Accor promotion: Europe 500 points and China triple points
Accor is committed to a green initiative at select European properties, and is giving its members an incentive to stay with them by offering bonus points.
You can sign up to the offer here.
- Book by September 15
- Stay between August 15 and October 15
- Minimum two night stay
- Earn 500 bonus points per stay, up to three times
500 bonus points is equivalent to €10 when redeeming at Accor hotels. The page has a link to the list of participating hotels, which appears to be mostly Ibis, Novotel and Mercure in the UK and other European countries.
There’s an offer for Accor hotels in Greater China too.
- Register by October 9
- Book and stay by October 10
- Earn triple points for all stays up to 5 nights
Hyatt Europe offer: 2,500 bonus points or double elite qualifying nights
Hyatt has had different forms of promotion in different regions this quarter. The one in Europe has been going on for a while, but I didn’t find the registration link until recently.
There are two different targeted offers:
Stay between June 8th and September 5th at Hyatt properties in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Southwest Asia to participate.
If your account address is in one of these regions, you are likely to be eligible for one of the offers. Good news is that reward night counts too.
How to accrue 60 nights annually via Marriott credit cards only
(Warning: I must admit first that this is a clickbait, as although practically possible very few people qualify for all the credit cards required 😉)
Marriott issues co-branded credit cards in many markets including the US and UK, and one major perk of them is elite night credits which is awarded annually to accelerate your membership tier upgrade process. Usually such credits are not stackable across multiple cards, but there are rare combinations that work.
Up until recently, the maximum annual credits you can possibly accrue was 30 nights, by holding:
- A Marriott personal card (15 nights), e.g. Amex UK, Amex US or Chase US, and
- An Amex US Marriott business card (15 nights)
You can only stack one personal card with one business card, otherwise having two personal cards (e.g. Amex US & UK) only yields 15 night credits.
There was an Amex SPG card in Japan which offered another stackable 5 nights, but that card has been re-branded to give 15 nights instead which no longer works.
There has been a very recent development though. Citic Bank just started issuing the first Marriott co-branded credit cards in China this week. It comes with three versions that offer 5, 10 and 15 elite night credits respectively.
Terms say that you can only apply for one of the three cards, and the night credits don’t stack with credit cards issued by other banks. However in reality it works slightly differently: people have reported to be able to submit three applications, and whilst they are all pending, all night credits have already hit the Marriott account – and that’s on top of what’s offered by other banks.
Sorry that I don’t have a screenshot in English, but this is from someone who’s just applied for all three cards and he’s already had the US Marriott Amex card. The four cards have deposited a total of 45 nights into his account.
This could well be an error (especially as those credit applications aren’t even approved yet) and will possibly be fixed soon. But in theory, at the moment you can harvest 60 night credits for this year which gives you Platinum status straightaway, if you are eligible for credit applications in both US and China of course.
Accor extending status again in China… Should you take a punt?
Accor has just published a fast track offer in China, and more importantly, the announcement to extend status expiry again.
All Accor members whose account address is in Greater China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) will have their elite status expiry extended to December 31, 2023. The change will be reflected in July.
Compared to Europe and the Americas, Covid restrictions are still relatively uptight in most Asian countries and they are not ready to welcome international tourists yet. China is obviously the worst – this year it has been unthinkable for many to even travel outside the city they live in, as the circumstances can become extremely complicated once your origin or destination has a single Covid case.
As a consequence, it’s impossible for most Chinese members to retain their status this year. Questions have been raised whether the hotel chains will extend status again this year, although most people weren’t optimistic, Accor has come to surprise us.
The question is, will others follow suit? Given their track records in the last two years I don’t think it’s that unlikely, especially for Hilton who made a few very fast moves.
I have changed my Marriott’s address back to one in China just in case, and might do with the other programs too. Beware that the current IHG fast track promotion isn’t open to residents of Greater China, so if you’re signed up don’t mess up.
