Le Club Accorhotels requires work to dive into all those promotions and the limited availability of hotels in the USA for this loyalty program places it on the backburner for me.

Free elite membership was passed around for the launch of Le Club Accorhotels. I was looking at my LeClub Accorhotels Platinum card and wondering if I will even sleep in a member hotel bed before the card expires.

Now if I had global travel planned, then the hotel rate discount offers would motivate me to check Accor Hotels website offers more frequently.

This post is for travelers getting beyond the USA borders. Some of these hotel prices might make you think again about going downscale from the category 6 and 7 hotels in US-based hotel loyalty programs that dot European cities and international beach resorts.

Or you might find upscaling to an Accor budget hotel room is within your financial means when that hostel, B&B or couchsurfing scene gets too social.

Current Accor Hotels regional promotions:

Europe

40% off + breakfast in France, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Italy for 2 nights or more!

Looking to explore a new city in Europe? Make the most of our special rates, travel tips and a welcome gift at over 400 participating hotels across Europe!
Whether you’re visiting a big capital or small city in France, UK, Germany or other, save up to 40% on your stay of 2 nights or more – with breakfast for 2 included plus a “Let Good Things Happen” welcome gift*.

*Let Good Things Happen touch differs in each country:
For UK – city bag including snack bar and mineral water
For France – late check out until 4pm

Paris – not so great a discount for summer 2012

50% off second night at six Pullman hotels in Paris or any Pullman Hotel worldwide, a 25% overall rate discount. Pullman is listed as an upper upscale hotel chain in the 2012 STR Global Chain Scale. This is a 2012 year long brand promotion and rate includes late checkout and breakfast.

Thailand Cheap Rates

Accor Hotels has a 2012 year-long Thailand hotels discount promotion. The trouble last year with floods and civil unrest must have had some impact on Thailand.

I checked rates for some Phuket hotels that are listed at under $40 per night for June 2012. The upper upscale resorts are around $100 per night.

Rates are typically higher than shown, about 50% to double the prices in their ad for June and July travel.

Thailand, Vietnam and Japan “3 Nights for Price of 2” until June 30; must book by June 13, 2012.

New Zealand and Fiji 20% off at 27 hotels until August 31, 2012; must book by June 30.

There are several other promotions for Asia, Middle East, Africa and much of Europe for 30% to 40% off rates. These are generalized, vague discount offers with little or no published details listing dates for offer. Hard to say if these other offers are truly discount rate sales or not.

Le Club Accorhotels is a program with loads of rules for earning and redeeming points. In general, the redemption value of hotel points is low relative to the rate of earning points. Points can be redeemed for hotel credit certificates in the form of 40EUR or US$60 for 2,000 points. Le Club Accorhotels loyalty program terms and conditions pdf.

Le Club Accorhotels Members earn Le Club Accorhotels points on the following
basis:

• 1 eligible € spent = 2 Le Club Accorhotels points at Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure, and Adagio (excluding Adagio Access) brand hotels.
• 1 eligible € spent = 1 Le Club Accorhotels point at ibis (excluding ibis budget) and all seasons/ibis styles hotels. At ibis (excluding ibis budget) hotels in France, only weekend stays (those stays including at least Friday, Saturday, or Sunday night) are eligible for points.
• 1 eligible € spent = 2 Le Club Accorhotels points at Thalassa sea & spa institutes if the Member stays at a Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Suite Novotel, or Mercure brand hotel.
• 1 eligible € spent = 1 Le Club Accorhotels point at Thalassa sea & spa institutes if the Member stays at an ibis (excluding ibis budget) or all seasons/ibis styles brand hotel.
• These rules do not take point acceleration factors into consideration based on the Member’s status level.

This works out to about 2,000 Accor points for US$1,250 in hotel spend.  Even less if ibis or all seasons brands. 2,000 points can be redeemed for a US$60 voucher.

Unless your Accor points earn rate is accelerated through promotion bonus points or elite status the rebate rate is a relatively low 6% for hotel spend.

Most major hotel loyalty programs like Marriott Rewards, SPG, Hilton HHonors, IHG Priority Club and Hyatt Gold Passport regularly offer periodic opportunities for 25% to 50% rebate on hotel spend with hotel loyalty promotions.

