the shuttle bus in both directions. It has a very strange and sporadic timetable, bringing arrivals to the hotel in the evening only, and taking departures back to the airport in the morning only. It does not do both a drop off and pick up on the one trip. I can't fathom why this is the case, however when I mentioned I had a late night flight, the front desk proactively offered for the shuttle bus to take me to the airport even though it wasn't timetabled to take passengers. They did say it could only take me to T1 (domestic) and not T3 (international). This was fine and it saved me lugging my suitcase to the subway station in the Tokyo summer heat.

In any other season I would just suggest taking the subway unless the timetable miraculously lines up with your plans.

 

[gaz0303]

Property: Sofitel Darling Harbour

Room booked: Superior room, 2 double beds

Room upgraded/type: superior room, king bed, premium bath and harbour view

Rate: Fully flexible
Free internet: Yes
Welcome drink: Yes
Early check in/late out: Early check in around 12pm
VIP treatment: 2 free bottled waters (I’m a Gold Plus member)

General comments: Lovely room with a great view. Will be interesting to see how development in front blocks views in the future. And how much can you really charge for a buffet breakfast? $50/$38 the going rates without All Plus discounts.

 

[vievems]

Property: Mercure Resort Sanur
Status: Accor Plus Gold
Room booked: Executive Room
Room upgraded/type: No Upgrade; booked the highest available room type
Rate: Refundable
Free internet: Yes
Free Breakfast: No
Early check in/late out: Not required
Welcome drink: Yes, digital
Welcome gift: Fruit platter

Stayed 3 nights at Mecure Resort Sanur as the final leg of our trip to Bali, Nusa Lemboghan and Lombok. As most reviews of this property will indicate, the rooms are a bit tired and in need of a renovation, however, the location and general vibe more than makes up for it. It was my first time staying at Sanur and I'd definitely go back.

The room rate did not include breakfast although we did do the buffet breakfast on our last morning and found it to be very good vaue with the 50% A+ discount. On our first morning we did the breakfast special at the Breeze Bar (croissant and coffee), however, were advised our A+ discount could not be used. I was able to successfully use the A+ discount for lunch though.

Generally a very enjoyable stay.

 

[serfty]

Property: Mercure Haneda Airport

Thanks for the review ... booked to stay here in early Feb. Will be arriving on one of the last VA flights.

 

[k_sheep]

Property: Novotel Melbourne airport
Status: Accor Plus Gold
Room booked: 2x queens, 3x adults
Room upgraded/type: As booked
Rate: Red Hot Room, $168
Free internet: Yes
Free Breakfast: No
Early check in/late out: Not needed
Welcome drink: Yes, digital, x3
Welcome gift: 1 small chocolate

Terrible check in - think I would have preferred the kiosks that the next door Ibis was using. No information provided, staff member was just talking about her poor investment choices as a young adult, just all around weird. Directed us to the wrong lifts (the ibis side), got up to our floor, room numbers don't match, back down again. Weird. No mention of drinks or gold amenities but found it in the app.

Rooms are very nice. Strangely room booked for 3, had 4 towels, 2 coffee mugs and 1 chocolate. Was out of shower gel in bathroom. Gym and pool are exceptional. 25m pool. Gym had every piece of equipment you could think of and great spaces for yoga etc.

 

[sudoer]

Property: Swissotel The Stamford, Singapore
Status: Accor Plus Gold
Room booked: PREMIER ROOM, 1 King Plus, balcony, city view
Room upgraded/type: PREMIER MARINA BAY, 1 King Plus, balcony, Marina Bay view
Rate: "Enjoy a room for just the day" (8am-7pm day use only, SG$195++)
Free internet: Yes
Free Breakfast: No
Early check in/late out: Not needed
Welcome drink: Yes, digital
Welcome gift: Plate of dips, nuts and olives

Booked using the Accor Day Use portal a few weeks out for use on an (intentionally long) layover and home base for a day of consuming copious amounts of hawker fare in Singapore.