Hyatt: new London hotels, Asia Pacific bonus points offer
Hyatt has recently opened two new hotels in London:
They were recently converted from Holiday Inn and Staybridge Suites of the IHG brands. From what I see their room rates have almost doubled to an eye-watering level (sometimes £300+), which is insane for the location. I hope they’ve done a great renovation job!
On the other hand, if you do want to stay with them spending points appears to be a great option. I find Hyatt’s new redemption pricing confusing, but for an upcoming Saturday they only cost 9,000 points and 12,000 points respectively.
You also earn 500 bonus points per night when staying at either of them by July 31.
Also Hyatt-related, they have started a new Mid Year promotion in Asia Pacific.
- Register by July 31
- Stay between May 16 and September 2
- Earn 1,000 bonus points for every two nights stayed
- Maximum bonus awarded is 15,000 points
You can see the list of participating hotels on the promo page, which seems to cover most properties except those in mainland China.
Free breakfast for Accor Gold members in China
Accor has announced a benefit boost for members staying at its hotels in Mainland China. You can read more here (in Chinese).
Amongst exclusive room rate and dining discount, the most impressive enhancement is one free breakfast for Accor Gold members. Accor’s breakfast benefit now looks like this:
- Gold: one free breakfast in mainland China
- Platinum: two free breakfast in Asia Pacific
- Diamond: two free breakfast in Asia Pacific, or only on weekends elsewhere
The gap is now huge between China / Asia Pacific and the other regions, and breakfast only on weekends for the top tier is very mean.
It’s not rare for hotel programs to offer enhanced benefits in Asia Pacific or China, for example IHG has similar arrangements too. However, the timing of this announcement is a bit weird given that many cities in China are still undergoing lockdowns and travels are not yet resuming.
Marriott dining benefits in Asia Pacific
Marriott has a special dining scheme in Asia Pacific, which you should know if you are a resident or plan to visit the region.
Unlike Accor Plus, you don’t need to join a separate membership plan to take advantage of it. In a way it works quite similar to Shangri-La. Before I go into any details, all of the following benefits apply even if you not a hotel guest, and this makes a big difference.
[Dining Discount]
All Marriott Bonvoy members enjoy a dining discount at participating hotels, and the actual percentage depends on the membership tier plus the country. In general:
- Member & Silver: 10%
- Gold: 15%
- Platinum, Titanium & Ambassador: 20%
In Greater China the percentages are higher, at 10%, 20% and 30% respectively.
[Earn Points]
In addition to the discount you also earn points, at the regular rate of 10 points per USD.
[Redeem Points]
This is a new feature they introduced recently. Instead of paying cash and earning points, you can now redeem your points. The rate is the same as Instant Redemption, i.e. 10,000 points for $40.
The discount above can be applied in conjunction with the redemption.
The redeeming option doesn’t look very attractive, however the discount is significant (up to 30% off) and earning points on top is even better. In fact Hilton and IHG have similar programs in China / Asia Pacific, not sure why nobody has introduced them to Europe or Americas.
Priority Pass & China Southern partnership, plus a 35% off deal
Just like all other companies in the travel industry, Priority Pass has suffered a great deal in the last year or so. In addition to the possible revenue loss, they have also lost the contract with Plaza Premium, although the latter has opted to maintain its ties with DragonPass and American Express.
It was a huge blow to Priority Pass, however it didn’t stop them from expanding aggressively since the beginning of 2021 – their goal is to add 150 locations globally this year, which from the look of it is an underestimate.
In the latest development, Priority Pass stroke an impressive deal with China Southern, which opens the doors to more than 40 CZ lounges across China including some of its main hubs. Due to the slow recovery of travel globally, we may see more of such deals coming our way in the near future.
On a more relevant note, Priority Pass is running a pretty good sale at the moment.
Let’s focus on the Standard Plus membership, which grants you 10 visits to any Priority Pass lounges within the next year, for the price of £122. This is the best deal they’ve done in the history, if I remember correctly.
If you don’t have a free Priority Pass or LoungeKey card via credit card agreements, it may be well worth considering. You can bring any number of guests with you using your visit quota, but again remember they are only valid for a year.