My Doctor's Advice - join Accor Plus

[Renato1]

I went to see my Doctor earlier today.

He firstly advised me to take a free flu shot from him, which I eventually did - first one I've ever had.

He then asked if I hadn't joined Accor Plus, what was I waiting for, as it is a great scheme? He absolutely loves the freebie benefits he gets when he goes some place or other around the world on vacation, and described some of them to me - the discounts, the free night, the upgrades, late checkout etc

Is anyone here as enthusiastic about Accor Plus as my Doctor is?
Regards,
Renato

 

[cove]

Not me Renato1. I gave up calling to get stays credited.

 

[Tamerton]

My son in law thinks it's great. He stays with them all the time with work and he has booked a holiday in Singapore with his points.

 

[Renato1]

Not me Renato1. I gave up calling to get stays credited.

My son in law thinks it's great. He stays with them all the time with work and he has booked a holiday in Singapore with his points.

Interesting. Thanks to the both of you. One not enthused and one very enthused.
Cheers,
Renato

 

[juddles]

Interesting. Thanks to the both of you. One not enthused and one very enthused.
Cheers,
Renato

I understand and beleive in some benefits of FF membership / status with airlines. As far as hotels go, NO! To me that is definitely an area where "best fare on day" far outweighs loyalty.

But I live and travel and sleep in coughsville - maybe a good thing for some??

 

[ellen10]

I have been a member for about 8 years. I have definitely got my moneys worth.
I always try to book when they have a 50% sale.
Last year I booked sale prices in Avignon for 4 nights and then was upgraded to the top floor "Privilege Suite". I have had some very nice stays for half price at several Sofitels around Asia Pacific. Half price dining is also excellent value.

 

[PJF]

Been a member 8 years and some pretty good benefits but there establiments vary a lot depending on where you go particularly the Sofitel brand. Stayed at Sofitel Denarau Island for 10 days recently in Club room. It was old and in need of the upcoming 30M upgrade. Currently not worth anywhere near the money you pay and no where near quality of other Sofitels I have stayed at.

 

[Renato1]

I understand and beleive in some benefits of FF membership / status with airlines. As far as hotels go, NO! To me that is definitely an area where "best fare on day" far outweighs loyalty.

But I live and travel and sleep in coughsville - maybe a good thing for some??

Thanks. I've paid zero attention to hotel loyalty schemes till now. The only points I've ever accumulated was with Fairmont in Bali last year - and that's only because we were stuck there due to the volcanic eruption, and insurance paid for the room.

We're typically more middle of the road hotel users. We want a minimum 20 sq meter room, and when in Europe and USA, I want car parking which is either free or at a reasonable price (unreasonable is definitely when car parking costs more than the daily cost of car hire). Which rules out very many hotels before I start looking - and often leads to the Radisson Blu chain, as they often are the lowest cost ones for biggish rooms.

But if a paid-for loyalty scheme leads to a similar outcome at a lower price, then I'm interested.
Regards,
Renato

I have been a member for about 8 years. I have definitely got my moneys worth.
I always try to book when they have a 50% sale.
Last year I booked sale prices in Avignon for 4 nights and then was upgraded to the top floor "Privilege Suite". I have had some very nice stays for half price at several Sofitels around Asia Pacific. Half price dining is also excellent value.

Thanks, you just described my Doctor's experience in Budapest last year that he described to me..

With respect to dining, I generally avoid the hotel restaurants - often finding them too dear with not enough food on the plate for what I paid, and then hunting for a quarter pounder at McDonalds. So the half price dining you describe - in general does it get down to the price level of a typical suburban restaurant in Australia. Or to that of a typical suburban pub? Or better than that?
Regards,
Renato

Been a member 8 years and some pretty good benefits but there establiments vary a lot depending on where you go particularly the Sofitel brand. Stayed at Sofitel Denarau Island for 10 days recently in Club room. It was old and in need of the upcoming 30M upgrade. Currently not worth anywhere near the money you pay and no where near quality of other Sofitels I have stayed at.

Interesting thanks - I just plugged some dates into Booking.com for 10 nights in August, and at around $460 a night (no refund) to $600 a night( with free cancellation), the Sofitel Denerau seems pretty expensive. Some of the review comments concur with your assessment. That would have been quite disappointing for you- even with a 20% discount from the Plus membership, unless you got the 50% off deal.

Fiji is one our radar for next year - hence my interest.
Regards,
Renato

 

[PJF]

Thanks. I've paid zero attention to hotel loyalty schemes till now. The only points I've ever accumulated was with Fairmont in Bali last year - and that's only because we were stuck there due to the volcanic eruption, and insurance paid for the room.