The day use timing is quite generous at this particular property, many properties offer more like 9am-5pm type hours. The welcome amenity arrived quite late in the day, around 4pm.



I was expecting to be Platinum by this stay so I could access the Level 65 exec lounge also, but a miscalculation of expected earn from my recent Pullman Tokyo stay (I hadn't factored a 15% service charge built into the Pullman rates) saw me checking in with 13600 status points

 

[Highway23]

Property: Mantra Bathurst”DELETE”
Status: Accor Plus Gold

The rest of the usual fields aren’t really relevant for reasons that should become obvious.

Booked this one a month or two ahead, and when I went to check the details a week out I noticed a strange note in the app:



Emailed via the app to find out what was happening (worried my booking would be deleted) and got a response from the Mantra’s email… and also a separate one from the new owner who had purchased the property after I had booked!

Mantra email advised I would not be able to earn points as the property had changed hands, while the new operator just advised they’d purchased the property and everything was fine.

Couldn’t be bothered with the messing around of changing to another place at short notice, and didn’t really care enough as there weren’t any ALL alternatives anyway.

Post-stay and I fired in a speculative missing points claim and I’ve been credited a few points equating to the dollar spend, but no nights.

So to answer the thread-title question - in this instance ALL status meant next to nothing for me. There was no proactive effort to reach out and let me know the property might change hands, and given the new owner there were no perks (nor did I expect there to be, as this is covered in the T&Cs).

My questions are:

• should I push for more, eg status nights?
• Should I have expected a heads up?

FWIW the hotel was ok, but there were a few obvious teething issues with the new operator - eg got the wrong lockbox details for late checkin, no info in the room about wifi. I got a room right on the boundary with pretty bad truck noise, so it wasn’t great. But that’s probably irrelevant for anyone on this thread as the place is no longer ALL!

 

[aaronm]

Property: Ibis Melbourne Central
Status: Accor Plus Gold
Room Rate: Red Hot Room
Room booked: Superior Queen
Room upgraded/type: No
Early check in/late out: Not required
Welcome drink: Yes, two vouchers via the app, redeemed at Pretty Boy restaurant
Welcome gift: Block of chocolate

Single night stay in the city. Room nice and new but rather petite, was OK for a solo stay but probably wouldn't book this one again if my partner was coming along. Bed comfortable, wifi good, shower very good. Overall reasonable value for the location.

The hotel complex is a Novotel/Ibis combo with the Novotel occupying the upper levels but shared reception and dining. Restaurant seemed nice, I only visited for evening drinks but might dine there next time. Didn't try the breakfast ($38 for reference).

 

[Flyfrequently]

Property: Mercure Samui Chaweng Tana Koh Samui Thailand
Status: Accor Plus Gold
Rate and Room booked: Room 1 - Fully refundable $118 standard (entry level street side) for one night
Room 2 - Fully refundable $262 Double Deluxe Seaview room for subsequent 6 nights. Breakfast included with both rooms.
Room upgrade: Yes room 1, Standard to Deluxe Double Seaview, unexpected but appreciated as we then didn't need to move rooms.
Early check-in/late check-out:  Not required
Welcome drink:  Vouchers x 2 in the App
Welcome amenity: Fruit plate, peanut candy, decorated bed.

As is our usual practice with last flight of the day, we choose an entry level room in case of a missed connection. Emailed the hotel with this detail and happy in the knowledge that we could cancel by 6pm local time.

The hotel has two buildings - one beachfront (5 years old) and the other standard building (very old) over the road and only 10 minutes from Samui Airport by taxi. Located at the quiet end of Chaweng Beach and the area is very reminiscent of Kuta/Legian 25+ years ago (read mangy dogs, uneven footpaths with broken pavers)

Very pleasant and attentive staff, clean bright rooms (only 23 of this type) definitely glad we choose Seaview room, the best category of room on 3rd floor.

We have dined in Cielo restaurant on 2 nights, no issue with applying A+ discount with food reasonably priced and tasty.
Salmon fillet with lemon butter AUD 10.50 with A+ discount


Breakfast ok, on roation by day 3.
Would definitely stay here again.

