Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The ‘Accor to Iberia Plus Avios’ super-generous conversion rate is back

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I wrote last week that Accor had suspended transfers of Le Club Accorhotels points to Iberia Plus Avios.

It seemed that this was the end of the ludicrously generous arbitrage, whereby you got considerably more Avios for converting into Iberia Plus (and then onto BA via ‘Combine My Avios’) instead of directly into BA.

But no!

The ability to transfer to Iberia Plus is backsee here.

And the crazy exchange rate of points to Iberia Avios is back as well.  2 Accor points gets you 5 Iberia Avios, or just 1 BA Avios!

I am genuinely surprised (on the positive side, for once!).


Accor Live Limitless update – April 2024:

Earn bonus Accor points: Accor is not currently running a global promotion

New to Accor Live Limitless?  Read our review of Accor Live Limitless here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our analysis of what Accor Live Limitless points are worth is here.

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from Accor and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Comments (21)

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  • Anup says:

    Anything I can do with 1728 Le Club Accor points? Thouht I’d sign up for my few stays at a Novotel to get the IB avios but looks like its below the limit to do anything with!

    • Raffles says:

      No. But wait. They may launch another online game like their recent Facebook one, where you could earn 2000 points for playing.

  • Neil B says:

    Thanks Raffles, that’s great news. Although the profile part of the website is currently mysteriously down…

  • Bits ‘n Pieces for January 23, 2013 - View from the Wing says:

    […] for Points is reporting that Le Club Accorhotels will again let you convert one point into 5 Iberia Avios points. […]

  • gnarlyoldgoatdude says:

    I’ve got 1500 from the pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, I mean match-the-hotel-to-the-map competetion from a few months ago. I obviously missed a week, so didn’t get the full 2000 points.
    I may top up by taking a stay or two at some of their delightfully cheap properties…if they count for earnings. I have my eye on the Ibis Budget Beaconsfield at £25 a shot. I need a hotel in the area anyway, so it’s not a matress run per se.

    Actually, just checked, and Ibis Budget doesn’t earn. Where’s that drawing board?

  • Love Flying says:

    Couple of questions (if any kind peeps have a sec)
    Can I still open an Iberia Avios account if I don’t currently have one?
    Is the Accor Places App for the Iphone or do you just download the “App” for facebook and check in via facebook (and it monitors your facebook account)
    Can you then just check in when you are “passing” to open some badges or must there be a matching reservation?

    • gagravarr says:

      Yes, open an iberia account now, you’ll be able to transfer the points to BA 90 days after the first LeClub points post.

      As for Accor Places, assume you won’t ever get any, they you may be pleasantly surprised at a random point in the future… You need to checkin (either with Facebook having added the app, or the mobile app), at exactly the right place (many hotels have several, only one of which is correct, and no way to tell, while other hotels have zero), and you need to be staying at the hotel at the time, and the stay needs to post properly, and you need to be wearning the correct colour socks, and you may need to offer up a small sacrifice, and you’ll almost certainly need to email them 17 times, and most likely after all that it still won’t properly post! It’s largely a joke, in a bad way, see all the complaints on flyertalk for more…

  • KP says:

    I have amassed 26,000 Accor points during the past year. I was thinking of using the points to stay at the Sofitel at Jumeriah beach. Is this a no brainer to transfer these points to Iberia rather than book a hotel stay?

    • Raffles says:

      Do the maths, since we don’t know the rates for the day you’re after. If you are getting the miles for under 1p, compared to the cost of paying cash for the hotel, then miles may be a better move – especially as you would be earning more points back when you paid cash for the stay.

      Given the crazy prices of Dubai hotels at peak times, however, using them for a hotel stay may offer better value.

      • Gabbai says:

        I don’t have any Accor points but use AVIOS a lot. Is there anywhere I can transfer points from into Accor

        • Raffles says:

          No, I don’t think so – they are not an Amex Membership Rewards partner

  • U. says:

    OK, I have requested auto-convert to Iberia. 48 hours i was notified that my 2000 points will be to 5000 Iberia points within six weeks. I suppose one can also try that out with less than 2000 points, if you do not mind the wait.

  • gagravarr says:

    Sadly, the great rate is only back until March – Accor have confirmed on FT that it’ll drop to 1:1 on the 1st of March 🙁

    • 21h21j says:

      The drop down for “Number of Le Club Accorhotels points” is not working when I try and transfer points – any ideas?

      I’ve looked at the automatic conversion but it says “Next transfer to Iberia Plus possible starting at 3000 points.”

      • gagravarr says:

        You could try ringing them. Their IT systems seem rather broken, and frequently get things wrong, but every so often one of their CS reps seems to do something in your favour when trying to fix an earlier problem! (Other times they’ll largely ignore you, so long term you won’t work out ahead…)

      • Glenn says:

        Try it again. I’ve had the same issues (no dropdown for number of points to transfer, says next transfer at 3,000) but I disabled my auto-transfer, tried to set up a specific transfer, failed again, and turned auto back on (didn’t have to reenter the info, was all there) and this time it said my 2,000 points would transfer automatically. We’ll see.

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