The award traveler’s guide to Accor Live Limitless --[Reported by Umva mag]

Accor doesn’t get a ton of press among points and miles enthusiasts, probably because it has just over 100 properties in North America, making it an impractical investment for most of us living on this side of the pond.

However, the chain is surprisingly prominent in the rest of the world, with more than 5,100 properties across 100-plus countries. Its greatest concentration of properties is in Europe and Asia — and it has hotels that top your bucket list, whether you know it or not. Now that Capital One has added Accor as a transfer partner, it’s much easier for many of us to earn and redeem Accor points.

Let’s examine the inner workings of Accor’s loyalty program, Accor Live Limitless.

Related: Best hotel rewards programs in the world: Which one is right for you?

What is Accor Live Limitless?

You may have whizzed past Accor hotels (or even stayed in one) without realizing it. Accor has 55 brands, ranging from budget to high-end experiences. A few Accor properties that TPG has reviewed include the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo Panama City and Raffles Boston.

If you stay in Accor hotels with any frequency, you’re throwing money away if you’re not a member of its loyalty program. Per TPG’s October 2024 valuations, Accor Live Limitless points are worth 2 cents each — more than any other hotel currency. Besides earning points that you can redeem for free nights, you’ll also earn status points and nights toward ALL’s four elite status tiers. Here’s an overview of each level.

Accor elite status

Members who join Accor Live Limitless get Classic status, which gives them access to discounted member rates, exclusive offers, free Wi-Fi, online check-in and fast checkout. The best part, as with all base levels, is that you’ll earn points on your Accor stays (more on that later).

Beyond Classic, ALL has four elite tiers of status. You can earn status by completing a certain number of nights or spending a certain amount at hotels. The required spending is in euros, so keep that in mind if you’re hoping to earn ALL status that way.

Silver (800 euros spent or 10 nights)

Members earn Silver elite status after accruing 2,000 status points (i.e., spending 800 euros, or about $886) or staying at least 10 nights. Once you get to this level, you’ll enjoy the following perks:

• Priority check-in
• Late checkout
• A welcome drink

Gold  (2,800 euros spent or 30 nights)

You’ll reach Gold status when you earn 7,000 status points (2,800 euros, or about $3,100 in spending) or stay at least 30 nights. You’ll get all the benefits of Silver status, plus the following:

• A guaranteed room when booking up to three days before check-in
• Early check-in or late checkout
• A space-available upgrade to the next room category

Platinum (5,600 euros spent or 60 nights)

Platinum status requires 14,000 status points (5,600 euros, or about $6,199 in hotel spending) or 60 nights. When you reach this level, you will automatically receive two Suite Night Upgrades, each of which can be applied toward one night. You can earn additional Suite Night Upgrades for every 4,000 status points earned, up to 12 times per year. Here are the extra benefits Platinum members receive:

• A guaranteed room when booking up to two days before check-in
• Executive Lounge access
• Premium Wi-Fi

Diamond (10,400 euros spent)

Accor’s top-tier Diamond status is unique in that you must earn 26,000 status points, which requires spending 10,400 euros (about $11,512) to reach it. There is no option to earn it via stays. At this level, you’ll get the following additional benefits:

• Complimentary breakfast on weekends
• Four 25-euro (about $28) Dining & Spa Rewards
• The ability to gift Gold status to someone else

Considering how difficult it is to earn Diamond status, we expected more substantial benefits from this level. Breakfast is only free on weekends, which is not impressive when compared to a program like Hilton Honors, which offers mid-tier Gold elites free breakfast (continental or via a credit) every day of the week.

When does elite status expire?

When you reach the number of nights or euros needed to achieve a new status tier, you’ll keep that status for the remainder of the year in which you earned it and the entirety of the following year.

Related: Complete guide to current hotel elite status match and challenge offers

How to earn Accor points

Given Accor’s sizable hotel portfolio with so many great properties, having Accor points can come in handy. Here are all the ways you can earn Accor Live Limitless points.

Hotel stays

Accor awards nonelite members 5 to 25 points per 10 euros (about $11) spent on eligible hotel spending, depending on the brand. Elite members earn a bonus, ranging from 24% for Silver members to 100% for Diamond members, who can earn up to 50 points per 10 euros spent.

