Accor Hotels, the French-based hotel group that has the largest proportion of branded hotel rooms in Europe, has sold the US based Motel 6 chain for US$1.9B to Blackstone, a U.S. private equity group that also owns Hilton and La Quinta hotel chains.

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)

A|Club loyalty program for French chain Accor Hotels has a couple of ongoing offers for free elite status and free points for Facebook Jackpot contest.

A|Club complimentary Gold elite could be yours with promotion code AMEXSING10 when you register as a new member of the A|Club program. Funny thing is this offer is the first time I recall a non-IHG promotion listed on PriorityClubInsider.com.

A|Club Jackpot Facebook game for free 500 points and chance to win 25,000 or 1,000,000 points

Promotion: October 6 – November 15, 2011

You can pick up some instant points after enrolling for Accor A|Club Gold elite through the Accor A|Club Jackpot Days sweepstakes on Facebook.

The first 25,000 players automatically win 500 points. At time of this post there are 18,195 Facebook page “likes” so I assume at least another 7,000 people can win an instant 500 points.

You can play the game once each week, based on the time and day you first play, through November 15, 2011. There are ten 25,000 point prizes at pre-set time slots during the game period and the first person to play after the 25K time slot wins the prize.

One million A|Club points worth 20,000 Euros in hotel stay credit will be awarded to one entrant from the game within three weeks after the game ends.

Accor A-Club Jackpot Days October 6 - November 15, 2011

Double points for any weekend stay with a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night from October 10 to December 18, 2011 booked on Jackpot Days page or any official Accor or Accor hotel brand online channel between October 6 and November 15.

Accor A-Club 2x points for weekend stays October 10-December 18, 2011

Related Loyalty Traveler posts: Le Club Accor Hotels Loyalty Program - Basics Sep 18, 2011

Accor Hotels had a global press conference September 13, 2011 to announce a new strategic plan for rebranding a large portion of its economy and midscale segment hotels among the 4,200+ hotels in the French based chain. A new hotel loyalty program name with Le Club Accorhotels replaces A|Club.

The major change in the Accor brands structure is the creation of an Ibis Mega Brand with over 1,500 hotels by rebranding midscale all seasons to Ibis Styles and the Etap brand becomes Ibis Budget.

• Ibis
• Ibis Styles (currently all seasons)
• Ibis Budget (currently Etap)

Accor Hotels has global reach with over 15 brands from economy (etap, Formule 1, Motel 6) to its flagship luxury brand Sofitel Hotels.

The Accor Hotels chain is proportionally far heavier in the economy hotel market segment with about 2,200 hotels in brands like etap, Formule 1, Hotel F1 and Motel 6. The two upscale hotel brands of Novotel and Mercure at 1,100 hotels are far larger than the global Hyatt chain at under 500 properties and match the total hotel presence of Starwood Hotels.

Sofitel was divided up into separate brands when Accor added Pullman Hotels and MGallery Hotels and these upper upscale and luxury brands hold about 220 hotels.

Le Club Accorhotels, formerly A|Club is the loyalty program for Accor Hotels that excludes several hotel brands from the economy segment of the Accor family. Only about 2,300 hotels participate in the loyalty program and more than 1,700 hotels in Motel 6, Etap and Formule 1 are excluded from A|Club for earning points.

It remains to be seen what the loyalty program changes might be, if any.

Etap hotels are not currently included in A|Club points earning. The Ibis Budget hotel brand could be added to Le Club Accorhotels and increase the earning potential for members by 400 hotels globally. No word on that aspect of the loyalty program came out of the press conference.

Moderator StarFlyerGold of the FlyerTalk Accor forum  states Le Club will launch beginning 2012.

A|Club Loyalty Program Basics

A|Club operates differently from other points-based major hotel loyalty programs. The earning side is similar in that members earn points based on hotel spend at the rate of 2 points/1€ at Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure and Adagio Hotels. Ibis and all seasons earn 1 point/1€. Global and property specific promotions offer bonus points for member stays just like other loyalty programs.

