Accor Group 3 for 2 or 2 for 1!

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    MarcusUK
    Participant

    Most of the Sofitels, MGallery or Novotels have been on sale for either 3 for 2 or buy one get one free.

    These are exceptional value & not limited to the odd hotel around the globe they are really very broad in the range & location.

    I travel regularly to Amsterdam & the MGallery The Convent (formerly a Sofitel) was available for as little as Euros 70 per night on these offers! I hold a Platinum Accor card, so always get upgraded to the best rooms, Exec lounges etc, so these are quite a saving.

    I booked ahead for 5 Leisure trips, for Amsterdam, Budapest & Lisbon.

    Keep yr eyes on their site, they seem to be flushed with offers at the moment!


    continentalclub
    Participant

    I’m a huge fan of Sofitels in particular, and some Novotels and even Ibis properties fulfil a more than useful purpose.

    I have to say, however, that I’ve become rather immune to Accor’s regular emails, which seem to take on something of an air of protestation. Indeed, it’s getting to the stage that only DFS markets itself in such a similarly ‘permanently on promotion’ manner.

    The Accor promotional website at:

    http://bit.ly/dh1NBV

    is indeed busy with ‘offers’ but, to take the example of The Convent in Amsterdam, it is in fact the only one of Accor’s 12 hotels in the city which are included in the 3-for-2 promotion. The rest of the properties, at best, come up with an advertised EUR10 or EUR15 reduction per night. In these times of dynamic pricing, however, it’s almost impossible to truly analyse the veracity of such claims.

    To take another example, the Mercure Aberdeen is prominently advertised on the link above as being available from £49 a night. Unfortunately, not a single night between the promotion start and end dates offers rooms for anything less than £80.

    Only a click on the Ts&Cs at the bottom of that page reveal that bookings would have had to have been made by 16 June to achieve (possibly) a £49 rate; though the countdown timer at the top of the page suggests 28 June….

    Meanwhile, attempting to book any of the ‘50% off a Second Room’ family-style offers appears to fail on the website because the booking engine can’t cope with there being no adults and two children in any given second room.

    Indeed, in the case of the Majestic Barriere Hotel in Cannes (which is, confusingly, a ‘Partner Hotel’) the hapless guest using the Accor website will potentially pay far more than they would were they to use the hotel’s own site.

    It’s a shame, as Accor does have some genuinely super properties in its portfolio, and their rates are often exceptionally competitive, but their promotions are, in my limited experience, rarely anything startling in comparison to that which they usually charge.

    Hence their emails usually hitting the virtual floor of my virtual trash can with virtual speed.


    VintageKrug
    Participant

    Much like the Original Poster, dig a little deeper behind the spin and you realise that Accor’s offer lacks both depth and credibility.

    | am similarly a Plat Member with http://www.a-club.com (earned, not comped) and although the Softels are generally excellent, they are frequently excluded from promotional deals. Prices are exceptionally high, and although service is commensurate with the prices charged the loyalty scheme is shocking in its rewards to customers.

    It is also very hard to discern any difference between the treatment of their Gold vs. their Platinum customers; as the differential between the two tiers is a considerable (30 nights vs. 60 nights) it would seem sensible to make extra effort with platinum members however the benefits are broadly similar, apart from late check out to 4pm, which is hardly that valuable given most hotels will grant this request if possible.

    An example – it took nearly 30 nights at a Sofitel to score enough points for a free night in one of their better properties (Amsterdam being the best in Europe) while a mere five nights in a Holiday Inn (at considerably less cost per night) has me a free night at the Park Lane Intercontinental with lounge access, free minibar and suite upgrade on one of the most expensive nights of the year.

    And I am sorry, continentalclub, but I think you must be smoking something in the ibis amsterdam if you think there is anything to recommend those properties.


    continentalclub
    Participant

    An Ibis, for an hour, can be quite sufficient for my purposes – even if technically I have paid for the whole night.


