I am obsessed with this loyalty program

Good morning from Dunhuang, the sand dune-filled oasis in the middle of the Gobi Desert! 🐪

While I try to come to terms with the fact that this place is actually in China, here are some tasty travel tips for you:

• 🏨 I am obsessed with this loyalty program

• 📆 How to plan ahead for award availability

• 💳 Save up to $125 on Expedia hotels

🏨 I am obsessed with this loyalty program

Okay, listen. I’m not trying to be dramatic (I am), but sometimes I stay somewhere with points and think, “why the ________ am I not using this program every day?”

Last night in Dalian was one of those moments where I booked a very nice Novotel for €45, including taxes. 👇

And because Novotel is part of Accor Live Limitless, I wiped €40 off the bill with 2,000 points and paid five freaking euros out of pocket.

Two. Thousand. Points. For an actual 4-star hotel.

And that’s exactly why I need to remind you — or maybe introduce you — to the fact that Accor’s program is stupidly good, and we don’t talk about it enough.

At its core, Accor runs on one simple rule:

2,000 points = €40 off your bill. Always. No blackout dates. No award charts. No nonsense.

And when I say “the bill,” I mean anything – the room charge, parking fees, breakfast, room service, anything you can charge to the room.

But the real magic is how this flat-value system pairs with Accor’s global footprint.

Because, unlike Hyatt or Marriott — which are great but have gaps the size of the Pacific Ocean — Accor has more properties than any other major chain, especially in places where other brands simply do not exist.

And most of those properties?

They’re budget and midscale, which means the cash rates are already low… which also means the points needed per night are ridiculously low.

Let’s walk through a few concrete examples so you can see why I’m obsessed:

Manchester, U.K. – €46 with taxes

This ibis Budget comes in at €44. That means you need to shell out just 2,000 Accor points and €4.

In the U.K. (!), where a sandwich costs more than this hotel room!!

Kyoto, Japan – €39

This ibis Styles next to the station is €39 per night.

Again: 2,000 Accor points (you’ll need to buy a bottle of water or something to add one extra Euro to the bill).

Japan is not a cheap country… except apparently when Accor is involved.

Milan, Italy – €80

Even when the cash price goes up, the math stays fair:

€80 = 4,000 Accor points… for Milan’s city center.

Meanwhile, Marriott wants 46,000 points per night for a Courtyard somewhere near a train track.

The point is:

Accor gives you global consistency AND global cheapness. You can actually plan around the value because it never changes.

“But none of the big programs transfer 1:1 to Accor…”

Right. They don’t.

And yet — stay with me — it still works out extremely well.

Here are the actual transfer ratios:

• Capital One miles → 2:1

• Bilt Rewards → 3:2

• Rove Miles → 3:2

Those ratios sound pretty rough… until you look at the actual points required for the stays we just talked about.

A €40 hotel night costs 2,000 Accor points.

Which means you only need to transfer:

• 3,000 Bilt/Rove points, or

• 4,000 Capital One miles

Tell me where else in the world you can use 3,000-4,000 transferable points from multiple programs for a hotel night in England, Japan, Italy, China, and… basically anywhere Accor exists (which is everywhere).

Want a crap load of Accor points fast?

Right now, the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is offering 100,000 miles for signing up. After meeting the minimum spend, you’ll have 120,000 Capital One miles.

If you transfer those straight to Accor, even at a subpar ratio of 2:1, you’ll have 60,000 Accor points worth exactly $1,391 USD.

Bottom line

Accor is great because it’s both simple and valuable.

You don’t need to learn an award chart. You don’t need to hunt for saver availability. You don’t need to pray to the Marriott calendar. You just:

1. Earn points

2. Transfer a tiny amount

3. Cover the charge

It’s the simplest, most globally useful hotel play — and you can get shocking value from it, even in expensive countries.

This program absolutely slaps, and you should have it in your toolkit.

📆 How to plan ahead for award availability

Award availability. It is my mortal enemy.

There’s nothing worse than racking up a bunch of points to book that dream flight and then not being able to find any flights you can actually book with them.

I’m sure many of you have faced this issue and/or want to learn more about how to avoid it.

So, McKay wrote up an EXCELLENT article about how to plan around award space, how to get the points you need, and a bunch of other fantastic real-world tips.

To be honest, I needed this refresh even as someone who lives and breathes this stuff.

If you’re planning ahead for 2026, you need to read this. 👇

💳 Save up to $125 on Expedia hotels

If you’ve got a card from American Express, check your merchant offers, because I found a 10% back deal for prepaid hotel bookings through a special Expedia link.

Mine showed up on the American Express Platinum Card®, but as always with these things:

Offers are targeted – you may see it on the same card, a different card, or not at all. Also, you have to register for the offer before you book.

Here’s the gist:

• You get 10% back, up to $125 in total credits

• Works only on prepaid (“pay now”) hotel bookings

• Must use the link included in the offer terms

• Must book in USD

• Expires 12/19/2025

• And again… register your card first

Honestly?

Deals like this are one of the easiest, most boringly effective ways to chip away at those big annual fees.

If you already have cash hotel stays coming up next year, this is literally free money — and a very unsexy, very real reason you might keep the card around.

You’re not bending over backwards or optimizing 13 layers of stacking. You’re just saving 10% on something you’d book anyway.

Oh, and by the way… There are TONS of good merchant offers from American Express floating around. I personally have offers from:

• Qatar Airways

• Virgin Atlantic

• Hilton

• Small Luxury Hotels

May the merchant offer odds be ever in your favor. 🙏🏼

Okay, folks. That’s it.

See you tomorrow ✌️

40.1422° N, 94.6620° E

With contributions by McKay Moffitt