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Accor: bonus points with Qatar and great hotel redemption deals
[Qatar Airways]
Accor has had a partnership with Qatar Airways since 2022, which allows Accor elite members to acquire Qatar’s status, as high as Oneworld Emerald, after only one flight. You should consider this fast track offer if you are qualified.
They have also just launched a new offer for account linking:
- Link your Accor and QR accounts by Feb 29th
- Fly once with Qatar Airways by March 31st for 1,000 bonus Avios
- Stay once with Accor by March 31st for 1,000 bonus points
Accor has a similar reciprocal scheme with Flying Blue and Qantas. I think you can switch every 12 months.
[Limitless Experiences]
Similar to Marriott and Hilton, Accor has an auction / redemption platform named Limitless Experiences, where you can exchange or bid for experiences including hotel stays and events.
I’ve being paying attention since I’ve accrued 10k+ points from the All Signature promotion last year, and it seems that they are finally offering something interesting. There are discounted redemptions for hotel stays in Asia, Africa and Middle East.
Here are some examples:
- Japan, Grand Mercure Ise-shima Resort & Spa (half-board) 7,000 points
- Japan, Mercure Kyoto Miyazu Resort & Spa (half-board) 5,000 points
- Abu Dhabi, Fairmont Bab Al Bahr (breakfast) 4,000 points
- Bahrain, Mövenpick Hotel Bahrain (breakfast) 4,400 points
- Qatar, Pullman Doha West Bay (breakfast) 4,000 points
- Kenya, Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club (two nights all-inclusive) 20,000 points
- South Africa, Mercure Hotel Midrand (two-nights breakfast) 2,000 points
They will contact you with further details within 14 days of redemption, and be careful as there are various stay dates requirement. There are many cheap options in South Africa and India – paying only 2,000 points (€40) for two nights is insane.
The Fairmont hotel in Abu Dhabi is also a great bargain, as it can cost as much as €300 on some days in February. You must stay by the end of March though, and it doesn’t work me unfortunately.
In addition there are some other on-property experiences available, such as:
- Dubai, Pullman Dubai Jumeirah Lakes Towers, 30 minutes’ PT – 200 points
- Jordan, Mövenpick Resort & Residences Aqaba, buffer dinner for 2 – 1,500 points
- Jordan, Mövenpick Resort & Spa Tala Bay, underwater discovery – 700 points
- Bahrain, Mövenpick Hotel Bahrain, dinner for 2 – 1,500 points
- Saudia, Mövenpick Hotel Al Khobar, seafood buffer for 2 – 3,000 points
- Maldives, Raffles Maldives, sunken dinner for 2 – 10,000 points
5,000 bonus Avios for new Qatar Airways members
Qatar Airways’ sign-on offer is back, which is worth taking advantage of if you have an upcoming flight with them.
- Join as a new Qatar Airways Privilege Club member by December 31
- Use promo code PCAUNA23
- Travel by June 30
- Earn bonus after first eligible flight: 2,500 Avios if in economy or 5,000 Avios in business / first
The flight must be operated by Qatar Airways, and reward flights are exluded.
Qatar Airways tends to run such promotions frequently, so hold back from creating an account until you actually plan to fly with them.
Last chance to buy Accor Gold & Oneworld Ruby for only £65!
We wrote about fast track opportunities for Accor a while ago, and one major shortcut was to purchase the ibis Business card, as you are granted Gold status for as long as you have a valid membership. Sadly it is coming to an end soon, and you need to jump onboard before it is too late!
As explained by Accor, the ibis Business program will discontinue on March 22nd and be replaced by a new program called ALL PLUS ibis, which will continue to offer some sort of discount for ibis stays. The new membership doesn’t gift Gold status anymore, but offers ten night credits annually instead.
If you join ibis Business now, you are still gifted Gold and it will be valid throughout your subscription period. So the best strategy would be:
- Buy ibis Business now – reports suggest that the Gold status is valid through 2024
- You will earn additional ten night credits on March 22nd
For the UK, a one-year subscription costs £65 whereas it’s £119 for two years, and it’s usually €90 / €159 for most other countries. I’m not sure if the two-year subscription comes with a longer Gold validity.
Accor Gold isn’t hugely useful outside China where they offer daily breakfast for one, but room upgrade and late check-out are still something. Beware that buying ibis Business will create a new Accor account, so if you have an existing account you might need to merge them.
Qatar Airways has an ongoing promotion with Accor, which allows Accor Gold members to fast track to Qatar Airways Silver after only one flight. Silver status (Oneworld Ruby) offers extra baggage allowance and free seat selection when flying Qatar Airways and its partners (BA, AA, Cathay etc.), plus you can access the dedicated Silver Lounge at Doha.
There will also be a new ALL PLUS Voyageur membership (converted from the old Business Plus program) which offers 20 night credits annually.
Virgin Australia’s status match: benefits with United, Etihad, Singapore and more!
Virgin Australia launched a status match program last year, which might entitle you to special benefits with them and partner airlines for up to 15 months!
- Elite members from select airlines can apply for a status match
- If granted, you commence a three-month Gold trial
- Fly one qualifying sector and earn 80 tier credits to extend your Gold status for one year
In general, S* Gold, Skyteam Elite Plus and Oneworld Sapphire / Emerald qualify, excluding Virgin Australia’s partners. Some minimum requirements include:
- British Airways Silver
- Lufthansa Senator
- Air France Gold
- Finnair Gold
- Delta Gold
- American Airlines Platinum
- Emirates Gold
The list is very extensive so you have high chances of being eligible. There is no direct link to apply – you need to click Member Support and submit a feedback form to apply.
