You can convert Avios INTO Accor Live Limitless hotel points – but should you?

In terms of HfP content, the partnership between Qatar Airways and Avios which launched last year is the gift that keeps on giving.

Because you can now transfer your Avios from BA Executive Club to Qatar Privilege Club (at 1:1, instantly, for free, in either direction, as many times as you want), a lot of new earning and spending opportunities are available.

We summarised the new airline, hotel and car hire partners you can now collect Avios with in this article.

Today I want to look at the impact on Accor Live Limitess, the Novotel / Sofitel / Ibis / Mercure / Raffles / Pullman / Fairmont etc hotel loyalty programme.

For the first time, you can now convert Avios INTO hotel loyalty points.

Accor Live Limitless is unique amongst hotel programmes in having partnerships with a lot of airlines (but not British Airways or Virgin Atlantic) to convert airlines miles into Accor Live Limitless points. This HfP article looks at which airlines let you convert your miles into Accor points.

Qatar Privilege Club is one of these airline programmes. You can see the details here.

How do you convert Avios into Accor Live Limitless points?

If you haven’t already linked your British Airways Executive Club account to a Qatar Privilege Club account, you need to follow our step by step guide here.

Once your accounts are linked, you move the required number of Avios from British Airways to Qatar Airways and then send them to Accor Live Limitless via this page of the Qatar website.

What is the conversion rate?

The ratio is 4.5 : 1, with a minimum of 4,500 Avios getting you 1,000 Accor Live Limitless points.

There is a transfer cap of 100,000 Avios per year.

Is this a good deal?

Not really.

Accor Live Limitless is a 100% revenue based programme. There is no reward chart. The number of points needed for a free night is the cost of that room divided by 2 Eurocents.

A room costing the equivalent of €204 will be 10,200 Accor Live Limitless points, for example.

As an Accor Live Limitless point is redeemable for 2 Eurocents of free hotel room, it means that:

• 4,500 Avios gets you ….

• 1,000 Accor Live Limitless points which gets you ….

• €20 (£17.30) of free hotel stays

This is VERY weak at under 0.4p per Avios. Remember that you can get 0.66p per Avios by redeeming them for Nectar points and spending them in Sainsbury’s, Argos or on eBay, so this should be your minimum redemption value.

Why might you want to do this?

That said, there are a couple of reasons why this conversion may make sense.

It keeps your Accor Live Limitless points alive

Accor has tough expiry rules. If there is no activity on your account for 12 months, you lose all of your points. If you don’t have any Accor stays lined up, this is an easy way of extending the life of your points without leaving your desk. After all, Accor doesn’t have many other partners to earn with.

You can top up your Accor Live Limitless account

You need at least 2,000 Accor points to cash out for hotel credit, and there are varying thresholds to transfer into other airline currencies. You could use an Avios transfer to top up a small balance to 2,000 Accor points.

The maths isn’t attractive, to be honest, but it depends on the relative value you place on the currencies.

Do NOT under any scenario use Accor as a way of converting Avios into other airline miles. The number are horrible. For example:

• 9,000 Avios would get you ….

• 2,000 Accor Live Limitless points which would get you ….

• 1,000 Flying Blue miles

This is shockingly bad.

You can use Avios for an Accor Experiences package

Accor has been building up its ‘Accor Experiences’ packages over the past year.

These redemptions can be a more valuable use of points than redeeming for a hotel room, which means that you would be getting better value for your Avios.

This article looks at what you got if you redeemed for the ALL suite at the BST Hyde Park concerts this summer.

Full details of the Qatar Airways ‘Avios to Accor’ conversion deal – and the detailed instructions on how to do it – are on the Qatar Airways site here.

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Accor Live Limitless update – December 2023:

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.