Accor Live Limiteless: no limits, really?

So if you didn’t know, Accorhotels no longer exists but has become Accor Live Limiteless, which is also the name of its new loyalty program.

From Accorhotels to Accor Live Limitless

A really interesting move on the part of the French group that has understood, like others before it, that its business is no longer to sell nights but experiences of which the night at the hotel is only a component that can even be optional. As for reinforcing the community of identity between the group and its loyalty program, this is also an excellent thing as the loyal customer is “profitable”. Let’s even hope that this will give French customers who are not as addicted to loyalty programs as those in other countries the reflex to pay much more attention to this subject.

Accor’s main challenge will be to maintain its program over the long term, as we have become accustomed in recent years to frequent rebrandings, which, combined with an unclear brand portfolio, have not contributed to the group’s spontaneous reputation.

But beyond the announcements there is reality: a promise is only worthwhile when it is kept.

Since Accor now claims to be an experiential brand, there are three things to consider.

Its message, what it projects: it is its promise and its communication
What the customer really experiences.
What the customer shares.

The challenges of experiential brands

In the age of social networks and TripAdvisor, a brand no longer belongs to itself but depends on what its customers say about it, in the hotel industry as elsewhere. Word of mouth and friends’ opinions have always existed, especially in this industry, nothing has changed but it has simply become exponential.

It is important to know that the customer is rarely objective when giving an opinion. He is conditioned. Conditioned by his preconceptions, what he has been told, his past experiences, but also conditioned by the brand’s promise.

The issue is not whether a performance is high or low, but whether it is consistent with the promise. As I like to repeat “when you fly low lost you are not going to complain about the service in flight”. A service can be very good but if you have been sold an exceptionnal one it will be disappointing. A service can be average but if it is not oversold the customer will be satisfied.

In short, focusing on the customer experience means accepting that communication is not a substitute for execution. The higher the promise or perception, the more disappointed the customer will be. And in the case of ALL (the diminutive name of Accor Live Limiteless) everything is done to ensure that the perception is very high.

And what could be more ironic than calling yourself “Limiteless” and imposing a host of limits on the customer.

Not all hotels participate in Accor Live Limitless

Let’s start with the group’s brands that do not participate in the loyalty program. The list is available here.

This is already a bad start even if it is not the biggest issue. All the competing programs also have brands that are somewhat separate, such as Ritz Carlton at Marriott for example. But where at Marriott you sometimes have to deal with “limited program participation” (you earn points but not all the benefits are available) here you have total non-participation. No points, no benefits, no possibility to pay your night with points.

It starts well.

Hard to find a hotel for a Suite Night Upgrade

Now let’s take a look at the Suite Night Upgrades that we’ve already told you about here. Suite Night Upgrades allow a guest to request a suite upgrade prior to their stay and thus “secure” it without waiting to be surprised by availability at check-in.

Suite Night Upgrades are reserved for Platinum (60 nights or 5600 euros of spending) and Diamond 10 400 euros of spending) members. They earn a Suite Night Upgrade when they reach Platinum status and then one for every 4000 euros spent. Is ALL stingy ? At Marriott you can have 5 at Platinum status (50 nights) and 5 at Titanium status (75 nights). We’ll let you be the judge, but that’s not even my point here.

As there are hotels that do not participate in the loyalty program, there are hotels that participate in the loyalty program but do not participate in the Suite Night Upgrades, so you will not be able to use them. Their list is available here and you will love it.

First, there are the chains that do not participate in the Suite Night Upgrades.

Almost all of the group’s historical brands do not participate, even if this is understandable for some whose positioning means that they do not have suites.

Then come the hotels that individually do not participate.

Well, nothing serious here, you might say.

But then there is the list of countries where no hotel participates regardless of their brand.

Too bad for your vacations in France or in the south of Europe ! I don’t know if this is genius or scandal.

At the end of the day, in my opinion, more than 70% of the hotels do not apply a benefit reserved for the best clients of the group. Unbelievable.

The real problem with Accor Live Limiteless: the hoteliers

How can one design benefits for the most loyal customers so stingy and so little applied? Do not blame ALL I think that its senior management must be desperate about the thing (and if they are not it is serious). No one in their right mind would do this if there wasn’t a reason.

And the reason for this is well known, and you only have to look at the various exclusions to understand that the heart of the problem is the brand core and the “historic” ALL properties.

There is no such thing as a bad loyalty program, only hoteliers who don’t play the game and don’t understand that what they see as a cost or a loss of revenue is an investment. Who do not want to see that if they have customers in their hotel it is because these customers are used to be well received in other hotels of the group.

In short, ALL’s main problem is the management of hoteliers and its inability to impose things on franchisees who do as they please and impose their conditions. This is the historical evil of this business and it continues.

Is a high status at ALL worth it

In the end, there is only one question: is it worth the hassle of going Diamond or Platinum with ALL?

In fact, this story alone sums up our history with Accor: beautiful promises that most often end in beautiful disappointments. Except the So Bangkok I can’t remember a single time when my expectations were exceeded but rather having to cry just to get the little the loyalty program deigned to offer me.

In the meantime, for what it’s worth, I don’t think the effort required for Platinum or Diamond status is worth it. Unfortunately, Accor will not be able to change anything except to seek conflict with its franchisees who bear a great responsibility in this story.