How does Accor treat you as an Elite guest?

[Daver6]

Property: Novotel Murray St, Perth
Status: Accor Plus Gold
Room booked: 1 * Standard Room with King Size Bed + 1 * Standard Room with 2 Double Beds
Room upgraded/type: None but given adjoining rooms on 15th floor
Rate: ACCOR PLUS MORE ESCAPES, BED AND BREAKFAST $179 per room per night (a luxury escapes deal being matched for Plus members)
Free internet: Yes, a bit slow
Free Breakfast: Included in the room rate, standard full buffet with barista coffee included.
Early check in/late out: Room available on arrival about 4pm, late checkout to 1pm offered but not needed.
Welcome drink: Yes, FOUR drinks vouchers for us - one free drink for each of us due to being gold.
+ 4 more vouchers good for 1 drink per person per each night stayed as part of the more escapes deal. But both types of vouchers were limited to use on a basic menu which offered only chardonnay, Merlot, Sparkling, 2 on tap beers, soft rinks, juice (orange, pineapple or apple) and tea or barista coffee.

So each person scored 5 free drinks.

Welcome gift: Yes, both rooms received: a box of 3 macaroons, 2 * 300ml bottles of water (replaced daily) and a bottle of Merlot (from NSW, not even WA).

Being a late afternoon arrival we were able to check in straight away, it was a little slow as they did not have the drinks voucher's (all 8 of them ready to go), so she was hand writing out the entitlement.

Rooms were compact but comfortable, walk in shower with rainfall head, plenty of shelf space in bathroom for toiletries and block-out curtains that left no gaps, plenty of powerpoints including usb sockets on each one. Generous hanging space with real coat hangers not hose annoying ones you cant take off the rail.

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Not much of a view but very central location easy walking distance to everywhere we needed to be
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Breakfast was standard buffet with toast (including gluten free), pastries, muffins, cereal, fruit, yoghurt, bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs (or poached, fried or omelet cooked to order), hash browns, grilled tomatoes, baked beans, has browns, mushrooms, pancakes, juice, plus fried rice and congee. 1* Barista coffee per person included. No complaints except coffee was fine 2 morning and undrinkable the other two (must have been different barista).

The onsite restaurant menu looked nice but i was travelling with fussy easters so didnt get to try it.

We didn't hear any noise in the room, but got back from a visit to the Pinnacles about 9:30pm on Saturday to find "The Magnet" nightclub throbbing and cops stationed out front of the hotel. Couldn't hear anything once in our rooms but next morning there was a nice puddle on blood outside so must have been a fight at some point.

Unusually there was no ability to view the invoice on the tv or do express checkout. I'm used to Novotel's placing invoice under your door on morning on checkout so you can just leave if no disputes.

So I went down to lobby about 20 minutes before I had booked my uber pick-up to find a huge queue at least 10 in front of me and no priority line, moving very slowly (it was last day of the school holidays). Got to the front just as my ride arrived, handed in the key cards was told all was good but didn't have time to wait for a printed invoice, they promised to email it.

Next morning no invoice had arrived, so I call up and request it. They only send it for one room not both. But i noticed that room has been charged for some drinks. SO i call back to dispute the charge, turns out some of the "more escapes" drinks which you had to sign for so you only got one per day had been charged in error. They reversed the error and sent new invoices plus got an apology call from the manager.

Comfortable, convenient and well priced but reception is disorganized.

The onsite restaurant, Miss Mi, is excellent and particiaptes in Accor Plus. Worth a visit.

As for the view, you received the good view. The other side of the building looks directly onto an apartment building.

 

[Daver6]

Property: Novotel Canberra
Status: Accor+ Platinum
Room booked: Executive King bed
Room upgraded/type: No, possible downgrade?
Free internet: Yes
Free Breakfast: Yes
Early check in/late out: arrived mid evening, 1pm checkout granted
Welcome drink: Yes, 2 drink vouchers
Welcome gift: bottle of red

Arrived around 8pm. Hotel showed as fully booked so no upgrade expected and told as much. Room on level 1 (of maybe 6 or 7). Checked in and go to room. Two queen beds, no couch. Room facing Northebourne Ave. Back to reception as I wanted a king bed and a couch as booked. Moved to a king bed room. No idea why I wasn't just given what I booked in the first place. Room faced the other side, ie over the bus station looking onto another building. No idea if this room was a downgrade or not. Was quite at least.

