Amex just handed Platinum members Accor Gold status in 12 countries. Unfortunately, the United States is not one of them.
AMEX And Accor Announce New Status Match
American Express and ALL Accor announced a global partnership out of Paris on July 22, built on two pieces. The first is elite status matching, where Consumer, Small Business, and Corporate American Express Platinum Card Members become ALL Accor Gold members. Gold status brings free Wi-Fi, a welcome amenity, late check-out, room upgrades subject to availability, and bonus ALL points. The second is a new Membership Rewards transfer option into ALL Accor, with conversion ratios that Amex says will vary by market.
On paper this is an excellent new benefit. Accor runs more than 45 brands, including an impressive and growing luxury tier: Raffles, Fairmont, Sofitel, plus the Orient Express and Banyan Tree properties. Earning Gold the hard way takes 30 elite nights or 7,000 status points, which works out to roughly €2,800 of hotel spending. Getting it for holding a card you already hold is a welcome perk and will likely introduce many new clients to the brand.
The Included Market List
For the 12 countries included in this roll out, there’s a noticeable missing market. Here’s who made the cut:
- Australia
- Austria
- Canada
- France
- Germany
- Hong Kong
- Italy
- Japan
- Mexico
- Singapore
- United Kingdom, and;
- New Zealand.
Absent is the United States, so too are mainland China, India, and Brazil. Those are some huge exclusions.
Some of these markets were already live before the formal announcement. LoyaltyLobby has been tracking the piecemeal rollout for months, including Amex Platinum UK picking up Accor Gold in June and Membership Rewards conversion going live in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Hong Kong. What last week’s press release added was continental Europe, Japan, Mexico, and Singapore, and a global label on a program that is pointedly not global. The United States accounts for 29% of the global travel economy (some point to figures that could be higher), and of AMEX cardholders it’s even more.
The framing in the release is worth noting. Amex called it a partnership rolling out “across 12 locations,” and Accor’s loyalty chief said Amex’s member base is “perfectly suited for our luxury portfolio.” Both companies are describing something worldwide while routing around the single largest premium card market on earth and some notable additional markets.
What US Platinum Holders Get Instead
If you carry a US Platinum card, your hotel status perks remain Hilton Honors Gold and Marriott Bonvoy Gold. Both are automatic, both are mid-tier. On the transfer side, US Membership Rewards still has three hotel partners, which are Hilton, Marriott, and Choice. Accor is not being added, yet. Hilton Gold is sometimes good for breakfast and sometimes good just for a food and beverage credit which does not include a full meal. Understanding Marriott’s Bonvoy perks chart is a Sisyphean effort.
The status omission stings. A Fairmont or Sofitel stay in Europe is exactly the trip where a US cardholder would want recognition, and a UK Platinum holder walking into the same Sofitel now gets the upgrade and the late check-out that the American in the next room does not. Same card, same annual fee bracket, but different market. What remains very confusing to me is that the US market is so much more lucrative.
The transfer omission bothers me a lot less, and I would push back on anyone framing it as a major loss. ALL points are fixed value at 1,000 points for €20, and the issuers that already partner with Accor transfer at 2:1. Run that math and you land somewhere near a penny per Membership Rewards point, which is roughly what you get cashing out through Amex Travel with none of the upside that makes transferable currencies worth hoarding. US members stand to gain more by paying with points and earning on their stay rather than transferring for a higher value.
Why AMEX Would Skip Its Biggest Market
I suspect that omitting the US market is Accor’s decision more than Amex’s. Accor’s US footprint is thin relative to its global scale, a scattering of Fairmont, Sofitel, Raffles, SLS, and Mondrian properties against Marriott and Hilton counts in the thousands. A status match costs a hotel program real money in upgrades and amenities, and Accor gets very little back from recognizing millions of American cardholders who mostly stay at Accor properties abroad, if at all. The markets on that list are places where Accor has both distribution and a card-issuing AMEX entity to negotiate with.
There is also the structural element that remains important. American Express operates as a proprietary issuer in the US and through a mix of licensed bank partners and local entities elsewhere, so a “global” benefit is really a stack of separate market-by-market deals. That is why this rolled out in phases over months rather than landing everywhere at once, and it is why AMEX can call something global while a dozen named markets are the only participants.
LoyaltyLobby made another more point I want to underline. The Gold match does not arrive as bonus elite night credits, so it does not fast-track anyone toward ALL Platinum, which is where the benefits get seriously interesting in Asia. This is a soft-benefit match (as it is for both Marriott Bonvoy Gold and Hilton Honors Gold) rather than a co-branded card adding the amenity as Marriott does for some of its cards, and Hyatt for that matter.
Is An Accor Status Match Coming To The US?
American Express says further country-specific details will come throughout the year, which leaves the door open for hope. I would not hold a card waiting on that miracle though. The path to Accor status for Americans right now runs through Bilt, which has repeatedly offered an Accor status match up to Platinum on Rent Day, and through Accor’s own periodic matches. Those are better deals than Gold anyway, because Platinum is the tier where the program starts delivering suite upgrades and lounge access.