After all the high finance maneuvers Accor will be left with about 330M EUR to invest in emerging Asia-Pacific and Latin America markets where most new hotel development globally is happening.

Motel 6 and Studio 6, an extended stay brand, is the largest budget hotel chain in the U.S. and Canada with 1,102 hotels and 107,000 rooms.

These ownership changes might have a limited impact on the operations of the Motel 6 chain when the deal is completed around October 2012.

Blackstone is like the WalMart of the hotel industry.

Will Blackstone attempt a loyalty program marketing strategy to re-image Motel 6 for the American traveler?

In the back of my Loyalty Traveler mind I am wondering if the new owners will try and implement a hotel loyalty program for the Motel 6 brand now that this ubiquitous Cinderella of the American budget traveler is out of the step-sister role it played with Accor.

The budget chains of Accor Hotels are not participants in Le Club Accor loyalty program. Motel 6 comprises almost 25% of Accor’s global properties and there is no points earning system in place for Motel 6 stays. Only a couple of promotional opportunities allowing summer month redemption of Accor cash certificates (2,000 Accor points = US$60) for Motel 6 stays were offered in the past few years.

Blackstone may just bring Motel 6 to the hotel ball. And even if Motel 6 does not dress up too pretty, obviously Blackstone sees something of value behind those doors.

A Motel 6 loyalty program is just my speculation, but that would be interesting news for the budget traveler. I’ll be watching Motel 6 in 2013 for changes.

News Sources: Bloomberg Financial – Accor to Sell Motel 6 to Blackstone for $1.9 Billion (May 22, 2012)

Financial Times – Accor sells US budget chain to Blackstone(May 22, 2012)

Hotel News Now – Blackstone buys Motel 6, Studio 6 for $1.9b (May 22, 2012)

Links to my Loyalty Traveler posts provide more detail and promotion analysis for each offer.

Most hotel loyalty promotions are two to four months in duration.

The easiest way to quickly see a list of all hotel loyalty promotions discussed on Loyalty Traveler is to check my Loyalty Traveler Facebook page. All Loyalty Traveler post links feed into Twitter and all my tweets feed into Loyalty Traveler Facebook.

Summer 2012 hotel loyalty promotions

Le Club Accor - this Europe-based program officially changed its name from A|Club to Le Club Accor on March 28, 2012. Accor Hotels offers a variety of global regional bonusesand rate discounts. The program tends to have regionalized rate and bonus points promotions.

Until May 31, 2012 earn 1,000 miles per stay with Delta or Aeroplan.

Best Western Rewards – April 15 – June 3, 2012

Earn a $50 Best Western Travel Card after 3 stays. Elite members earn 1,000 bonus points for each stay, up to 3,000 bonus points.

Best Western FMJUMP12 promotion registration required.

• Best Western Jump Start to Summer Promotion 2012 FAQ.
• Best Western Jump Start to Summer Promotion 2012 T&C.
• Loyalty traveler post April 4, 2012.

Facebook Fans: Best Western runs weekly promotions on its Facebook page. Any Best Western frequent guest should check out Best Western Facebook.

Choice Privileges 

May 17 – August 15, 2012. Choice’s new offer is 2 stays for 8,000 points or a $50 gift card. Choice Privileges Summer Promotion registration link. There is no limit to the number of times this bonus can be earned. The value of this offer is dependent on where you can redeem points. This March 26, 2012 Loyalty Traveler post shows the value of 8,000 Choice privileges points in Paris can be quite the hotel savings.

Club Carlson

***** Club Carlson – Radisson Big Night Giveaway May 15-July 15, 2012. Club Carlson repeats the late-2011 promotion letting the first 100,000 members to register earn 50,000 bonus points after staying one night at a Radisson worldwide.

***** Club Carlson – Country Inns & Suites Big Night Giveaway May 15-July 15, 2012.First 35,000 members to register beginning May 15 earn 44,000 points after staying one night in a Country Inn & Suites.

***** Club Carlson – Park Inn Big Night Giveaway May 22-July 22, 2012.First 20,000 members to register beginning May 15 earn 44,000 points after staying one night in a Park Inn.

