LOSING OUT

Over the past few years, my organisation has insisted that all corporate travel is booked through a travel management company (TMC). As a result, I do not earn any points for my hotel stays – the chains I use are IHG and Accor (although I still can earn points with airlines).

I am currently an Accor Hotel Le Club gold member, and am now earning points through my personal rather than corporate travel. The gold status has been beneficial, and I have regularly been given room upgrades, and the free welcome drink has always been appreciated.

I would have earned enough points to retain my gold status in 2014-15, but as all my hotel stays were booked via the TMC, this means I haven’t earned any loyalty points for my significant number of stays so far this year. Even more annoyingly, any additional spend at the hotels’ bars and restaurants does not earn me points. When I lose my gold status, I will have no motivation to book my corporate stays with Accor.

I did wonder why the rules differ between airlines and hotels, and it was interesting when I mentioned this to some IHG marketing staff at the excellent Business Traveller Ginetta car event at London Cru in November. They were unaware that points were not earned when booking via a TMC. Hopefully they will feed back my opinion to their bosses, and then maybe I might be loyal again to a hotel loyalty programme.