Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Get a 50% bonus on Accor transfers to Club Eurostar – it’s surprisingly decent

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Hotel loyalty scheme Accor Live Limitless (Novotel, ibis, Sofitel, Mercure, Raffles, Fairmont etc) has a lot of transfer partners.

Whenever we write about them, we usually say ‘this is worth knowing about, but it’s a bad deal’. It’s easy to do the maths because Accor hotel points have a fixed value of 2 Eurocents. It is a binary ‘good’ or ‘bad’ decision when comparing transfer rates into Avios or other schemes.

One exception to the ‘bad’ rule is Accor transfers into Club Eurostar. These are acceptable value. There is currently a 50% bonus on Accor Live Limitless transfers to Club Eurostar which means a transfer starts to fall into the ‘attractive’ category.

swap points between Club Eurostar and Accor Live Limitless

Full details of the Accor and Club Eurostar partnership are on the Accor website here.

What are the transfer rates between Accor Live Limitless and Club Eurostar?

Accor Live Limitless is a revenue based loyalty scheme, with 1 Accor point worth 2 Eurocents off a hotel room.  There is no redemption chart – the number of points needed for a free night is based on the cash cost of the room you want.

The conversion rates between Accor Live Limitless and Club Eurostar are:

  • 500 Club Eurostar points gets you 1,000 Accor Live Limitless points
  • 2,000 Accor Live Limitless points gets you 300 Club Eurostar points

Point transfers do not count towards status in either scheme.

It is worth remembering that ‘free means free’ when it comes to Club Eurostar redemptions. Unlike frequent flyer redemptions, there are NO taxes or charges to pay when you spend Club Eurostar points.

Ignore transfers INTO Accor. We are only looking at transfers out of Accor INTO Club Eurostar.

Let’s try to put a cash value on this.  We decided in this article that Club Eurostar points are worth around 10p in Eurostar Standard, and 7p-8p in Eurostar Plus.

This means that:

  • 2,000 Accor points (value €40 / £33) gets you 300 Eurostar points (value £21-£30)

It’s not a life changing deal but it’s not terrible. However ….

swap points between Club Eurostar and Accor Live Limitless

Accor is offering a 50% bonus on transfers to Club Eurostar

Take a look at this page of the Accor website.

Until 11th April you will receive a 50% bonus when you transfer Accor Live Limitless points to Club Eurostar.

Registration is not required.

2,000 Accor points (worth €40 / £33 of free hotels stays) will now get you 450 Club Eurostar points.

If you believe our valuations, this means that you are getting £32 to £45-worth of Eurostar points.

What is the Club Eurostar redemption chart?

Here are the number of points required for a Club Eurostar redemption ticket:

  • Standard class – 2,000 Club Eurostar points for normal reward availability and 3,000 points ‘anytime’, return
  • Standard Premier – 4,000 Club Eurostar points for normal reward availability and 5,000 points ‘anytime’, return
  • Business Premier – 6,000 Club Eurostar points at all times, return

Here’s the clever bit. You are ‘buying’ Club Eurostar points for 7.4p under this transfer bonus. Remember that 2,000 Accor points gets you 450 Eurostar points and that 2,000 Accor points are worth a fixed €40 / £33 off a hotel room.

Let’s convert the Eurostar reward chart to cash based on 7.4p per point:

  • Standard class – £148 of Accor points for normal reward availability and £222 of Accor points for an ‘anytime’ ticket, return
  • Standard Premier – £296 of Accor points for normal reward availability and £370 of Accor points for an ‘anytime’ ticket, return
  • Business Premier – £444 of Accor points for normal reward availability at all times, return

If these values look cheap compared to what you normally pay for cash Eurostar tickets, you may want to consider transferring some Accor Live Limitless points to Club Eurostar. It will be more attractive to those who book Eurostar rewards at peak times or at short notice when prices are higher.

What about upgrades?

Upgrades are a good use of your Club Eurostar points.

As long as seats are available for cash in Eurostar Plus, you can upgrade – this means that it is virtually always possible to do so.

A one-way upgrade from Eurostar Standard to Eurostar Plus is 600 Eurostar points.

Applying our 7.4p ‘price’, you would be giving up £44 of Accor hotel redemptions to get the 600 Eurostar points needed for a one way upgrade.

Conclusion

We have got used to writing off Accor Live Limitless points transfers as a bad deal. Club Eurostar was always the best of the bunch, and with a 50% transfer bonus it begins to look interesting.

You can find out more about the Accor / Eurostar partnership on the Accor Live Limitless website here.