Was given two bottles of water. Once in my new room, ten minutes later staff member delivered the bottle of wine and two more waters.

Decent size room and comfortable enough. Carpets are old and need replacing. Some scuff marks on walls. Shub Overall good location and you get what you pay for. Hotel is full of families with kids as it was school holidays. If this is as good as Accor has to offer in Canberra then it's a tough sell to remain loyal to the brand here.

 

[kermatu]

Property: Novotel Auckland Airport
Status: Gold
Room booked: Exec King
Room upgraded/type: No, but did get corner room with good airport views.
Rate: Standard (expensive)
Free internet: Yes
Free Breakfast: Yes (Exec room benefit).
Early check in/late out: Yes. Checked in at 7am.
Welcome drink: Yes, two vouchers.
Welcome gift: Bottles of water plus free minibar items (non-alcoholic) as part of Exec room. Welcome note and a platter of cheese, crackers, nuts and fruit delivered during the day.

Decent stay for what was just a layover. Very appreciative of the 7am check-in. But was told there would be a charge if I wanted breakfast that morning. Room service here used to be great but is now a very reduced menu.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Property: The Sebel Moonee Ponds
Status: Accor Gold
Room booked: Queen with balcony $178
Room upgrade: Yes - to King balcony apartment, top floor
Free internet: Yes
Early check in was arranged (but we were later than planned due to family birthday.)
Late check-out not required but offered.
Welcome drink: Saros bar not open on Sundays but a card from Management and 375 ml bottle of white wine chilling in the fridge. Water x2 , no other amenity.
Secure undercover parking at reduced rate $15 instead of $25.
As we are 100km from Melbourne airport, when we have a morning flight, we choose to stay in the city to avoid traffic and the inevitable peak hour prangs on the Monash freeway.
I would recommend The Sebel, pleasant and informative front office staff, good location as it is a few minutes walk to many eateries and Puckle Street for shopping.
It will be our "go to" now, only 20 minutes to Tulla airport.

 

[cdp88]

Property: The Playford MGallery Adelaide
Status: Accor Plus Gold
Room booked: Junior Suite
Room upgrade: Not really, was in a larger than usual suite but not an upgrade to the suite with North Terrace view. Did get high floor and furtherest from the elevators which are noted as preferences on my profile. Room had now view to speak of but was quiet and spacious.
Free internet: Yes
Early check in - not required.
Late check-out offered and sought until 1pm. I could have stayed longer given delays to flight.
Welcome drink: 2 drink vouchers, wines by glass, beers, soft drinks. Redeemed for two glasses of wine on the by the glass list, no apparent limitation.
Gift: Received 3 handmade soaps from Hahndorf and bottle of water. There were two turndown chocolates when we arrived but this wasn’t repeated for rest of stay.
Other: Great food in the restaurant for dinner and breakfast, service generally good in the restaurant although sometimes a bit slow. While not proactively offered they do offer eggs made to order as part of the breakfast buffet and will do barista coffee (for a charge) and leaf tea in a pot (apparently at no charge).

Restaurant only open Tues-Sat with light meal service on other nights. We dined on Saturday and Monday and the reduced menu on MOnday was still fairly generous. Technically it is the bar that serves dinner on Sunday and Monday although they are in the one area and we sat in the restaurant section for dinner on Monday. They offered Accor Plus for meal on Mon day even though technically the bar doesn’t take it.

