A few months ago, Accor introduced a new benefit to its Accor Live Limiteless loyalty program for members of the highest Diamond status.
These are guaranteed suite upgrades, like the Suite Night Awards offered by Starwood and then Marriott in its Bonvoy program.
At Marriott, they’re very easy to use… But that’s not the case at Accor. One of our readers, Cyril P., shares his story with us.
Booking and use
As a Diamond member, I had 7 SNUs, and decided to use 3 of them for an extended weekend at the Sofitel Quiberon.
The first problem is that you can’t “consume” these SNUs by booking a room directly on the Accor website or app.
When choosing a hotel, the Accor website invites us to click on a button “an advisor will call you back”. We don’t know why, but it doesn’t matter, I click… A person calls me back within a minute. I decide to book 3 nights.
Second problem: it is absolutely essential to book the category just below the suite. In reality, it’s a one-category upgrade guarantee, and this obviously reduces the advantage considerably depending on the property and room classification!
The consultant offered me 3 nights in a deluxe suite with my 3 SNUs for €1,301 with payment at the hotel. I’m convinced and I confirm the booking, because I receive a booking confirmation email with payment at the hotel.
Arrival at the hotel and check-in
I arrive at the hotel after a 6-hour drive in the rain at 5pm. I expect to be well received, especially in a Deluxe suite with my Diamond status.
I usually have a few delicacies, a little note… But not this time!
No booking is recorded! It’s true that this time I didn’t receive a welcome email from the hotel.
After analysis at the hotel reception, here’s what happened:
- The booking was confirmed, but a payment request was sent to my credit card, even though the payment was supposed to be made at the hotel.
- The booking was processed on an out-of-date credit card. It’s normal, the advisor didn’t ask me for it as it was payment at the hotel, which is logical… However, I do have a valid bank card registered on my account. This is the card that should have been charged…
- After the payment failed, I was not called back by the reservation center. No customer follow-up was done
- I didn’t receive any email telling me the payment failed but since it was supposed to be paid at the hotel, it might logical. Note: There was an internal e-mail sent automatically when the payment failed, a copy of which was provided to me.
Despite this problem with the reservation system, everything could have been sorted out at the hotel, with payment taken and the reservation re-established with SNU, but this was not to be.
Managing the problem at the hotel
Of course, I’d have gone for a run, but being with my family and given the late hour, I have no choice but to stay.
Here, instead of doing everything possible to offer me a room at the booked price, which would have been normal, I was given 3 choices:
- An accessible Junior Suite at €681 per night
- A Deluxe Suite at €784 per night, i.e. a total of €2,146 for the three nights, i.e. a 65% increase in the price of my reservation with different services, even though it was their system that failed!
In this case, the hotel property’s marketing effort was really minimal. You really feel like you’re being taken for a sucker: you’re charged the full price when the room was lost the first night anyway.
As a test, I tried to book a Junior Suite via the appplication a few days later. For the days when there was some left over, I was at €534 with my Business plus rate, so the €681 offered was far from competitive.
But given the time, I accept the offer and immediately pay for the 3 nights. Nevertheless, I left the next morning, and was reimbursed for the last two nights.
Hotel experience
- The bedroom: A renovation needed? The furniture looks a little old-fashioned. Even if the view is beautiful, the rate of 641€ per night seems a little high compared to what I’ve experienced elsewhere;
- Room service: 2 consecutive errors – Omission of a drink and mistake on a dish, the waiter came into the room 3 times. Nothing to say about the food, it was good. Surprisingly weak wine list for a Sofitel;
- Spa: good quality, but you wouldn’t expect anything less from a Sofitel;
- Breakfast: Good for a Sofitel, with good pastries.
Customer service and feedback from the hotel and Accor
Following my unfortunate experience, I posted my review on TripAdvisor.
The hotel responded almost immediately:
Dear Guest, As our guests’ satisfaction is our top priority, we are very sorry to read the review you posted on Tripadvisor. Your comments concerning the reservation of your stay via the ALL reservation center have been forwarded to Accor customer service. In addition, each of your comments concerning the hotel has been considered with the greatest attention and we sincerely regret to note your disappointment. It’s true that the ALL loyalty program offers many privileges to ALL cardholders, but given the very constrained period with a virtually fully booked hotel, it was unfortunately not possible for us to satisfy your request at the last minute once you were on site. We hope that, despite your disappointment, we’ll have the pleasure of welcoming you back to our beautiful peninsula to win back your trust and demonstrate our commitment and professionalism.
As for the response from Accor customer service, it was catastrophic:
Thank you for contacting ALL Customer Service – Accor Live Limitless.
I’m coming back to you following your complaint about the Sofitel Quiberon Thalassa sea & spa hotel. As I am unable to deal with your request, I have taken the liberty of transferring your request to the Sofitel Quiberon Thalassa sea & spa hotel, which will take charge of your complaint and get back to you as soon as possible. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further information, and I thank you for your loyalty. Have a pleasant day and, above all, take care of yourself and your loved ones.
Passing the buck to the hotel is simply unacceptable when its loyalty program doesn’t work.
Reader’s conclusion
I think that in the end the ALL program was launched too quickly: the management of the SNUs needs to be completely reviewed, and the hotel advised me not to call the reservation center but rather to call them directly.
Another person who arrived the same day as me had the same problems with SNU. From now on, I think I’ll opt for the more upmarket properties in AMEX’s Fine Hotels and Resorts program, which will be happy to welcome me and my money with open arms.
TravelGuys editors’ conclusion
What an adventure… And above all, what catastrophic management on the part of the hotelier and the chain. But are we surprised to see such a thing happening with Accor? Never!
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