Accor Hotel's misleading premium membership scheme

joemcd

I am looking for some advice with regards to Accor, the group that own and operate Ibis, Mercure, Novotel, Sofitel etc.

Last year, I decided, as a freelancer to join their Business Plus loyalty scheme. For an annual fee, the scheme promises discounts of up to 20% off the standard rate.

So for the past year I've spent thousands on hotel rooms with them for both Business and Leisure, thinking I was getting a preferential rate.

I realised earlier this week, just by chance, that the Business Plus rate was actually more expensive than the rate being offered to standard members. The terms of the rates are exactly the same, but for some unidentifiable reason they are charging their paying members higher rates.

I have raised this on an unofficial Accor members forum, and many have said they've experienced the same issue.

I've attached examples along with the terms and conditions of the membership. I'm wondering if I have a case to pursue further?

Link to their T&Cs:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FJqD6s8PPJDeCeyOF4PIEwirxvk8G88H/view?usp=drivesdk 

cmthephoenix

joemcd said:

I am looking for some advice with regards to Accor, the group that own and operate Ibis, Mercure, Novotel, Sofitel etc.

Last year, I decided, as a freelancer to join their Business Plus loyalty scheme. For an annual fee, the scheme promises discounts of up to 20% off the standard rate.

That's not the way I've read it at all

From linked Ts&Cs "Business Plus rates, which can vary depending on the hotel brand participating in the

Programme, are as follows:

- on weekends, up to 20% discount on the best current rate with no conditions (rate

subject to change and may be withdrawn) and

- during the week (Sunday night to Thursday night), up to 15% discount on initial full

price rate."

I read that as at weekends you get up to 20% (so could be 0%) discount on best current rate, on weekdays you get up to 15% (so could be 0%) discount on their most expensive rate - which will almost certainly be beaten by other available rates.

Wonka_2

cmthephoenix said:

joemcd said:

I am looking for some advice with regards to Accor, the group that own and operate Ibis, Mercure, Novotel, Sofitel etc.

Last year, I decided, as a freelancer to join their Business Plus loyalty scheme. For an annual fee, the scheme promises discounts of up to 20% off the standard rate.

That's not the way I've read it at all

From linked Ts&Cs "Business Plus rates, which can vary depending on the hotel brand participating in the

Programme, are as follows:

- on weekends, up to 20% discount on the best current rate with no conditions (rate

subject to change and may be withdrawn) and

- during the week (Sunday night to Thursday night), up to 15% discount on initial full

price rate."

I read that as at weekends you get up to 20% (so could be 0%) discount on best current rate, on weekdays you get up to 15% (so could be 0%) discount on their most expensive rate - which will almost certainly be beaten by other available rates.

And this is it - OP is comparing apples with pears (and maybe that's what Accor are trying for)

Conditional rates (e.g. non-cancellation, Room only, booked xx days in advance etc) will always be cheaper than discounted rack rates - it all hinges on the definition of 'best current rate'

And for the OP good luck with complaining to Accor - I'm a long term gold member of their loyalty program and raised a query re missing points back in Sept '22 which I escalated to a complaint a couple of weeks afterwards after they rejected a valid claim. They've continually closed/stone-walled subsequent communication. There's no escalation process/easily accessible personal emails and it's then taken until last week for them to respond and apologise 

Alderbank

Absolutely this ^^

The example you give, headed BUSINESS TRAVEL', says 

• UP TO 20% discount on your room...
• 10% discount in bars...
• Get rewarded for your trips through our ALL - Accor Live Limitless loyalty program

Do you get that 10% discount?
Because of their employer's policies and accounting procedures many business travellers prefer arrangements like these. For example their employer might pay the accommodation bill but not the bar bill.
Also the 'perks' of the limitless loyalty program probably go directly to the traveller rather than their employer

DullGreyGuy

Terms are at https://businesstravel.accor.com/gb/subscriptionprogram/cgv/businessplus.pdf

According to the terms:

Business Plus rates, which can vary depending on the hotel brand participating in the Programme, are as follows:
- on weekends, up to 20% discount on the best current rate with no conditions (rate subject to change and may be withdrawn) and
- during the week (Sunday night to Thursday night), up to 15% discount on initial full price rate.