[Registration Links Note:the details for these three Club Carlson promotion will be available May 15. Registration for Radisson and Country Inn at 1am Tuesday May 15 eastern; 10pm Monday May 14 pacific time zones. Park Inn registration begins May 22.]

RadissonBigNightGiveaway.com

SOGOCountry.com

ParkInnOnePlusOne.com

Loyalty Traveler posts:

May 10 – Radisson, Country Inn and Park Inn brand promotions May to July.

May 8 –  Club Carlson Big Night Giveaway Summer Travel Promotions

Hilton HHonors

*** Hilton HHonors – April 1 – June 30, 2012 – Double Points or Double Miles. Registration required. Loyalty traveler post March 21, 2012.

Hyatt Gold Passport

**** Hyatt 3rd Night Free Rate is a rate discount for bookings through November 30, 2012 for stays by December 30, 2012. Rate includes breakfast for two and 2pm late checkout. My Loyalty Traveler rate analysis March 21showed this is a good value and usually lower than AAA rates.

Gold Passport Diamond Challenge- Most beneficial perhaps is to tie this offer into a Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond Challenge for 12 nights in 60 days (normally 25 stays or 50 nights in calendar year). As Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond for 2012 you also will receive 4 confirmed suite upgrades. Start the Gold Passport Diamond Challenge first and then get the credit card once you have Diamond status to get confirmed suite upgrades for your credit card free nights. FlyerTalk discussion threadon Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond challenge.

*** Hyatt bonus miles May 1 – August 31, 2012,

24,500 airline miles with 11 stays with choice of 11 airline partners.

• 500 miles is normal earning rate for first stay.
• 2,000 total miles (4x) for hotel stays 2 to 4.
• 2,500 total miles (5x) for hotel stays 5 to 11.
• Loyalty Traveler post May 1, 2012

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) Priority Club Rewards

*** IHG Priority Club 1,000 bonus points or 200 bonus miles per night May 14-Sep 3. Maximum 20,000 bonus points or 4,000 bonus miles after 20 nights. Loyalty Traveler post May 14.

**** IHG Priority Club 2012 Quarter 2 Stay promotions – Priority Club members may register for one of the quarterly stay promotions running April 1-June 30, 2012. You can only register for one offer, so pick the target you are most likely to reach. Loyalty Traveler post March 16, 2012.

• Stay 3 nights = 5,000 bonus points.
• Stay 7 nights = 10,000 bonus points.
• Stay 15 nights = 15,000 bonus points.

***** IHG Priority Club PointBreaks hotel rewards to May 31. These are hotels for 5,000 points. Priority Club points are only $30 through Daily Getaways sale April 9. Priority Club also has discount rates for buying points through April 30. Loyalty Traveler post March 30.

Marriott Rewards

***** Marriott Rewards – Summer Bonus 2012: June 1 – August 31, 2012. Earn one free night certificate at a category 1-4 hotel every two stays; maximum 3 free nights.  Free night certificate is valid for 12 months from issuance. Some members may have been targeted with a different bonus points offer. Loyalty Traveler post May 7, 2012.

Note to Marriott Rewards members: You must have your Marriott Rewards account earning preference set to miles in order to see Marriott Rewards miles promotions.

Starwood Preferred Guest

*** SPG Nice Choice (May 1 – Sep 30)

You choose the 3 month period you want and the offer you want from double points, triple points, free nights, discount rewards and more.

Loyalty Traveler post – SPG Nice Choice May 1, 2012.

*** Sheraton Club Lounge bookings earn 1,000 bonus points when paid with any American Express card for stays February 21 to May 31, 2012. LT post February 24, 2012.

Wyndham Rewards

*** March 29-July 8, 2012 – Double Points or double miles for first four stays and movie tickets. This offer is for members in US, Canada and Mexico. Loyalty Traveler post April 1, 2012.

**** March 29-July 8, 2012 – Wyndham Rewards 10,000 points every 2 stays, up to 30,000 bonus points after 6 stays. This is a better promotion offer for members who do not reside in US, Canada and Mexico. Loyalty Traveler post April 3, 2012.

5-Star Promotion Scale

Loyalty Traveler ranks the consumer value of some hotel loyalty promotions on a Five–Star Scale.

