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I used to be a pretty big fan of Accor hotels (Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Ibis, etc) and its old ‘Le Club’ loyalty programme. Years ago, it was easy to stack deals for big rebates and enjoy elite status benefits at the same time. Over time, Accor’s deals became less compelling, Le Club became ‘ALL’ and I drifted away.

One quirk though was that my Platinum status never really went. Every time I logged into my account it would show that I had Platinum status that would expire at the end of (I think) 2016… but it still said the exact same thing in 2017, 2018, 2019 etc. By some miracle of time travel, or perhaps Accor’s impressively bad IT systems, my status was always “due to expire” on a date that had happened years ago.

Fast forward to 2020 and COVID-19 has caused pretty much all loyalty programmes (except BA Executive Club) to extend status. Accor is no exception and has introduced a number of policies:

•  “Status Extension: The status you earned in 2019 will be extended to December 31, 2021 allowing you more time to enjoy all the benefits of ALL-Accor Live Limitless. 

• Points Expiration: To provide you ample time to redeem points, the expiration of Rewards points will be paused through December 15, 2020.

• Roll-Over Status Nights / Points: ALL status nights and points earned between July 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020 will be rolled over to jump start your elite qualification on January 1, 2021, allowing you to earn elite status faster in the 2022 program year.

• Suite Night Upgrades: For Platinum and Diamond members, all unused Suite Night Upgrades as of December 31, 2020 will be extended for 12 months to provide you more time to enjoy a suite night upgrade on us.”

So, I wondered if the status I had in 2019 – theoretically sort of Platinum but “due to expire” in 2016 – had also been extended until the end of 2021. I logged into my account and saw that (remarkably) it had:

It would appear that I am now a ‘genuine’ Platinum member again, with a validity date that is actually in the future.

Bottom line

I strongly doubt that I am only person this has happened to, so it might be worth a quick look at your Accor account – even if you haven’t logged in for years!

Have you ever benefited from a hiccup in Accor’s IT / the space-time continuum?