A|Club Earn Rate

2 points per EUR

• Sofitel,
• Pullman,
• MGallery,
• Novotel,
• Suite Novotel,
• Mercure,
• Adagio Hotels

1 point per EUR

• Ibis
• all seasons (to be rebranded Ibis Styles)

The different aspect of A|Club is the redemption side of points. Points can be exchanged for hotel cash vouchers to redeem for hotel stays. Hotels are not divided into hotel redemption categories, the system used in most major hotel loyalty programs.

2,000 A|Club points can be exchanged for one US$60 voucher or in a variety of other currencies.

• 2,000 points = US$60
• 2,000 points = 60 AUD (Australia) =US$62.18
• 2,000 points = 30 GBP (UK) = US$47.36
• 2,000 points = 40 EUR =US$55.19
• 2,000 points = 90 BRL (Brazil) = US$51.95

There is room for currency leverage when traveling with Accor Hotels. Even with a hotel currency exchange rate somewhat lower than a credit charge rate, I’d think the 60AUD voucher would be worth more than the 30GBP voucher.

The past two years A|Club has run a summer special allowing redemption of A|Club cash certificates for payment at Motel 6.

Redeeming a voucher at a Motel 6 is not going to earn loyalty points, however, when redeeming a loyalty hotel voucher at a Motel 6 you are getting the same US$60 cash discount that you would get when redeeming the voucher for a paid room at the Sofitel Chicago.

Sofitel Chicago

Accor Hotels Brands

• Sofitel (120 luxury segement hotels)
• Pullman (60 hotels in upper upscale market)
• MGallery (40 hotels in upper upscale market)
• Novotel (400 hotels in upscale market)
• Suite Novotel (30 hotels in upscale market)
• Mercure and Grand Mercure (700+ hotels in upscale market)
• Adagio (33 extended-stay apartment hotels)
• Ibis (900+ hotels in midscale market)
• Ibis styles (formerly all seasons brand – 140 hotels in midscale market with about 30 in Australia)
• Ibis budget (formerly etap – 430 hotels in economy market)
• Formule 1 (360 economy hotels with 80 outside France)
• Hotel F1 (260 budget hotels in France)
• Motel 6 and Studio 6 (1,100+ economy hotels in U.S. and Canada)

Loyalty Traveler Analysis

What changes will be made to A|Club as it becomes Le Club Accorhotels remains to be seen. Potentially the number of properties available to members for earning loyalty points could increase. The multifaceted loyalty programs among Accorhotels could be consolidated. No details have emerged in the strategic plan for the evolution of Le Club Accorhotels.

Motel 6 still  remains mostly neglected as an Accor family brand in the loyalty program. Remember that pets stay free in Motel 6 and a US$60 A|Club voucher is worth as much at a Motel 6 as a Sofitel Hotel.

Story Update: Sep 19 – This morning I just saw the Bloomberg News story from September 13 stating Accor is interested in selling Motel 6/Studio 6 brand.

Accor Hotels A|Club hotel loyalty program repeats last year’s limited time offer allowing members to redeem vouchers for hotel stays at Motel 6 in the USA and Canada from June 1 to October 31, 2011.  Studio 6 properties are not eligible for A|Club voucher redemption with this offer.

Motel 6 has over 1,100 hotels in the US and Canada and is the largest hotel brand in the 4,000+ hotels of France-based Accor Hotels chain. The guest loyalty program for Accor Hotels is A|Club, however, Motel 6 is generally not a participating hotel brand in A|Club for earning or redeeming points. For international travelers planning to drive in the US, the prevalence of Motel 6 along major routes like the California Highway 101 coast road makes the Motel 6 brand an easy to find property when traveling rural areas of the US. 

The earning side of A|Club works similarly to most major hotel loyalty programs.  As a points-based program, members in A|Club earn points correlated to hotel spend. Points are earned for spend and bonus points opportunities are available among various brands and properties and regional specific bonuses.

The redemption side of A|Club is different from most major hotel loyalty programs in that 2,000 A|Club points may be redeemed for a fixed-value hotel credit voucher (e-reward) in any of five currencies.