Moving to another Accor property Garrya Tongsai Bay next week.

 

[sudoer]

Property: Sebel Canberra Civic
Status: Accor Plus Gold
Room booked: SUPERIOR ROOM 1 QUEEN BED
Room upgraded/type: SUPERIOR ROOM 1 QUEEN BED
Rate: Room Only $183.20
Free internet: Yes
Free Breakfast: No
Early check in/late out: No
Welcome drink: No
Welcome gift: No

Stayed here in early August on a corp TA booking but have been waiting for an outcome to my support case with ALL before posting this.

Didn't receive drink vouchers at check-in and the booking wasn't showing in my app, so I asked if my ALL number was attached. Condescendingly told the stay wasn't eligible for benefits or points as it "wasn't booked directly with Accor". I questioned this and showed the staff member the 'eligible stays' clause in the ALL T&C which calls out traditional travel agency bookings through a GDS.

They claimed Accor changed that clause three months ago, but the website mustn't have been updated yet. This was obvious BS so I took down their name and position (duty manager). Once in my room I called ALL - they confirmed no change to the T&C, found my booking and confirmed it was eligible and they would contact the hotel directly. I went out to dinner intending to ask on my return, but reception is unmanned between 10pm and 8am. I was only staying for one night and left before reception reopened at 8am.

A few days later, I noticed the points and status night had come through on my activity statement, but there was no further communication from ALL or the property itself. Chased for an update to my case a few times, eventually (after 5 weeks) ALL responds to say the hotel claims they provided a welcome drink & amenity. ALL gave me 500 points for my loyalty though...

 

[Silvia]

Property: Mercure Sydney
Status: Accor Plus Gold
Room booked: Standard room with 1 king bed
Room upgraded/type: Privilege Room with 1 king bed
Rate: $217 pn
Free internet: Yes
Free Breakfast: No
Early check in/late out: Not required.
Welcome drink: Yes, digital
Welcome gift: strawberries and 2 muesli bars

Very convenient location. Only staying one night but seems to do the job perfectly fine for the price.

The bar downstairs was quite average, but no major complaints otherwise. In fact, my drink was topped up quite nicely, so top marks to the staff! Would happily stay again for the price.

 

[Cloud9]

Property: Novotel, Melbourne Airport
Status: Accor Plus Platinum
Room booked: DELUXE ROOM, 1 King (RHR)
Room upgraded/type: No upgrade. But wasn't expecting one for RHR
Rate: $150
Free internet: Yes
Free Breakfast: From status
Early check in/late out: Not needed
Welcome drink: Yes, digital
Welcome gift: Chocolate plate, still and sparkling water

Not a bad plate of chocolate, Mrs Cloud informs me... bloody diet

 

[Flyfrequently]

Property: Novotel, Melbourne Airport
Status: Accor Plus Platinum
Room booked: DELUXE ROOM, 1 King (RHR)
Room upgraded/type: No upgrade. But wasn't expecting one for RHR
Rate: $150
Free internet: Yes
Free Breakfast: From status
Early check in/late out: Not needed
Welcome drink: Yes, digital
Welcome gift: Chocolate plate, still and sparkling water

Not a bad plate of chocolate, Mrs Cloud informs me... bloody diet

View attachment 406940

Did you book RHR rate at the last minute @Cloud9 ?
A few weeks ago seemed plenty of dates available, not so much now. Thanks

 

[Cloud9]

Did you book RHR rate at the last minute @Cloud9 ?
A few weeks ago seemed plenty of dates available, not so much now. Thanks

Uh... Tuesday?

 

[sudoer]

Did you book RHR rate at the last minute @Cloud9 ?
A few weeks ago seemed plenty of dates available, not so much now. Thanks

Contact the hotel via email and ask for their best non refundable Accor Plus rate. I've had a red hot rate offered previously when it wasn't showing in the ALL engine.

 

[Daver6]

I think you should still expect upgrades when booked as a RHR. I've generally had upgrades and I don't think that should be used as an excuse not to upgrade.