Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Accor

  • Accor Hotels – Book Your Half Term Happy Place Campaign

    Accor Hotels – Book Your Half Term Happy Place Campaign

    The latest Accor promotion is something I’m surprised they haven’t tried a little earlier, which is using their hotels as day rooms. Similar to the whole Deskdog theory from Brewdog.

    Their e-mail reads:

    “The hotel office is your home office. But better.

    It turns out if you mix children and your home office, things can become… challenging. And with that lesson learnt, here comes half term.

    So we’ve got the perfect solution: the hotel office.

    It’s all the home comforts of the work-from-home era, but with none of the housework. Or children. Think spotless welcome and check in, clear desk, comfy chair, great coffee, intelligent lighting, room service. The hotel office is your home office. But better.

    PJs, slouchies, suit? Make your own rules. Escape to your new office.”

    It’s a great idea, although after trying numerous searches, but the prices are quite spiky, a day room costs £66 in Cambridge and around £50 to £100 in most London hotels. And just to show there’s a potential problem with the pricing, that same room in Cambridge on the same day in late October to stay overnight costs £61.75. I’m not sure the take-up is going to be huge here….

  • Warsaw – Mercure Warszawa Airport

    Warsaw – Mercure Warszawa Airport

    Not through any deliberate plan of action, but more through what’s cheaply available, I’ve been working around Accor hotels in Warsaw that I haven’t visited before. To be fair, there aren’t many left now that I haven’t been to, other than the most expensive ones such as Raffles Warsaw and that’s a bit decadent for me. Anyway, this hotel is relatively near to the airport and also right next to a tram line, which is very handy. When approaching the hotel, I hoped to be in the circular tower bit on the left, as I thought that might give better views.

    My room, which I was delighted to see was in the circular tower, but it took me a moment to spot where the room numbers were. I’m not entirely sure that’s the best place for them, but there we go….

    The room, which the hotel had very kindly upgraded, which I much appreciated. It felt slightly more old-fashioned than some of the other Mercure, and indeed Accor, hotels, but it was clean, comfortable and entirely met my needs.

    The coffee tray selection and it did take me some time to figure out that coffee machine. There’s a switch on the side which is a bit hidden away and it produces more coffee than can fit in the cup, which wasn’t ideal.

    And a free welcome gift, I’m very easily won over by chocolate, so I decided at this point that I liked the hotel.

    The reception area did lack atmosphere, but this was no doubt down to the current health situation. There didn’t seem to be that many guests and it wasn’t really a place that anyone needed to linger for long. Other than me when I wanted my drink that is.

    My welcome drink, which was the Zywiec Porter that I so very much like. I did wonder whether this would be seen as a restricted drink, but the staff member said the voucher included all beers. She’s right, that’s exactly what the voucher says, but the view on this seems to vary in a couple of hotels. But I won’t start on that again….

    The staff member at the bar was friendly and seemed quite pleased she had something to do when I turned up, as I was the only person there and indeed the only person that I saw in the bar area at all at any time. The receptionist was also personable and engaging, but that was my limit to seeing any staff in the hotel.

    This hotel had gone further than the others in presenting documentation in the room as to what was going on. Everything was laminated and this information was actually quite useful, including some new times for the bar and restaurant. I didn’t have breakfast at this hotel, but there were instructions on what to do and how to order it. There were some strange policies like the hotel announcing they’d removed all the “safety procedures in case of fire” from the rooms, which they actually hadn’t and I’m not sure that the current health crisis demands that they should.

    Anyway, the hotel was spotlessly clean and I very much liked it, I think it’s one of my favourites in the city. There’s some road noise, although nothing major, but, internally, I didn’t hear anything. It was easy to control the temperature in the room, it was comfortable and I got a free chocolate bar and Zywiec Porter, so what more could I need?

  • Warsaw – Ibis Styles Warsaw Centrum

    Warsaw – Ibis Styles Warsaw Centrum

    [as a footnote, albeit at the top, I commented about the lack of beer choice in this hotel in 2020, but they now have five craft beers, so I love the hotel more now]

    Firstly, I wonder whether this is the ideal name for this hotel, as it’s not really in the centre of Warsaw and might cause a little confusion for travellers. There is an Ibis Styles which is much more central, known as Ibis Styles Warsaw City, which is nearer to the Old Town. Anyway, it was central enough for me and was in walking distance of the city centre.

