Usually when I see hotel sales, discounts are off of rack rate which means that they usually aren’t discounted relative to the best rate you’d normally get. And the sales usually are prepaid/non-changeable and certainly aren’t discounted much relative to otherwise-available prepaid rates. There may be 10% or so savings but the hype is much greater.

One exception to this rule is the semi-regular Accor hotels sales.

They’re running their 50% off sale through June 22nd, prepaid room nights for stays July 6 through September 2.

The 50% off sale is for Leclub Accorhotels members only (of course, if you’re going to stay at one of their properties you should be joining their loyalty program anyway), non-members only get 40% off. The discount “applies to the public rate at the time of booking” and appears to actually be 50% off.

The discount is not available every day at the 1300 participating properties, for instance they flag that it won’t be available for stays in the U.K. until August 13.

If you’re going to take advantage of the sale, then sign up for Leclub Accorhotels at the top tier Platinum level. I have recent reports that this link still works for that purpose. (Update: the free Platinum signup offer is no longer working, I imagine there’ll be another one coming along soon, for now though it’s just a really good sale.)

Platinum status usually requires 60 nights or 25,000 points earned. It offers double points and at Sofitel, Pullman and MGallery hotels a complimentary drink and welcome gift, and subject to availability and on request 4pm late checkout and an upgrade. [There don’t appear to be any Sofitels participating in this sale.]

And it’s the points program for their broader portfolio of properties including Novotel and Mercure.

Speaking of their points, in perhaps a record for longest time for points to post on their own but with no followup required, Accor’s Facebook promotion from October dropped 500 points in my account yesterday morning.

(HT: cyberdog on Milepoint)