So the dates you are looking at is a weekday and therefore the bottom bullet applies, an up to 15% discount off the rack rate

As the discount is against the rack rate it wouldnt be too uncommon for special rates etc to be below the discounted rate. From a business user however there are other special benefits that should be of interest like the guarantee of a room being available up to 3 days ahead of travel. 

Not sure what the other member discount is to see what the terms of that is.

joemcd

I'm not sure if my original point was clear... Previously I was a regular ALL member, which as some of you mentioned offers "up to 10%" off rack rates.

In the past year, I have paid to upgrade my membership to Business Plus which offers "up to 15% on weekdays and up to 20% on weekends", off the rack rate.

However, the issue is that on most occasions the Business Plus rate has been HIGHER than the regular ALL member rate. So the paid membership is offering rates worse than the regular ALL member rate.

Also @Wonka_2, fully aware of the differences between rates and their individual conditions (room only, b&b, non-refundable etc). The rates I'm comparing are EXACTLY the same - however one is an ALL member rate and the other is Business Plus.

Wonka_2

joemcd said:

Also @Wonka_2, fully aware of the differences between rates and their individual conditions (room only, b&b, non-refundable etc). The rates I'm comparing are EXACTLY the same - however one is an ALL member rate and the other is Business Plus.

So when you've asked them and shown them the comparisons what have they said ?

When I've looked at similar schemes in the past the only benefit was short notice availability - and in this case it has so many conditions it's not really worth anything

user1977

Also bear in mind (given you've posted this on the Consumer Rights forum) is that this is a business-to-business contract, so consumer rights aren't going to apply (if they would even help).

DullGreyGuy

joemcd said:

I'm not sure if my original point was clear... Previously I was a regular ALL member, which as some of you mentioned offers "up to 10%" off rack rates.

In the past year, I have paid to upgrade my membership to Business Plus which offers "up to 15% on weekdays and up to 20% on weekends", off the rack rate.

However, the issue is that on most occasions the Business Plus rate has been HIGHER than the regular ALL member rate. So the paid membership is offering rates worse than the regular ALL member rate.

Also @Wonka_2, fully aware of the differences between rates and their individual conditions (room only, b&b, non-refundable etc). The rates I'm comparing are EXACTLY the same - however one is an ALL member rate and the other is Business Plus.

The Business Plus offers 20% on weekends from the best rate available not the rack rate. 

If this is the standard scheme you are talking about https://businesstravel.accor.com/gb/pdf/General_Terms_and_Conditions_Accor_Business_Offer_Auto-enroll_EN.pdf then they get 9% or 5% discount off the best rate available at all times 

So depending on how busy the hotel is then it's likely other options will be cheaper for weekdays and the plus scheme will be cheaper at weekends. Obviously the thing gives you other benefits like discount of spending in the hotel, late checkout, guaranteed availability etc. 

joemcd

It's not as complicated as that, I promise - simply put, if you register to become an ALL (Accor Live Limitless) member for free, you get usually 10% off the rate.

Business Plus members (according to the marketing and the T&Cs you've listed above) should get 15%-20% off.

Here are a series of screenshots from the ALL website - on the left are the prices shown when I'm logged in (as a Business Plus member). On the right are the prices shown when NOT logged in, to show what a non-paying member receives.

Regardless of the other benefits you've mentioned - there is a massive distinction here between promoting a fee-paying scheme that promises discounts, to actually giving those members a worse deal than those who aren't paying for a membership scheme.









For the avoidance of doubt, as I know you can't see in these screenshots - each of those rates have the exact same terms. They are the best available rate and are Room Only, Non-Refundable rates - only difference is one side is Business Plus, the other is regular membership.

joemcd

user1977 said:

Also bear in mind (given you've posted this on the Consumer Rights forum) is that this is a business-to-business contract, so consumer rights aren't going to apply (if they would even help).

That is good to know... so in that case, *if* I did have cause for complaint, what avenue am I best pursuing?