New: 15%+ return with triple Accor points on UK Novotel, Mercure, Ibis etc stays

UPDATE – APRIL 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.  We produce a monthly summary of the top hotel bonus point offers – please click HERE or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ menu above.

Our comprehensive review of the Accor Live Limitless scheme is here.

Keep up to date with new hotel offers by signing up for our free daily or weekly newsletters.

Accor has launched a new ‘triple points’ promotion for stays in the UK.

Before I get to that, I want to remind you of the parallel ‘triple Avios’ programme Accor is running.  This allows you to contrast both offers.  It is one of the best hotels promotions currently available and covers all of Le Club AccorHotels, the loyalty scheme for Sofitel, Ibis, Novotel, Mercure, M Gallery and Pullman.

How ‘triple Avios’ works

First, remember that you should credit your Accor stays to Iberia Plus and not to British Airways Executive Club.

For historical reasons which predate Avios, Accor has a very generous deal with Iberia Plus.  Accor points convert at 1:1 into Iberia Plus Avios.  They only convert at 2:1 into British Airways Avios.

You should set your Accor account so that the Avios from this offer go into your Iberia Plus account.  You can then transfer them across to BA if you wish.

How to take part in ‘triple Avios’

This is what you have to do:

Take a look at the promotion rules here

Change the settings on your Le Club AccorHotels account from earning points to earning miles

WARNING:  If you already have a pot of 3,000+ Accor points, they will be converted into Iberia miles immediately.  If you want to save your existing points for a hotel discount voucher then do NOT take part in this promotion.

Select Iberia Plus as your preferred airline – NOT British Airways!  (You will obviously have to open an Iberia Plus account at iberia.com if you don’t have one.  New members of Iberia Plus must wait 90 days before they can transfer Avios across to British Airways or avios.com)

Book before 12th September and stay before 12th October.  Existing bookings made before 11th July do not count and should be rebooked.

The ‘triple Avios’ is based on what you would earn as a ‘Classic’ base level member, ie 2.5 points per Euro.  This means that you would earn 7.5 Avios per €1 spent which is a very attractive rate.  Status members would earn even more.

(Note that the earning rate is lower at Ibis, Ibis Styles and Adagio.  You only earn 1 per €1.  At Adagio Access you earn 0.5 per €1.  This means that a ‘Classic’ member would be earning 3 Avios per €1.)

This deal could work out very nicely.  Let’s imagine that you are spending £500 at a Novotel for a week.  That would be €600 which would earn you 4,500 Avios.  A status member would do even better.

Full details can be found on the Accor website here.

Let’s look at the new ‘triple points’ offer

This latest promotion is for triple Accor points and NOT triple Avios.  Full details are here – YOU MUST REGISTER via the link.

It is ONLY valid for hotel stays in the UK.

The relevant dates are similar to the triple Avios promotion.  You need to book by 11th or 15th September – depending on whether you believe the website image or the terms and conditions – for stays before 15th November.  There is no minimum nights requirement.

Given the choice – and you only have a choice if you have a UK stay coming up as triple points is UK-only – I would take triple points rather than triple Avios.

Why?  Well, I think the logic is straightforward:

you can convert your points into Avios at any time, as long as you have at least 3,000.  This means that you are no worse off than taking Avios in the first place.

you have the additional option of using your points for Accor hotels vouchers at the rate of 2,000 points = €40

this offer is good for stays until 15th November whilst ‘triple Avios’ ends on 12th October

Converting your points into Accor vouchers is more valuable than using them for Avios.  At the current woeful € exchange rate, you are effectively paying 1.72p per Avios point if you take 1 Avios point instead of 2 Eurocents of hotel credit.  This is terrible value.

Remember that you will earn at least 7.5 Accor points per € spent.  This means roughly 8.7 points per £1 which is worth 17.5 Eurocents (15p) of hotel credit for every £1 you spend.  If you have Accor elite status you would earn even more.  On a pricey business trip this could be very lucrative.

The only reasons to take ‘triple Avios’ instead of ‘triple points’ would be if:

you are staying outside the UK

you will never get to 3,000 Accor points to allow you to convert to Avios and don’t want to have any ‘orphaned’ points in the Accor scheme

you can’t see yourself ever paying for an Accor stay out of your own pocket and have no use for the €40 vouchers

You can find official details on the ‘triple points’ offer here.  Registration IS required – I would do it now in case you forget.

---

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.