Tag: Accor

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Ibis Styles Kensington (Again)

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Ibis Styles Kensington (Again)

    I stayed at this hotel about ten times last year, and have done so again this year several times. I stopped posting about the hotel given that I had little new to say (not that this usually stops me to be honest…..), but thought I’d do a little update here. Nothing much has really changed at the hotel, although breakfast is no longer included in the room rate. It was just a takeaway bag which was lacking a little in innovation towards the end, and I suspect that quite a lot of the food and drink was just being wasted. It’s possible to pay for this takeaway bag, but I haven’t yet been tempted to do so.

    The free welcome drink offered to me lacks in excitement, they don’t even have Tiger any more, so I selected a bottle of Budweiser. I see this as useful, as I’m trying to lower my average Untappd score (I don’t want to sound like I enjoy everything) and this is a perfect way of doing it.

    My room rate was £22.50 per night and I was staying for two nights, making this really quite excellent value for money. The hotel is just a short walk from Earls Court underground station, so is convenient for central London. There’s also a Greggs around the corner for those who need food and drink, as well as the Bolton pub which is nearby.

    For that price I was entitled to a solo room (since that’s what I booked), but I was upgraded for what I think is now the fourteenth time in a row in this hotel. What they lack in decadent welcome drinks and welcome gifts, they make up for in room upgrades. I even had my own little corridor in the room, as can be seen in the above photo. As an aside, the staff members here are always friendly and helpful, with no change to that on this visit.

    And the rest of the room, which was air conditioned, clean and comfortable. I didn’t have any noise problems from either inside or outside the hotel, so I still like staying here as it feels a safe and reliable environment. It’s a series of houses which have been joined together and turned into a hotel, hence the rather strange shape of the rooms. I think it all adds character to the arrangement though.

    Richard was staying at the same hotel, and was on the floor above. He laughed when he discovered the lift was out of order, as he likes carrying his giant bag up two flights of stairs. And, as an extra treat, there was a football outside of his room. Someone must have known that one of Norfolk’s biggest football fans was staying there. On a more petty level, I was very pleased to note that Richard didn’t have his own corridor in his more expensive room (although he did have larger cardboard cups than I did for his drinks, so he had a win there).

    Anyway, for £22.50 per night, this remains excellent value, and highlights how there remain problems with so few tourists coming to stay in the city. I can’t imagine the prices will be anything like this again in future years, so I will continue staying in London for as long as they are……

  • Accor Hotel at Heathrow – A Bit Shut

    Accor Hotel at Heathrow – A Bit Shut

    I arrived with great excitement to my Accor hotel near Heathrow (I’m not going anywhere from the airport, it was just where I was staying) and had the slightly annoying situation that it was shut. I said to myself that this definitely wasn’t ideal. A staff member on site helpfully told me that I’d come to the right hotel, but that it had been shut for five months. They added that this was the problem with booking with third party sites, and I’d need to contact them to deal with the issue.

    Unfortunately, I hadn’t used a third party site, I’d booked directly with Accor. So I phoned them and was delighted when a real life person answered the Platinum/Diamond support line (I was pleased my call got routed there, it made me feel important….). They were really quite friendly and they apologised several times, realising that the booking was valid for a shut hotel (if there’s such a thing as a valid booking for a shut hotel). The first stage of their resolution was to set up a complaint which they immediately upgraded to Stage 2. I don’t know what that means, but it sounded exciting. The second stage of their resolution was to rebook me in a nearby Novotel hotel as I didn’t fancy sleeping at the airport (I didn’t intend to recreate the film Terminal) and Heathrow never liked that at the best of times, so I imagine it’s impossible now. That worked out (the rebooking, not the sleeping at Heathrow), although they couldn’t get through to the hotel to guarantee the booking, but they booked it internally anyway.

    The resolution team is meant to be getting in touch with me over the next couple of days, although I like the hotel that I’ve been moved to. They did tell me to keep my receipts and get a taxi there, but I couldn’t be going through all that stress so I just walked the thirty minutes to the new hotel. It was a lovely walk near the Bath Road with the sun setting. Not the three night stay that I had expected, but I won’t complain at three nights at the Novotel.

    I would be annoyed, but I like Accor and to be honest, I quite like the drama and excitement….. The two staff members on the phone actually sounded interested in helping, so that was all positive. Although I’ve now got to work out where to get the 222 bus to get to the Piccadilly line….. I could get the Hotel Hoppa bus and charge Accor, but I hate that service and I don’t fancy faffing about sending receipts. Anyway, that’s another adventure I’ve gotten myself into.

  • London – Brent (Borough of) – Wembley – Ibis Wembley (again)

    London – Brent (Borough of) – Wembley – Ibis Wembley (again)

    I was at this hotel a few days ago (well, two days ago) and all was well with the stay. This stay again cost just a few pounds thanks to the Accor offer that they’ve currently got going on, which is most lovely and represented really excellent value for money.