All up a pleasant stay and a hotel I’d recommend. Staff were very helpful and I loved the decor.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Property: Peppers Blue on Blue Magnetic Island
Status : Accor Gold
Room booked : Superior studio ( marina view)
Room upgrade: next category was 3 br apartment but unavailable due to high occupancy
Rate : Accor member rate bed & breakfast $278 per night
Early check in/ late check-out not required
Free WiFi: Yes but quite patchy
Breakfast: buffet (eggs made to order)
Welcome drink : 2 vouchers
Welcome amenity: Cheese plate and bottle of Chardonnay
Happy with our studio, gets the afternoon sunshine, though yet to see if we get the sunset.
Boardwalk Restaurant now open every night of the week, need to book (going tonight.)
Arrived 7pm last night, Staff friendly and approachable.
Would stay again but guests need to be aware many suites/apartments overlook the car park for the Ferry - yes it really is the AFF Car park view!

 

[Flyfrequently]

Welcome platter and wine.

 

[Flyfrequently]

And I do love a soak at the end of the day, nice bath and I understand being environmentally friendly but the soap/body wash - bolted to the shower wall and next to handbasin.
Fortunately had the foresight to bring a cake of soap!

 

[austgap]

Property: Hotel Muse Bangkok Langsuan - MGallery
Status: Platinum
Room booked: JATU Deluxe
Room upgraded/type: Yama Executive. Used the drinks/canapés hour one night, which was unfortunately not on the rooftop but downstairs (due to a function) - decent spread and good coughtails.
Rate: $165/night
Free internet: Yes.
Free Breakfast: Yes. Although both morning had to argue about the status benefit.
Early check in/late out: Not needed
Welcome drink: Yes both at check-in (weird combination of "shots") and two drinks at the rooftop bar
Welcome gift: Yes. Platter of fruits/nuts. Honeymoon sweets + multiple bottles of water.

My wife wanted something different in BKK then the usual business bland - the Muse was certainly quirky, however it never quite hit the mark. Even being empty the staff seemed to really struggle to get their head around the Accor benefits and every conversation about a benefit seemed a real slog.

 

[austgap]

Property: Raffles Siem Reap
Status: Platinum
Room booked: State room king bed
Room upgraded/type: Landmark Room King + pool view. Awkwardly the staff member showing us the room proceeded to ask at the end of the room tour if we'd want to upgrade to a suite for $$ which we declined.
Rate: ~$385/night
Free internet: Yes.
Free Breakfast: Champagne breakfast. Provided with takeaway breakfast when doing the Angkor Wat tour (did need to sign a form acknowledging it would not be to the same standard)
Early check in/late out: 2pm check-out provided
Welcome drink: Yes both at check-in and then 2x drink vouchers provided for the Elephant Bar
Welcome gift: Yes. Platter of fruits. Bottle of sparkling wine. Honeymoon gifts (Raffles scarf each, bunch of flowers for Mrs Austgap and some sweets changed each night)

Fantastic stay, did help the hotel only had 8 rooms booked over the three nights we stayed - so got a personal meet and greet with the Assistant Hotel mgr & the hotel manager. Staff were lovely (tad bored, so would come up every few minutes and check. All good, until they asked how the breakfast was before the first bite!). Elephant bar and pool area lovely, did find the F&B manager a bit pushy on some of the hotel restaurant functions. No issues with status benefits.

 

[austgap]

Property: Raffles Phnom Penh
Status: Platinum
Room booked: Balcony Suite King Bed (used 2x suite upgrades)
Room upgraded/type: Balcony Suite King Bed
Rate: ~$440/night
Free internet: Yes.
Free Breakfast: Yes. Champagne/bloody mary's avail each morning.
Early check in/late out: 1pm check-out provided
Welcome drink: Yes. 2x glasses of champagne upon check-in. Voucher for drink at Elephant bar
Welcome gift: Yes. Platter of fruits. Honeymoon cake and some sweets on the second night. Bottle of red (switched to sparkling).

Good stay, decent hotel. Nothing overly memorable, perhaps hard to get wow'd after the empty Raffles in Siem Reap.

 

[Captain Halliday]

Property: Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila
Status: Accor Plus Plat
Room booked: Junior Family Suite (2 nights SNU). Third night Superior King + rollaway
Room upgraded/type: Yes
Rate: ALL Flexible Bed & Breakfast
Free internet: Yes
Free Breakfast: Yes
Early check in/late out: Not required
Welcome drink: Yes, two vouchers. Advised when redeeming at bar each voucher was good for two drinks (house beer, wine & soft drink)
Welcome gift: 2 bottles of water daily, selection of fruit.

