How does Accor treat you as an Elite guest?

[kermatu]

Property: Pullman Auckland
Status: Platinum
Room Booked: 1 bedroom residence apartment
Room upgrade: No
Rate: 10 per cent off advance payment plus breakfast. Three nights.
Free internet: Yes
Welcome drinks: Yes, three. Bloody Marys again bloody good.
Early check in / late out: Checked in an 7am (room ready at 10am - given lounge access immediately) and 2pm checkout).
Exec Lounge: Yes.
VIP treatment: Received my favourite corner suite on floor 16 as requested. Two waters in room but this time no snack or welcome note. No turndown two nights, and no newspaper one morning.

Generally another excellent stay. Staff great, early availability of my preferred room, access to lounge, additional drink voucher, late checkout, superb spa session etc. And I finally met Liz and had a good chat. Could also see how well some other (more frequent) regulars were treated. The lounge is usually quiet and so is a peaceful place to relax in the evenings. Shiv, Hilda and others manage the bar really well too.

Aside from the inconsistent room extras noted above, there was one disappointment - breakfast on a busy weekend. Place was overflowing, and while there were plenty of staff, it was chaos. Orders missed (I had to ask 3 times for a coffee) and waited 15 minutes for the menu - only to be advised as I was leaving that there was a charge for what I ordered (never happened on at least 3 occasions before), notwithstanding what I ordered was all available in the buffet and at half the price. Charge was waived in the end.

One of my favourite hotels, and between this and the Hilton my all too regular trips to Auckland are just a bit more comfortable.

 

[OzEire]

Liz @ Pullman AKL is great. The excellent staff attitude is largely due to her work running customer service training workshops. I am torn about staying here though because the rooms, particularly in some areas of the residence are very tired, and the lounge is tiny!

 

[kermatu]

Lounge is small but I've never seen more than about 15 people in it. Never crowded in my experience.

I have also only ever stayed in the residence tower which is pretty new. Did you mean the old building?

 

[kermatu]

Property: Novotel Auckland Airport
Status: Accor Platinum
Room Booked: Base room
Room upgrade: Executive room, top floor, domestic terminal area view
Free internet: Yes
Welcome drinks: Yes, 2
Early check in / late out: 1pm check-out requested and granted.
VIP treatment: 2 waters in room, small snack and hand-written welcome-back note.
Additional care/notes: Ordered late room-service pizza which was quick and generous and well-priced. Skipped breakfast.

Only letdown was coffee machine in room would not work.

 

[kermatu]

Has anyone had problems with points and nights posting correctly when booking on the accor website but going through cashrewards first? Two out of three recent stays have come up screwy. Never happened before. Only changed variable is cashrewards. Hope I haven't somehow stuffed up. Grateful any other feedback, before I chase the hotels for receipts/points.

Cheers.

 

[moffat39]

Property: Grand Mercure Swanston Melbourne
Status: Accor Silver
Room Booked: Executive Room
Room upgrade: N/A
Free internet: Yes
Welcome drinks: Yes, 2
Early check in / late out: Not required
VIP treatment: None
Additional care/notes: Have stayed before due to location and price. Standards are slipping and room/hotel are in need of update. Hot water struggled around 9.00am. No housekeeping service for us on the Saturday.

 

[kermatu]

Property: Pullman Auckland
Status: Platinum
Room Booked: Superior room (most basic, old tower). 1 night
Room upgrade: Yes - Penthouse suite, 17th floor, corner suite.
Rate: Flexible rate. Booked late and hotel already filling up, so was pricey.
Free internet: Yes
Welcome drinks: Yes, two. Bloody Marys again bloody good. And one thrown in for free.
Early check in / late out: A little early and a little late.
Exec Lounge: Yes.
VIP treatment: Stunning upgrade, albeit one night only, to a $10,000 per night room that can only be purchased direct. Two bathrooms, two TVs, full kitchen, sound system, coffee machine.

Hotel was pretty full but only a couple of the rooms/apartments on the 17th floor of the residence were occupied.

Two waters in room, plus turndown. Breakfast included (chaotic Sunday morning but fine). Great service in lounge and bar, as usual. Plus a great spa session with bonus extra gift.

Top hotel. Nice reward for multiple stays this year.

 

[puppysparkes]

Has anyone had problems with points and nights posting correctly when booking on the accor website but going through cashrewards first? Two out of three recent stays have come up screwy. Never happened before. Only changed variable is cashrewards. Hope I haven't somehow stuffed up. Grateful any other feedback, before I chase the hotels for receipts/points.

Cheers.

I haven't used cashreward for years. I didn't want to risk it.

 

[rfur78]

Property: Pullman on the Park
Status: Platinum
Room Booked: Superior room king
Room upgrade: 18th floor (exec level)
Rate: Flexible rate. Booked late so price was high at $309
Free internet: Yes
Welcome drinks: Yes, one but didnt use. exec lounge offering with wine and food sorted me out
Early check in / late out: late offered, not required
Exec Lounge: Yes.
VIP treatment: plate of chocs in room but no real upgrade of room type. suite upgrades here seem hard to come by. with HSW now a pan pac i will find myself here more over the next 12 months. will be interesting in the treatment. have found that this property will always fall back on the explanation of 'one cat above booked' as upgrade. for other plats looking for a suite here make sure you book something better than a standard room if chasing a suite.