Five ***** = one of the best hotel loyalty promotions of the year.

Four ****= high value rebate on the cost of hotel stays.

Three ***= good value hotel loyalty promotion or rate offer

Two **= a bonus value if you play, but not necessarily worth going out of your way.

One *= There is limited or no value. You are likely paying more than the bonus value.

Rate discounts and loyalty program bonuses are two types of hotel chain incentives to consider when booking travel.

Rankings are subjective and subject to change. Your specific travel pattern may result in some promotions ranking more favorably for you.

When assigning a rank I take into consideration the following factors and probably more:

• The opportunity for significantly high-value return on hotel spend in terms of future hotel rebate in free nights and discounted hotel nights.
• Past loyalty program offers and rates for the specific hotel chain and loyalty program.

Loyalty Traveler Update Note: the expanded promotions page April 2012 update will be updated later this week. Today I am busy with Amgen Tour of California professional cycling race Stage 2: San Francisco – Santa Cruz (Aptos).

Readers: Please leave a comment with any promotion links you think should be in the expanded hotel loyalty promotions guide for May to Summer 2012.

• Le Club Accor
• Club Carlson*
• Hilton HHonors
• Hyatt Gold Passport*
• InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club
• Marriott Rewards*
• Shangri-La Golden Circle
• Starwood Preferred Guest*

* I placed an asterisk next to the four programs I think are the only hotel programs worth using for this bonus offer.

Best exchange rates for hotel points to British Airways Avios points including the 25% bonus:

1. Marriott Rewards (at 125,000 points = 62,500 Avios points)
2. Club Carlson (at 100,000 points = 22,500 Avios Points)
3. SPG (at 20,000 points = 31,250 Avios points)
4. Hyatt Gold Passport (at 50,000 points = 31,250 Avios points)

The exchange rate is lower for each of these programs at other transfer amounts.

Marriott Rewards Hotel + Air Package can improve the exchange rate for Marriott Rewards points to 1 Marriott point = 1.25 Avios points for up to 150,000 Avios points + 7 hotel nights starting at 270,000 Marriott Rewards points.

Transferring Hotel Points between Hotel Loyalty Member Accounts

Combining hotel points from different member accounts is a good strategy for reaching the high balance needed to maximize hotel points to airline miles exchange rates.

Club Carlson members can combine points from different accounts at no charge. Club Carlson has the most lenient points transfer rules between member accounts.

Marriott Rewards allows points to be transferred between the accounts of spouses and domestic partners.

SPG requires members to be in same household to transfer points between member accounts.

Hyatt Gold Passport allows two members to combine points when redeeming points for a hotel award. I don’t think you can combine points from different member accounts to redeem for airline miles. Please leave a comment if you think you can combine points for hotel points to airline miles redemption.

To celebrate being French, Le Club Accorhotels announced its first global promotion for triple points for weekend stays (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) from April 13 through June 10. Stays must be booked by May 10 for this offer.

The triple points offer is tied in with a Facebook sweepstakes for a chance to win 500 to 1,000,000 instant points.

Le Club Accorhotels Members earn Le Club Accorhotels points on the following basis:

• 1 eligible € spent = 2 Le Club Accorhotels points at Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure, and Adagio (excluding Adagio Access) brand hotels.
• 1 eligible € spent = 1 Le Club Accorhotels point at ibis (excluding ibis budget) and all seasons/ibis styles hotels.
• At ibis (excluding ibis budget) hotels in France, only weekend stays (those stays including at least Friday, Saturday, or Sunday night) are eligible for points.
• 1 eligible € spent = 2 Le Club Accorhotels points at Thalassa sea & spa institutes if the Member stays at a Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Suite Novotel, or Mercure brand hotel.
• 1 eligible € spent = 1 Le Club Accorhotels point at Thalassa sea & spa institutes if the Member stays at an ibis (excluding ibis budget) or all seasons/ibis styles brand hotel.

Triple points is chance to pick up 6 points per Euro (or currency exchange equivalent). 2,000 points can be redeemed for a 40€ or US$60 voucher.