Overall this was an incredibly disappointing stay. I booked this as a bit of a treat for Mrs H and Miss H at the start of a five week trip where we’ll be in far more budget friendly options. There were some clear highlights, but on the whole failure to deliver published benefits and poor service at times makes this an overall fail.

PROS:

• Booked two nights as SNU. Then an airline schedule change meant we need a third night. Booked base rate for night three expecting to move rooms. On check-in was granted a corner suite with bay view for all three nights. Seemed to be an upgrade even on the SNU.

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Apologies for the lived in look. I forgot the “before” pix.

Pool was excellent and has a good water play area for children 10 and under.

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• Breakfast buffet in Spiral restaurant was outstanding. It’s massive and has made to order food stations with breakfast cuisine from myriad nations. There’s also a “cheese and cold cuts room” and a dessert bar… can’t beat ice cream at breakfast.

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CONS:

• Arrival at 2300hrs, but checkin still took almost 10 mins when we just wanted to get Miss H to bed. Paperwork not pre-filled. Drink vouchers were written out while we waited etc. Just unnecessarily slow.
• Arrived in room to find sofa bed not made up despite pre-arrival email requesting this. A further ten mins waiting for housekeeping.
• Requested firm pillow off the pillow menu and was deliver two additional soft pillows?!!
• But this was the real kicker… Club Millesime access denied with Miss H. Showed website screen shot that access was 9yo and older. Lounge dragon wouldn’t budge.

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• Went to reception and asked for manager. Manager also wouldn’t budge but offered to book us a table at the downstairs bar and provide snacks. Not even close to comparable to the full buffet in Club Millesime. This was a major fail for me given it was a clearly published benefit and I specifically booked this as a treat for the family.
• Service at the bar was incredibly slow and in no way 5 star.
• Ordered a red wine and watched as the as waiter walked through reception, took the lift and reappeared soon after with a half consumed bottle of red wine, presumably from Club Millesime. It was slightly comical given the same wine was on the list at the downstairs bar.
• Served warm rolls with butter as an apology for slow service, but the butter appeared to be half used from a previous guest and covered with some baking paper.

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• Finally at check out there was a mystery charge of PHP50. I asked what it was for an was told “it’s for the cats”. It’s only about $1.50 Australian, but after being denied lounge access for three days I insisted it be removed as a matter of principle.

I expect singles and couples may have a very nice experience. But families should avoid.

Sofitel Manila is now very firmly on my do not stay list.

An update on this from about six weeks ago…

Recap of issue: Club Millesime access denied with Miss H. Told it was adults only despite showing staff the Accor website screen shot that states access was 9yo+. Plus assorted poor service.

What happened: I logged a ticket as suggested by @sudoer explaining the circumstances and requesting compensation of 6K ALL points (being roughly equal to lounge access cost for one guest, per day, for the three days of our stay).

I chose not to detail all the other service fails for two reasons: First, being refused lounge access was a failure to deliver a published benefit. Poor service is more subjective. Second it kept the email and request for compensation more straightforward.

I received an immediate robo reply with a receipt number.

T+3 I had a reply from an Accor support staffer saying it had been raised with the hotel for their response. No timeframe provided for a response to me though.

T+24 still no response so I emailed again asking for an update on meaningful response.

T+30 Still no response again, so I emailed the Accor Asia CEO directly.

There was direct response directly from him either. But in a remarkable coincidence, within 24h of contacting the Accor Asia boss, the hotel emailed offering an apology and confirming that 6K points had been added to my account.

Overall a hassle and very poor customer experience despite the outcome.

