Accor Live Limitless extends your hotel points expiry, but ….

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• Andrew Wilson says:

  27 Mar27 March 09:34

  Re Accor, I gave up on finding a survey I was actually allowed to complete in the end… So completed an Amex>KLM>Accor minimum transfer shuffle that seems to have done the trick.

• SammyJ says:

  27 Mar27 March 09:42

  O/T – The current 2 bonus Avios on Amex spend deal – just wanted to check if it works ok for non-Sterling purchases, BAPP card. Need to spend $3000 USD and normally wouldn’t use it because of the 3% fee but am I right in thinking I’ll currently get 5 Avios/£ on this with the bonus?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    27 Mar27 March 14:35

    Are they BA non sterling purchases?

    • SammyJ says:

      29 Mar29 March 05:31

      No, a purchase of Universal Orlando annual passes!

      • SammyJ says:

        29 Mar29 March 05:45

        … And I’m glad you said that and that I queried it, as it appears that I totally made up the 3pts per £ on non-sterling spend. Very odd – something I’ve definitely read somewhere but obviously not the case here. I’ll go back to my previous ‘never use it abroad’ mode.

• Mark Roberts says:

  27 Mar27 March 09:57

  Re: Qatar, what are the best options for booking a one-way First flight on avios so that I can use the ‘proper’ First lounge? KWI? Due to fly to HKG via DOH in November and really keen to try that lounge en route. Thanks.

  • Rob says:

    27 Mar27 March 10:10

    Can’t you pay for the F lounge now in some scenarios?

    • Mark Roberts says:

      27 Mar27 March 10:15

      I’m not sure, Rob – I have BA Gold but flying on a ‘cheap’ Qatar ticket. Would it be more cost effective to just pay to use the Al Safwa lounge or book a one-way First on redemption?

      • Jonathan says:

        27 Mar27 March 11:14

        It’s not actually that great. It’s impressive at first glance as it’s such a huge space but when you look closely it’s basically built of plywood. Food is about on par with Concorde Room & way below Qantas/Cathay Heathrow lounges & beverages have also nose dived (no more Krug).

        I wouldn’t pay more than £50 & only then if I had a 4 hour + connection.

        • Patrick Cold says:

          27 Mar27 March 12:20

          Cost is £80 I believe.

        • The real John says:

          27 Mar27 March 12:38

          It was US$165 before the covid-closure.

        • Rob says:

          27 Mar27 March 12:46

          Food was always bad, you pay for the architecture.

        • Andrew says:

          27 Mar27 March 12:58

          You’re also getting a private bedroom with en-suite if you’re there over night. I paid to access the lounge last time I had a long layover overnight on a business class flight and was well worth it and cheaper than the airside hotel. The champagne is VC Grande Dame which is decent enough, on a par with LPGS.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          27 Mar27 March 14:36

          There’s only 8(?) rooms given on a first come first served basis so it’s not really a given.

• PM says:

  27 Mar27 March 10:03

  Can we schedule already an article for mid-May reminding us about Accor’s behaviour during the pandemic?

  Collective memory can fail us but it would be good to have clear in mind stories of:

  – lost points
  – forced unwanted bookings just not to lose points
  – anti-loyalty policies
  – unhelpful or even hostile customer service

  • Tariq says:

    27 Mar27 March 10:22

    I gave up on them years ago because of their scumbag behaviour. Would never stay in an Accor hotel out of choice.

    • Nick says:

      27 Mar27 March 10:53

      I find invidious hotels are fine, most are very nice and helpful. Accor central customer services are atrocious. Even their marketing emails are full and lifeless.

      I stay with them a lot because of the volume of hotels in places I tend to go, plus it helps that the rates are often decent. But I don’t put any effort into collecting their points, it’s not worth the bother.

      • Andrew says:

        27 Mar27 March 12:06

        I agree – Accor central customer service is an contradiction in terms.

        Individual hotels can be great – we had a non-refundable booking in Paris at an mGallery for Nov/Dec 2020. The hotel proactively contacted us to ask if we would prefer a refund and also reinstated the part-pay points without a quibble.

        We’ve emailed that hotel directly to book a cancellable rate for the same weekend this November and they have offered a lower price than on Accor’s website with fully flex terms (as opposed to cancel 3 days before online) and thrown in breakfast for four each morning. Very pleased with that individual hotel.

  • Lady London says:

    27 Mar27 March 10:55

    yup lost my points last May. They expired one week before the date from which they extended anyone’s points.

    When I phoned Accor UK they could clearly see my annual pattern included stays in April but nothing doing they refused to comment on the unfairness of this.

    I did manage to find a way to get them back but basically felt like I was being blackmailed to stay again.

    Since then my mission has been to get rid of every Accor point I have and I am happy to tell their hotels so. Accor have tried to invent new unpublished rules such as trying to only allow me to spend a maximum of 1,000 points towards a booking (this is not anywhere in the rules you always have to spend in chunks of 2,000) luckily a helpful hotel management sorted that out.

    My advice would be with Accor deal with the hotel directly and always expect Accor to weasel out. If you get a hotel that messes you around no matter how royally such as I encountered in Italy (costing me a £100+ value accrual) then Accor are absolutely useless. Avoid.

• Matthew says:

  27 Mar27 March 10:13

  I’ve had one dealing with accor during pandemic. Had LHR Sofitel booked via Amex travel, non refundable rate and couldn’t go due lockdown. Didn’t expect anything back but got a full refund within 7 days. Can’t grumble at that…

  • Harry T says:

    27 Mar27 March 10:25

    I also had a Sofitel booked in Munich back in the heady days of 2020. I received a full refund very promptly after the hotel needed to close. I had used a prepaid, non refundable rate.

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    27 Mar27 March 10:31

    Sofitel don’t appear to know they’re part of Accor – or at least they didn’t get the page about detesting leclub members

• Lady London says:

  27 Mar27 March 10:42

  If earning other than by hotel stays is against policy to extend the time your points are valid then Accor better tell their UK call centre this. On 2 or 3 occasions months apart the UK Accor customer service assured me that any points however earned will ean your points don’t expire till 12 months after the last point is earned.

  In particular they mentioned even buying a drink in an Accor hotel will reset the expiry date of all your points.

• Lady London says:

  27 Mar27 March 11:15

  On Accor do not forget to link your KLM / AF accounts to your ALL Accor account. It double dips both ways.

  Athough KL/AF seems wanting very high points for non-promo award tickets this does earn you points in Skyteam. In particular this means you can use them for Delta flights and also Virgin. Should double book from Accor if linked.

  Rob did an article on here IIRC about 2 years ago.

  • David D says:

    27 Mar27 March 13:41

    Not to forget the extra 5XP for the first flight or hotel stay on Flying Blue, or 1 night bonus credit for the same in the ALL program.

• CC says:

  27 Mar27 March 12:28

  What are the rules again with QR, regarding cancellation, changes, vouchers, if booking in Business Classic? Thinking about booking to BKK early next year, hope it will be OK by then (in the UK, in DOH, and Thailand), but just in case things are not. I recall reading about some changes of rules recently, and their website is not very helpful. Thanks.

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