Should I get Accor Platinum for S$350?

So, I’ve got a bit of conundrum on my hands. 

I’m currently sitting on 42 status nights with Accor, broken down into:

• 40 nights from Accor Plus
• 1 night at ibis Genève Aeroport (from my whirlwind trip to Geneva to try Emirates First Class)
• 1 night at the Pullman Kuala Lumpur (from my 2022/23 Stay Plus free night)

Most of this comes from Accor Plus, which granted a one-time 20-night credit to all existing members as of 31 July 2023. I subsequently received an additional 20-night credit for renewing my membership (thanks to the AMEX HighFlyer Card). 

Since I’ll earn one more status night from my 2023/24 Stay Plus certificate, I basically need 17 more nights to hit Platinum. Quite frankly, I doubt I’ll ever be so close to Platinum status again, especially since 20 of those nights were a one-time benefit.

Status	Status Nights	Status Points
Silver	10	2,000 (€800 spend)
Gold	30	7,000 (€2,800 spend)
Platinum	60	14,000 (€5,600 spend)
Diamond	N/A	26,000 (€10,400 spend)

Should I do it?

What benefits would Accor Platinum provide?

The way I see it, the key benefits of Accor Platinum are:

• A better shot at a room upgrade
• Complimentary breakfast at hotels within Asia-Pacific
• Executive Lounge access
• Two suite night upgrade certificates
• Premium Wi-Fi 

I have fond memories of the Sofitel Ambassador Seoul, where I stayed in November 2021 as part of my VTL trip to South Korea. The lounge was one of the highlights, with an excellent happy hour canapes spread plus Barons de Rothschild champagne.

Granted, not every executive lounge in the Accor network will be up to those standards, but complimentary breakfast (albeit within Asia Pacific only) will offer some handy savings right there. And I know that on-arrival room upgrades can be hit and miss, but at least I’ll have two guaranteed suite night certificates to fall back on.

What’s the cheapest hotel for mattress runs?

First things first. A “mattress run” is not what happens when an incontinent toddler takes a nap on your bed. Rather, it refers to a hotel stay (or series of hotel stays) whose sole purpose is to accrue status nights for elite status qualification/requalification. 

The whole point of a mattress run is to spend as little as possible, and one of the great things about Accor’s booking engine is that it lets you search entire countries, or even regions. So instead of having to guess and check which Southeast Asian city offers the lowest rates, I can just run a blanket search for “Southeast Asia.”

Here’s what I found:

It looks like ibis Styles Cikarang is the winner, with 17 nights at S$386, all taxes and fees included (yes, I had to Google where Cikarang is).

And there’s ways of bringing this down even further. If I book via ShopBack, for example, I’d save 5.3% off for a grand total of S$365.

I could also take advantage of Accor’s just-launched promotion which offers up to 6,000 bonus points for stays of at least two nights:

• 500 points after the first stay (equivalent to €10)
• 2,500 points after the second stay (equivalent to €50) 
• 3,000 points after the third stay (equivalent to €60)

Granted, I won’t get the full 6,000 points because back-to-back stays at the same hotel don’t count, but at the very least I’ll have 500 points, which reduces the cost by a further S$15 or so. That brings me down to a very nice round figure of S$350.

Why I’m holding off…for now

Frankly speaking, this is the kind of thing I’d have jumped on a few years ago. S$350, after all, is basically the cost of one night in a mid-range Singapore hotel.

But I’m at a different life stage now, where I can’t just up and hop on the earliest flight to wherever Cikarang is. And with a newborn in the house, I’m obviously not going to spend 17 nights away from home.

At the same time, no one’s saying I need to physically be at the hotel all 17 nights. I can imagine it wouldn’t be too hard to check-in, get all the registration formalities done, then opt for express check-out and head home the same day, room untouched.

I’m also aware that there’s other hidden costs involved here. The taxi rides to and from the airport(s) plus the cost of the airfare would probably add another S$100-150 to the total bill (and that’s not even counting the implicit cost of time spent away from home). 

So on some level, I think I’m more enamoured with the idea that I could get Accor Platinum for S$350, rather than Accor Platinum per se. Still, it’s an interesting thought experiment, if nothing else. And the more I repeat “S$350” in my head, the more tempted I get…

Conclusion

Thanks to 40 status nights from Accor Plus, I’m closer than I’ve ever been to qualifying for Accor Platinum this year. I just need another 17 nights to cross the finish line, which can be achieved for as little as S$350. That’s a very tempting figure, even after accounting for flights.

I might not end up doing it, but I’m sure I’m not the only one in this situation. I can imagine a good number of Accor Plus members will have 40+ nights in their account soon, and then it’s a question of whether you feel Accor Platinum benefits are worth the mattress run.

Would you mattress run for Accor Platinum?