We're typically more middle of the road hotel users. We want a minimum 20 sq meter room, and when in Europe and USA, I want car parking which is either free or at a reasonable price (unreasonable is definitely when car parking costs more than the daily cost of car hire). Which rules out very many hotels before I start looking - and often leads to the Radisson Blu chain, as they often are the lowest cost ones for biggish rooms.

But if a paid-for loyalty scheme leads to a similar outcome at a lower price, then I'm interested.
Regards,
Renato


Thanks, you just described my Doctor's experience in Budapest last year that he described to me..

With respect to dining, I generally avoid the hotel restaurants - often finding them too dear with not enough food on the plate for what I paid, and then hunting for a quarter pounder at McDonalds. So the half price dining you describe - in general does it get down to the price level of a typical suburban restaurant in Australia. Or to that of a typical suburban pub? Or better than that?
Regards,
Renato


Interesting thanks - I just plugged some dates into Booking.com for 10 nights in August, and at around $460 a night (no refund) to $600 a night( with free cancellation), the Sofitel Denerau seems pretty expensive. Some of the review comments concur with your assessment. That would have been quite disappointing for you- even with a 20% discount from the Plus membership, unless you got the 50% off deal.

Fiji is one our radar for next year - hence my interest.
Regards,
Renato

Yes if IMHO avoid the Sofitel Denarau it is over rated expensive and the food was terrible and the prices ridiculous but what you would of expect from a resort of this so called high star rating. Service to get anything done is mega slow or just doesn’t happen. Never had milk replace in fridge for the whole 10 days there. No bath mats replaced each day and many other things. Definitely not what you would expect from Sofitel and the Accor brand. Went and ate at McDonald’s and down at the marina area about 15 mins walk away to get some decent food. Also golf club nearby had decent food for money. If you go add 25% tax on everything the government really know how to fleece the tourists. Stay at Sofitel Melbourne alot and it is top notch compared to Fiji.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Interesting thanks - I just plugged some dates into Booking.com for 10 nights in August, and at around $460 a night (no refund) to $600 a night( with free cancellation),

If I was going to spend that much per night in Bali I would be booking a private villa with staff and would have $$$ left over.

 

[PJF]

If I was going to spend that much per night in Bali I would be booking a private villa with staff and would have $$$ left over.

Agree and going there in August and going to try the Club rooms at Grand Hyatt and see how they stake up. Didn't even consider the Sofitel Fiji Resort at Nusa Dua and risk the same experience. Amazing where a thread can go starting from something like "My Doctors Advice"

 

[Renato1]

Yes if IMHO avoid the Sofitel Denarau it is over rated expensive and the food was terrible and the prices ridiculous but what you would of expect from a resort of this so called high star rating. Service to get anything done is mega slow or just doesn’t happen. Never had milk replace in fridge for the whole 10 days there. No bath mats replaced each day and many other things. Definitely not what you would expect from Sofitel and the Accor brand. Went and ate at McDonald’s and down at the marina area about 15 mins walk away to get some decent food. Also golf club nearby had decent food for money. If you go add 25% tax on everything the government really know how to fleece the tourists. Stay at Sofitel Melbourne alot and it is top notch compared to Fiji.

Very interesting thanks. Your experience appears a night and day difference between what we experienced at Fairmont in Bali last year - where it seemed that there was a battery of staff in rotation constantly coming to our room to do things and seeing if we were happy. And that was originally for $270 a night, though I upgraded to an ocean view for an extra $50 a night.

Last year I was reading lots of reviews about places in Denarau - and I was somewhat surprised as the number of negative comments given the prices per night (e.g. at Radisson Blu there were complaints about not being able to get lounges at the pool, because people from other hotels were going there and taking the lounges - that's a lot of money to pay only to find difficulty getting a pool spot). In the end I started looking at cheaper places outside of town with mainly good reviews - figuring that I wouldn't be that disappointed with any negatives, and that I'd have to spend more money on taxi fares.
Regards,
Renato

If I was going to spend that much per night in Bali I would be booking a private villa with staff and would have $$$ left over.

Thanks. We still want to go to Fiji, but oddly enough I was also checking out huge private villas with good reviews in Bali next to Seminyak shops without the five star staff, for another possible trip next year. Costs were only $110 to $140 a night, which i thought remarkably inexpensive. That said there were also some villas with appalling reviews.
Cheers,
Renato

 

[PJF]

Very interesting thanks. Your experience appears a night and day difference between what we experienced at Fairmont in Bali last year - where it seemed that there was a battery of staff in rotation constantly coming to our room to do things and seeing if we were happy. And that was originally for $270 a night, though I upgraded to an ocean view for an extra $50 a night.