If this sounds confusing, don’t worry. Accor has a neat tool to calculate the points you’ll earn on your next hotel stay according to elite status tier, hotel brand and room cost that you can find on the bottom of this page.

You’ll earn points for your room rate (before taxes) and most other things you pay for at the hotel, including spa treatments, minibar items, TV purchases and food. Check out the full list of Accor restaurants here.

Book a day room

Accor gives you the option to book a day room if you simply need a place to rest during the day. This can be handy, especially between long flights. When you book a room for the day, you can use all hotel amenities, such as the bar, the sauna, the pool and the gym, and you’ll earn points on your stay.

In experimenting with this, we found day rooms sometimes are more expensive than simply paying for a night at the hotel, so this option may not always be worth it.

Related: Annoyance with a side of omelet: Was my day-use hotel room worth the hassle?

Shop online

Like many loyalty programs, Accor Live Limitless offers a shopping portal. You can use Collections by ALL to earn Accor points on online purchases you’d make anyway. The site has a wide variety of popular stores, such as Apple, Adidas, Etsy and Temu.

Related: Your guide to maximizing shopping portals for your online purchases

Transfer points from other programs

Both Capital One and Citi count Accor Live Limitless among their transfer partners. You can turn your Capital One miles and Citi ThankYou Rewards points into Accor points at a 2:1 ratio, meaning 2,000 miles or points will become 1,000 Accor points.

It’s hardly worth noting, but you can indirectly transfer points to Accor from the other major flexible points programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Wells Fargo Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy. All these programs transfer to Flying Blue, the loyalty program of KLM and Air France, at a 1:1 ratio. From there, you can transfer Flying Blue miles to Accor at a 4:1 ratio (more on that in a moment). While turning 4 transferable points into 1 Accor point isn’t the best value, it’s still good to know your options.

Related: Why transferable points are worth more than other rewards

Airline partners

Accor Live Limitless partners with 13 airline loyalty programs, allowing you to convert the miles you earn when you fly into Accor points. Based on these conversion rates, we don’t recommend converting your miles to Accor points unless you have “orphan miles” that you want to unload.

With some of these partners, Accor also allows you to convert Accor points into airline miles, earn miles on hotels stays or earn Accor points on flights. See Accor’s partner page for details.

Rental car partners

Accor Live Limitless partners with a few rental car agencies, allowing you to earn Accor points on your next rental and giving you access to other savings and perks.

This can translate into decent savings. For example, since Accor points are worth 2 cents each (per TPG’s October 2024 valuations) and you’ll earn 3 points per 1 euro ($1.11 at the time of writing) spent at Hertz, you’ll effectively receive 5.4% back for your rental car (not to mention the points you’ll earn by paying for your rental with one of the top travel rewards credit cards).

Travel and shopping partners

If you’d rather book a vacation rental than a hotel room, you can earn 1 Accor point per euro spent at Onefinestay, essentially a luxury version of Airbnb that’s only available at the world’s top destinations. You’ll find its jaw-dropping homes and villas in the U.S., Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America.

With Club Eurostar, the loyalty program of the Eurostar train network, you have the option to convert the rewards you earn at a rate of 500 Club Eurostar points to 1,000 Accor points.

ALL has an assortment of other travel partners with which you can earn Accor points, from premium tour companies to parking reservation sites to Priority Pass lounges. You can also earn bonus Accor points when you book activities and events by Fever, convert Rakuten rewards into Accor points and more. Check out ALL’s partner page for a full list.

Related: 10 credit cards that offer Priority Pass airport lounge access

Event planning

You’ll earn 1 Accor point and 1 status point per 2 euros (about $2) spent when you plan an event at one of 30 Accor brands. Eligible events include business meetings, conferences and receptions.

Other ways to earn Accor points

There are several more options for earning Accor points, but they’re extremely obscure or irrelevant for most of us. For example, you can:

• Convert bank rewards if you have an account at various non-U.S. banks.
• Dine at participating restaurants and bars in the Asia-Pacific region.
• Earn points by visiting open-air shopping centers primarily located in China and Europe.
• Take surveys to earn points at an abysmal rate.

None are enticing, nor are they convenient.

