Amex and ALL Accor announce a new partnership (but not in the US)

American Express and Accor have announced a new global partnership which is bringing elite status benefits for select Amex card holders and points transfers across twelve countries.

This will be rolling out across what’s left of 2026 and there are things to like here if you’re in one of the countries involved. The problem is that the US isn’t one of them.

What Amex has announced

The partnership is, apparently, launching in phases across Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, and there are two parts to it.

The first part is what the Amex calls “elite status matching”, but as Amex doesn’t really have elite statuses, what this really means is that select Amex card holders will be given complimentary ALL Accor Gold elite status.

Right now, these are the only cards that Amex has named whose holders will be getting Accor elite status:

“American Express Consumer, SBS and Corporate Platinum® Card Members”

The second part of the partnership is, according to Amex, “a new Membership Rewards® points transfer option for eligible Card Members” and we’re told that the points conversion ratios will vary by location. At the time of writing, these ratios do not appear to have been published.

Transferred points can be redeemed across Accor’s network of more than 45 brands, plus dining, experiences and more than 110 partners.

Amex says that further country specific details will be made available throughout the year.

No US, and that’s not a surprise

The absence of the US from that list of twelve is the first thing most readers here will notice, but it isn’t altogether surprising.

Amex is known to offer different partner lists in different parts of the world, so, for example, you’ll find that Radisson Rewards is a Membership Rewards transfer partner in the UK but not in the US or Canada.

When it comes to transfer partners, there’s overlap across the regions, but there are quite a few differences too, so while this news is disappointing, it’s not unusual.

What does “a new transfer option” actually mean?

Leaving aside, for a moment, the fact that this partnership doesn’t look like it’s coming to the US, here’s somehting I find interesting.

Amex has put out the press release covering this “new” partnership today, but in at least one of the twelve markets listed, Accor is already a Membership Rewards transfer partner – Accor was added as a UK Membership Rewards partner back in May (with a 3:1 transfer ratio).

So what’s actually new for the UK (or any other of the countries where Accor is already a partner)? Is it just the elite status deal for select card holders, or is Amex already reviewing the transfer ratio?

The latter seems unlikely, so it’s probably all about the elite status offering, but it’s a little odd that Amex doesn’t mention that part of this partnership started to roll out earlier in the year.

I’d like to see this in the US

Amex Membership Rewards currently has three hotel transfer partners in the US – Choice Privileges, Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy, so is it too much to ask for a fourth? Particularly one with Accor’s geographic spread.

Not for the points transfer

From a points transfer perspective, I’m not overly invested in seeing Accor as a US Membership Rewards transfer partner as I doubt the maths would work in a card holder’s favor.

We value Membership Rewards points at 1.5 cents each (based on what we think we can get out of each point without too much effort), and ALL Accor Reward points are worth approximately 2.28 cents each (they’re a fixed-value currency – €0.02 each).

Let’s assume that if this option were to ever come to the US we wouldn’t get a transfer ratio better than the one the UK gets (3:1), so 3 Membership Rewards points worth 4.5 cents would become 1 Accor point worth 2.28 cents.

That’s not exactly great is it? That’s a loss of roughly half the value and how often is that going to be a good idea?

For a transfer to break even, we’d need something close to a 3:2 ratio, and I can’t see Amex ever giving US card holders that much of a gift (especially given how unrewarding the transfers to Hilton, Marriott and Choice are).

Besides we can already move points to Accor in the US from both Citi (1,000:350) and Capital One (2:1), so having Amex add Accor as a US transfer partner wouldn’t give US miles and points fans anything new.

I’d like the elite status

It’s the Accor elite status that I think I’d find most useful.

US Platinum Card Members currently get Hilton Honors Gold and Marriott Bonvoy Gold as part of their benefits package and while the first is genuinely useful, the second really isn’t.

Hilton Gold gets you free breakfast (or a breakfast credit) and upgrades that hotels actually occasionally honor. Marriott Gold gets you a 25% points bonus, a shot at a 2pm late checkout (it’s not guaranteed) and an upgrade that is theoretically available but which practically never materializes.

ALL Accor Gold elite status sits somewhere in between those two. Here’s what it offers:

• A 48% bonus on Reward points earned during stays (which is a genuinely odd percentage, what was wrong with 50%?)
• Early check-in or late check-out, subject to availability
• An upgrade to the next room category, subject to availability
• A welcome amenity
• Guaranteed room availability up to three days before arrival
• Priority welcome and a welcome drink
• 14% off airport lounge access via Priority Pass, and 20% off Swissôtel spa treatments

Sure, on no level is this amazing. There’s no breakfast, no lounge access and not much guaranteed. Also, the upgrade and welcome amenity benefits are excluded at Ibis, Ibis budget, Ibis Styles, Adagio, Greet, Jo&Joe and BreakFree and that’s a fair number of Accor properties right there.

But a 48% points bonus is quite good and, anecdotally, Accor properties are considerably better at processing upgrades for their Gold elites than, for example, Marriott is, so that could be genuinely useful. And it looks a bit more useful when you consider just how large Accor’s reach is.

Accor operates over 5,800 properties across more than 110 countries under more than 45 brands, and that includes Raffles, Fairmont, Sofitel, Pullman, Mövenpick, Novotel and Mercure. That’s a lot of good to excellent properties at which Accor Gold status could be genuinely useful.

Another hotel elite status that costs you nothing and occasionally gets you a better room at some very well regarded brands is definitely worth having, even if it’s a mid-tier status with quite a few gaps.

Bottom line

Amex and Accor have announced a global partnership covering twelve markets which comes with ALL Accor Gold elite status for select card holders and, apparently, a new Membership Rewards transfer option. Country-specific details, including the all-important transfer ratios, are still to come.

The US isn’t included in this partnership, which isn’t surprising but is a little disappointing as Accor Gold Elite status could come in useful in quite a few parts of the world that I tend to visit (Europe, Southeast Asia and Australia).

Would you like to see this partnership in the US? And if you live in one of the 12 counties getting this partnership, what do you think of it?