What is it like in the Accor Live Limitless suite at BST Hyde Park?

We’ve run a number of articles over the last few months about Accor Live Limitless points redemptions for the BST Hyde Park concerts, which concluded last weekend. We even gave away some tickets in an exclusive reader competition.

Last Friday Accor kindly invited me to their BST suite to see Billy Joel in concert.

As Accor has confirmed that it will be sponsoring BST in 2024 – so these redemptions will be back – and because the suite is genuinely a ‘money can’t buy’ redemption, I thought I’d show you what you get.

Accor Live Limitless is the loyalty scheme for ibis, Novotel, Mercure, Sofitel, Pullman, Raffles, Fairmont, Swissotel and other leading hotel brands. Our review of Accor Live Limitless is here.

Accor lets you redeem Accor Live Limitless points for various BST Hyde Park packages, each offering access to a different viewing area. Because I only experienced the ALL suite – the top end redemption – I can’t comment on how the other options work. I know (because they sent photos!) that the readers who won our BST ‘Diamond View’ tickets for Take That had a great time.

If you have been to a concert at the O2 in the Marriott Bonvoy suite, and you can imagine that suite transplanted to the side of the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, then you have a rough idea of what you get with the Accor suite at BST!

What these pictures don’t fully convey is the scale of the event. There were 65,000 people at the Billy Joel concert on Friday night. 64,900 of those people were standing in one huge open air crowd, some of whom looked to be around half a mile from the stage.

Around 100 people were in the small number of private suites, where they were:

• about 10 feet higher than the main crowd, so nearly level with the stage and with nothing blocking their view
• had a seat, if they wanted it
• were covered, in case of rain
• had access to a free bar and food
• had semi-private entry and exit to the concert, on the opposite side of Hyde Park to the main crowd

For scale, here is a picture I took from the Accor suite looking away from the stage:

It is a weird feeling to be in your spacious suite looking at 65,000 people in the main crowd.

The top photo gives you a good feel for the suite itself. Here is the bar (these are all Accor PR photos):

…. and this is how the seating looks on the balcony, if you choose to sit:

Here is a photo we took at the Billy Joel concert from the suite. It gives a good impression of where you are versus the stage (although you are nearer than the photo implies) and how you sit higher than the other guests:

Clearly – as always happens when we write about the Marriott Bonvoy suite at the O2 – some people will say that it’s better to be in the middle of a crowd of 65,000 people, a long way from the stage, with no free food or drink, with no private exit / entrance to the arena and with no access to seating. I’m happy for you 🙂

However, as the BST concerts often skew towards an older crowd (Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Guns n’ Roses, Take That) who like their creature comforts, the Accor suite offers a unique opportunity. And you won’t get wet if it rains ….

You also need to remember that if you make a full day of it (support acts are on from 2pm, even though the main act only starts at 8pm) the suite makes a good base because you are looking at eight hours on your feet otherwise.

Accor Live Limitless will be offering redemptions for the 2024 BST Hyde Park concerts from next spring. Points pricing has historically varied by concert but examples are here.

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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.