Accor has 50% off hotel rooms at participating hotels from October 29 – November 1, 2010, but it looks to me like anyone can book these special rates now for hotel stays from December 12 to February 12, 2011.

Kayak.com shows these 50% discount rates for Accor brand hotels I checked. This makes price comparison shopping easy with other chains.

Singapore has the Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel at US$86 per night. Whether this is a good deal depends on how much you desire the Clarke Quay or Orchard Road part of the city to be in the thick of things. I have enjoyed my time outside the city center in the communities around downtown when visiting Singapore.

I wanted to see where the hotel is located and the Accor Hotels website has a map link, but the Accor Hotels website map function shows me the entire world rather than the island of Singapore. I didn’t want to navigate my way across the globe to street level Singapore.

Accor Singapore Mercure Grand Roxy Hotel 50% off rate at US$86

Budapest for under $50 per night at your choice of more than 10 Accor brand hotels like Mercure, Ibis and Novotel.

Accor Hotels 50% off sale puts a dozen Budapest Hotels under $50

You can even splurge for the authentic 5-star luxury class Sofitel Budapest Chain Bridge cheap room at US$117 per night for a hotel on the banks of the Danube and this is not even the 50% off rate. This rate has chocolate perks too.

Sofitel Budapest 5-star Luxury Hotel - Accor Hotels US$117 per night December 2010

Accor is a French hotel company and Paris is loaded with Accor brand hotels. These 50% rates are a way to greatly reduce the cost of a winter hotel stay in the City of Light.

Pullman Hotels, along with Sofitel Hotels, is a luxury market segment brand of Accor Hotels. The Pullman Rive Gauche Paris is participating in the Accor 50% off sale bringing the rate down to $127 per night for a 4-night stay January 15-19, 2011.

Paris Rive Gauche Pullman Hotel 50% off Accor Sale US$127 per night January 15-19, 2011

Thanks to Lucky for posting about this high-value, very limited time offer.

Last September 2009 A|Club celebrated its first birthday as a hotel loyalty club program. There was a big party with free gifts. Party crashers from around the world ravaged Accor A|Club’s first birthday celebration last year by coming to the party and walking away with a 40€/$60USD A|Club gift without bothering to stick around Accor Hotels and give the guest of honor anything in return.

In September 2009 A|Club celebrated its first birthday by giving new member enrollees a 2,000 points bonus. The points were immediately deposited into the new member’s account. The new member then could immediately redeem 2,000 points for a 40€/$60USD A-Club gift voucher good at thousands of A|Club hotels worldwide. My wife even received a 500 points birthday bonus when her birthday came around a couple of weeks later in September and she was suddenly A|Club Silver elite for having accumulated 2,500 points.

A|Club party organizers have come up with a more subdued celebration this year. New members this year will receive 1,000 bonus points upon completion of first hotel stay by December 19, 2010.

This year’s 2010 party requires existing members to enter information by September 19, 2010 and build a three part birthday cake online based on the individual’s selection of Accor and A|Club prize choices.

356 winners will be chosen in 12 random drawings from among the entrants for those prizes. The drawings will occur October 22, 2010.

a)      Bonus points (25 gifts) – up to 100,000 bonus points (5 prizes); double points for stays in one month (10 prizes – winner must choose month for points doubling within six months of prize); triple points for stays in two weeks (10 prizes).

b)      A|Club advantages (215 gifts) – status upgrade (200 winners will be promoted to next higher elite status in A|Club); double airline miles for points (5 winners will be allowed to receive double miles for up to 10,000 A|Club points into 20,000 miles); 10 A|Club vouchers (400€/$600USD) valid for six months. 

c)       Win a free weekend for two in the region of the world you choose (116 gifts)

1. North America (9 prizes)
2. South America (19 prizes)
3. Asia (14 prizes)
4. Europe (58 prizes)
5. Middle East/Africa (11 prizes)
6. Pacific region (5 prizes)  

Accor Hotels is the largest hotel chain in Europe by far. Anyone planning to spend much time in Europe, particularly France, should seriously look at A|Club and possibly A|Club Favorite Guest, a paid membership loyalty program with room rate discounts and other benefits.

Accor Hotels have triple the rooms at around 250,000 rooms in Europe than the second place hotel chain (Best Western 87,000 rooms) and third place (InterContinental Hotels Group 86,000 rooms).

Accor Hotels A|Club Elite Benefits

Related Loyalty Traveler Post: Sep 13, 2009 – A|Club program

A|Club 2010 2^nd Birthday Party Game

Accor Hotels has Crazy Prices, a limited time offer for 50% off hotel rates at 800 hotels in countries around the world with the notable exception of the USA. These discount rates are for bookings between June 10-16, 2010 for hotel stays from July 8 through September 6, 2010. A-Club members can book rooms as of June 8.

These discount room rates are prepaid, no changes, no cancellations, no refunds.

There are some great deals. Accor Participating Hotels link.

Accor Hotels is the largest hotel chain and loyalty program in the world that I do not write about frequently. Accor is the fifth largest hotel chain in the world by number of hotels. In the USA the name Accor is most associated with the Motel 6 brand, however, this economy hotel brand has severely limited participation in A-Club, the Accor Hotels global loyalty program. The Accor brands dominant around the world are Novotel, Mercure, and Ibis. Sofitel, Pullman, and M-Gallery are the upper-upscale brands of Accor. There are several economy brands in Accor including Etap, Formule1, and Motel 6 that do not participate in A-Club program.

Here is a Loyalty Traveler post from September 2009 describing Accor Hotels and A-Club.

A-Club loyalty program points redemption is basically a cash rebate. The leverage opportunities with A-Club come from hotels offering bonus points for stays. Redemption is 2,000 points for a 40€ or $60 credit. The dollar value Accor voucher is certainly the better deal these days.

Update June 9 – Motel 6 limited time offer for using A-Club points vouchers: A-Club Reward US$60 vouchers are valid at over 1,000 Motel 6 hotels in North America for a limited time from June 1 through  October 31, 2010.

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 1^st 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. 

http://www.accorhotels-asia.com/advplus/default.aspx