    MarcusUK
    Participant

    The original emails were sent to A-Club members 72 hrs before the sale began, with the option to take the offers first. Though i agree they do bombard you with the offers, a quick view of the header makes clear its content.
    Amsterdam has the primary Sofitel grand, with the smaller version now an MGallery / The Convent. Within the city area, this is the upper of the quality hotels. The Novotel is a little out of town.
    The Ibis & Mercure, are already decent value, & they would not be viable to cut a large % off.
    Having made my 5 bookings, including one for my parents as a treat with me, the rates were Euros 70 per night each room at The Convent, this included breakfast. So at the beginning of the sale, these were available & exceptional value, less than any of the Ibis hotels. the Ibis Harbourside was Euro 120 per night!
    Two weeks later they had the 50% sale which was equally a great offer, so i made further bookings.

    The other hotels, have generally a high level of occupancy, with tourism & Agent booking much more than The Convent. It tends to attract a more select guest.
    Amsterdam hotel occupancy is generally tight all year round. In Summer as now, the 4/5 * hotels have less business during summer, as these are the hotels Business use.
    They often have rates that up to 50% reduced, where-as the 2/3* hotels increase their rates. In the last 10 yrs, the 4 5 * hotels in Amsterdam during summer, have been cheaper than 3 sometimes 2 *! An Engine search will show this clearly.

    Re the children, why not just book a double room or enter 1 adult & 1 child in each? What you do with the rooms between you is up to you surely?I booked 2 rooms without a problem, & actually made a mistake & put 2 children in one which brought up the same price.

    Re the membership levels, clever marketing via F.Blue to send the cards out for the many hotel groups, Hilton Hyatt Gold etc, as you do tend to shift or try another group. Other hotels invite you in a select way like Shangri-la, you cannot apply.

    I always held the old Sofitel card, as well as the paid Accor Favourites card, so automatically qualified at the start of A-Club. Having stayed 43 nights in the first year, this was easily renewed as a result of my choice & shift in self paid business.
    So their marketing worked…and bearing in mind i pay for my own stays as these are all leisure trips for city breaks. You get differently valued that you yourself are choosing & paying rather than a Company, & looked after very individually.
    The Sofitel Managers from Budapest, Lisbon, & Amsterdam, always let me choose which specific room, booked on line, for my next stay with them.

    As with much Premium Air Cabin travel, now hotels, the larger Business these days travelling In Europe, East & Australiasia, are in fact leisure / self paying travellers, who sensibly look for a fair value, & make choices for higher grade travel & hotels. Their expenditure is increasing, where-as business is reducing. these are often like myself, people who make a lot of regular leisure trips throughout the year. The Hilton & Sofitel Exec lounges around the world, they are having 80% of leisure travellers in the highest tiers of membership staying with them. Business stays have become a lesser business.
    Ask the Managers, they will tell you…

    Both the Hotel & Airlines realise this & are making offers to these expanding markets, as a larger % of their business will be relying on this, with the general decline in Business travel & downgrading of expenditure. In my view this will rapidly be imposed in the coming months from Employers within the UK. If Government Departments must cut 25% from budgets, this will ripple through any business remotely linked in the chain of Governmental provision.

    Reading the emails maybe more fruitful & relevant in the very tough times & constraints ahead. Aggressive marketing with regular sales for Hotel groups are being devised right now in many large Hotel groups.


    continentalclub
    Participant

    The family offer, rather unsurprisingly, demands that the second room only has children registered to it. If an adult is registered to the second room then the price is calculated at the full rate – or else it would be perfectly possible for groups of adults, travelling for leisure or business purposes, to subvert the family promotion.

    That the website does not allow the company’s own promotion to be executed online is undoubtedly a weakness.

    Occupancy rates across Amsterdam continue to be weak, with an oversupply scenario prevailing particularly in the 3* and 4* markets. Excluding the effects of volcanic ash, recent figures from TRI show occupancy in the 5* market c10 percentage points lower than London, and falling year-on-year. REVPAR is, however, marginally higher in Amsterdam.

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