Does Accor use AccorPlus to impose a loyalty tax?

A curious thing happened to me. I went to book a hotel stay, selected the cheapest room and just before paying decided it may be best to sign up for AccorPlus.

I did so, went to redo my booking and the cheapest room was no longer available now that I was a AccorPlus member.

The cheaper room category was definitely still available (I could book it if not signed in) but was now removed from possible options when using my account.

This may be a glitch. But I am suspicious. It would be consistent with Accor adopting a price discrimination strategy.

In particular purchase of AccorPlus membership signals two things to their algorithm : a)       You are wealthy and not particularly price conscious – the price difference between a “superior” and “luxury” room may seem minor; b)     You are loyal – you have an incentive to use Accor and crucially book directly through the app. You are less likely to use an Online Travel Agent or meta search to identify the best rate because my incentive is to stay within the app.

On the basis of these signals the Accor algorithm/policy might seek to engage in some price discrimination that prevents you booking cheaper room categories.

To be clear my allegation is not that Accor Plus members pay more for the same room. But rather that they are not always presented with the full range of options, in particular lower priced rooms.

I only have a data point of 1 and so am proceeding cautiously. I asked Accor for clarification but they have not responded. I will then discuss with relevant consumer authorities. The behaviour would be consistent with the growing phenomenon of a “loyalty tax” although worse because you are paying to pay the loyalty tax.

But I wanted to know has anybody else experienced this issue.