I’ve been a member of Accor Live Limitless (ALL) since 2021. Throughout these years, I’ve had Silver status, Gold Status and Platinum Status in ALL (Accor Live Limitless) program.
After staying in plenty of Accor hotels, I figured now is the best time for me to write a thorough and honest review of Accor Live Limitless (ALL) Loyalty Program.
This review is based on my own experience of staying mostly in Southeast Asia countries. It is highly subjective and your experience may vary from mine.
What is Accor?
Accor is a French hotel group that owns/manages/franchises over 5,000 vacation properties across over 110 countries. Some of its brands are Raffles, Fairmont, Swissotel, Sofitel, Pullman, Novotel, Mercure, and ibis.
What is ALL (Accor Live Limitless)?
ALL (Accor Live Limitless) is Accor’s loyalty program that lets members earn points for staying or spending at Accor properties. Registration for ALL is free.
There are 5 tiers in ALL program: Classic, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond.
When you stay and spend at Accor Properties, you’ll get to accumulate status points and status nights that’ll allow you to climb the tiers. On top of these, you’ll also get rewards points which can be used to offset payment for your stay.
What is ALL Membership Cost?
It is FREE to register as an Accor Live Limitless (ALL) member. Upon registration, you will automatically start as a Classic member.
If you are a frequent traveler and you like to stay in Accor properties, you can consider signing up for paid memberships. There are 3 types of paid memberships:
- ALL Plus ibis (EUR 99 per year). Comes with 10 Status Nights and various discounts.
- ALL Plus Voyageur (EUR 199 per year). Comes with 20 Status Nights and various discounts.
- Accor Plus Membership (From SGD 308 – 538 per year). Comes with 20 Status Nights, free stay and various discounts.
What are the Benefits of the Elite Status?
As a Classic Member, you get:
- Members’ rate
- Online check-in, fast check-out
- Free internet access worldwide
- Early access to private sales
- Health club & sports facilities
- Dedicated customer care
- Access to partners’ services and benefits
As a Silver Member, you get:
- All benefits of Classic Member
- Priority welcome
- Welcome drink
- Late checkout (subject to availability)
As a Gold Member, you get:
- All benefits of Silver Member
- Early check-in/late check-out (subject to availability)
- Guaranteed room availability: 3 days before arrival
- Upgrade to the next room category (subject to availability)
- Welcome amenity
As a Platinum Member, you get:
- All benefits of Gold Member
- Suite Night Upgrade
- Access to Executive Lounge
- Complimentary breakfast (in Asia Pacific)
As a Diamond Member, you get:
- All benefits of Platinum Member
- Complimentary breakfast (On weekends worldwide & every day in Asia Pacific only)
- Dining & Spa Rewards
- Gift the person of your choice with a Gold Status
Are the Benefits Actually Worth Chasing?
Benefits that are not that worth chasing:
- Welcome drinks. You get 2 free welcome drinks for each stay, regardless of how many nights you stay. Some hotels give you just a simple cup of coffee or juice, others go the extra miles of giving you cocktails. Welcome drinks are nice to have, but it’s not the reason I chase the status.
- Early check-in/late check-out. Most hotels are able to offer this if the hotel is not fully booked. This is nice-to-have if I arrive early or depart late evening, but I can live without it.
Benefits that are REALLY worth chasing:
- Upgrade to the next room category. This is only worth it if you stay in a good hotel. If you stay in ibis, an upgraded room doesn’t differ much from the basic room. I’ve been upgraded in a Handwritten property, from Superior Room to a Deluxe with balcony and it was so worth it!
- Complimentary breakfast. Similar to the previous point, this isn’t that worth it in ibis, but it’s so worth it in upper-end properties.
- Access to Executive Lounge. This is the main reason why I chase Platinum status. A free access to executive lounge for 2pax is worth at least S$100 in my opinion.
How to Earn Elite Status?
Here’s how many status nights and status points you need to reach each Elite Status.
| Elite Status | Status Nights/Status Points Required |
|---|---|
| Silver | 10 Status Nights or 2,000 Status Points |
| Gold | 30 Status Nights or 7,000 Status Points |
| Platinum | 60 Status Nights or 14,000 Status Points |
| Diamond | 26,000 Status Points |
What’s the Validity of the Elite Status?
Your Elite Status is valid until 31 December of the next year after it was earned.
For example: if you reach Gold Status requirement in February 2024, you will immediately become a Gold member for the rest of 2024, and you’ll keep the Gold status until the end of 2025.
However, Accor Plus Members have a different way of defining the validity of Elite Status. If you have Accor Plus Membership, your status tier will be assessed based on two periods (current calendar year to date, or the previous calendar year). The highest number of Eligible Nights spent or Status points earned during one of these two periods, will determine your new Status. You will then keep that status until your next membership year. (Source)
How Does Status Points and Status Nights Work?
Status Points and Status Nights are the metrics used to determine your Elite Status. In order to reach Elite Status, you need to fulfil EITHER the required Status Nights OR the required Status Points.
If you’re budget-conscious travelers, it’s probably easier for you to hit the required status nights. Meanwhile, if you’re high-end travelers, you’ll probably reach Elite status easier by hitting the required status points.
Earning Status Nights: You will earn 1 Status Night for each night of stay in Accor properties, except at these excluded hotels.