 

[Daver6]

Property: Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour
Status: Accor Plus Platinum
Room booked: Base (superior king)
Room upgraded/type: Yes, superior Jones Bay view
Rate: ~$310/night for 5 nights
Free internet: Yes.
Free Breakfast: Yes.
Early check in/late out: not required either end
Welcome drink: Yes. 2x vouchers to be used - see below
Welcome gift: Yes. bottle of red wine and some chocolates

All up a good stay. Room upgrade was the bare minimum, but not overly fussed. What I hadn't realised is the buildings with all the shops and restaurants in that part of Darling Harbour have been knocked down and it's a construction site. So that was less ideal with some noise starting at 7am. Lounge offerings were good with some variety each night. What was odd is they wouldn't (rightly so) let a guest into the lounge in the middle of the day for a chat, but were happy for me to make free use of the boardroom with two guests and serve us coffee etc. That was convenient for a couple of meetings

The free welcome drinks for platinums was very generous I thought. They are selling Veuve by the glass for $25, so winning there.


coughtails available for evening drinks in the lounge



Only remembered to take room pics as I was packing up, so excuse the mess. One thing that was annoying was the string for the blinds were difficult to reach. Electric blinds and curtains would be a nice addition.



Final thoughts. I like this hotel. Might wait for the construction to finish before visiting again. I'll probably be back in November so might try the other Sofitel.

 

[Daver6]

Property: Sofitel Melbourne
Status: Accor Plus Platinum
Room booked: SUPERIOR ROOM, 1 KING BED, BAY & RIVER VIEWS
Room upgraded/type: Yes, Prestige suite
Rate: ACCOR PLUS MORE ESCAPES, BED AND BREAKFAST
Free internet: Yes.
Free Breakfast: Yes.
Early check in/late out: not required either end
Welcome drink: Yes. 4x vouchers
Welcome gift: Yes box with 4 sweet wrapped bars.

Booked this rate as it was cheaper than a base room without breakfast and cancelable. Turns out, it was an error being listed as cancelable but was honoured when I cancelled and rebooked when the double points promo came out.

Was not expecting much of an upgrade as staying for 5 nights and the hotel showed as booked out. So very pleasantly surprised with an upgrade to a large suite. Very comfortable and great views. Bathroom is tiny and almost and after thought. Also a shub. I get the feeling they're slowly refurbishing rooms though.

Exec lounge service was excellent. Gym is a little lacking but good enough. I keep coming back here as every stay just feels comfortable.

 

[kamchatsky]

Property: Ibis Bratislava Centrum
Status: Accor Gold
Room booked: 2 Standard Rooms
Room upgraded/type: 2 Standard rooms
Rate: Member - Family Offer second room 50% off
Free internet: Yes
Free Breakfast: Surprisingly Yes for all 4 of us! The buffet breakfast was far better than I expected as well!
Early check in/late out: Room available on arrival around 11am, late check out 2pm
Welcome drink: Yes, FOUR drinks vouchers for us. Ie one free drink for each of us.
Welcome gift: The free breakfast for all 4 of us.

No upgrades offered as it is an Ibis, but it had the best recognition for Gold easily as part of my European trip, as they provided free buffet breakfast for all 4 of us. The buffet breakfast is surprisingly good for an Ibis, as I really had no expectations when they offered free breakfast for us. Very happy with the stay.

 

[kamchatsky]

Property: Novotel Suites Wien City Donau
Status: Accor Gold
Room booked: 2 Standard Suites
Room upgraded/type: 2 Standard Suites
Rate: Member - Family Offer second room 50% off
Free internet: Yes
Free Breakfast: No, but never expected as Gold anyway.
Early check in/late out: Room available on arrival around 12pm, late check out 2pm
Welcome drink: Yes, 1 drink voucher for us only.
Welcome gift: None

Very large comfortable room as it is an all-suite hotel. 2-minute walk to their metro, so it is fairly convenient. However, recognition is probably the weakest of all the Accor Hotels I stayed in my European trip.