When do Accor points expire?

Accor points expire after 365 days of inactivity. According to the program terms and conditions, you’ll need to earn points from hotel stays to reset the clock — earning through one of the many other options outlined above won’t cut it. As a result, if you only find yourself at Accor’s doorstep every couple of years, you may struggle to find value for your points.

How to redeem Accor points

Now for the fun part! Accor has thousands of hotels in prime locations around the world, but that isn’t your only redemption option. Here’s a look at all the ways you can redeem your Accor points.

Hotels

Accor does not have an award chart with tiers, so there are no “sweet spots” to speak of. Instead, the points you earn are worth a flat rate for hotel stays, at about 2 cents each.

This doesn’t mean collecting Accor points is a bad move — there are great deals to unearth. Just know that you’ll never receive outsize value for your points unless ALL introduces a new redemption or promotion. It also means that Accor points can be simpler and easier to redeem and, thus, more practical for many travelers since you don’t have to worry about maximizing each point.

You don’t need sufficient Accor points to cover your entire hotel bill, but you must have at least 1,000 to redeem and you can redeem them in multiples of 2,000, which will give you 40 euros (about $44) off your stay. For example, if you have 4,540 points, you can choose to redeem 1,000, 2,000, or 4,000 points.

To use points toward a hotel stay, you can offset the cost of your bill by:

• Logging into your ALL account and booking with points through this page
• Instructing reception to use your points for your stay at checkout
• Calling Accor and telling a Customer Care Advisor that you’d like to book with points

If you cancel your room, your points will be refunded.

Note that not all Accor hotels participate in the Accor loyalty program. You can see a list of excluded properties here.

Related: This new ‘Dis-loyalty’ program can save you money on stays, food and coffee at lifestyle hotels

Airline miles

ALL allows you to transfer your Accor points to miles at 31 airline partners, with transfer ratios varying from decent to dismal. Notable options include:

• Air France and KLM: 2,000 Accor points equals 2,000 Flying Blue miles
• Iberia: 3,000 Accor points equals 3,000 Iberia Avios
• Qantas: 2,000 Accor points equals 2,000 Qantas points
• Virgin Australia: 4,000 Accor points equals 4,000 Velocity points

There is potential to receive good value from a few other airlines on the list, but these four stand out. For example, you could transfer Accor points to Flying Blue at a 1:1 ratio, then book an economy flight to Europe for only 30,000 Flying Blue miles round-trip. Since this flight could easily cost $1,000-plus if paid with cash, you’d get a value of well over 3 cents per Accor point.

Related: 7 of the best airline award chart sweet spots

Travel and shopping partners

You can redeem your Accor points with many of the same partners that let you earn them. For instance, you can use points toward a Onefinestay voucher to apply to your home or villa booking, but you’ll only receive about 1.5 cents per point (depending on the value of the euro relative to the dollar). That’s notably worse than redeeming your points for Accor hotel stays.

You can also use your points to rent a car with Hertz or book activities through Fever and convert your points into Club Eurostar points. Check out the “Use my points” tab on Accor’s partner page for more information on each redemption option.

You can redeem Accor points for products via ALL’s shopping partners, namely by converting your Accor points to rewards at various shopping programs. The most well known of these is TPG-favorite Rakuten, where you can turn 2,000 Accor points into 1,600 Rakuten points. Others include Everyday Rewards, Share Rewards and Livelo.

These partner redemptions may not provide the best value for your points, but they could be good options if you don’t frequent Accor hotels and your points are set to expire soon.

Related: Accor just launched a travel subscription program — should you sign up?

Bottom line

While Accor points are worth quite a lot compared to other hotel currencies, they have historically been difficult to earn. Accor doesn’t offer a cobranded credit card, it provides unfavorable transfer rates from many of its partners and earning points through stays is slow, even with its most prestigious elite status. On top of that, Accor is mainly concentrated in Europe, so anyone from the U.S. will have difficulty racking up points for free stays.

However, if you’re a frequent international traveler who can make use of Accor properties often, there’s plenty of value to be had in the ALL program. And now that both Citi and Capital One offer Accor as a transfer partner, it’s easier than ever to redeem your points for free stays at Accor’s portfolio of beautiful properties around the world.

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