For now, it’s wait-and-see for US-based travelers but Bilt’s deal shows there is appetite from the brand for this exact type of promotion in the US.
Conclusion
The status match is valuable, but a transfer option is worth almost nothing, and the market list makes it clear that Accor is not yet ready for a flood of US elites in its ranks (Bilt’s footprint is relatively small.) American cardholders are not being punished so much as they are being left out of the promotion for the time being. Watch for the country-specific terms Amex promised later this year, because if the US shows up in a second wave it will mean Accor has decided its American pipeline finally justifies the giveaway. Until then, Bilt remains the only door.
What do you think?
That’s hilarious. Obviously, a shot-across-the-bow at BILT, for it’s lame-as-hell status-bonus for August 2026 ‘Rent Day.’ The main benefit being you could transfer points from BILT to Accor and also receive status (Gold or Platinum), but the main catch being that if you already held Accor status, you could not ‘extend’ it, all of which was not really ‘warned’ about before folks completed their transfers. At least transferring point extends all points expiration dates, but still, yet another let-down. Anyway, hopefully Amex will extend to US holders soon enough.
Of course Accor is essentially a French company and I suspect they hold the US in the same regard as most Europeans do these days so no, there will be no status unless you earn it.
What a dumb comment. Get over your TDS. Many in the world, especially those involved with travel or business, have no problem with the US and recognize our value. Also, Amex is a US company so they are the ones driving this, not Accor, Accor would beg to be a global Amex transfer partner as it is good for their brand. The ignorance and bias of some is simply amazing!
That’s a naïve approach. Including US cardholders would not be good for the Accor brand as it would very much result in the cannibalisation of benefits for their core customer demographic. Annoy your elites in Corfu and Catalonia in the summer (‘no upgrades are available’ isn’t a phrase often said to ALL golds and above) and they’ll be less likely to choose your hotels in Birmingham and Bydgoszcz come November.
Totally agree with you. Some idiots think that the world only wants business and money. No they just don’t like America because of its approach towards the world. America needs to change.
No one mentioned the President but you, so bringing up TDS is pretty rich. Something about a hit dog hollering?
Recognise the value of those who gave the world Criminal Trump?
Of course we all do. That’s why you will find yourselves increasingly excluded on the world stage.
Get used to it.
Lol. Pretending Europe America hate is a recent development. Who are you kidding? Europeans have resented Americans for as long as I can remember. Even after we saved their entire continent. And how did we punish the worst villain state of the twentieth century? We helped rebuild them into the most powerful economy on the continent. Still, nothing but disdain from Europe.
That’s excellent news, I bet most long-standing ALL status holders (I’m one of them although definitely not a top tier customer- in fact I’ve probably spent more years at silver than gold) wouldn’t want hordes of American credit card holders chewing up their upgrades.
Lol, funny since they just sold status to a bunch of US Bilt members just yesterday.
I’m not familiar with the scale of Bilt’s operations but I suspect they’ve got a lot fewer US customers that regularly travel abroad than AMEX.
But when they do, they’ll have better status than you. Platinum status you only had to transfer 15000 points. Plus the huge 100%+ transfer bonus earlier this year… So many Americans heading your way.
The date of this article is Aug. 2 but you fail to mention AMEX Platinum now gives Sterling status to Leading Hotels of the World.
@Billy – You’re right. I should update it. I haven’t used the benefit, I don’t know anyone that has (though I am sure some find value) and you’re right that it should be in there. That said, there are other benefits in a very long list that might not make every article mentioning the card but it doesn’t have to.
Well when you specifically say “If you carry a US Platinum card, your hotel status perks REMAIN Hilton Honors Gold and Marriott Bonvoy Gold” and that statement is not correct, I think it warrants a correction. Hilton Gold, Marriot Gold, and LHW Sterling are the hotel statuses for US AMEX Platinum.
And it goes without saying, US AMEX has four hotel transfer partners, not three. Hilton, Marriott, Choice and LHW.
Good. The last thing the Accor program needs is to be overrun with bloody Americans.
No offence, but no US based credit card holder had the right to complain about lack of perks 😉 I have a Swedish Amex Platinum that comes with Hilton Gold (no Marriott), a Priority Pass, a somewhat crappy dining credits on select restaurans a couple of times a year and … nothing else. With very poor points earning and almost no transfer partners. For a higher annual fee than the US cards 😉
@Lukas – I certainly agree that the US is awash with benefits for the AMEX Platinum card comparatively to other global markets, however, those other markets don’t get the same swipe sponsorship that the US does either. If Swedish law permitted higher merchant processing fees, I have no doubt the benefits to cardholders would increase overnight, but Swedish cardholders also pay less for goods (presumably) due to this.
There are plenty of programmes and offers that those of us not in the US miss out on, so boot’s on the other foot this time.
In Australia at least, the gold is given as a credit of 30 nights, so it does all so give a fast track to Platinum.