2000 A|Club points may be exchanged for a hotel credit voucher in these amounts:

• 60 Australia Dollars (60AUD = $63.76USD)
• 90 Brazil Reals (90BRL = $57.10USD)
• 30 British Pounds (30GBP = $48.04USD)
• 40 Euro (40EUR = $57.51USD)
• 60 USD

As you can see, the value of A|Club points varies with currency differences. A|Club points have about the highest value when used for e-vouchers in US Dollars. The opportunity to redeem e-rewards in the US at Motel 6 properties is a good value redemption opportunity.

A|Club Leverage Opportunity with Currency Exchange?

When I look at the differential between the value of 2,000 A|Club points for a $60USD reward compared to a 30GBP reward worth only $48USD, I wonder if an A|Club member might get more value by redeeming points in a different currency for hotel stays in the UK?

There will certainly be a less than bank rate exchange at hotel check out when converting A|Club vouchers from USD or EUR or AUD into British Pounds, but when $60AUD is worth 39.81GBP, I think even a poor hotel exchange rate will likely work out to a better deal for 2,000 points vouchers worth only 30 GBP British Pounds.

Currency exchange rates are based on xe.com rates for June 29, 2011.

Question for A|Club members.

Has anyone tried using different currency A|Club reward vouchers in the UK?

Motel 6 Monterey

Accor Hotels has a 50% off Super Sale for over 1,000 hotels on bookings made by June 22 for stays from July 8 –September 4, 2011. Particpating Hotels link. These sale rates earn A|Club points.

There are some real bargain rates for hotels I checked in Frankfurt and Prague, Florence, Italy and Dublin, Ireland. All these cities revealed weekend rates in the range of US$50 to $100 per night.

July 9, 2011 sample Super Sale rates

• Mercure Hotel Kaiserhof Frankfurt City Center = US$50
• Novotel Franfurt City = US$57
• M Gallery Hotel Savigny Frankfurt City = US$71
• Novotel Praha Wenceslas Square, Prague = US$89
• M Galley Hotel Century Old Town Prague = US $93
• Ibis Dublin Red Cow Junction, Dublin, Ireland = US $57
• Novotel Firenze Nord Aeroporto, Florence, Italy = US $86
• M Gallery Hotel Cerretani Firenze, Florence, Italy = US $129

Accor 50% Sale Terms & Conditions:

• Book June 14 to June 22.
• Stay July 8 to Sep 4.
• Sale rates in UK do not apply  for stays until July 17.
• Sale rates end for Paris August 22.
• Rates are prepaid and nonrefundable and do not allow changes.  

Loyalty Traveler aside note: I always wondered why place names are not the same in English as the name used in the country where the city is located like Praha and Prague or Firenze and Florence? This has puzzled me from the time I lived in Deutschland (Germany) as a 9-year old.

Accor Hotels tutorial for Americans

Accor Hotels has around 4,329 hotels worldwide making it a larger chain than Hilton or Marriott and on par with InterContinental Hotels Group. Travelers in Europe and particularly France will find Accor Hotels the most prevalent chain in many cities with over 2,400 hotels across the continent.

Accor Hotels is the largest hotel chain in Europe with a range of hotel brands from luxury segment to budget.

• Sofitel Hotels is Accor’s luxury brand.
• The upscale brands are Pullman Hotels and M Gallery.
• Novotel and Mercure are midscale market segment hotels (think Four Points, Courtyard, Hilton Garden Inn).
• Economy hotel brands are Ibis Hotels and All Seasons. 
• Accor has around 2,000 budget brand hotels with ETAP and Formule 1 in Europe and Motel 6 in the U.S. Many of the budget hotels in Europe in the ETAP brand and Formule 1 are less than US$40 per night making these hotels affordable overnighters for couples and families needing a place to simply sleep in a bed.

Accor A|Club hotel loyalty program

2,300 hotels in the Accor brands of Sofitel, Pullman, M Gallery, Novotel, Novotel Suites, Mercure, Adagio, Ibis and All Seasons participate in A-Club hotel loyalty program. The Accor budget market segment brands do not participate in A-Club loyalty program.

General A|Club membership is free, although there are paid memberships with Accor Favorite Guest and Ibis la carte for additional benefits.

A|Club Points Value

A-Club is a points-based loyalty program, however, A-Club points have a fixed value.