    The last time I came to this site it was to an Ibis Budget (which is still there, just a few metres away) and at that time, this Ibis Styles was just the twinkle in the eye of a hotel designer. I’m actually a little confused as to the design of this hotel, it seems very clunky, with a smallish reception area leading on uncomfortably to the restaurant area, something which I’d assumed was forced by the limitations of the building.

    Until I remembered that it was a new building…. The doors here aren’t the entrance doors, this space would make more sense if they were, as they’ve got the reception desk shoved to one side and this space doesn’t really seem used. Usually, there would be free unlimited coffee here, but the health situation has meant that the machine is out of action. There are though coffee making facilities in the room.

    The corridors are bright.

    The room I was given and it’s fair to say that it’s colourful. I like this playful nature to Ibis Styles, it’s modern and on-trend. I think the theme was canoeing or something similar.

    More of the theme.

    This is bold from the hotel, which is a bathroom which is visible from the bed. The curtain to close this off is also on the bed side, so the person in the shower doesn’t have much control here. I was in the room alone, so it didn’t much matter whatever happened, but it’s an interesting concept.

    There was no welcome gift in the room, or so I thought, but then a staff member came to the door to give me cake. It was much better than this photo suggests and much appreciated. I’m easily pleased.

    I don’t really like the Winestone restaurant theme which Accor used, something I’ve complained about separately. But, Warsaw Mercure Ursus managed to get around the problems with the theme and delivered a perfectly decent experience, so I was tempted again at this hotel. I didn’t get very far, the restaurant is too formal for my liking (even with the introduction of bright lights, weird seating and swinging chairs, which is all too formulaic for me) and they had the exciting option of just lager in terms of the beer offering.

    So with no beer of interest, I abandoned any effort of eating there and I just had a Pepsi as my free welcome drink. Although that was served slightly warm in a glass with no attempt to put ice or lemon in it, so I have to admit to leaving most of that. I gave up at that point and just left…..

    The breakfast was included in the room rate and I must admit to getting a bit muddled up how the whole thing worked. Some things were served by staff, some seemed to be served by staff or help yourself and some other things were just help yourself. So, I likely got something wrong, but I did my normal thing of following other people when unsure. I don’t do that because they might be right, just because the hotel staff are likely to be less annoyed if it seems multiple people are confused. In the above photo, it’s possible to see the ham and cheeses all pre-served on plates.

    And, my little effort, which tasted fine and entirely met my requirements. The hotel wasn’t expensive, so this breakfast was a perfectly decent start to the day. And the staff were doing their best, with everything being clean. Actually, everything in the hotel seemed clean and organised, they were taking the current health issue seriously.

    I liked the lift.

    All told, this was a perfectly well run hotel and the staff were welcoming and helpful. Not that I’m going to get too concerned about the design of the building, but it was a bit cobbled together, although the modern design of the rooms made up for that. It’s quite a brave theme for a hotel to run with, but I think it suits the Ibis Styles theming well. The welcome drink was a waste of time, but I was satisfied enough with the room and the free cake, that made me feel sufficiently welcome. For those who don’t mind a little bit of walking to get to the centre, then this is ideal, although it’s by no means the closest Accor to the centre of Warsaw.

  • Accor – 6,000 Bonus Reward Points

    Accor – 6,000 Bonus Reward Points

    Assuming this health issue doesn’t put paid to my travels entirely for the rest of the year, I will have managed to get to 90 Reward Nights with Accor, which personally I think is pretty good going given everything that has gone on over recent months. Perhaps I’ll stay in more next year.

    Anyway, an offer they seem to do twice a year is their “6,000 Bonus Reward Points” promotion and the e-mail states:

    “Want to boost your balance? Enjoy this exclusive offer, reserved for members of ALL – Accor Live Limitless.

    The more you stay, the more you earn. Discover the world with ALL, and earn up to 6000 Reward points* when you stay for at least two nights.