These brands do not participate in Le Club Accor Hotels:

• ibis budget (worldwide)
• all ibis hotels in China
• Motel 6 and Studio 6 (worldwide)
• Hotel Formule 1 (budget brand in Europe)
• hotel F1 (budget brand in Europe)

Redeem Points

How do I redeem my Le Club Accorhotels rewards hotel vouchers?

What are the terms of use for Le Club Accorhotels rewards hotel vouchers?

Use your Le Club Accorhotels rewards hotel vouchers to pay for all or part of your stay in one of our 2500 Accor hotels worldwide participating in the Le Club Accorhotels program. Once you have 2000 Le Club Accorhotels points, you can order Le Club Accorhotels rewards vouchers worth EUR 40 or USD 60, which are valid all week at participating Accor hotels*.

Your Le Club Accorhotels rewards hotel voucher is valid if printed on white paper, unused on both sides, with no modification to the print size, in black and white or in color, in portrait format, with a laser or ink jet printer.
(*) At ibis France, Le Club Accorhotels rewards hotel vouchers are only valid on weekends (Friday, Saturday or Sunday nights).

I haven’t been able to print my Le Club Accorhotels rewards hotel voucher

You can print your voucher up until the end validity date, i.e. six months from the order date, on any computer connected to the Internet and a standard printer.

I have lost my Le Club Accorhotels rewards hotel voucher(s)

You can print your documents as many times as you like by signing in to your profile and clicking on the View my hotel vouchers link.

Can I ask for my Le Club Accorhotels rewards hotel voucher to be prepared at the hotel reception?

No, our teams are not able to sign in to member accounts. They therefore cannot print your Le Club Accorhotels rewards hotel voucher or find out the number of any vouchers ordered online for any given member.

Can I pay for my stay in advance online using my Le Club Accorhotels rewards hotel vouchers?

Le Club Accorhotels rewards hotel vouchers can only be used for payments made at the hotel. Vouchers cannot be used for either part or full advanced payment for a stay, nor to guarantee a reservation.
Dans le cas d’un tarif prépayé non annulable, non modifiable, par exemple, seules des dépenses règlées sur place pourront être payées avec le chèque hôtel Le Club Accorhotels rewards.

How do I redeem my Le Club Accorhotels rewards partner vouchers?

Le Club Accorhotels rewards partner voucher: 2000 Le Club Accorhotels points = EUR 40 or USD 60, valid all week with our partners.

What are the terms of use for Le Club Accorhotels rewards partner vouchers?

Le Club Accorhotels partner vouchers are valid every day until the end validity date on the front (12 months) to pay in part or in total for services or purchases made with certain partners participating in the Le Club Accorhotels program.

http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/leclub/help.shtml

Accor Hotels Regional Discount Rate Offers link.

The catch is the big savings comes with big risk. These rates require full hotel stay prepayment at time of booking and no cancellation or changes are allowed. These Private Sale rates are nonrefundable.

Typically I avoid prepaid nonrefundable rates, but these deals might be to your liking if you feel your dates are set and the rate is low enough.

Regional sales currently advertised in this private sale:

USA/Canada: 30% off stays between March 29 – July 8, 2012.

This offer is valid from 20th March to 26th March for stays between 29th March and 8th July 2012. Minimum length of stay may be required, depending on the hotel.

Full deposit is not refundable even if the booking is cancelled or modified.Full amount of stay is payable in advance by credit card at booking time.

Client must provide credit card details to qualify for this promotion. No change or cancellation can be made after booking.Taxes not included. Surcharges apply for 3rd & 4th adults. Other hotel conditions may apply

Asia-Pacific: 40% off at over 300 hotels for stays April 15-June 30.

This offer is subjected to the following Terms of Sales & Conditions:
1. A|Club members and public will be entitled to 40% off participating ACCOR hotels across Asia Pacific.
2. Accor Advantage Plus members will be entitled to 50% off participating ACCOR hotels across Asia Pacific.
3. This offer is valid for bookings made from 20 March 2012 to 30 March 2012 for stays from 15 April 2012 to 30 June 2012.
4. Bookings made for this offer are fully pre-paid, non-refundable with no modifications and cancellations allowed.
5. This offer cannot be combined with any other discounts or special promotions.
6. This offer is valid for participating ACCOR hotels and is subjected to the availability of rooms allocated by the hotel.
7. A|Club members will be entitled to earn A|Club points for this offer.

