Accor Hotel's misleading premium membership scheme

joemcd

Wonka_2 said:

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

Accor are still "looking into it", after being passed from pillar to post - it's now been escalated to another department, and awaiting their response too. They maintained during initial responses that Business Plus members get the better price - and then accepted when they checked themselves that some of the rates were more expensive than regular member rates but weren't sure why - which isn't really an acceptable answer.

DullGreyGuy

joemcd said:

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.

The devil is in the detail... you always need to see what the discount is on. The Business Plus is explicitly on the rack rate for weekdays which is basically the most expensive a room will be. The non plus business discount is lower but it's on the lowest rate available. In both cases the discounts are up to.

Hotels will discount rooms to ensure occupancy, depending on how sales are going discounted rates may increase if occupancy is looking low or may decrease if sales are going well. If you are booking well in advance or during quiet times then the chances are you will pay more with a discounted rack rate than even a non-additionally discounted promotional rate.

If you travel as I do half the time, get to the office at 8am and be told there is a problem in NYC and can I be on the 14:00 flight then the plus is more likely to be beneficial as last minute bookings are often rack rate and so the discount is useful.

AmEx FHR is somewhat similar... they offer free room upgrades, a free dinner or such, early check in/late check out etc but you pay roughly the rack rate. Go to Hotels.com and the room will be cheaper but the "if available" can have great value... you can end up with normal room and normal check in/check out or in one of our stays, we got bumped into a 355m2 suite that's 3x the size of our home!

user1977

joemcd said:

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?

The question would be whether or not they're keeping to the letter of the contract which you eventually signed up to - whether the advertising around it is "misleading" or not wouldn't come into it. And if not - well, I'm not sure what you'd be entitled to, give you still have benefits other than the pricing you're talking about.