Accor A-Club Redemptions a rip off

[zzzhobbes]

Dear All

Please be careful when using A-Club on Redemptions

My Wife and I travelled to Sydney for the Weekend and Stayed at the Sofietel Sydney.

We had accumalted USD$240.00 in voucher to use against the hotel cost.

Because A-Club on issues only USD and EUR dollar voucher our USD$240 converted into $193.22

What a joke

Last time I will be staying at a Accor Hotel

 

[serfty]

...
Because A-Club on issues only USD and EUR dollar voucher our USD$260 converted into $193.22
...

Ouch!

What an incredible arbitrage by the hotel - it's almost a joke!:shock:

Lesson there is to not redeem these vouchers in Oz.

One query, A|Club US$60 vouchers cost 2000 A|club points each¹ - how did you get $260 worth?

For me it's good that 4000 A|Club points can be converted to 4000 QFF points so, for me, that's ~AU$100 in value.

At least you are entitled to earn A|Club points on the difference between that $192 and the total cost. (Earn A|Club points)


¹ ... & 2000 points for €40

 

[oz_mark]

The problem with the A-Club vouchers is that the conversion rate is the one the hotel applies when you check-out. Hotel exchange rates are not known for being particularly generous.

For a while AUD vouchers were available, but these were removed due to currency fluctuations.

 

[thewinchester]

Concur with Serfty. If you choose to earn into AClub, it's far better value to exchange points to your mileage program of choice as the transfers can give far better value.

I've compiled a list of all the programs you can convert to and their respective conversion rates over on Milepoint's Accor Wiki. It's also worth noting that QFF is the only Airline partner who gives 1:1 conversion on AClub.

Further, they also used to offer vouchers in Beitish Pounds and Brazilian Reals!

Something else to consider is that, especially for QFF members staying at Australian Accor properties, it's not always good value to earn AClub points and can be worth considering earning directly to your frequent flyer program of choice. I've outlined this as well as a quick mathematical formulae again over at the Milepoint wiki.



----
Sent using my Roman era abacus.

 

[LovemyCC]

Thanks thewinchester for the pearls of wisdom

 

[Pablo]

I also just cashed in US$120 of vouchers at the Sofitel in Sydney today and only got AUD$101 in credit. SUCH A RIP OFF!

 

[dajop]

Not sure if this has changed yet, but IIRC you could also only book refundable rates, although some hotels may accept payment non-refundable rates by vouchers. As refundable rates are typically higher than pre-paid rates, unless you want the flexibility (or refundable rates are the only ones available) this further erodes the value of A Club vouchers. Really a non-starter compared to HHonors & SPG.

 

[Timtammi]

I have just rediscovered by A-Club account and realised I have more points in there than I realised, these days I generally prefer to stay at SPG or HH properties due to status in those programs. Can I now convert those points to my Qff account? I couldn't find where to do that on the website.

Thanks!

Timmi

 

[kpc]

I have 1353 orphaned A-club points from my stay at Pullman Auckland last year. I just received an email to say they will expire in May unless I stay at another Accor hotel prior....I have no such plans. Any cheap way of preventing the points from expiring? or can I redeem the pts for anything? From my perusal of thewichester's excellent Wiki above, it seems i don't have enough pts to redeem anything!

 

[zzzhobbes]

What about a car hire from europcar that will give you some points and may extend the expiry timeline

 

[serfty]

Multiples of 4000 A|Club points turns into multiples of 4000 QF points in about two working days.

(It's 4000, 8000, 12000 ...)