A LoyaltyLobby reader sent us a link to a website that appears to be selling airline and hotel status for cash.
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Here’s the email from a reader:
Greetings from Singapore. I came across the following website:
https://www.spendelicious.com/collections/all-hotel-privileges/products/platinum
I am very keen to purchase the Accor platinum status for one year because 75 nights per year seems to be quite unachievable for me but the executive lounge access for accor hotels is really good.(accor used to give out platinum status years ago with credit card subscriptions etc but now they have stopped completely.) Was wondering if such websites can be trusted or if you have readers who have shared similar incidents with you.
This certainly is an interesting looking website! They are selling a number of airline, hotel and car rental mid and top-tier memberships for cash (and some for a rather reasonable price). I have never heard about this previously and whether they can deliver the product or not.
Some programs may allow hotels to sign up members for tier challenges and/or top-tier memberships. The owner of this site may have struck a deal with some hotels to do just that for cash.
Doing something like this is certainly against the T&Cs of both hotel or airline programs a member might be a member of and doing this may be come at a price. The worst that may happen is your account is restricted, audited or closed.
Conclusion
There was something similar out from South Africa couple of years back that we covered. Not sure what happened to that website. I have not heard about this Spendelicious previously and if they can deliver the goods or not.
They appear to accept PayPal as a payment so you should be covered to some extend if they cannot get your account upgraded.
You do have to understand that participating in a scheme such as this may come at a price and I would not jeopardize an established account that has points.