2,000 A|Club points = US$60 or 40EUR

Leveraging A|Club for hotel room points requires the member to find bonus points promotions when paying for rooms. Most brands earn points at the rate of 2 points per Euro.

Ibis and All Seasons earn 1 point per Euro. In France only Ibis stays Friday to Sunday nights earn points.

A|Club Elite Status

A|Club has elite status levels with the following qualification levels and bonus points:

• Silver = 10 nights or earn 2,500 A|Club points. Earns 50% bonus points.
• Gold = 30 nights or earn 10,000 A|Club points. Earns 75% bonus points.
• Platinum = 60 nights or earn 25,000 A|Club points. Earns 100% bonus points.

The advantage of A|Club is the ability to redeem points for vouchers to pay for room stays. This allows members to effectively redeem points for vouchers and discount room rates while earning more points and elite credit on paid stays.

A|Club in the Americas

Only about 7% of A|Club hotel loyalty program members live in the U.S., while about 50% of all A-Club members live in Europe where most Accor brand hotels are located.

Latin America with nearly 200 Accor brand hotels has 21% of A|Club global members; the second largest regional membership base for A|Club.

Brazil is another country where A|Club is a useful loyalty program membership. You won’t find many of the U.S. hotel chain properties in Brazil, although every hotel chain is building and rebranding hotels like crazy in advance of the major sporting events of World Cup 2014 and the Summer Olympics 2016 hosted by Brazil.

Links: Accor Hotels 50% off Super Sale at 1,000 Hotels

PDF of Participating Accor Hotels (No hotels in USA are participating)

Loyalty Traveler Request for Reader Assistance:

Please leave tips on A|Club and Accor Hotels to help Loyalty Traveler build a better knowledge base on this program that is unfamiliar to most Americans.

If you are involved in Accor Hotels PR or management, I’d love to hook up with someone from Accor Hotels to arrange a hotel brand tour. TBEX Prague (Praha) is happening November 2011. Let’s talk.

Sofitel Chicago

Accor Hotels current offer of 3 nights for the price of 2 nights is a straight 33% discount based on the best unrestricted rate, aka BAR, for 3 nights at a participating hotel. Book April 12 to May 16 for hotel stays 12 April to 30 May inclusive. This promotion does not use artificially high rates to get the 3-for-2 deal, so the overall 3-night rate is a good deal. Primary drawback is these rates are prepaid and nonrefundable.

Accor Hotels 3-nights for the price of 2-nights special rate offer.

• Rate is 33% off best unrestricted rate (BAR).
• Book April 12 – May 16, 2011.
• Stay April 12 – May 30, 2011.
• Prepaid and nonrefundable.

All Seasons Grenoble Centre Gare, France US$82/night 4/27-4/30 including unlimited breakfast and free wi-fi.

There are some good deals for USA too with Sofitel Chicago as low as $121 this weekend.

Sofitel Chicago

Accor Hotels are the largest chain of hotels in Europe with more than 2,000 hotels in brands like Mercure, Novotel, Sofitel, M Gallery, Pullman, Ibis and a variety of budget hotels that can be lower than US$40 per night. Another 800 hotels for international travel around the globe are located outside of North America and Europe. The variety of Accor brands provides hotel market segments from basic budget to luxury resorts for hotel rooms across the hotel budget spectrum.

Accor Hotel locations and global distribution map.

Accor Hotels has regional special rate offers all the time. They just generally are not applicable to the USA, and even if they are there are only six cities in the USA with Sofitel Hotels. The other 1,100+ Accor Hotels in the USA are in the Motel 6 brand. And Motel 6 rarely participates in Accor global promotions.

I refer to Motel 6 as the bastard American brandchild of French-based Accor Hotels.

Bottom-line: There are some good deals in this sale at 33% off for a three night stay at Accor Hotels over the next six weeks. Just be sure to use it or lose it in this prepaid, nonrefundable sale.

Loyalty Traveler surveys world’s Top 20 Hotel Brands for loyalty program affiliation and hotel benefits.

