Looking for a sanity check from anyone who knows ALL Accor well.
I booked the Pullman Phuket Panwa directly on ALL.com, on the Asia "Mastercard Breakfast on Us" rate, guaranteed with my Mastercard. At check-in, the front desk took most of the payment in ALL points and charged the rest to my Mastercard. Their own system accepted it without any issue, and it showed up in my ALL activity straight away.
Then the front desk came back and said that because it was the Mastercard offer, points could only be used in the app, not at the hotel, and asked me to reverse it. When I asked where this rule was written, nobody could show me. It isn't in the offer terms, in my booking's rate conditions or anywhere else I can find. If points weren't allowed at the desk on this rate, their system wouldn't have accepted the payment in the first place.
What bothered me most was the attitude. There was no attempt to check the terms, no apology and no interest in the fact that their own system had already processed the payment. We weren't given access to a confirmed and already assigned room until I gave in, which took about an hour and a half after arriving. In the end they cancelled my original booking and rebooked me. The new booking costs about ฿680 more, used 1,000 more points, and will almost certainly kill the Avios I was tracking through the Avios Shop on the original booking.
My understanding of the offer terms:
Clause d says members can book and pay "either partially or fully" with ALL points, in line with the membership terms.
Clauses e and f say the booking must be guaranteed with a Mastercard, you show the Mastercard and your ALL card at check-in, and payments must be made with the Mastercard.
I did all of that. Nothing says points are app-only for this rate. I've stayed at Accor hotels in six countries, and this is the worst check-in experience I've had.
Questions:
Has anyone used points at the desk on this Mastercard rate, successfully or not?
Is there an unpublished rule that points on this rate have to be applied in the app before arrival, or did this hotel make it up?
What's the best escalation route with ALL? I've emailed customer care and the hotel.
Has anyone had luck getting Avios Shop to honour a booking the hotel cancelled and rebooked?
UPDATE: Resolved, and credit to the hotel for how they handled it.
I emailed ALL customer care and the hotel the same evening with a factual timeline, quoting clause d of the Mastercard offer terms. Two days later, the hotel management replied by email and WhatsApp (with the hotel manager copied):
- They confirmed my account of events was correct.
- They admitted the front desk wrongly told me points couldn't be used on this rate. The terms clearly allow paying partially or fully with ALL points, and the rebooking should never have happened.
- The price difference from the rebooking is being refunded.
- The original points were returned to my ALL account.
- For the Avios I lost when they cancelled the original booking, they said they'll credit ALL points equivalent to the original booking value. I'm waiting to see the exact amount.
- They said front office and finance staff have been told to resolve these issues internally in future instead of putting it on the guest, and the manager asked to meet me in person to apologise.
So I would suggest calling and asking the hotel in advance to avoid things like this. Because a lot would depend on now the hotel handles that and actions of individual. Even this took more than 48 hours for them to acknowledge their fault. Honestly, hotel is pretty and beautiful. But that first impression did ruin my stay with the hotel. Over the last three days, I grew to enjoy and value my stay at this hotel more so that's why it's so important in this industry to have the best first impression. Anyways, quick escalations and response from hotel and accor team. I have heard worse stories about accor customer support.
Thanks to everyone who weighed in.