An upscale hotel brand in the Accor family: Pullman

I have recently stayed at a number of Accor hotels across Asia, mostly due to their generous points promotions and frequent private sales, as well as their much wider availability in Asia, compared to most American chains. I’ve mostly reviewed ibis and Mercure hotels, their mid-scale brands. Now, I just booked a stay at a Pullman property, one of their upscale “lifestyle” brands.

So, who are they? Pullman is one of the high-end brands of the Accor Group, slotting in just below their top-end Sofitel brand and the mid-scale Novotel and Mercure brands. Pullman has 93 hotels in 26 countries, with the vast majority in Europe and Asia.

In their own words, “Pullman is the executive lifestyle upscale hotel brand: a new generation of hotels for a new generation of mobile, hyper-connected customers.

They highlight their IT connectivity and meeting services, targeting business customers as well as leisure customers. The best comparison is probably a W hotel in the SPG group.

So, why should I care? Accor is very well represented in Europe and Asia and you will see their properties a lot more often than any American chain. While most of their properties are ibis, Mercure and Novotel at the lower end of the hotel spectrum, all of their hotels have more design pizazz than their American counterparts. Having an upscale, stylish option at still reasonable prices within the Accor group is great!

The Pullman hotels participate in the Accor frequent guest program, LeClub. You earn points at a rate of 5-8.5%, depending on your elite level and you get stay and night credit towards promotions and towards elite status. The LeClub program is revenue based, both in earning and redeeming points, making it not very attractive to fans of the points game. The benefits for elite members are also hit & miss – the promised upgrades, welcome amenities or late check-out might not materialize. They do have lots of promotions, often jointly with airlines, making it worth consideration.

You can read reviews of some Pullman hotels here:
Pullman Bali Legian Nirwana (coming soon)


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