Hilton, Marriott and IHG are usually thought to be the big hotel chains (at least in the US) but Accor has over 4000 properties and 30 brands, although not all brands participate yet.
Their Le Club Accorhotels is still relatively young, and has itself already been rebranded away from Accor A|Club. They added elite benefits to the program five years ago but especially as they’ve added premium brands to the chain and added non-hotel companies to the group they’ve known they’ve needed to broaden and improve their loyalty program.
Currently, after all, upgrades are only to the next room category and late checkout is subject to availability.
Today they’ve announced a new program — ALL or Accor Live Limitless — about which they’ve shared very little so far.
Mostly we get marketing claims. Like Hyatt and now Marriott there’s aspirations beyond anything that’s actually being delivered. Marriott says they’re re-imagining rewards with the launch of Bonvoy except the program is exactly the same as before the new name so nothing has been reimagined. The only changes announced are that reward nights are getting more expensive.
Normally I’d just roll my eyes at a tag line like “Bringing Augmented Hospitality to life” but I expect that since the changes to Accor have been to date modest, thought he chain’s ambitions haven’t been, that overall we will actually see improvements — even though they haven’t told us what they are yet (generally not a good sign).
The good news is that with writing like this they can’t possibly have spent the full program budget on the announcement,
Accor announces today a disruptive and dramatic shift of its loyalty program into a fully integrated global platform integrating rewards, services, and experiences across our entire ecosystem to bring value everyday life whether you work, live or play.
This new lifestyle loyalty program will recognize, understand, cherish, communicate with and reward guests like never before giving access to “ALL of Accor”.
They are promising:
- New elite status
- Better benefits “according to our augmented hospitality strategy”
- Earn and burn across more brands and a new app
- Partnerships with venues “providing over 60 000 tickets and private suites for our loyalty members in Latin America, Asia and Europe” along with “chef masterclasses and culinary encounters for our best members courtesy of our loyalty program” and starting next year “the best of Taste Festivals in London, Paris, Sao Paulo, Hong Kong and Toronto, with growth and expansion of the partnership into new cities over the next three years.”
The loyalty program is also becoming Principal Partner and jersey sponsor of the Paris Saint-Germain Football Club effective with the 2019/2020 season.
Basically all we know is that there will be a new loyalty program, probably mostly marketing changes but I believe some unspecified improvements too, and new partnerships that won’t be super relevant to folks in the US.
Over time we’ll see them better integrate their hotel investments and their non-hotel investments through the new program. For now though the program announcement seems… premature.
Do they have a status match program?
It’s amazing that major businesses like Marriott, Accor and , to a lesser extent, the others have been convinced that members want to spend their accruals on things like tennis tickets/concerts/dancing with whales, etc. THEY DON’T ( well, at least I don’t and nor does anyone I know…). 99.9999% want to use points for hotel rewards, rather than spend a vast amount of them on learning how to cook omelets with Alain Ducasse or similar.
Some clueless consultancy has convinced them that such programs add value ( or are more cost effective), hence the never ending stream of emails promoting “experiences” and “moments” ( the majority of which sound ghastly).
I’m deeply suspicious when the chains talk about the future in terms of “it’s not all about hotel rewards”, as Sorensen has done a number of times.
If Accor could get their act together, they could be a serious player. I won’t hold my breath, as the track record is abysmal.
I got wrapped up in this since I am a Fairmont fan and I am not seeing anything great coming our way so far.
I’d also add that things DID change with the Marriott change- if you were United 1k you used to get a status match with Marriott that equaled whatever loyalty level was required for a free upgrade when possible and access to the executive lounge. Now you get a crap status that means nothing. So yeah, it changed a lot and makes me less likely to even look for a Marriott or Sheraton to stay in when I travel insofar as I have a choice. In fact I was thinking of switching from Fairmont TO Sheraton/Marriott for leisure travel because I thought I’d still have the upgrade/executive lounge access and now it appears I will not so…. I will pick whatever the heck seems nice and fits my budget and forgo trying for any hotel loyalty program. It’s a bummer.
What took them so long? they sent me the survey years ago!
Still, crappy program and you need 60 nights or $6,350 in eligible spend to get lounge access and breakfast (Platinum status) unless of course you pay exuberant club or breakfast rate. No challenge, no fast track, and no status match! Forget it!
Man, this is tough. Do I post the Benedict Cumberbatch “I am ALL” gif from Zoolander 2, or the Adam Sandler “CHERISH IT!” gif from Billy Madison?
Yawn, so what. Accor is a very difficult to do business with company. Their website is pitiful. My company gets huge discounts, but you can’t get them to work on the website. So, I advise book elsewhere.