Accor ALL: Pros and Cons

I love staying at Accor, but I am not blind to its flaws.

It started with an advertisement. I fell for the promise of a free welcome drink, and I still enjoy it at every status level I have held. You get it from the moment you sign up, and it is a nice way to arrive. Since then I have stayed in more than 100 Accor hotels. Only a part of them is documented on this blog, so this is my balance after far more nights than you can read about here.

What Accor does well

The brand portfolio. There is always something that fits. I travel alone on business, alone on holiday, as a couple and in a group, and I find the right brand every time, from ibis to Pullman.

The coverage in Asia, Europe and South America. In these regions Accor is very well set up. Wherever I go, I look for an Accor hotel first, and in most places I find one.

The upgrades. This is one of the reasons I am a member. As a Gold member I get an upgrade to the next room category quite quickly (I can’t say whether that already works at Silver). That is often a nicer room: more modern, cosier, bigger. So I can book the cheapest room online and still get one category higher, sometimes even two. That is very pleasant, and I really like it.

The welcome drink. A small gesture that starts a stay well, at least in principle (see below).

What Accor should fix

1. Status is not lived in the hotels. The posters and displays are everywhere, and hotel operators seem to be required to put them up. But it is rarely lived. I don’t feel like a welcome status guest, the way I do with airlines. With Star Alliance Gold I can use the dedicated check-in at the airport and skip the queue. In a hotel, a “special check-in” is sometimes hinted at. If I tried to skip the line with my Accor status, they would laugh at me. They are simply not prepared for it.

You may say that status doesn’t matter to you. But for me it is a deal. I commit to Accor. I say: I want to be your regular guest, I am your guest all over the world, and wherever I go, I look for an Accor hotel first. In return I expect one thing: a “Hello Janko, good to see you again, we are happy to welcome you back”. Whether I have stayed in this exact hotel before or not.

Accor does not deliver this well. I understand why. Most hotels are run on their own, by franchise partners or under contract, each one is a separate business, and the guest data is often not there. But this is the customer experience of the program, and Accor should put much more effort into it.

Checked October 2026: no change yet.

2. The welcome drink makes me feel like a second-class bar guest. Redeeming the welcome drink is the first test of the program. When I ask for it at the bar, I often feel that I am treated as a second-class guest, just because I use something that is part of the deal. That is not always the case, but it happens often. The drink is not presented as a gift from the host, and I don’t get the feeling that the hotel is happy to offer it. A welcome drink should be a feature the hotel is proud of. Accor does not celebrate it enough in its hotels, and that is annoying.

Since December 2025 the welcome drink is a digital voucher in the ALL Accor app. That only works if the staff at the bar know it and accept it with a smile.

Checked October 2026: no change yet.

3. Almost no presence in the USA. The coverage in the USA is really poor. If you travel there often, Accor is hard to use as your main program.

Checked October 2026: no change yet.

4. The digital guest journey is poor. The digital experience is where Accor is really weak. It starts with the website, and it continues through the emails before and after a stay.

The translations on the website. I normally use the German or the English website, and the buttons, the wording and the texts read like a bad translation from French. It has got a bit better, but it is still far from good. For a group with hotels all over the world, that is not what I expect.

The journey around a stay. I mean the whole customer experience, before and after a stay: between booking and arrival, and after check-out. It can be much better, and it should fit me as a person, my status and what I plan to do with Accor.

The post-stay emails show it. How much effort a hotel puts into asking how I liked the stay varies a lot. Some care, others hardly do. And what I really don’t understand: I check in as a Platinum member, and afterwards I get an email telling me how great it would have been to collect ALL points, because then I could get more upgrades and a better experience in the future. I am Platinum. I checked in as Platinum. You should know that. You don’t have to explain to me why it would be nice to be a loyalty member. These are wasted emails and wasted attention, and they make me less happy with the program, not more.

How it could be done: if I get a thank-you mail after a stay and I have already booked the same hotel again, say: “We are looking forward to seeing you again. Great that you come back to our house regularly.” Or: “You stayed in Hotel A today, and your next stay is in Hotel B. Say hello from us, it is a great hotel too.” This kind of connection between my stays never comes across. Everything is treated as a single, separate event.

Checked October 2026: no change yet.

5. Free breakfast comes late, and rarely. Breakfast is where Accor is weakest compared with Hilton Honors. Here is how it works at Accor:

• Gold: no free breakfast.
• Platinum: free breakfast every day in hotels in Asia-Pacific. Everywhere else it depends on the hotel: some offer lounge access with breakfast, some offer nothing at all. The Sofitel New York is one example of a hotel with neither.
• Diamond: free breakfast on weekends, worldwide, in all participating hotels.

So in practice, I have received a free breakfast only very rarely, even as a Platinum member. Outside Asia it is rare unless the hotel has a lounge.

At Hilton, you get free breakfast from Gold status on. Friends of mine with Gold or Diamond status enjoy it. At Accor, I have to stay 60 nights or collect 14,000 Status points to reach Platinum, and even then breakfast is not guaranteed.

Maybe the difference is cultural. In many American hotels, what is called breakfast is, from my experience, not much more than a pack of biscuits and a cup of rather strong filter coffee from a pump pot. A French company thinks of breakfast as something more generous: a real buffet, fresh food, a proper start into the day. So it is easier for Hilton to hand it out for free, and I can understand why Accor doesn’t. I still wish for more: it should be part of the deal much earlier. For me, a free breakfast would be a real advantage, or at least a discounted one, if free is too much.

Checked October 2026: no change yet.

6. No status through the credit card. At Hilton, a credit card can get you a high status. A friend of mine has a German Hilton credit card. It gives him Gold status straight away, and with just a few stays he can work his way up to Diamond.

Accor is far away from that. At Accor, status comes through stays, or you pay for it with the ALL Accor+ membership. I don’t know any Accor card that gives anything like Hilton’s quick road to Diamond.

Checked October 2026: no change yet.

7. (More points to follow.) There is more room for improvement, and I will add it here. I will also check whether Accor makes these improvements, I will check on that regularly, and I will report back here.

My wish to Accor

You have the portfolio, the reach and a program that many guests would happily join. What is missing is the feeling in the hotel: recognise your regulars, and mean it.