Earning Status Points: You will earn Status Points based on the amount you spend to book your room at Accor properties.
Here’s a table showing how many status points you’ll earn for every €10 spent in various Accor brands.
| Property Brands | Status points for every €10 spent |
|---|---|
| Adagio Access, Jo&Joe and Greet | 5 |
| Mantra, Peppers, Breakfree, Art Series, Adagio Original and Long-Stay Brands** | 10 |
| Ibis, Ibis Styles and Mama Shelter | 12.5 |
| All participating Accor Brands not specified above | 25 |
(**) Orient Express Serviced Residences, Fairmont Serviced Residences, SO/ Serviced Residences, Sofitel Serviced Residences, MGallery Living, Mondrian Living, Pullman Living, Swissôtel Living, Hyde Living, Mövenpick Living, Novotel Living, Mercure Living.
Validity & Expiry: Both Status Nights and Status Points expire on the 31st December of each year and reset on the 1st January of each calendar year.
The amount of Status Nights and Status Points you earn in a year will determine your elite status until the end of the next year.
How Does Reward Points Work?
Reward Points are loyalty points that you earn from spending at Accor properties or at Accor’s partners, and can be redeemed to offset your future purchase.
How to earn Accor Reward Points:
- By spending at participating Accor properties, such as hotel stay, breakfast, dining at hotel’s restaurants
- By spending at participating Accor’s partners
- By transferring points from other loyalty programs to Accor
How to Redeem Accor Reward Points:
- For every 2,000 Reward Points, you can redeem €40 to offset your spending at Accor’s properties or at Accor’s partners
- You can redeem Reward Points to offset your spending for activities/events that are listed on Accor’s redemption page (Eg: Louvre Museum admission ticket)
- You can transfer Accor Reward points to other loyalty programs
Value of Reward Points: Assuming you’re redeeming your Reward Points for hotel stay at Accor properties, the value of 1 Reward Point is 2 Euro cents (€40/2000 = €0.02).
However, if you redeem it for other activities (like Louvre Museum), 2,000 Reward Points is worth €20, hence the value of 1 Reward Point is only 1 Euro cents.
Validity of Reward Points: Accor Reward Points are valid for 1 year, and will be extended by another year each time you make a transaction and earn new Reward Points.
What I Like About Accor Live Limitless
Plenty of property choices. I like that there are so many Accor properties in Southeast Asia and since I travel mostly to Southeast Asia, I always have plenty of hotel options.
Accor has properties for every budget. If I’m on a tight-budget trip, I can just book an ibis or ibis Styles. If I’m going to celebrate a special occasion, I can go for Fairmont, Sofitel or Swissotel.
Easy to execute mattress run. Let’s be honest, what matters during a mattress run is price and proximity. Since Accor has plenty of affordable hotels near where I live, mattress run was an easy endeavor.
What I DON’T Like About Accor Live Limitless
Points crediting often comes late (or never come if not being chased). Officially, the points should be credited within 8 days after your stay/spend. But, in reality, they often come late. I had to chase the hotel for the points so that I could qualify for Elite Status before the end of the year.
I personally think that manual points crediting by hotel is such an inefficient way to run a loyalty program. I hope they can automate this process, so that we, the loyal customers, don’t have to chase hotels for the points.
Not all properties recognize and/or respect Elite Status. I’ve stayed in hotels that don’t upgrade my room even though my Status entitles me to one and the hotel is not fully booked.
Some properties sell inventory at cheaper price elsewhere. You would think as ALL member or Accor Plus member, you’ll get the best available price, right? Nope!
When we checked in at this hotel, we found out during check-in that the walk-in rate is cheaper than booking directly from Accor’s platform. By that time, it was too late to cancel our online booking, so we just went ahead with Accor’s platform rate.
Some properties are not exactly hospitable. I’ve stayed in hotels where I specifically mentioned that I’m celebrating a birthday on this stay, only for the hotel to turn a blind eye on it.
Don’t even get me started on the hotel that asked me to pay for lounge access even though I booked a Suite Room!
Should You Get Accor Live Limitless (ALL)?
Since ALL membership registration is free, I definitely think you should at least be a Classic Member in order to enjoy member’s rate and private sales. Whether you want to climb the status tiers, it depends on whether you like to stay in Accor properties or not, and how often you travel in a year.
For me, I often stay in a mix of budget hotels and medium-to-high-end hotels during my travel. Because ibis is pretty affordable in Southeast Asia, I often stay in ibis; it’s good for my wallet and I get to accumulate status nights at the same time.
If you’re budget conscious like me, but willing to splurge once in a while, it’s definitely worth climbing the ALL status tiers. And the best tier to achieve is definitely Platinum.
Platinum tier gets you free breakfast in all Asia Pacific properties (which is extremely useful). It also gets you lounge access when you stay in hotels that have lounge, even if you book a basic room.
If you’ve decided you want to climb the tiers, then the next question is: should you get a paid Accor membership to accelerate the climb? To me, it’s an absolute YES.
I get Accor Plus Membership Explorer (SGD 418 per year), which comes with 1 Free Night stay. The cost of the free night stay almost covers the cost of the membership (if you choose the right hotel), and so the free 20 status nights and dining discounts are added bonuses to me. I will be writing a review of Accor Plus in the future, so stay tuned!
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