    • First stay: 500 bonus Reward points
    • Second stay: 2500 bonus Reward points
    • Third stay: 3000 bonus Reward points

    Ready to start earning?
    – Sign up to the offer
    – Book up to three stays before 9 October 2020
    – Stay in one of our participating hotels between 1 September and 15 December 2020.

    Start discovering. Experience wherever life takes you.”

    For anyone who gets a chance, this is a really decent offer. I’m staying in Warsaw for a couple of weeks, so I booked three stays of two days each (well, more than that, but this is what I needed for the offer), meaning that I’ve collected 6,000 points this week (or will have done). That means that I get back €120 to spend on Accor hotels, effectively meaning that three of my nights in Warsaw this week would have cost me nothing….

    So, for anyone in Accor’s Limitless loyalty scheme, this is an offer that it’s worth trying to take advantage of. But, remember to press the link on th e-mail saying that you’re signing up, otherwise I don’t think it gives the points. This is the second one of these rewards that I would have got this year and I’m secretly (well, not very secretly since I’ve posted here) hoping they’ll do one more this year.

  • Accor Hotels – Winestone Brand

    Accor Hotels – Winestone Brand

    I haven’t moaned about anything recently….

    I just stumbled across the marketing materials for the Winestone brand, a mostly Polish restaurant brand (there’s one in Singapore as well and perhaps elsewhere) that Accor have introduced. Indeed, they’re trying to franchise it now, although goodness knows who would take one on.

    The aim was to create a community restaurant that was popular with guests of the hotel, but also appealed to local people. So, to encourage people to try Polish food and drink, they gave it a French theme and shoved some Polish dishes on the menu. Oh, and “it’s served on stone platters – the latest trend in French cuisine”. I spent some time Googling this to see if this was the latest trend, but the only results I found were for Accor hotels in Poland.

    Actually, on this, I’ve never heard of this being the latest trend. I had a look at six Accor hotels in Paris (OK, I have too much time at the moment) of various brands within the group, but none of them appear to have heard of this exciting new concept. They use what I would call a plate. Indeed, they seem to like plates.

    Anyway, I’ve never thought much about Winestone, other than I don’t like it, it’s a dated and boring concept to me which is entirely at odds with many of the on-trend hotels that Accor put them in. I’ve only just realised that Accor have been pouring resources into this concept, with social media at its heart. It’s evident that plan won’t work, the concept is tired and formulaic, so I was moderately pleased to note that my theory about this is visible by Accor delighted with their under 4,000 social media fans they have obtained. 4,000? To be fair, their Facebook page has limped up to 4,400 likes but their engagement on posts is nearly zero. This is not an on-trend brand.

    This is why the brand doesn’t appeal to me personally (but I’m sure it appeals to very many people, I accept my requirements are a bit niche), they’ve got 22 wines, a section on other alcoholic beverages and they’ve shoved beer under soft and hot drinks. Which is why I’m not entirely surprised that the Winestone at ibis Styles Warszawa Centrum manages to have the exciting choice of one generic lager. I had Pepsi instead and that was served without ice or a slice (I don’t much care about that, but for such a formulaic restaurant, they normally get that bit right).

    As an aside, the Winestone at Mercure Ursus Warsaw was well managed with a decent beer and food of a very acceptable quality. But, the concept didn’t appeal to me, I just went because it was attached to the hotel and they gave me 10% off.

    There is a craft beer section on the menu at the Ibis Styles, but they seem to have got bored of that and didn’t have any. And, in any event, craft beer shouldn’t be on a menu, it should be chalked up if done properly to add a bit of theatre. Which is half the problem they’ve now got, their attempt to localise the food and drink offering has failed as nearly all the drinks are imported, when they’ve got tens of craft beer breweries nearby to them. And, yes, this is a complaint at their lack of engagement with beer drinkers, or indeed, those wanting soft drinks that aren’t generic brands.

    Marvellous, how much bloody wine are they trying to flog to customers?