The details of the conversion bonus are on the Accor website here.

PS. The small print says that the bonus Eurostar points may take up to six weeks to post to your account. Be wary if you are planning a short notice booking.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

How to get Club Eurostar points and lounge access from UK credit cards

How to get Club Eurostar points and lounge access from UK credit cards (April 2025)

Club Eurostar does not have a UK credit card.  However, you can earn Club Eurostar points by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards. 

Cards earning Membership Rewards points include:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

Membership Rewards points convert at 15:1 into Club Eurostar points.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, so you will get the equivalent of 1 Club Eurostar point for every £15 you spend.

American Express Platinum comes with a great Eurostar benefit – Eurostar lounge access!  

You can enter any Eurostar lounge, irrespective of your ticket type, by showing The Platinum Card at the desk.  No guests are allowed but you can get entry for your partner by issuing them with a free supplementary Amex Platinum card on your account.

Category

Accor Live Limitless, Club Eurostar

Comments (12)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Jonty says:
    2 Apr2 April 06:22

    You might want to check where the decimal point goes in the “074” price. A point worth 10p for less than a penny would be a blockbuster deal

  • Susan says:
    2 Apr2 April 07:06

    Upgrades are definitely the sweet spot when the cash differential is steep but newbies should be aware that through tickets with protected transfers, e.g. onwards on a TGV service, cannot be upgraded even for just the €☆ sector. It can be worth split ticketing if you want to upgrade.

  • Throwawayname says:
    2 Apr2 April 08:43

    Tangentially related question: Virgin have said they’re looking to launch a service competing against Eurostar. Does anyone have a view as to whether it’s a serious endeavour or a pie-in-the-sky PR stunt? And is there any scope for additional destinations (e.g. CDG)?

    • RussellH says:
      2 Apr2 April 10:11

      There has been some positive news.
      1. A recent ORR decision means that Virgin has to be allowed to service its trains at Temple Mills (Eurostar London depot). Eurostar has always maintained that there was not enough room.
      2. London StPancras Highspeed (LSPH), the new name for HS1 believes that “the capacity for international rail services at St Pancras can more than double from the current 1 800 to over 5 000 pax per hour” (quote from Keith Fender in Modern Railways).
      However, they do say this will require “new infrastructure, combined with efficient border and security processes.”
      I cannot see new infrastructure – ie removing most of the retail outlets and significant building works – happening any time soon, while “efficient border and security processes” seems like an oxymoron to me. There appears to be an assumption that electronic border controls will make a huge difference.
      3. Getlink (who run the tunnel) have budgeted €50 million for 2025-2030 for its Eurotunnel Incentive for Capacity Addition programme. They want new operators to serve new destinations.

      However:
      Virgin (nor Evolyn, nor any other prospective operator) have not ordered any trains.
      Under current rules, new destinations would imply constructing security and immigration facilities at those new destinations.
      Also, operation to destinations further away from London means that operators will want to be able to carry intra-Schengen pax – eg Bruxelles-Köln-Frankfurt or Lille-CDG-Lyon_Torino to get a decent payload on the trains.

      In reality, the answer is not efficient border and security processes, but dropping the security checks (there are none through the alpine base tunnels) and the UK finally accepting the need to join Schengen.

      • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
        2 Apr2 April 10:27

        The UK didn’t join Schengen whilst we were in the EU and we are not going to join now we’re not in the EU.

        • RussellH says:
          2 Apr2 April 11:27

          1. You do not have to be in the EU to join Schengen.

          2. Obviously we shall have to make significant changes to our relationship with the rest of Europe. That nice Mr. Trump is helping with that.

  • kevinchoi says:
    2 Apr2 April 09:44

    What’s the price point at which a Normal award in Standard class on Eurostar turns into an Anytime award? So like if the equivalent ticket is selling for > £X then it’ll be an Anytime award?
    Is it higher/lower than the £74 one-way/£148 return which Rob mentioned in the article where we can transfer from Accor?

    • Rob says:
      2 Apr2 April 09:49

      There is an allocation of tickets at standard reward price. It’s not directly linked to cash price, although of course the cash algorithm will put up prices as tickets are sold. It’s common to find cash seats at the same price but reward seats at different prices, or vice versa.

  • Alex says:
    2 Apr2 April 09:55

    Thanks for that, I was thinking about signing up to Accor surveys to extend my points but this is actually much better!

  • overlander says:
    2 Apr2 April 16:23

    There’s also a conversion bonus to Deutsche Bahn, if anyone interested.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!