Accor’s new ‘Secret Deals’ is a lot worse than ‘Happy Mondays’

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• vol says:

  13 May13 May 05:46

  I think (not so) deep down we knew that anything that replaced the Accor Happy Mondays was never going to be as good.

  Oh well – all good things must come to an end

  Glad to have benefited from it – nice while it lasted 🙂

  OT – double Avios for Avios in-store shopping.

  • Rob says:

    13 May13 May 10:15

    If it didn’t work, though, the hotels would not have participated. And they did participate, in droves.

    • RIcatti says:

      13 May13 May 15:01

      Problem is that such programs like Hot Escapes/Special Deals require maintenance,

      – they have to be populated by Accor on one side
      – people have to come and search on the other side

      If after quite a few attempts, I cant find a deal then I don’t look at that source anymore.

      Fixed rate offer had an attraction that there is a guaranteed deal.

      • Hingeless says:

        13 May13 May 16:05

        I like the new promotion, I have just booked the T5 Sofitel for a great price WITH all my benefits rather than going through the other route.

        Let’s see what next week brings

• Matt says:

  13 May13 May 06:23

  I’ve used Accor frequently for leisure trips over the last few years in part thanks to Happy Mondays, and also free Platinum status via Amex, which is due to expire in December.

  I have a couple more stays booked this summer, but after that I see no real attraction to the brands over anything else. Happy Mondays was a game-changer and made Accor the first port of call when booking a weekend stay in the UK. Nice while it lasted, but I’ll take my cheap-skate arse elsewhere in the future…

• Court says:

  13 May13 May 06:41

  Just in the T5 lounge after a night at the Sofitel on the lastminute.com £107 secret deal – I guess they fancy a bit of that market…

• Brian says:

  13 May13 May 09:20

  I tried looking at the Secret Deals yesterday – when I actually clicked through for a particular hotel in one of the cities on the drop-down list, it turned out that the price being offered was just the normal flexible Platinum rate. In other words, it was actually more expensive than the Advance rate open to everybody. So yes, it is rubbish. As others have posted before, there really isn’t much point in bothering with Accor now, unless they happen to have a hotel in the right place at any given time.

• Brian says:

  13 May13 May 09:22

  As Rob says, SPG’s Hot Escapes is nothing special, either. The point about it – and, it seems, Accor’s Secret Deals – is that the discount on offer is not that great and the list of hotels isn’t very wide. People therefore can’t be bothered checking, because the chances of their finding a good discount on a hotel they actually want to go to are very slim. With Happy Mondays, it was such a great deal that I would always check, and would be happy to stay in a slightly less convenient hotel because of the price.

• NigelM says:

  13 May13 May 09:49

  I can understand them not pricing in £ since the fall in the £ might be part of what killed off Happy Mondays. Euro would make sense since it’s a French company but maybe pre French election they thought the dollar a safer bet at that time?

  • John says:

    13 May13 May 11:08

    Why not just wait until thy he election is over…

• Tom says:

  13 May13 May 10:02

  Most of the hotels on the Happy Monday deal were out of the way, or of lower quality ( with some notable exceptions ) – was it better to get some money from a perishable resource ( empty bed ) than no money ?

  IMHO the hotels will find that the revenue is down, the % full is down, but the average price per room is up……

  The world wide sale of hotel rooms every week, never includes the UK, so they have lost this part of the market.

  I think that this is going to be an ongoing trend with Accor, to increase the room rate, at the expense of revenue. I do know that some of the hotels on the old Happy Mondays list did not know about it being killed off until after it had happened.

  There is really nothing for an elite status member of Le Club now in much of Europe to warrant the effort to keep the status. The Happy Mondays deal at least gave something back to all members.

  I think I will not be renewing my status in 2018 ( having already renewed this year ) There is simply nothing in it for me. The standard of the hotels and the service needs to improve at the prices offered. You can put up with poor service for £25 but not for £250 a night.

  Thank you and good night Accor.

  • Brian says:

    13 May13 May 11:43

    Not sure why you think that most of the hotels were out of the way or of lower quality – unless you were expecting the top-end Sofitels and MGallerys (of which there are very few in the UK, I believe) to be on the list. Saturday was sometimes a bit barren, but Sundays and Mondays always had a decent selection, as did most Fridays. Most of the London hotels in a variety of districts could be had, for example. And in tourist destinations like Salisbury, Oxford or Winchester, Accor is the only major chain with a centrally-located hotel. Oxford was rarely on the list, but Salisbury, Exeter, Winchester, Bristol, Edinburgh etc etc all were. Which is why the loss of the deal is such a shame.

    • Tom says:

      13 May13 May 13:28

      Yes, agree Salisbury is a lovely hotel if you get the right rooms …. However Brighton, Wetherby, Tonbridge etc are not ( although most of the ones I mention are owned by Jupiter and they seem not to be doing any refurbishment …. )

      Classic examples in a privilege room – repairing the missing tile by paint in the bathroom – and non working Spa equipment just boarded over but still shown on the website – moldy black out curtains – missing taps …..

      Have had lovely stays in London and elsewhere, but most of the Happy Mondays list was not 100% up to the standard of the chain.

      Not expecting Sofitel standards for a £40 Mercure …. but Mercure standards … the rooms are the same condition weather you pay £40 or £400 …. just about acceptable at £40 not at £400

• Billy says:

  13 May13 May 10:30

  8th July is right in middle of Wimbledon so there’ll likely be slim pickings.

  • Rob says:

    13 May13 May 11:25

    I know, that’s why he is down!

    • bill says:

      13 May13 May 18:24

      plus U2 at twickenham and – i think – kings of leon in hyde park

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