    Just as an aside, the craft beer bar I went to earlier today, PiwPaw, has 6,500 Facebook followers for just its one location. You could, within a year, shut down one of these countless Winestones, get a craft beer bar in and get locals coming through the door and the social media numbers they’ve failed to get after over five years of pushing this brand for all its worth.

    I’ll make one of my predictions. Which are often, but not always, wrong. I would bet that Accor ditch this brand within the next five years, bringing in a new brand that actually does offer something different, something which will bring locals in and get them returning, something which people talk about on-line and follow on social media. It’ll be craft beer related with proper locally made beers and a food menu which is packed with locally sourced food, brought in via the in-house chef and not shipped in centrally. Food which isn’t served on slates, but which is served on plates and they’ll print the producer of the food, whether it’s bread, meat or cheese, on the menu as they’ll be proud of its origins. They’ll also refocus on vegetarian and vegan food with a new energy, all combined to match their on-trend hotels and designs.

  • Warsaw – Mercure Warsaw Ursus

    Warsaw – Mercure Warsaw Ursus

    I’ve worked my way around most Accor hotels in Poland and nearly all of them in Warsaw, but this appears to be a relatively new opening. Although it’s not in the city centre, it’s located opposite Warsaw Ursus Station and so doesn’t take long to get to by public transport.

    The reception area, all clean and modern. The staff member at check-in was personable, welcoming and engaging, all rather lovely first impressions. There were sanitisers conveniently located as well, it felt like a safe environment.

    I was fortunate enough to get a room upgrade, which got me a top floor room with a view over the railway station. There’s no getting away from the reality that this is a beautiful suite, well-appointed, clean and functional. The air conditioning worked and so the temperature was easy to get right, always handy as I like hotel rooms to be on the colder side.

    The room also came with a microwave grill, a fridge, coffee maker, kettle, cutlery, plates and far more things than I probably needed. I was pleased that I could understand the coffee maker, that was a nice treat compared to the sachets I’d expected. Although the hotel had put those in the room as well in case they were needed, along with numerous flavours of tea.

    A welcome gift selection, with white wine, biscuits and fruit. I very much appreciated this.

    The fruit was fresh and wasn’t just a cut-up apple.

    And the wine, how rather lovely.

    I was given this card giving me 10% off in the restaurant, so I felt it impolite not to take advantage. I didn’t have breakfast in the hotel, so this was a chance to see the large restaurant and bar area. Which, like every other part of the hotel, was spotless. Actually, on that note, I suspect that many hotels aren’t really cleaning any more than they normally did, they just pretend to. Not here, I noticed a three-man cleaning team going around ruthlessly sanitising rooms. This hotel is impeccably clean.

    The menu options, a reduced standard menu as well as their burger offer. Reasonably priced and a well-balanced selection of choices. The restaurant wasn’t particularly busy, but there were a few guests and the atmosphere was laid-back and welcoming.

    I’m never quite sure whether Zywiec Porter, one of my favourite drinks, is available or not with the welcome drink offer (we’ve had this debacle before). It should be given the text on the card, but some Accor hotels allow it, some don’t. I just asked what dark beers I could get with the welcome drink and the staff member in the restaurant suggested this, so I didn’t intend to turn it down. And, the staff member was also genuinely personable and welcoming.

    This was beautifully presented with a selection of cheeses and meats. The portion was larger than it looks in the photo, with the quality of the meats and cheeses being high. And I always like some pickled treats, so they were welcome. All of the ingredients seemed fresh and of a decent quality, so this was reasonable value for money for the £7 or so that I paid.

    I don’t like lard and I dread getting it with bread, as is some Polish tradition. But, not here, I got butter.

    So, in conclusion (this sounds like a write up after a science practical), this hotel was the best Accor location that I’ve stayed in. I don’t know who the manager is, but he or she is doing a fantastic job, this hotel was clean, the room beautiful and the staff endlessly friendly. Accor should be delighted at this Mercure hotel, it reflects their brand impeccably. And I’ll probably go back next week and just have to hope it’s just as good, although I’m confident that it will be.

    For anyone wanting to book the hotel, it’s here.

  • Hull – Ibis City Centre (Visit 2)

    Hull – Ibis City Centre (Visit 2)

    This is my second visit to the Ibis in Hull city centre, I’ve already wittered on about my first visit.