 

[kermatu]

I haven't used cashreward for years. I didn't want to risk it.

Points posted after intervention from the hotel (Liz at the Pullman Auckland). Haven't bothered using cashrewards for latest two bookings, just in case, but have some earlier ones through it so will see if it is a problem or was just bad luck.

 

[kermatu]

I ticked over 14000 status points last week. Expected to get some acknowledgement that I had retained Platinum. Instead, today I get an email saying I still have time to reach Platinum, and all I need is 14000 status points or another 60 nights. What the??

Anyone else had similar? How is retention of status usually notified, and when?

Thanks.

 

[OzEire]

Instead, today I get an email saying I still have time to reach Platinum, and all I need is 14000 status points or another 60 nights. What the??

Received same. Just shoddy email marketing, it kinda looked like they intended to give an indication of the status points or nights remaining to retain, but just c*cked it up. This is about normal for what I expect from Le Club these days.

 

[M@rcoPolo]

I ticked over 14000 status points last week. Expected to get some acknowledgement that I had retained Platinum. Instead, today I get an email saying I still have time to reach Platinum, and all I need is 14000 status points or another 60 nights. What the??

Anyone else had similar? How is retention of status usually notified, and when?

Thanks.

That was probably a marketing communication already in the pipeline, to be fair to Accor it happens all the time (eg Qantas, Virgin Australia never have up to the minute updated miles in their email communication).

AFAIK there's no formal communication when status is retained, to verify you made it simply go to accorhotels.com under your details and check what you are up to. Eg mine is showing 15 598 / 15 598 so obviously I'm over 14k and re-qualified for next year.

 

[OzEire]

@marco i had the same initial reaction as @kermatu - the way the email was worded "just earn a further 14000 SC or 60 nights to retain platinum" when we had already requalified.

So it wasn't just delayed status points figures used, it was zero actual info giving the entirely wrong impression.

 

[rfur78]

@marco i had the same initial reaction as @kermatu - the way the email was worded "just earn a further 14000 SC or 60 nights to retain platinum" when we had already requalified.

So it wasn't just delayed status points figures used, it was zero actual info guving the entirely wrong impression.

double plat?

 

[kermatu]

double plat?

Oh please let me be Platinum One in another programme!!

 

[kermatu]

@marco i had the same initial reaction as @kermatu - the way the email was worded "just earn a further 14000 SC or 60 nights to retain platinum" when we had already requalified.

So it wasn't just delayed status points figures used, it was zero actual info giving the entirely wrong impression.

Exactly, though it is hopefully just a shoddy job, and not as I feared some stuff up on my account alone.

My account still shows 17500 odd points so far, so not overly concerned, but status still only valid until Dec 17.

Thanks all for the replies.

 

[kermatu]

Property: Melbourne Sofitel
Status: Platinum
Room Booked: Junior Suite
Room upgrade: No
Rate: So Suite. Three nights.
Free internet: Yes, slow.
Welcome drinks: Yes, one. Not used.
Early check in / late out: 2pm checkout came with room rate but was not required.
Exec Lounge: Yes.
VIP treatment: Plate of fruit in room, plus two waters, a small box of chocs and a plate of macaroons and sweets. Two waters every night on turndown.

Stay was good mainly because of Exec lounge staff who recognised me from previous stays here and in Brisbane and looked after me well. Most of the benefits of the package worked fine - chauffeur pick-up and drop off at airport; a massage; and a bottle of wine. But not without some issues. I pre-requested red wine rather than sparkling in my room - arrived to see sparkling. It was changed but to a cheap bottle of random red. The massage cost was added to my bill but I had it successfully reversed at checkout. Then I got a random charge for a mini bar item I had not used. Has taken a week to get it reversed.

Lounge is great though. Great breakfast, a reasonable light lunch , good quality wines and spirits in the evening and a changeing but quality variety of hot and cold canapés, including oysters, sushi, gyoza etc.

Rooms are pretty tired. I choose the junior suite as it has a walk-in shower, but they are all terribly positioned next to the lifts and the housekeeping station. So the noise is terrible.

It continues to be almost but not quite the right hotel for me in Melbourne - just like the old HSW. Need to start looking for a new home.

 

[Skrambled]

Property: Grand Mercure Swanston Melbourne
Status: Accor Gold
Room Booked: Standard room king
Room upgrade: Superior room king
Free internet: Yes
Welcome drinks: Arrived late
Early check in / late out: Not required
VIP treatment: None
Additional care/notes: room upgraded to a street facing room which was noisy despite me asking if any quieter rooms were available at checkin. Good size room for the price but very basic/ageing fitout.

 

[kermatu]

Property: Pullman Auckland
Status: Platinum
Room Booked: 1 bedroom residence suite, 3 nights
Room upgrade: No although did get corner room.
Rate: Can’t recall.
Free internet: Yes
Welcome drinks: Yes, two. And again scored a free coughtail courtesy of bar staff. The occasional tip does wonders.
Early check in / late out: A late checkout at 1:30pm equested and given.
Exec Lounge: Yes.
VIP treatment: Welcome note, small serving board of fudge, plenty of waters. Turndown service.

While I got a corner room, it was just on the 6th floor so not much of a view to enjoy. Midweek so breakfasts were much more civilised and the staff were great. Lounge food a little below usual standard, but staff great there, and in the bar.

I keep going back.