ALL Accor+ Explorer, the paid membership still widely called Accor Plus, has so far been an Asia Pacific product with one outpost in the UAE. On 1 October 2026 that changes. Accor Plus announced that “Participating hotels in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will join the ALL Accor+ Explorer network from 01 October”, and that members in Asia Pacific and the UAE “will soon be able to use eligible benefits” at them.
For a member in Singapore, Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur, this matters on a trip west: a Doha stopover, a week in Muscat, a trip to Jordan. Accor has already published the rules.
What Accor’s own rules exclude
Accor’s stay benefits page, marked “Updated 30 September 2026”, lists where member benefits do not apply. Four lines decide what a member can use in the new countries.
- Sofitel, MGallery and Emblems, in all ten. The page reads: “ALL Accor+ Explorer benefits are not available at the following Brands: Sofitel, MGallery, Emblems in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.” That removes the upper-mid and luxury brands most likely to be the reason a member chose a particular hotel in a Gulf city. The page does not list which individual hotels the rest of Accor’s portfolio covers.
- Every hotel in Makkah. Under Saudi Arabia, the exclusion list reads “Makkah / Mecca – All hotels”. Nothing else in Saudi Arabia is excluded by city.
- Rixos and the Banyan Group, everywhere. The worldwide brand exclusions include Rixos, which has a large presence across the Middle East and Turkey, and the Banyan Group including Banyan Tree and Angsana. They are not new to the Middle East, but they matter more now that benefits reach the places those brands operate.
- Some lifestyle brands outside Asia Pacific. The page says the Explorer rate “is not available at the following Brands outside of Asia Pacific: 25hours, Hyde, Mama Shelter, Mondrian, SO/, Tribe, ibis Budget”. The new countries are outside Asia Pacific, so that line applies there as well as in Europe or the Americas.
What still works
The UAE storefront now describes the free-night benefit as one free night when you stay two nights or more, twice a year, at hotels “across the Middle East and Asia Pacific”. The dining discount and the member rate follow the same network.
The free night still discounts a qualifying stay of two nights or more rather than standing alone, and some brands and destinations need three consecutive nights. Our guide to whether the membership pays for itself works through that test. The dining discount’s blackout dates are published country by country, so check whether the new countries have their own before you plan a dinner around one.
One thing we could not confirm. Accor has said participating hotels join on 1 October, but on 30 September, the day before they join, its hotel search needed dates to show results, so we could not tell which hotels in, for example, Doha or Riyadh are in. Search your own dates on your market’s hotel page before you rely on a free night in a new country.
The 3,000-point offer started in the UAE
Accor Plus is marking the launch with a joining bonus, and its scope is narrower than a quick read suggests. Accor Plus’s announcement says “UAE residents who purchase an ALL Accor+ Explorer membership between 1 and 31 October 2026 will receive 3,000 bonus ALL Accor Reward points.”
That announcement names the UAE, and on 30 September we found no such offer on the Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong or Australian storefronts. It did not stay a UAE offer. On 1 October the Hong Kong and Australian storefronts added a 3,000 Reward Points offer, and by 9 October the same terms sat on 12 of Accor’s 13 storefronts, Singapore and Malaysia included, with only Korea’s left out. Those terms limit it to first-time members and former members whose membership expired before 1 October 2026, buying by 11:59 pm Sydney time on 31 October, so a current member renewing gets nothing from it. The October offer, market by market sets out what the points are worth in each currency. Whatever your market, the offer will be on the storefront for the market you would buy in, and it is worth reading the dates and eligibility there rather than assuming this one applies.
What the bonus is worth is easy to put a number on, because Accor fixes it. ALL’s own page says “1,000 Reward points = €20”, so 3,000 points take €60 off a future stay. Against a UAE fee of USD 255 a year, that is a real but modest sweetener, and not a reason on its own to buy a membership you would not otherwise use. The fee rises to that figure on 1 October; the price rise in every market has the old and new numbers.
Who this helps
- A member in Asia Pacific who travels to the Gulf a few times a year. Your membership now works in more of the cities you visit, provided you stay at the brands left in after the exclusions. If your usual Doha or Riyadh hotel is a Sofitel, nothing has changed for you.
- A member with a long layover in Doha. Whether you can leave the airport depends on your passport before any hotel benefit matters, and the Qatar transit visa rules cover that. A free night needs a two-night stay, so it only helps on a stopover of at least that length.
- Someone living in the Gulf outside the UAE. Accor Plus has announced hotels joining in your country, not a storefront. The country list on Accor Plus’s site on 30 September ran from Australia to Vietnam plus the UAE, with a “Rest of the World” option for everywhere else, and we would not buy the membership on the strength of a network that has not yet opened.
- Anyone making a first trip to Makkah. The membership does nothing for you there.
If you are already a member, there is nothing to do: from 1 October the new hotels simply become places your benefits may work. If you are weighing whether to join, start from the Explorer page for your own market, where the fee and the participating-hotel search are, and run the worth-it test with the trips you actually take.
We have an affiliate arrangement with Accor Plus and earn a commission on a new membership bought through our links. Most of this page is about where the membership does not work.
The Explorer page for your own market, with its hotel search and current fee Our full write-up. (affiliate link)