Lately, I’ve been writing a bit about the Accor Live Limitless (ALL) program. I’ve covered how to redeem Accor points, and I’ve also covered Accor elite benefits. In this post, I want to focus on what’s probably the most interesting aspect of Accor elite status, which is Accor Suite Night Upgrades.
These are confirmed suite upgrades that Accor elite members can earn. How do they compare to Marriott Bonvoy Nightly Upgrade Awards, or World of Hyatt Suite Upgrade Awards?
In this post:
How to earn Accor Suite Night Upgrades
Accor Live Limitless has four elite tiers — Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. For Gold members and above, the same upgrade benefit applies, as members are entitled to a one category room upgrade, subject to availability at check-in.
However, there’s one way to get an additional upgrade. Specifically, Accor Platinum members and above can earn Suite Night Upgrades, which can be used to confirm upgrades at the time of booking:
- Accor Platinum members earn two Suite Night Upgrades just for qualifying for status
- Beyond that, members earn an additional Suite Night Upgrade for every 4,000 status points earned, up to a total of 12 per year
For context, below are the Accor elite requirements. As you can see, Platinum status requires 14,000 status points, while Diamond requires 26,000 status points. In other words, if you qualified for Diamond status, you’d earn a total of five night Suite Night Upgrades (the two for earning Platinum status, plus three additional ones for racking up 12,000 status points).
At most brands, you earn 25 status points per €10 spent, meaning you’re earning 2.5 status points per €1 spent. Since you get one Suite Night Upgrade per 4,000 status points, that means you earn an additional upgrade certificate for every €1,600 spent (at most brands).
How to redeem Accor Suite Night Upgrades
How can Accor Live Limitless Suite Night Upgrades be used? Before we look at some examples, let’s cover the basics:
- Suite Night Upgrades can be used at participating hotels under select luxury and premium brands, including Raffles, Faena, Delano, Sofitel Legend, Fairmont, SLS, SO/, Sofitel, MGallery, 21c, Mondrian, Pullman, Swissôtel, Mövenpick, and Grand Mercure
- Each Suite Night Upgrade can be used to confirm an upgrade at a property for one night at the time of booking
- Suite Night Upgrades are valid for upgrades to select suites designated by the hotel; not only that, but in some cases you have to book a premium room in order to be able to apply the upgrade, so you can’t necessarily do it from a base room
- Suite Night Upgrades can be redeemed through the Accor website, the Accor app, or the Accor call center; they can only be applied to new bookings, and not to existing bookings
- You can apply Suite Night Upgrades for a stay that’s longer than the number of Suite Night Upgrades you have, but you’ll then pay the going rate for the suite for the additional nights
- Suite Night Upgrades are valid through December 31 of the year after which they’re issued; so any upgrades issued in 2025 would be valid through December 31, 2026
- If you cancel a reservation with a Suite Night Upgrade, it will be deposited back in your account, with its original expiration date
For example, I just earned ALL Platinum status, so I have two Suite Night Upgrades in my account.
To redeem these, you need to log into your Accor Live Limitless account. Then do a hotel search as you usually would, by selecting the property and dates. When you’re on the page displaying the rates, just click the “Benefits” tab, and toggle the “Use Suite Night Upgrades” button, and click “Submit.”
The results will then essentially display the eligible suites for an upgrade based on the rate of a lower room type. In each case, the rate you’d have to pay will be displayed, and the “standard” cost of the suite will be crossed out.
Are Accor Suite Night Upgrades a good deal?
Now let’s look at the actual value proposition of redeeming these upgrades. I’ll pick three properties at random, belonging to three different brands, for a one night stay each. The biggest issue with these upgrades is that at many properties, you’re not being charged for a standard room, but rather have to pay for a premium room in order to get the upgrade.
Let’s start with the Sofitel London Heathrow Airport. When I apply a Suite Night Upgrade, I can get a Prestige Suite for $330 per night, compared to the standard rate of $525.
The catch? That’s nowhere close to the cheapest room rate, as that goes for $205 per night. So you’re paying a huge premium just for the privilege of upgrading (and keep in mind that as a Platinum member, I’d get club lounge access anyway).
Next, let’s look at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Vancouver. At this property, there are actually six different categories of suites that you can upgrade into, and the suite you receive depends on the rate you book.
The nice thing here is that booking a base room can get you a suite upgrade. When I apply a Suite Night Upgrade, I can get a Junior Suite King for $464 per night, compared to the standard rate of $665 per night. That rate is based on the Fairmont King Room, which is the standard room at the property.
Here’s what’s cool. On the other end of the spectrum, you could apply a Suite Night Upgrade to get a Fairmont Gold Suite King for $608 per night, compared to the standard rate of $1,561 per night. That rate is based on booking a standard Fairmont Gold King (and as a Platinum member, I don’t otherwise get lounge access at Fairmont properties). So that’s pretty cool.