    The reception area has been turned into a queueing area similar to that at an amusement park, and although I appreciate the effort, I didn’t see anyone use it and they queued in a different manner. As an aside, the hotel has been responding to my e-mails promptly, but my booking was a postponed one and it has been lost on the Accor system now, so I suspect I’ll be e-mailing them in a few days.

    The stairs, I don’t know why I liked this imagery of the stairs…. Anyway, I digress.

    The room was sufficiently clean and comfortable for my requirements, but some surfaces clearly hadn’t been cleaned. Towels and bedding was all clean though, it was perfectly adequate for me.

    The view from my room, with that building at the back being the rear end of Wetherspoons.

    The coffee and tea selection has been put into a bag. I don’t quite know how this helps to be honest, but it’s pleasing they were still supplying hot drinks.

    The light fitting was slightly broken, which isn’t ideal.

    I no longer get overly excited by these in an Ibis hotel as there’s rarely much of note. The hotel did though offer Boddington’s last year, which I can tolerate, so I was sufficiently pleased by that.

    And, I feel the need to comment negatively again on the range of drinks offered by Ibis, especially now the Boddington’s option has gone. Their selection looks ever more dated compared to other pubs and hotels, with a total defiance against stocking anything which might be considered as craft beer or real ale. This was the best of a bad lot, and I didn’t finish it, it’s what I would consider another generic lager (and Nathan can tut all he likes that it’s a slightly above average generic lager). It is a shame that Accor is trying to rebrand Ibis into something more on-trend, but yet soft products like this remain entirely off-trend.

    All told, for the price, this was a marvellous location and the hotel staff were friendly and engaging. I would have to note here though, there was a murder in the hotel a few years ago in room 231, and given that one of our party (not me) was woken by police in the early morning in case he’d heard anything in a neighbouring room this time, there seem to be some challenging issues for the hotel.

    My final comment about the hotel is that the welcome gift appears to have been scrapped. Disappointing….

  • London – Ibis Styles – Kensington (Second Visit)

    London – Ibis Styles – Kensington (Second Visit)

    I stayed at this hotel a couple of weeks ago and thought that for the money, it was entirely reasonable. Clearly, as I booked to come back, and I have another reservation here next week and two friends have now booked the hotel as well. On my last visit, the hotel was clean, although there were elements that suggested to me that things hadn’t been checked, such as an empty shower gel dispensers.

    This time the hotel kindly upgraded me to a family room, which was room 16, the Mozart Room.

    Interesting theming on the inside of the door, Ibis Styles remains my favourite of the Accor brands.

    And the room was absolutely spotless, and I had no reservations here about the cleanliness. The bathroom was also clean, although perhaps needed a little modernisation. However, this was a lovely room, although the view was a little limited. Not that that’s a complaint, it was much better than the room I’d paid for.

    My view that more Accor hotels should offer a craft beer option is unchanged, but I was willingly given the Bud as a welcome drink. And, on this note, the staff members I encountered were friendly, engaging and really welcoming. Customer service here isn’t a problem, it’s a comfortable environment to be in.

    The breakfast bag, with coffee available in the basement as it was before. Perfectly acceptable under the current circumstances.

    And, overall, this proved to be excellent value for the money I paid. Especially since I got a bonus 500 points from Accor (worth €10) and with other discounts, this managed to take the room price to just over £20 including the breakfast. Quite marvellous.

  • London – Ibis Styles – Kensington

    London – Ibis Styles – Kensington

    This is my first stay in an Accor hotel since March, with an offer rate of just over £25 per night including a basic breakfast. I’m not sure that I’ve seen that rate in a relatively central London hotel operated by Accor, so it seemed appropriate to take advantage of it.

    The bar area, located next to reception. I think I encountered four staff members during my stay and I’d say that they were all friendly, welcoming and engaging, so that was rather lovely. Check-in was swift, informative and polite.

