December 2nd Update: Almost as fast as I put this offer up it died, hopefully some of you were able to take advantage of it!
There is time limited offer from Accor Hotels A|Club that gives members of Air France KLM's Flying Blue program instant Platinum status in the A|Club program. Normally, it takes 60 nights or accumulating 25,000 A|Club points in a calendar year to earn Platinum status, so as you can see this is quite the fast track to this elite level. Now, that being said this promo is meant for Flying Blue members, (which is free to join, just visit Airfrance.com or KLM.com) but the actual registration form does not ask for your Flying Blue number, just A|Club membership # and email address. I did so and within 15 minutes had emails from Accor confirming my Platinum status without inputting my Flying Blue number or as the registration page suggests selecting the auto-convert option to Flying Blue. So there you have, that is how you can get free Platinum Status with Accor Hotels.
The next question may be what can I do with this status (which could be combined with "Who the heck is Accor Hotels) as here in Canada there are only a few Accor Hotel locations in Toronto and Montreal and they are not called Accor, as that is the parent company's name. The locations in those two cities are Novotel and Sofitels. Worldwide the Accor family has 10 hotel brands with most locations being in Europe and Asia. So you can definitely take advantage of this status for stays in those two Canadian cities and many more outside of Canada. But for those of you who primarily have stays in Canada and not in Toronto or Montreal may want to consider the next option:
Free Platinum status with Best Western! How do you get this? Best Western offers a promotion called "Status Match. No Catch" which means they will match your status in any other hotel loyalty program. So your first step will be to get your platinum status with Accor A|Club (don't worry, I have all the links at the end of this post) and once it is confirmed, complete the Best Western Status Match form and provide proof of your platinum status (just print off your online Accor Statement showing your Platinum Status) and send them off. I already took advantage of this status match offer not with Accor but used my Hyatt Platinum status to get the platinum status with Best Western. Within a couple of days of sending in the form I had my Best Western status.
There you have it, this is how you can free elite Platinum status in two major hotel chains! Here's a tip, don't wait to do this as Accor can pull this fast track offer for Flying Blue members at anytime.
Links
Accor A|Club Platinum Status Fast Track
Best Western Status Match No Catch