    I commented on this lack of reception area in my last post, and it failed them on this visit. I had to traipse over to the bar to get help after standing here for too long (although I accept by traipse, I mean walk about three metres) and then the barman had to traipse back to the office. I don’t know how this set-up helps them, a traditional reception desk would make things easier. It didn’t take long to get checked-in and, anyway, I’m sounding grumpy and I’m not, I like this hotel.

    The room, which didn’t have the fancy television I had the other day. The room was again on the top floor, just around the corner from my previous room. As a positive, this television didn’t keep turning itself on.

    The view was a little less exciting than before, but still rather lovely.

    This was the free welcome drink, I had the same Goose Island option as before (although I’ve got muddled up on Untappd as I seem to have listed one wrongly), it’s a perfectly good option. I wonder whether they also operate Ibis Heathrow, as they have the identical drinks choices as that hotel. The barman was friendly and engaging, it’s a comfortable bar area they have themselves on the ground floor, although it’s not that large.

    Anyway, it was another comfortable stay, with everything being clean and organised. Keenly priced again at under £40, even without the Accor offers, it seemed quiet and I don’t think that they had that many guests in the hotel.

  • Accor – Super Power Your Reward Points

    Accor – Super Power Your Reward Points

    There’s a generous offer this week from Accor, which isn’t long after the previous ‘stay three times and get up to 6,000 points’ offer, which I did manage to get when I was in Poland. This latest e-mail reads:

    “Book Monday to Thursday for a boost of 500 Reward points. Book Friday to Sunday and pocket 1000 Reward points to craft stories money can’t buy*. Turn on all your senses with exciting experiences and new horizons.

    Fill your days making treasured memories, fill your evenings with giggles and stories shared.

    Play and stay your way.”

    I’m slightly uneasy about this offer as the terms and conditions just say participating hotels only, but there’s no way of finding out what they are. So, I’ve just booked via the link sent in the e-mail to avoid any debate about the matter (although sometimes there is a debate about the matter), but this is a very generous offer if it is being applied to all of the hotels that come up after visiting that link. Apparently the offer can be used up to five times, but we shall see this week, as I’ve booked what should in theory be four cheap nights in London.

  • Accor Hotels in Warsaw

    Accor Hotels in Warsaw

    Since I feel I’ve worked around enough of these to justify their own lists, here we go….. I’ve put them into my own categories of those I really like, those that are OK and those I didn’t like as much. I can’t imagine this will interest anyone but me, but it’ll remind me of which ones to book again. As for my favourite one, it’s Mercure Warszawa Ursus.

     

    I REALLY LIKE THESE ONES  🙂

    Ibis Styles Warszawa Centrum

    Ibis Styles Warszawa City

    Mercure Warszawa Ursus

    Novotel Warszawa Centrum

    Ibis Warszawa Centrum

    Mercure Warszawa Airport

    Ibis Warszawa Reduta

     

    THESE ARE OK  😐

    Ibis Warszawa Stare Miasto (hate the new rooms without desks, otherwise brilliant)

    Ibis Budget Warszawa Centrum (all fine, nothing luxurious – no link here as I stayed before starting the blog)

     

    DON’T LIKE THESE ONES SO MUCH  🙁

    Ibis Styles Warszawa West (felt like an Ibis Budget)

    Ibis Warszawa Ostrobramska (only Accor in Poland I’ve been to where the service wasn’t as welcoming as it perhaps could have been)

     

    Accor also operate these hotels in the city, which I haven’t yet been to. And since I’m quite cheap, I’m not sure that I’ll ever visit a couple of them, but you never know….

    Sofitel Warszawa Victoria

    Raffles Warszawa

    Mercure Warszawa Centrum

    Mercure Warszawa Grand

    Novotel Warszawa Airport

  • 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.

  • 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….

  • Accor Hotels – Platinum Welcome Gift

    Accor Hotels – Platinum Welcome Gift

    As Hilton, IHG and Expedia have obfuscated and delayed my refunds with the current situation, I’ve been genuinely impressed by Accor Hotels and the response from their hotels. And, I’m also pleased that the chain gave me Platinum status, which I would have reached anyway this month, without making the stays. Which is a little difficult at the moment.

    This arrived through the post today, and I like little surprises like this. Like a kid really.

    I nearly did an unboxing video, but that would have perhaps been a little excessive.

    Well, how lovely.

    And these wireless earphones are genuinely very useful as I don’t have any and was thinking of getting some. I’ve got them set up and although I’m not an expert in these matters (or indeed many matters at all) they seem decent quality.

    I can now definitely say that Accor Hotels are my favourite hotel company. I’m so easily bought with gifts…..

  • Accor – Platinum Status

    Accor – Platinum Status

    Wooooo – of no relevance to anyone or anything, but the changes to the Accor Limitless loyalty scheme means that I’ve reached platinum status for the first time. They made those changes due to the Coronavirus restricting people’s opportunity to travel, although I can imagine it’ll be some time before they get the IT to actually reflect the new status.

    There’s not much change from being gold, other than it means access to a free suite night upgrade once per year, but every little helps.

    As a footnote, it transpired it just took one day for their IT to update. Very impressed.