In the past, I’ve written guides about how to redeem points with some major hotel loyalty programs, like Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy, and World of Hyatt.
Accor Live Limitless (ALL) is a major hotel program that I don’t write about much, and in this post, I thought it would be interesting to talk about redeeming points with the French hotel group. After all, Accor is an absolutely massive brand (especially outside the United States), with over 5,000 properties spread across a staggering 50+ brands.
Accor is unique among the major hotel loyalty programs, as it’s the only program that’s strictly revenue based. So there’s not much of a trick to maximizing these points, but it’s still worth understanding how the program works.
Redeeming Accor Live Limitless points for hotel stays
The best way to redeem Accor points is for hotel stays, and the math is very simple. Every 1,000 Accor points gets you €20 (~$23.50) toward the cost of an Accor stay. In other words, each point is worth exactly two cents, in euro.
You can redeem points to just partially pay for a hotel stay. While you can redeem just 1,000 points, for everything above that, you need to redeem in increments of 2,000 points (meaning every 2,000 points gets you €40).
There really is a ton of flexibility in terms of when you can redeem. You can redeem your points online when making a hotel booking, by phone, or even on-property. You can also redeem toward room rate, or even toward incidentals, whether it’s a meal or spa treatment.
As you can see, this couldn’t be much more straightforward. On a per-point basis, Accor points are actually extremely valuable, more valuable than any other major hotel points currency, based on my valuations.
The catch is that earnings rates with the program are also lower. For example, below are how many points you earn per €10 spent at various Accor brands. As you can see, at most brands you earn 25x points per €10 spent, the equivalent of 2.5 points per €1, or a return of 5% (since each point gets you two cents toward hotel costs). Elite members do receive points bonuses of 24-100%.
This makes the math on redemptions very easy. Just redeem Accor points as you earn them, because your points aren’t earning any interest, while cash can. There’s no reason to hoard Accor points, but rather just view it as a rebate program.
Now, it’s generally a best practice to redeem Accor points at properties with lower points earning rates. That’s because you don’t earn points for the portion of the stay you’re redeeming for. So you should redeem at properties with the lowest opportunity cost in terms of points earning rates.
Accor also has one of the stricter expiration policies, as points expire after 12 months of inactivity.
The other ways to redeem Accor Live Limitless points
In the interest of being thorough, I should mention there are other ways that you can redeem Accor Live Limitless points. That being said, these will typically not represent a good value, unless you’re certain you absolutely have no plans to stay at an Accor property again.
For example, you can convert Accor points into airline miles with several programs. The absolute best transfer ratio is 1:1, which is with Air France-KLM Flying Blue. Most other partners have a transfer ratio of 2:1. Given that each Accor point is worth around two cents, that’s like “paying” anywhere from two to four cents per airline mile. That’s simply not a good acquisition rate.
You can also redeem your points for everything from rental cars, to charity. However, these redemption options won’t get you anywhere close to two cents of value per point, so it’s not how I’d recommend redeeming them. For example, you can redeem Accor points toward a Hertz rental at the rate of 2,000 points per €20 of rental cost, slashing the value of your points in half.
Perhaps the one other redemption that might sometimes make sense is checking out the Limitless Experiences by ALL platform, where you can redeem points for special experiences and items. In some cases, you can outright buy something for a certain cost, while in other cases, it’s a bidding system.
Should you move transferable points to Accor?
Among transferable points currencies, both Citi ThankYou and Bilt Rewards partner with Accor Live Limitless, allowing you to transfer points:
Since each Accor point is worth exactly 2.0 cents (in euro), that means transferring Citi points to Accor gets you around 1.0 cents (in euro) of value per Citi point (or 1.18 cents in USD), while transferring Bilt points to Accor gets you around 1.33 cents (in euro) of value per Bilt point (or 1.57 cents in USD)
I generally wouldn’t recommend transferring Citi points to Accor without a transfer bonus, since it’s easy to do better than that. Based on the current exchange rate between the USD and EUR, moving points from Bilt definitely isn’t a bad value, and it’s a good way to cash out points with few hurdles, but I also think there are ways to do better than that.
Bottom line
With most hotel loyalty programs, there are opportunities to get outsized value with your points if you put in the effort. In the case of Accor, 1,000 points will consistently get you €20 toward a hotel stay, and that’s the best use of points. There are no aspirational redemptions with the program, but rather it’s one where you want to earn and burn as quickly as possible, since your points won’t get more valuable over time, and there’s no point in saving up.
What’s your take on redeeming Accor Live Limitless points?