Even if you don’t fly Virgin Australia, the Gold card is still useful with a bunch of other airlines.
| Priority Check-in | Priority Boarding | Additional Baggage Allowance | Fast Track | Lounge Access | |
| Hainan / Tianjin / Capital / Hong Kong Airlines | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Singapore Airlines | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| United Airlines | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Air Canada | ✓ | ||||
| Virgin Atlantic | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Etihad | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Qatar Airways | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| South African Airways | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Details of the lounge access policy is here, but in general you need to be on a flight operated by the partner carrier and can bring one guest.
If you are based in the UK, there’s a good chance that you’ll fly Virgin Atlantic some day, as well as some of the other partners. I value Priority Check-in and Lounge Access the most in terms of the aforementioned elite benefits.
80 tier credits are very easy to accrue, but you can’t possibly accomplish the one qualifying sector unless you travel to / within Australia. According to the program rules, your status will be re-evaluated at the end of the three months, which normally means you’d drop to a non-status member.
However, from the reports we’ve seen so far it seems that everyone has been downgraded to Silver instead post the Gold trial. It comes with two lounge passes for VA’s domestic lounges, and more importantly most of the partner benefits (barring lounge access) still apply for another year!
If you plan to fly Virgin Australia or their partner airline soon, it’s worthwhile signing up for the Gold trial beforehand.
Double Avios with Qatar Airways and Iberia
If you are flying with Qatar Airways or Iberia in the next three months, there’s a double Avios reciprocal offer between Qatar Airways and Iberia which may apply.
You can view the Qatar Airways offer here.
- Book between August 15 and November 30
- Fly between September 1 and November 30
- The flight must be operated by Iberia, and IB or QR coded
- Eligible flights credited to the Qatar Airways Privilege Club receive double Avios
The same offer from Iberia doesn’t have a landing page, but I’ve received email communication on this. If you fly on Qatar Airways and it’s QR or IB coded, you receive double Avios if credited to Iberia Plus.
It’s a weird offer as you must credit your flight to the other program to benefit. Anyway it’s worth keeping in mind, although beware that the two programs may have different accrual ratios, and the tier points are not shared between them.
Qatar Airways to adopt Avios as its loyalty currency, and free 2,500 Avios for everyone
Qatar Airways, out of nowhere, has announced its decision to switch its loyalty program currency from Qmiles to Avios.
[Implications]
There are currently four airlines using Avios as their currency:
- British Airways
- Aer Lingus
- Iberia
- Vueling, which is a subdivision of Iberia
Although no more details are disclosed yet, we believe that Avios will work in a similar fashion with Qatar Airways. Qatar Airways will have its own partners and rates for earning / spending Avios, but a member’s accounts between all airlines can be linked and Avios can be transferred between them. Otherwise it makes no sense to have one Avios program totally separated from the others.
Existing Qmiles will become Avios at 1:1 ratio. Qpoints and Qcredits will remain in place.
The new move benefits us in four ways:
First, Qatar Airways has a few airline partners that aren’t part of Oneworld. You’ll soon be able to redeem your Avios on flights with:
- Bangkok Airways
- JetBlue
- MEA
- Oman Air
- RwandAir
Second, Qatar Airways has a different redemption chart with British Airways, and redemptions on certain route may be considerably cheaper. You could move your Avios over from BA and save, like what many are already doing with Iberia’s MAD-JFK route.
Third, Qatar Airways also has some exclusive non-airline partners. For example, you could convert Qmiles to Acoor points, although the ratio isn’t appealing.
Last, if you fly a lot with Qatar Airways, you may want to credit your flights to their Privilege Club instead of BA’s Executive Club to enjoy better benefits, while still earning Avios.
[Promotions]
If you are not a member of the Privilege Club yet, register using this link gives you 2,500 Qmiles straightway, which will become 2,500 Avios at some point. You’ll earn an additional 5,000 Qmiles if crediting an eligible QR flight by September 30.
If you are a student, don’t forget to participate in their Student Club program, which offers up to 20% discount on air fares, plus other benefits including additional check-in allowance and fast track status.
7,500 Bonus Miles and Qatar Airways Silver Fast Track
Qatar airways has re-launched their sign-up offer from last year. It makes sense to sign up if you intend to fly with them in the next few months.
The offer page is here. To participate you need to enter code OALSMH121 (which is already pre-populated) during the sign-up process.
You’ll receive 2,500 bonus miles straightaway when your account is created. And after your first revenue flight operated and marketed by Qatar Airways, you’ll receive a further 5,000 bonus miles plus 50 Qpoints.
7,500 bonus miles is a good welcome gift, and 50 Qpoints is no doubt an icing on the cake – starting from scratch you need 150 Qpoints to reach Privilege Club’s Silver status.
Qatar Airways has recently reverted its huge devaluation to the Privilege Club program, and it’s not a bad idea to join if you fly frequently with them. You need to sign up by September 30, and take the first flight by December 31.
Qatar Airways and Accor Plus Status Extension
With the pandemic’s threat still very strong, multiple airline and hotel corporations have published new status extension or qualification reduction policies for 2021 already.
Qatar Airways has just announced that, all elite memberships that are due to expire during 2021 will be valid through 2021, if you fail to meet the qualification criteria.
It is not hugely generous to be honest, as it only means a measly couple of months’ extension for those whose status is about to expire towards the end of this year. However, Qatar Airways ran a status match campaign in May 2020, and those who got their free status will also benefit.
It looks that Accor Plus, a paid Accor scheme in Asia Pacific, has also got a new policy. As you can read here:
Please Note: Due to the impact Covid all Accor Plus members will maintain their current status upon renewal in 2021.
You should be able to extend your status for another year when you pay to renew your status in 2021. It’s only mentioned in the AU site, but from the sound of it it should be a system-wide policy for all Accor Plus members.