    The sign at reception explaining what’s changed. Cleaning is now only offered on the third day and breakfast has been switched to a bag offered at reception. I had guessed this, but it’s perhaps inadequate that Accor don’t make this clear. Accor’s press office says that every hotel offers the same breakfast (I had wanted to ask numerous hotels what breakfasts they were doing, something they’re communicating badly), but this is a complete nonsense and their PR agency does no-one any good by suggesting it is. They didn’t offer the same breakfast before, so why they should be now, I have no idea. Anyway, I digress.

    The wall decoration in the reception area, a really quite nice and decorative map of the local area.

    There’s a Japanese theme to the hotel. I’m not sure why and it seems a bit of a half-effort, but I do like Ibis Styles themes.

    This is the single and small room, a feature of many hotels in the Kensington area of London (and many other areas of the city as well). In terms of cleanliness, it met my expectations, but I saw no evidence of a deep clean for a few reasons, such as the staff hadn’t realised there was nearly no soap left which I’d suspect would be obvious if everything was spotlessly cleaned and checked. But, expectations have to be a little measured given the room price and how many staff they have to clean the rooms. I thought the cleanliness was fine, just not perfect.

    That floating ‘l’ annoyed me. Not in a big way, but just a little bit.

    The breakfast, which remained the same every day other than on my final day when they mixed it all up by swapping the Coco Pops for a Frosties bar. It’s a nice effort, I thought the hotel did fine on this.

    The drinks voucher was offered, the welcome gift wasn’t. In normal times, that is rare for an Ibis Styles, but my expectations were more measured given everything going on.

    There was a choice of what I would considered to be three bloody awful beers and this was the best of a bad lot. It’s fair to say though that most people aren’t as bloody awkward about beer choices as I am (although I can name one). But, having said that, Ibis Styles is meant to be an on-trend brand, it’s time it moved on from rubbish beer like other hotel chains have done. Well, some hotel chains.

    In normal times, this was the breakfast area.

    The coffee machine, alongside spare coffee sachets and tea bags, was kept in action for those who wanted to venture down to the basement.

    So, all told, I thought that the hotel was doing really well. The staff seemed happy, they were engaging and friendly, the hotel public areas were kept clean and there were no noise disturbances. The air conditioning was better than in some hotels, but it never really chilled the room to the temperature that I like (frozen). There’s nothing essential that I thought that needed changing (a better beer selection would please me, but it’s hardly critical), so the value for money was excellent given what I paid.

  • Travelodge Hotels Being Rebranded into Accor?

    Travelodge Hotels Being Rebranded into Accor?

    Poor Travelodge has been rather battered about over the last few years, primarily as it never really caught up with the resurgence of Premier Inn. Travelodge has been financially damaged, not least by its internal structure, and it forced a large number of its hotel building owners to take a reduction in the rent that they could collect. This didn’t thrill the owners of many of these properties, who joined together to form the Travelodge Owners Action Group.

    This week, this group of landlords has revealed that they are considering switching hotel brands, which they can do thanks to a handily inserted break clause which they have. A spokesperson for the group said:

    “Our mission as an action group has always been to protect the interests of domestic savers and investors, who have been forced to contend with the aggressive tactics of offshore hedge funds willing to expend unparalleled resources to protect their profits, even at the expense of their own stakeholders. We are carrying on the fight against this unjust abuse of insolvency law that has been fuelled by weak government intervention and will do everything possible to mitigate the damage caused by this CVA.

    Following the inclusion of a landlord break option for over 500 Travelodge hotels within the terms of the CVA, we are in talks with a number of leading global hotel brands aimed at providing savers and investors with the long-term stability they require. Advanced discussions are ongoing with major operators such as Accor, Marriott, IHG, Hilton, Jury’s Inn, Magnuson Hotels and others. The purpose of this is to present a range of alternative options to Travelodge landlords, so that they can decide which structure would work best for them.”

    So, there are numerous hotel chains which might take over some of the sites, forcing Travelodge out. The one that I’m most hopeful about is Accor, they could operate a fair number of these sites and probably pay a larger rent than Travelodge are managing to. It’s unlikely to come to anything in the near future, but if Travelodge don’t work out their CVA in the next couple of years, that might mean an increased number of Accor locations for me to pop along to….