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Part Three of an (updated) series exploring some of the best features of a seriously underrated loyalty programme.

Accor Hotels ‘Le Club’, doesn’t seem to get a lot of love in the travel/points/miles blogosphere. I think this is probably because of a lack of properties in the US (where a lot of the big bloggers are based), but whatever the reason – it’s a real shame.

For those of us in the UK (and much of the rest of Europe too), ‘Le Club’ can be a great programme, if you know how to make the most of it…

We’re going to help you do exactly that with this series of posts:

Part One: Cashback – the most generous in the UK?

Part Two: “Happy Mondays” – city centre hotels in the UK from £25.00

Part Three: “Private Sales” – up to 50% off

Part Three: “Private Sales” – up to 50% off

Accor has regular ‘Private Sales’ for members of its loyalty scheme ‘Le Club’. You need to be a member to see the discounts, so if you do not already have a Le Club Account, sign up for one here .

There are two types of sale – small ones with a relatively short list of cities that changes each week, and big general sales that apply to a wide range of Accor hotels (although the details vary between regions) which happen 3-4 times a year.

The smaller weekly sales offer a different list of hotels every Tuesday, and can have discounts of up to 50%. These sales tend to feature a reasonable spread of hotels throughout Europe, with options in North Africa or the Middle East sometimes making an appearance too. This page offers similar deals for the Pacific region. (Being Accor, sometimes the IT gets a bit mixed up on these pages, but they do work most of the time – promise!).

The big global sales only happen a few times a year and are usually on for about a week.

Discounts are up to 50%, but exact details, eligible dates and booking conditions vary between countries/regions.

Is it really 50% off?

Sort of… but not really.

First of all, remember it’s ‘up to 50% off’ and most hotels featured seem to offer 30%-40% most of the time

Also, sale rates are non-refundable, but the discounts are normally derived from the the Best Flexible Rate available to non-members. When you consider that non-refundable rates are lower anyway and that members usually get a lower price as well, the ‘real’ discount is rarely 50%.

That said, apart from Happy Mondays rates in the UK, the Private Sale rates are almost always the lowest rate available at all the hotels I’ve checked, and often substantially lower than any of the other rates.

Bottom line:

Accor’s Private Sales can offer some very good rates. When you combine them with the Cashback that I’ve already written about, and the bonus points and loyalty status benefits I will be exploring later in this series, Accor really can provide fantastic value.