The hotel industry generally ranks the world’s biggest hotel brands by different criteria than Loyalty Traveler. The hotel industry ranks hotel brands by the total number of rooms worldwide. That is the hotelier’s viewpoint since more rooms creates the potential for more money.

My viewpoint as a traveler is whether I will be able to find a hotel in a particular hotel brand in the location I am visiting.  I generally only need one or two rooms for my hotel stay. As a traveler I care less about whether a hotel has 100 rooms or 1,000 rooms and more about the number of hotels in my preferred brand for geographic coverage.

Therefore, Loyalty Traveler ranks hotel brand size by the number of hotels rather than the number of rooms. This results in a different hotel brand ranking order than will be found for most hotel chain size surveys.

When it comes to the number of hotels in a hotel brand you can forget about your upscale Hyatt’s and Hilton’s and Marriott’s being the leaders. There are no upscale market segment brands in the top 20 global hotel brands when ranked by number of hotels.

Marriott Hotels (550 hotels) and Hilton Hotels (540 hotels) just miss the Top 20 cut coming in at #21 and #22 respectively with the distinction of being the highest ranking upscale brands worldwide.

The Benefits of Economy and Mid-scale Hotels

Free internet and complimentary breakfast are the two most desired benefits for upscale hotel travelers. In recent years there has been a move among loyalty programs to add these benefits for elite members of Marriott Rewards, Hilton HHonors, Starwood Preferred Guest and Hyatt Gold Passport.

Travel in the economy hotel market segment pretty much guarantees you will have access to free internet and most of the top brands also offer a free breakfast as a benefit for all hotel guests. Downsizing your hotel brand may upsize your savings in more ways than room rate.

Family-Friendly Hotel Brands  

One of the biggest value benefits of the major economy/mid-scale hotel brands is a policy at six of the Top 20 Hotel Brands to let kids stay free in the room with an adult family member. This policy is extended to a high age limit of 19 years old for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express which offers some interesting possibilities for taking Mom, Dad or Uncle Bob on spring break.

Children Stay Free Policies can be big savings for big families. Bring the sleeping bags.

Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express = Children 19 and under stay free in same room with adult guest.

La Quinta Inn = Children 18 and under stay free in same room with adult guest.

Super 8 = Children 17 and under stay free in same room with adult guest.

Motel 6 = Children 17 and under stay free in same room with adult guest.

Premier Inn (U.K.) = Children 15 and under stay free.

“Honey, I Just Fed the Kids!”

Some hotel brands even offer free restaurant meals to kids when an adult orders off the regular menu. The age limit is a bit lower than 19 for this benefit.

Holiday Inn (U.S. and Canada only) – ‘Kids Eat Free’ policy allows up to four children age 12 and under to eat free from kids menu any time of day when adult guest pays for meal from regular menu.

Premier Inn (U.K.) – free breakfast for up to two children (15 or under).

Loyalty traveler note on hotel numbers and Choice International hotel brands count:

The source of hotel numbers is primarily hotel brand website checks February 8-10, 2011 and data from the most recent financial reports. Choice Privileges only reported domestic properties in its Sep 30, 2010 financial statement. There were 1,140 international Choice Hotels Sep 30, 2010. This is the only detail on international franchised Choice Hotels properties I located without making a hand count by country.

My website checks indicate these 1,140 international hotels are primarily Comfort Inn & Suites and Quality Inn & Suites properties with about 150 Clarion and a handful of EconoLodge and Sleep Inn properties. Australia and New Zealand have more than 200 Choice Hotels.

Choice Hotels total hotel numbers for Days Inn and Quality Inn are from TopHotelChains.com Sep 2010. Hotel numbers for U.S. properties are taken from Choice International financial statements for Sep 30, 2010.

Loyalty Traveler Survey of the Top 20 Hotel Brands in the World

Loyalty Traveler Top 20 Hotel Brands by Number of Hotels Feb 11, 2011

Tip: Click on the spreadsheet picture to open in a new window and see in full size. (You may need to click on picture again in new window to magnify size).

Please add a comment if there are other noteworthy features and benefits for these 20 brands; particularly some first-hand knowledge of Mercure and Ibis would be appreciated for these non-U.S. hotel brands.