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 is promoting the French-based hotel chain in the USA through an Around the World Photo Hunt online game from June 24 to July 23 with a grand prize 12-night European vacation to Paris, Berlin and Barcelona with roundtrip air travel from any US Airways location in the USA to Paris; luxury hotel stays in Pullman and Sofitel hotels in these three cities, and First Class rail travel in Europe.  This contest is open only to US residents.

Photo Game

Accor weblink – Accor Around the World photo challenge

The Game – find four differences between two seemingly identical photos of an Accor hotel location and earn points for speed. Highest point earners win the prizes.

This is a game you might want to get your kids playing. My older eyes had real difficulty finding some of the differences. And if you are not quick enough the photo game times out.

Europe Vacation Grand Prize Details

12 consecutive nights (4 consecutive nights per city) at the Pullman Paris Tour Eiffel Hotel, the Pullman Barcelona Hotel and Sofitel Berlin Hotel and first class Eurail Global Pass valid for 2 adults for 15 consecutive days. The estimated value of the grand prize is $11,000 USD.

US Airways roundtrip travel for two from USA to Paris must take place between September 1, 2010 and September 1, 2011.

Other Prizes:

One second prize will be awarded, which will consist of a SoBed™ package including a mattress and box spring by Serta, a featherbed, a duvet and 4 pillows by Pacific Coast Feather and pure white or ivory cotton percale linens (four pillow cases, four pillow protectors, one bed skirt, one fitted sheet and one duvet cover) available in 400 thread count for a luxury voluptuous touch by Yves Delorme. The estimated retail value of the second prize is $3,830.41 USD. 

Third Prize will be a Samsung 46” HD LCD TV 1080p with an estimated retail value of $1499.15 USD.

Fourth Prize will be a Panasonic 1000W 7.1 Channel Blu-ray Home Theater System with an estimated retail value of $739.00 USD.

Fifth Prize will be a Sharp 26” LCD/DVD Combo 720P with an estimated retail value of $646.06 USD.

Sixth Prize will be a Bose Wave® Music System with an estimated retail value of $581.05 USD.

Seventh Prize will be a Nikon Coolpix® S70 12.1MP Digital Camera with an estimated retail value of $481.66 USD. 

Eighth Prize will be a Sony DVD HandyCam Camcorder with an estimated retail value of $426.85 USD. 

Ninth Prize will be a Samsung 1000W 5.1 Channel DVD Home Theater System with an estimated retail value of $336.13 USD. 

Tenth prize will be a Silhouette® 11 22” Carry-On Expandable Upright bag with an estimated retail value of $210.00 USD. 

Daily Prize:  

Each day during the Contest Period, one Daily Prize will be awarded, which will consist of a $50 Mastercard® Gift Card. 30 Daily Prizes will be awarded during the Contest Period. Each Daily Prize has an estimated retail value of $50 USD. 

AccorHotels Around the World photo game

Accor Hotels

The Accor hotel chain has over 4,000 hotels globally, similar in size to Hilton, Marriott and InterContinental Hotels Group. The main distinction between Accor hotels and the other chains is most Accor hotels are located outside the U.S.

Accor hotel brands include the upper upscale Sofitel Hotels. There are only 10 Sofitel Hotels in North America.  The primary Accor brand in the USA is Motel 6 with over 1,000 properties. When traveling in Europe you will find numerous Ibis, Mercure, and Novotel Hotels in the mid-range price category. Accor runs lots of rate discounts and A-Club offers points bonuses for many hotels.

A-Club is the hotel loyalty program for Accor. Motel 6 is not a full participating member in A-Club. Loyalty points are not earned for Motel 6, but for a limited time through October 2010 you can use A-Club $60 vouchers for Motel 6 credit. 

Links:

Accor Around the World Photo Game

Accor Contest Terms & Conditions

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