One of my favourite membership programmes to go along with my hotel loyalty programmes is dining programmes. Almost all hotel chains in India offer membership to dining programmes as well, including Accor. Accor operates over 50 hotels in India, under their various brands, ranging from Raffles and Fairmont at the top-end, Novotel for business travel and Ibis at the Economy-end. As one of the largest hotel chains in the world, the group manages thousands of hotels worldwide, from ultra-luxurious to budget-friendly options.

Since the Omicron wave is receding, more and more people are interested in signing up and they missed out the last time. I reached out to Accor to see if they could extend the promotion to those interested. Those who are planning to pick up the membership should do it now. The promotional period ends on March 31, 2022.

The Accor Plus Membership Programme

The Accor Plus programme is a paid membership programme that offers a complimentary hotel room night, a 10% discount on room booking across Accor hotels, and up to 50% off on dining at the hotel’s restaurants. There are two tiers offered for membership in India. The first is Traveller, which offers no complimentary night with the membership. Then there is the Explorer Tier, which offers one complimentary night with the membership.

The Accor Plus programme ties in very well with the Accor Live Limitless (ALL) programme, which is the loyalty programme for all Accor hotels across the globe. ALL Silver status is yours when you sign up for the Accor Plus programme, which gets you priority over other guests. Here is a rundown of all the Accor Plus benefits offered.

Stay Plus Complimentary Night at over 1000 participating properties

Depending on the membership tier you sign up for, you get one-night complimentary hotel stays in participating Accor hotels across the Asia-Pacific. This benefit alone has the potential to recoup the cost of membership. So you can redeem the complimentary stay at one of the higher-end hotels, such as the Fairmont Jaipur.

Sofitel Mumbai was where we used our membership nights. Asia – Pacific is counted as Australia, Cambodia, China, Fiji, French Polynesia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Up to 50% Savings on Dining

This is the most significant day-to-day use case of the Accor Plus membership. The dining discount offers a discount at over 1,400 restaurants in over 20 countries, and you can get a meal at half the price if you are dining in a pair. The concept is that the Accor Plus member dines for free as long as they are accompanied by a minimum of 1 guest. Not just that, various vouchers come along, which can be used on a limited basis. These include:

• 40% Off Group Dining Certificate (up to 10 members)
• INR 500 Discount on Food & Beverages
• Complimentary Buffet Lunch for two people
• Free Dessert Certificate
• Complimentary Birthday Cake

Some of the places I’ve used this benefit often has been the buffet at the Pondicherry Cafe at Sofitel Mumbai, where I’ve redeemed the buffet for two people back in the day, and then the dining certificates as well. Here is the ongoing dining discount.

• 25% off dining: dining alone
• 50% off dining: 1 member and one guest
• 33% off dining: 1 member and two guests
• 25% off dining: 1 member and three guests
• 15% off drinks in Asia

In fact, the last time we coordinated with Accor, we had a reader signed up within 15 minutes and got a 25% discount on the spot as he signed up. He was at the Sofitel Mumbai when he saw the article.

Thanks @LiveFromALounge for the heads up on @All membership. With the 50% redeemed almost 25% of the cost already. Super stuff. 👌🏻

— Baibhav Mishra (@mishra_baibhav) October 31, 2021

Discounts of up to 50% on Room Bookings

Red Hot Rooms provides a platform for Accor Plus members to enjoy up to 50% discounts on Best Available Rates. The discount offers are refreshed every two weeks on a Friday, and the roster of hotels changes. Whether you are looking at some potential last-minute hotel stays or planning for trips several months in advance, the validity period of the Red Hot Rooms seems good enough.

10% off the best available public room rate

If the hotel you are eyeing isn’t in the week’s Red Hot Rooms, you can still obtain some form of a discount on hotel room bookings with 10% off the best available rate when booked on the Accor Hotels website. It is worth noting that this discount is available all year round, so that adds up quite a lot, especially if you foresee yourself making multiple bookings / staying several nights in a year. In fact, you could be in for a surprise, since there are even deeper discounts to be found, once you are signed up.

Automatic Silver Tier in Accor Live Limitless (ALL)

If you are already a member of Accor’s loyalty programme, Accor Live Limitless (ALL), the Accor Plus membership allows you to enjoy greater benefits by giving you instant Silver status. Silver members earn 20% more points with every EUR 10 spent at Accor hotels (31 pts versus 25 pts for Classic members) and receive extra perks such as a welcome drink and late check-out.

Not just that, you will also be able to get a fast track with Accor this year once you sign up and stay one night.

An Extra Buffet for two when you sign up via our link

For a limited time only, Accor Plus is offering an extra buffet lunch for two for LiveFromALounge readers, allowing you to get more benefits for the same price as you would get it outside. The Accor Plus Explorer Membership is being extended for INR 15,930 per annum, and it comes with a free night included. Not just that, if you have a GSTIN registration, you can also receive the ITC for 18% GST if you intend to use this for your business purposes, so that is a saving for another INR 2,430.

You get a bonus buffet meal for two, which in my experience in the past, can be used for saving up to ₹ 6,600 plus taxes:

• Pondicherry Cafe (Sofitel Mumbai): INR 6,000 for two lunch buffets + GST
• Food Exchange (Novotel Delhi Aerocity): INR 6,600 for two lunch buffets + GST
• Food Exchange (Novotel Goa Resort & Spa): INR 3,600 for two lunch buffets + GST

These are just some of the many outlets on offer which serve up a lunch buffet every weekday.

Bottomline

Even if you just look at the benefits coming from the complimentary night and 50% off in dining, it is quite apparent that you can easily recoup the cost of Accor Plus membership. Indirectly, this card is also a way for foodies to enjoy that much-desired fine dining meal at a fraction of the price. Take, for instance, the Pondicherry Cafe at Sofitel Mumbai. The Sunday Brunch is about INR 3800++ per head, so two times a year, and one free night, and you have recovered the cost.

That’s without considering the other perks yet, or even the multiple usages of the dining benefit. Furthermore, with the gradual resumption of international travel, opportunities to use the benefits overseas also start to open. So yes, Accor Plus is worth getting, especially now that they’ve added several compelling restaurants in their portfolio.

(P.S.: This offer is only valid when you use LiveFromALounge.com’s special Accor Plus link to complete the purchase)

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR ACCOR PLUS MEMBERSHIP WITH AN ADDITIONAL BUFFET MEAL FOR 2 INCLUDED (EXCLUSIVE TO LIVEFROMALOUNGE READERS!). VALID TILL MARCH 31, 2022.