Lastly, let’s look at the Raffles Europejski Warsaw. At this property, when I apply a Suite Night Upgrade, I can get an Executive Suite Double Queen for $377 per night, compared to the standard rate of $706. That’s based on the price of the entry level Deluxe Room, so you don’t have to pay a premium.
There’s an additional upgrade option. If you book a Raffles Room (one category up), you can instead confirm into a Heritage Suite for $413 per night, even though it ordinarily retails for $988 per night.
So while there’s a lack of consistency with being able to apply these upgrades, I have to say that I’m generally impressed, and with some flexibility, I think these could be quite valuable. At some properties, it’s probably not worth it because of the need to book a premium room, but that’s not consistently the case.
The way I view it, the biggest downside of the program is that you need to apply these at the time of booking, based on the direct rate. The reason this isn’t ideal is because it means you couldn’t combine perks offered through Accor STEP, Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts, or Virtuoso, with a Suite Night Award (unless I’m missing something… please let me know if I am).
It remains to be seen if I’ll use these or not. As you can see above, this would be tempting at the Fairmont Vancouver Pacific Rim, while I would find it much less useful at the Sofitel London Heathrow, where as a Platinum member I’d get lounge access anyway.
Bottom line
Accor Live Limitless offers confirmed Suite Night Upgrades, which can be earned by Platinum members and above. Each can be used to confirm a one night upgrade at the time of booking. While availability is generally excellent, the catch is that you often need to book a premium room in order to take advantage of this.
The value of this will differ greatly depending on the property, since the potential value of the upgrades differs massively. Since I have a couple of these, I look forward to burning them on a stay in the near future.
To Accor loyalists, what has your experience been with Suite Night Upgrades?
There is certainly good value applying these at Fairmont’s to get a gold lounge suite. I was hoping to use mine at the newly opening Prague Fairmont but the prices are far too expensive, more like London/Rome pricing.
Instead I used mine to get a 82m2 duplex suite at MGallery Prague and saved $1000USD for the two days, no way I would spend that much otherwise. I also booked additional days at the hotel...
There is certainly good value applying these at Fairmont’s to get a gold lounge suite. I was hoping to use mine at the newly opening Prague Fairmont but the prices are far too expensive, more like London/Rome pricing.
Instead I used mine to get a 82m2 duplex suite at MGallery Prague and saved $1000USD for the two days, no way I would spend that much otherwise. I also booked additional days at the hotel in a lesser room so the suite upgrade effectively incentivised me to stay there as it’s a good location.
I wish they would get the free breakfast sorted for worldwide access with Platinum/Diamond. Accor is great in Asia/Pacific but I tend more to IHG in Europe for breakfast and lounge access.
Not being US based I appreciate that Accor/IHG is earned status rather than brought via Cr card reducing some of the elite status bloat Marriot/Hilton have
I had a 6 night stay at Pullman Danang Beach Resort as a Platinum so I made two reservations, first 2 nights with the junior suite applying the SNU then second with a superior room for the next 4 nights. When I arrived they ended up just letting my partner and I stay in the Suite for the whole time which was what I was hoping for! I don't always expect this to be the...
I had a 6 night stay at Pullman Danang Beach Resort as a Platinum so I made two reservations, first 2 nights with the junior suite applying the SNU then second with a superior room for the next 4 nights. When I arrived they ended up just letting my partner and I stay in the Suite for the whole time which was what I was hoping for! I don't always expect this to be the case, and it was my first time applying the SNU's so I'm not sure how successful this strategy will be for others.
Does Accor match Hilton Diamond? Are there credit cards that offer platinum status?
@ Michael -- Unfortunately there are no regular status matches, as far as I know. Sometimes there are opportunities through airline partners, but that's about it. From a US-centric perspective, the status is pretty hard to earn.
Yeah, the one year I was Accor Diamond, I ended up not using my suite upgrade vouchers because, each time I tried, I had to buy a more expensive room to qualify for the upgrade.
One can earn up to 12 suite upgrades each year, which are *confirmed* upgrades. For one who stays 50 actual nights, that's a pretty good batting average. As Ben illustrated, one can find some real sweet spots. I doubt a person in another program would experience the same batting average. The trade-off is that ALL's reward rate for paid stays is not as generous as the other programs. So, you do your math and find the best fit.
@ Fred -- Now, in fairness, to earn 12 you'd need to spend €12,600, which is no small chunk of change. While that's woth something, I'd argue that Hyatt is better in that regard. Globalist members can earn five suite upgrades, each of which can be used to confirm a suite upgrade at the time of booking for up to seven nights, whether paying cash or redeeming points.