The Bangkok US$17 rate intrigued me. I didn’t search too hard, but found a $27 per night rate for All Seasons Bangkok Siam for a 3-night stay April 25-28, 2012.

The interesting thing here is all seasons branding tagline does not seem to apply for this booking:

No way will we charge a little extra here and there!
At all seasons, all-you-can-eat breakfast and access to the internet are included in the room price.

All Seasons is ranked a midscale hotel chain by STR Global.

Pullman is an upper upscale hotel brand like Westin, Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott. The rate for Pullman Bangkok King Tower is $70 per night. That looks like a good deal to me, but a quick look at Bangkok rates indicates this rate is about half of other hotels like Conrad, InterContinental, Le Meridien.

France: 50% off stay April 27-May 28.

Accor Hotels is a French based hotel chain and there are over 1,500 Accor brand hotels in France alone. In Europe there are nearly 2,500 hotels. This is the hotel chain to know when you are traveling the cities and countryside of Europe. Although in Spain there are now more Marriott brand hotels than Accor after the acquisition of AC Hotels by Marriott.

Belgium and Luxembourg: 50% off at 55 hotels March 30 – June 30.

Switzerland: 2 nights for price of 1 from April 1 to May 6.

The 2-for-1 offer is valid for all two-night stays from 1st April to 6th May 2012 for reservations made between 20th – 26th March 2012 on accorhotels.com. 50% discount per night – is a calculation based on the best unrestricted rate.
The amount paid is non-refundable and cannot be cancelled or changed.
Pre-payment by credit card for the full stay will be debited upon booking.
Offer valid in all participating ibis, Mercure, Novotel, Suite Novotel and MGallery hotels in Switzerland.
AlClub members may earn points with this offer

Berlin: 2-for-1 weekend nights through December 31, 2012

The offer ‘Private Sale with 50% Discount’ of a two nights stay is bookable on all weekends (Friday-Sunday) and all bridge days/holidays (6th – 9th April 2012; 28th April – 1st May 2012; 17th – 20th May 2012; 25th – 28th May 2012; 21st – 26th December 2012) by the end of 2012.
The full deposit is not refundable even if the booking is cancelled or modified.
The full amount of stay is payable in advance by credit card at booking time.

Eastern Europe: 50% off two night minimum stays.  March 30-April 15 any day of week or weekends throughout 2012.

50% off Easter holiday & weekends until the end of 2012 in Central and Eastern Europe.

This offer is valid for bookings made between 20/03/2012 and 26/03/2012 on www.accorhotels.com for stays of minimum 2 consecutive nights between 30/03/2012 and 15/04/2012 every day, and until 30/12/2012 on weekends.
50% discount per night is based on the best unrestricted night rate.

This offer is valid in Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure, Orbis and ibis hotels participating in this operation in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Romania and Russian Federation, and is subject to hotel availability.

Latin America Cities: 50% off two night minimum stays May 1-May 31.

This sale only applies to Accor Hotels in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Lima, Peru; Santiago, Chile and Monterrey, Mexico.

Accor Hotels has frequent discount rate offers. Signing up for the email newsletter is a way to keep informed of these limited time offers. Accor Hotels is a global hotel chain and A|Club is a good program to watch when your travels take you outside the USA.

Related Loyalty Traveler Posts:

Accor 3 Nights for 2 Rates to April 15: Book by April 9 (March 12, 2012)

Le Club Accorhotels and Ibis becomes a superbrand (September 18, 2012) This post describes the hotel brands of Accor and the A|Club loyalty program basics.

The 3rd night free rate is based on discounting each night’s BAR rate by 33.33%.

This sale is happening in four global regions and each region has its own specific booking terms and site. A|Club members had one week advance booking window beginning March 6 in some regions. In Europe, Middle East, Africa and Americas the general public can begin booking these rates on March 13. In Asia Pacific region the sale began February 22 and includes an additional discount for Accor Advantage Plus members:

Accor Advantage Plus members receive their 10% discount on the ‘“3 = 2” Special offer rate’.

