Accor Gold Status: What Are the Benefits? How to Get It?
With 40 brands and 5,200 hotels across 110 countries, Accor is a major player in the hospitality world. It’s the largest hotel group in Europe and the sixth-largest worldwide.
While we often stay in Airbnb accommodations, we do treat ourselves to a night or two in upscale hotels. Especially now that we convert our American Express miles into Accor points, which allows us to get free nights. We particularly love MGallery hotels, which all have a unique charm—the one in Sapa, Vietnam, really impressed us!
If you’re staying in Accor hotels, you might as well aim for the highest possible status to enjoy some perks.
While Platinum and Diamond statuses are out of reach unless you stay very frequently or spend a lot, Gold status is fairly easy to achieve.
The standard path to Gold status is staying 30 nights at Accor hotels or spending €2,800 (in a year). There are two ways to get the Gold card at a lower cost.
The Shareholders’ Club
I’ve already talked about in this article the benefits that shareholder clubs can offer.
You can join Accor’s shareholders’ club (for free) as long as you hold one Accor share (worth €29.16 at the time of writing).
By being a shareholder club member, you get a free Gold card for a year. Previously, you’d get a Platinum card, but unfortunately, those days are gone.
If you’re a couple, you can both enjoy the Gold card for two years (one joins the shareholders’ club in year X, the other in year X+1) for free. Sure, the share price could drop (but you’re risking at most €29), but it could also go up, and you’ll even receive dividends!
The Gold card is valid until December 31st of the year you join, so it’s best to sign up early in the year.
At the end of the year, cancel your shareholders’ club membership. You’ll have to wait 5 years before you can get the free card again.
The Ibis Business Card
Even if staying at an Ibis hotel doesn’t exactly thrill you, the Ibis Business card can still be worth considering.
Aside from perks on your Ibis stays, the Business card grants you Gold status with Accor.
This Ibis Business card costs €90 for a year or €159 for two years.
The All Accor Payment Card
Accor offers a payment card. I mentioned here.
Among other benefits, this card lets you earn “status nights” (which count toward the number of nights needed for status tiers). There are three different cards that give you 10, 20, or 30 status nights respectively, priced at €54, €162, and €408 per year.
Since you need 30 status nights for Gold status, the All Accor payment card can be a way to top up any missing nights.
Gold Status Benefits
Now that we know how to get Gold status, let’s look at what perks you can expect.
Priority check-in
Some Accor hotels have a dedicated welcome area for Accor loyalty club members (All Accor) from Silver status upward.
It’s not much, but it’s always nice. For example, at the Sofitel in Saigon, we got to settle into a comfy armchair in the priority area while other guests had to queue for check-in.
Welcome drink
At check-in, you’ll get a voucher per person for a welcome drink at the hotel bar.
It’s sometimes forgotten, so don’t hesitate to ask for it if that’s the case.
Personalized attention
This benefit varies quite a bit. It could be a pastry waiting for you in your room when you arrive.
Early/Late Checkout
You’ll be granted early or late checkout if availability allows. It’s great for aligning your arrival or departure times with your transport.
Upgrade
This is the most hit-or-miss benefit since it depends on availability. With Gold status, you’re theoretically entitled to an upgrade to the next room category. If there’s no availability, you’ll be placed in the best room of your original category.
We haven’t had much luck with upgrades so far, but a friend (also a Gold member) has had much more success.
Bonus Points
As an Accor loyalty club member, you earn points on every expense.
2,000 Accor points are worth €40, which you can use to book nights (so 1 Accor point = €0.02).
With Classic status, you earn 250 points for every €100 spent, which is a 5% return.
With Gold status, you earn 370 points for every €100 spent. That’s a return of 7.4%.
And with Platinum status, you earn 440 points for every €100 spent. That’s a return of 8.8%.
In reality, it will be a little less than that since the calculation is based on pre-tax spending.
If you combine the Accor points earned with Gold status (7%), cashback from specialized sites like iGraal or Poulpeo (4-5%), and cashback from payment cards like Binance or Crypto.com (2-3%), you can get up to 15% cashback on every stay. That’s starting to get interesting!