 

[jase05]

Property: Sofitel Bali Nusa Dua
Status: Accor Plus Diamond
Room booked: 2x Luxury Rooms
Room upgraded/type: 1x room upgraded to Luxury room with pool access
Rate: Accor Plus Saver
Free internet: Yes
Free Breakfast: Yes
Early check in/late out: Yes to both but check out not required (Golds and above get 4pm checkout complimentar)
Welcome drink: 4x drinks from bar
Welcome gift: Fruit Platter, 4x beers and 2x 2 for 1 massage vouchers

First time back since pre Covid and after a bit of a rocky start it ended up a pretty decent stay for 8 nights. Staff were friendly and helpful but a real lack of polish and a few areas they need to work on if I’m being picky.
Check in was a disaster as it was late night and a heap of flights got in similar time to us. No status recognition initially as we were put in a waiting room and watched several groups come in after us and jumped ahead of us. When we finally got to our rooms we had no luggage after 45 minutes still and the room was the same type as we had booked which was strange I thought. I called up and was told that our baggage was in fact at our upgraded pool access room and that staff had given us the wrong room at checkin. By time we got to our new room and became reacquainted with our luggage it was pushing 2am.
Room was great but was showing a few signs of age and the bed was 2x Queens (or Kings) pushed together to form a massive bed.
Its a massive resort and was pretty well booked out it seems with breakfast being a zoo so we ate at Club Millesime every day instead and they had a rather small but decent menu to choose from accompanied by a small buffet section. Even the club was busy for breakfast but thankfully our status ensured we had no problems getting a table each day. Evening coughtail hour in the club was fantastic with a good spread of food especially the amazing cakes to go with a decent drink selection.
Spent a bit of time at the swim up bar where the service and drinks quality was top notch. Used the massage vouchers and had a couple of massages by the beach and they were real good quality.
We were travelling with a large group so most days we went off on tours or sightseeing but thought our time at the hotel was mostly good and I dare say we will back some time next year

 

[maia200]

Property: Sofitel Bali Nusa Dua
Status: Accor Plus Diamond
Room booked: 2x Luxury Rooms
Room upgraded/type: 1x room upgraded to Luxury room with pool access
Rate: Accor Plus Saver
Free internet: Yes
Free Breakfast: Yes
Early check in/late out: Yes to both but check out not required (Golds and above get 4pm checkout complimentar)
Welcome drink: 4x drinks from bar
Welcome gift: Fruit Platter, 4x beers and 2x 2 for 1 massage vouchers

First time back since pre Covid and after a bit of a rocky start it ended up a pretty decent stay for 8 nights. Staff were friendly and helpful but a real lack of polish and a few areas they need to work on if I’m being picky.
Check in was a disaster as it was late night and a heap of flights got in similar time to us. No status recognition initially as we were put in a waiting room and watched several groups come in after us and jumped ahead of us. When we finally got to our rooms we had no luggage after 45 minutes still and the room was the same type as we had booked which was strange I thought. I called up and was told that our baggage was in fact at our upgraded pool access room and that staff had given us the wrong room at checkin. By time we got to our new room and became reacquainted with our luggage it was pushing 2am.
Room was great but was showing a few signs of age and the bed was 2x Queens (or Kings) pushed together to form a massive bed.
Its a massive resort and was pretty well booked out it seems with breakfast being a zoo so we ate at Club Millesime every day instead and they had a rather small but decent menu to choose from accompanied by a small buffet section. Even the club was busy for breakfast but thankfully our status ensured we had no problems getting a table each day. Evening coughtail hour in the club was fantastic with a good spread of food especially the amazing cakes to go with a decent drink selection.
Spent a bit of time at the swim up bar where the service and drinks quality was top notch. Used the massage vouchers and had a couple of massages by the beach and they were real good quality.
We were travelling with a large group so most days we went off on tours or sightseeing but thought our time at the hotel was mostly good and I dare say we will back some time next year
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Great to hear except for all the people. That's my next trip this month.

 

[jase05]

Great to hear except for all the people. That's my next trip this month.

Bali was absolutely heaving. We have been there dozens of times previously and I honestly think it’s the busiest I’ve seen it. Still had a great time though

 

[SYD]

Bali was absolutely heaving. We have been there dozens of times previously and I honestly think it’s the busiest I’ve seen it. Still had a great time though

Europeans on summer hols? I was surprised by how many American voices I overheard 2 wks ago.