I just enrolled my wife in Accor Hotels A-Club. New members joining A-Club by September 30, 2009 will receive 2,000 A-Club enrollment points as a special offer celebrating the 1st birthday of A-Club. The 2,000 points may then be redeemed for a US$60 A-Club voucher. A-Club Enrollment link.
Accor Hotels, based in France, has more properties globally than either Marriott or Hilton. The chain currently ranks number 5 in the world for most hotels. There are more Accor brand hotels outside the USA than any other global chain.
Americans may recognize Accor Hotels as the parent company of Motel 6. The Motel 6 brand is Accor Hotels largest brand by hotels, however, Motel 6 is not even a participating hotel brand in Accor A-Club.
(Thanks jumpdogjump for posting link in comment section below for limited time promotion offer allowing A-Club vouchers to be used at Motel 6 through October 31. http://www.a-club.com/en/index-offer-detail.html?promoId=887&promoDir=promo.)
Accor Hotels high-end hotel brands are Sofitel, Pullman, and M-Gallery. Mercure, and Novotel are mid-scale to upscale brands, ranking in the top 20 hotel brands in the world based on rooms.
In the United States there are eight Sofitel Hotels where you can use the $60 A-Club voucher.
Sample low rates for Saturday, September 19 are shown below, except Sofitel Philadelphia unavailable for this date. Philadelphia rate is based on November 10 search.
Sofitel Minneapolis (suburb) $95
Sofitel Los Angeles (city center) $265
Sofitel New York (city center) $385
Sofitel Miami (airport) $105
Sofitel Chicago Water Tower (city center) $245
Sofitel San Francisco Bay (near airport in Redwood City) $130
Sofitel Washington D.C. Lafayette Square (city center) $210
Sofitel Philadelphia (city center) $220 for Nov 10, 2009
A-Club is a monetary based hotel loyalty program. Points have cash value. 2,000 points may be redeemed for a cash equivalent voucher worth 40 Euros or US$60. Simply redeem your points for a cash voucher you can redeem at check-out to pay a portion of the bill.
Unfortunately, I already belong to A-Club. My wife wasn’t a member until today.
I checked the rates for our local Sofitel San Francisco Bay in Redwood City. I saw rates as low as $95 per night for November.
Redwood City is the home of the global headquarters for Oracle Corporation software company.
Signing Kelley up for A-Club should allow us to spend the night at the Sofitel Hotel San Francisco bay for $50 all-in after tax. That certainly beats Motel 6!
The Loyalty traveler column for the September 2009 issue of InsideFlyer covered Accor A-Club. Here is the A-Club column.
Accor Hotels A|Club for the global traveler
Hilton, IHG, and Marriott hotels are not everywhere you may need to be for international travel. Accor Hotels, one of the global top 5 hotel chains, has more hotels worldwide than Marriott or Hilton, and more hotels outside the US than IHG.
Accor Hotels’ 4,000 properties far outnumber the branded hotels of any other major global chain in regions outside of North America. Brazil, for example, has 133 Accor brand hotels while IHG, Hilton, and Marriott combined have 10 hotels.
Accor Hotels’ A-Club loyalty program represents over 2,100 hotels in 8 brands. Sofitel, MGallery and Pullman are upscale brands. Novotel, Mercure, and Suitehotel are midscale. Ibis and allseasons are economy segment. A loyalty program this large is too big to ignore; especially for the global traveler. Membership in A-Club is free.
Link: A-Club Enrollment link.
A separate, fee-based (270€ per year) Accor loyalty program, A-Club Favorite Guest, offers hotel rate discounts, additional hotel benefits, and accelerated A-Club points earning of 3.5 points per 1€.
Link http://www.a-club.com/en/subscription-program-description.html
Accor is a sizeable hotel chain, however, 40% of the Accor global portfolio are budget brand hotels, including Motel 6 (US/Canada), Etap (Europe), Formule 1 (global), and Hotel F1 (France). These brands do not participate in Accor’s A|Club loyalty program.
Earning and Redeeming A|Club Points
A|Club base-level members earn 2 points per 1€, except 1 point per 1€ for Ibis and allseasons hotels. 2,000 A|Club points may be exchanged for a 40€ hotel certificate or US$60 certificate valid for unrestricted use at over 2,000 Accor hotels worldwide in Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Mercure, Suitehotel, allseasons, Ibis, and Accor Thalassa properties. Accor certificates are also valid for ClubMed resorts.
4,000 A|Club points may also be exchanged for 2,000 miles with several airline partners, but this exchange is less favorable than hotel stay rewards.
A|Club Elite status
A|Club elite status is earned by either total nights or reaching point thresholds in a 12 month period. All A|Club points earned count as elite points. Hotel spending, bonus points, and partner activity all count for reaching elite status just as with IHG Priority Club.
Silver elite status requires 10 nights or 2,500 points and earns 50% elite bonus points; 3 points per 1€. Gold elite requires 30 nights or 10,000 points and earns 75% elite bonus points; 3.5 points per 1€ . Platinum elite requires 60 nights or 25,000 points and earns 100% elite bonus points; 4 points per 1€.
The basic way to get more value out of A|Club is the same as with other major hotel loyalty programs – attain elite status and use loyalty promotions to increase the points earned per € in spending. A platinum member staying at a hotel during a triple points promotion can potentially earn 8 points per 1€.
Accor and A|Club Promotions
Accor has experienced the same economic downturn as other major hotel chains. A myriad of summer promotions offered 50% off rates, 2x and 3x points, and free nights on multi-night stays. Most of the summer promotions ended in August. Look for new loyalty promotions for September stays at http://www.a-club.com/en/offers-list.html.
Accor Advantage Plus for Residents of Asia
Accor Advantage Plus is a loyalty program exclusively for residents of Asia with attributes of A|Club and Favorite Guest. A US$200 annual membership fee provides instant A|Club Silver elite status, a free night certificate, hotel rate discounts of 10%, and hotel food & beverage discounts from 15% to 50%. A unique feature is a free supplementary card granting member hotel discounts to a partner. There are over 340 Accor hotels in the Asia-Pacific region including 50 Sofitel Hotels. Advantage Plus members may earn and redeem A|Club points worldwide.
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