A package from France arrived in my mailbox yesterday. I opened the brown cardboard box to find another box inside embossed with the words “Feel Unique”.
One of the perks of writing about hotels for 11 years on Loyalty Traveler is the occasional gift of complimentary elite status. Many of the major hotel companies have given me complimentary hotel elite status over the years. Sometimes I even take advantage of the benefits.
Accor Hotels has given me complimentary Platinum membership. I even planned a couple trips with Accor Hotels stays and mapped out a travel route to take advantage of a lucrative Le Club AccorHotels promotion in 2017. As that trip turned out, I changed my plans for more lucrative hotel promotions like an IHG PointBreaks hotel for reward nights in Brno at 5,000 points and two stays earned a free night promotion with Radisson and using Marriott Rewards points for a stay at Courtyard by Marriott Pilsen, Czechia at 7,500 points per night.
What caught my eye with the items inside the Accor Hotels Feel Unique box, besides the Platinum member card, is the card showing how to attach the luggage tag and key chain. The card design reminded me of a card I recently placed beside my bed as a bookmark while re-reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The bookmark card says ‘Barbara Rihl‘. I realized it was from last year’s Le Club AccorHotels Platinum membership box.
Last year, Le Club AccorHotels Platinum elite box had a passport holder gift. I pulled that passport holder out of a drawer for our December 2018 trip to London after a Heathrow Airport passport control officer in October 2018 commented how bent the corners of my passport had become after so many years of traveling loose in the front pocket of my jeans. I renewed my passport in November 2018. the idea to preserve the good look of my new USA passport by using one of the many passport folders I have picked up over the years seemed like a good one. I gave Kelley a Marriott Rewards branded passport folder and I used the Barbara Rihl passport folder from Accor Hotels.
In 2020 someone might develop a similar looking Marriott Bonvoy passport holder.
Anyway, Accor Hotels may end up in my 2019 travel plans as their low room rates in some places I plan to be around Warsaw and some other cities in Poland this year and time in Prague have me giving Accor Hotels a serious look as a competitive room rate.
Like many programs, the higher Platinum elite status in Le Club AccorHotels will generate more points earned on paid stays. Although, I don’t imagine there will be much in the way of Platinum elite upgrade treatment when staying at Ibis and Ibis Styles with an occasional splurge for Mercure and Novotel.
There has to be a really special room rate deal if I am to sleep in a Sofitel Hotel any time soon.
In the USA and more close to home in San Francisco are Fairmont Hotels in the Accor Hotels chain.
$300 room rates before tax are way out of my league, even with Le Club Accorhotels 3x points promotion for North America book by Feb 28, stay by March 31.
Looks like I will wait for Accor Hotels stays in Poland. Sofitel Warsaw Victoria for $95 is a bit closer to my travel style price.
In a follow-up post I will write up some of the current promotions happening for Accor Hotels in European countries.