Last year I was reading lots of reviews about places in Denarau - and I was somewhat surprised as the number of negative comments given the prices per night (e.g. at Radisson Blu there were complaints about not being able to get lounges at the pool, because people from other hotels were going there and taking the lounges - that's a lot of money to pay only to find difficulty getting a pool spot). In the end I started looking at cheaper places outside of town with mainly good reviews - figuring that I wouldn't be that disappointed with any negatives, and that I'd have to spend more money on taxi fares.
Regards,
Renato



Thanks. We still want to go to Fiji, but oddly enough I was also checking out huge private villas with good reviews in Bali next to Seminyak shops without the five star staff, for another possible trip next year. Costs were only $110 to $140 a night, which i thought remarkably inexpensive. That said there were also some villas with appalling reviews.
Cheers,
Renato

Yep and the comments you have read are justified. We were there only 5 weeks ago and spoke to many people from different resorts and complaining about the precise things that you have read about. So matter how old the comments it is still status quo on Denarau Island. Will never stay there again will go the Coral Coast area or might try the Intercontinental it gets some good raps.

Got the survey email from Sofitel manager to fill your comments about your stay. Filled it in as per what we experienced and have never heard anything back. A bit like if you complain to QF customer service silence, silence and more silence........................

 

[Comoman]

Serious thread drift above

Back to the thread - I abandoned Accor Plus and I'm now just a normal Le Club Plat (earned). For me it just wasn't worth the hassle of trying to resubscribe etc. They never called me back after a few attempts.

Also, if your travel is mostly outside of AsiaPac (like mine) it's more of an issue that it's worth as it's a different status code on the Accor system and many hotels don't know what it is so don't recognise the plat status.

 

[Renato1]

Yep and the comments you have read are justified. We were there only 5 weeks ago and spoke to many people from different resorts and complaining about the precise things that you have read about. So matter how old the comments it is still status quo on Denarau Island. Will never stay there again will go the Coral Coast area or might try the Intercontinental it gets some good raps.

Got the survey email from Sofitel manager to fill your comments about your stay. Filled it in as per what we experienced and have never heard anything back. A bit like if you complain to QF customer service silence, silence and more silence........................

Thanks for that information. I had a niggly feeling that something wasn't quite right at many hotel resorts in Denarau, but you have confirmed that my niggly feeling was not unjustified.
Cheers,
Renato

Serious thread drift above

Back to the thread - I abandoned Accor Plus and I'm now just a normal Le Club Plat (earned). For me it just wasn't worth the hassle of trying to resubscribe etc. They never called me back after a few attempts.

Also, if your travel is mostly outside of AsiaPac (like mine) it's more of an issue that it's worth as it's a different status code on the Accor system and many hotels don't know what it is so don't recognise the plat status.

Thanks - yes, a bit of drift - but the drift was to something that saved me doing a separate thread one day. So the drift was a bit of serendipity for me.

Pretty astounding that they didn't call you back to get money from you. Bizarre actually.
Sort of defeats the point of having Platinum status if it is unrecognised in lots of places. But did they recognise your Accor Plus everywhere when you had it?
Regards,
Renato

 

[Comoman]

Sort of defeats the point of having Platinum status if it is unrecognised in lots of places. But did they recognise your Accor Plus everywhere when you had it?
Regards,
Renato

My personal experience was that the Platinum status wasn't really recognised outside of AsiaPac when Accor Plus. Little/no upgrades, room gifts etc.

Now Im normal Platinum with Accor I get them routinely when in Europe (where I mostly travel to).

 

[marki]

As long as your doctors advice is not recommending euthanasia it should be a good day. Unless it's staying at an Accor plus hotel for medical treatment. Never had a GP do that however ...........Not sure it's the right thing to do in light of the controversies, regarding the academic and Prof. from WA.

 

[Renato1]

My personal experience was that the Platinum status wasn't really recognised outside of AsiaPac when Accor Plus. Little/no upgrades, room gifts etc.

Now Im normal Platinum with Accor I get them routinely when in Europe (where I mostly travel to).

Thanks again. Very odd your experience with them.
Regards.
Renato

 

[Renato1]

As long as your doctors advice is not recommending euthanasia it should be a good day. Unless it's staying at an Accor plus hotel for medical treatment. Never had a GP do that however ...........Not sure it's the right thing to do in light of the controversies, regarding the academic and Prof. from WA.

I've been seeing him for decades, even now when I have to drive 40 minutes to see him.
Typically our consultation is half health /half travel.

I get real value from the consultation - and he Bulk Bills too.
Cheers,
Renato