These rates earn A|Club points.

Europe 3 = 2.

Asia Pacific 3 = 2.

South America – North America 3=2.

Africa – Middle East 3=2.

Hilton HHonors is far and away the biggest program for airline partnerships. That can be a major factor for a frequent guest earning miles from hotel stays in a frequent flyer program where there might be few opportunities to earn miles other than flying.

• Hilton HHonors = 57 airline partners
• IHG Priority Club = 43 airline partners
• Marriott Rewards = 36 airline partners
• Hyatt Gold Passport = 35 airline partners
• Starwood Preferred Guest = 34 airline partners

There are 8 airlines that only partner with one of these ten programs.

[click on image to see full-size in new window]

I will follow up this post with comments and details on airline miles differences in earning rates between different programs.

This seemed like a useful table to create as I work on my series of hotel points-to-miles exchange rates across loyalty programs for a selection of major airlines.

Loyalty Traveler – Airline Tables for Hotel Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates

• American Airlines Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates for 9 Hotel Programs. (Feb 5, 2012)
• American Airlines Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates for Elites and Credit Card members. (Feb 6, 2012)
• Delta Skymiles hotel points-to-miles rates in 9 hotel programs. (Feb 7, 2012)
• United Mileage Plus hotel points-to-miles rates favor Marriott, Club Carlson, Wyndham. (Feb 8, 2012)
• Hotel Loyalty Program Airline Partners: 10 programs compared on one spreadsheet. (Feb 9, 2012)
• Why Change hotel points into airline miles? (Feb 9, 2012)
• Hotel points conversion into Southwest Rapid Rewards points favors Marriott, Choice and Hyatt. (Feb 10, 2012)

Accor Hotels A|Club instant Platinum elite

Gary Leff reveals a link for instant Accor Hotels A|Club Platinum status. That elite status has limited usefulness for the USA since there are only a handful of Sofitels in a few major cities, but A|Club elite can be quite nice for international travel. I tried the offer and my account now reads platinum. Although, I guess I should have verified what status I already had with A|Club since I might have received an instant Platinum upgrade from a different offer earlier this year.

Here is an article I wrote in September 2011 giving some basics of A|Club hotel loyalty program.

Cyber Monday Travel Deals

I was thinking of writing a post for Omni Hotels Cyber-Monday deal, since that looked to be the best hotel rate discount offer I have seen this past weekend, but Deals We Like already has a popular post (according to USA Today statistics) listing several hotel discount offers available today. Readers interested in shopping for hotels today should check out “Cyber Monday Travel Deals” on Deals We Like.

Gaylord Resorts $109 rates in December

Gaylord Resorts has a $109 hotel rate deal not mentioned on Deals We Like. Gaylord Resorts have four large convention properties in Gaylord Palms Orlando, Gaylord Texan near Dallas, Gaylord Opryland Nashville and Gaylord National at National Harbor, Maryland (near DC).

I have stayed at two of these hotels and what I like about the properties is they are self-sufficient hotels with a Disneyland-like environment of attractive atrium interiors and waterfalls and play areas and pools. There are several restaurant choices and multiple bars. I have always thought these hotels make a great family destination since there is so much to do without leaving the hotel property. The food is a bit expensive though.

The availability of $109 rates are easy to find over multiple dates at the different properties.

There is also a DreamWorks Experience Family Package if you want to splurge.

Gaylord Resorts Cyber Monday Sale

These rates are prepaid at time of booking, no changes allowed and no refunds for cancellation.

The good news is Accor Hotels provides a pdf link with participating hotels ordered geographically.

Accor Hotels is the largest global hotel chain outside the USA and the most comprehensive hotel chain for France and Europe. Brazil and North Africa are two other areas where Accor offers more hotels than any other major hotel chain for earning loyalty points with your travel. China, Indonesia and Thailand are other countries where you will find Accor properties outpace most other hotel chains.

Here is a Loyalty Traveler post from September 2011 where I give an overview of A|Club loyalty program and Accor Hotel brand descriptions. Since then Accor A|Club has added Orbis Hotels, a small brand in Poland.

Accor Super Sale 50% off rates - Book by Nov 25, 2011.