LAST CALL to get free Accor Gold status for two years via ibis Business

Accor offers a paid loyalty programme for regular ibis guests – ibis Business.

You are probably thinking that “I don’t stay much in ibis hotels” and “I don’t stay much on ‘Business'”.  However, ibis Business comes with a key benefit – members get Gold status in Accor Live Limitless.

You are running out of time to get this benefit, however. It will be withdrawn for new applicants from 21st March.

On 22nd March, ibis Business will be replaced by ALL PLUS ibis. This has poorer benefits and Gold status is withdrawn as you can see here.

Full details of ibis Business as it currently stands are on this page of the Accor website.

ibis Business is not free.  There is a fee of £65 for one year, or £119 for two years.

Is it worth £65 to get Accor Live Limitless Gold status?

Our full review of Accor Live Limitless is here.

For some people, joining ibis Business to get Accor Live Limitless Gold status may be worth £65 even if you rarely stay at ibis Hotels.

Gold is mid-tier status with Accor and usually requires 30 nights or €2,800 of spending per year.  The benefits include:

• free internet (although all UK Accor hotels offer this to everyone)

• an upgrade on arrival if available

• a free welcome drink

• early check-in or late check-out on request

• 50% base points bonus (3.7 per €1 instead of 2.5 at most brands)

It is worth noting that, because Accor does not give away status as a credit card perk (unlike Hilton, Marriott and IHG), hotels tend to treat it more seriously than with other chains. They know you have earned it – except, of course, if you get it via ibis Business you won’t have!

Note that having Accor Gold status does not make it any easier to earn Platinum or Diamond status.  You would still have 0 qualifying nights and €0 of qualifying spend for the year.

Full details of Accor Live Limitless Gold benefits are on the Accor website here. Our full guide to Accor Live Limitless starts here.

ibis Business paid for itself in one trip when I went to Barbados

When I joined in 2021 my Accor Live Limitless status, originally ‘Classic’, was upgraded immediately to Gold as soon as I applied, although I have seen reports elsewhere saying that it can take a week.

In in late 2021 I went to Fairmont Royal Pavilion in Barbados.

You get a 50% points bonus for being Gold. I earned 18,872 base points in Accor Live Limitless from my stay. 18,872 base points meant that I earned a Gold status bonus of 9,435 points. Accor points are worth 2 Eurocents each, so those 9,435 points were worth €189 of credit towards future Accor stays.

Given I paid £65 (€73) for my ibis Business card, I made a 2.5x return on my money.

What are the other benefits of ibis Business?

It doesn’t matter (!) because they are disappearing on 22nd March.

After that, ibis Business will be renamed as ALL PLUS ibis.

What are the benefits of ALL PLUS ibis?

You can see the benefits of ALL PLUS ibis here. There are weaker than you currently get as an ibis Business member:

• instead of Accor Gold status, you get 10 nights per year towards elite status. This will only get you instant Silver status and leave you 20 nights per year short of being Gold.

• your discount changes from 5%-10% off the Member Rate to 15% off the Best Available Rate – this is likely to be a worse deal and you may find you are paying more than some other discounted rates

• the 10% discount on food and drink at ibis hotels is scrapped

This is a pretty poor list of benefits although we don’t know what the membership fee will be from 22nd March.

Conclusion

If you liked the idea of getting Accor Live Limitless Gold status via the modest ibis Business annual fee, you need to act before 21st March.

I would suggest you pay £119 for two years of membership since Accor has told existing members that their Gold status will be respected for the duration of their current subscription.

The sign-up page for the ibis Business Card is here.

Full details of the changes can be found here. The page is a bit thin on detail so I suggest reading the T&C document linked.

Click here for a complete guide to getting hotel elite status from UK credit cards.

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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.