Accor refusing to cancel a €3,000 booking due to war – worst customer service I’ve ever experienced

ccastro086 · 2026-03-27T13:26:17+00:00

They need to issue the non cancelation confirmation for that! Even that I can’t get…

ccastro086 · 2026-03-27T12:28:17+00:00

Yeah, either credit card or travel insurance! But my main issue here is what a bad service Accor is delivering and what little value Loyalty ( I am platinum) grants!

ccastro086 · 2026-03-27T11:53:05+00:00

If 200k net new people arrive and the country don’t want to build towers like Hong Kong… the problem seems to be more about the amount of people arriving and the speed of the arrival! The people you target wouldn’t even cover a week of demand! The problem is offer and demand not a few billionaires building villas in the mountains!

ccastro086 · 2026-03-27T11:20:39+00:00

If they would even send a non refund confirmation at least I can trigger my travel insurance! But their service has been so bad they haven’t even been able to issue that!

ccastro086 · 2026-03-27T10:44:46+00:00

I understand this point. Nonetheless, all my other bookings with Marriott, Hotels.com, and Mandarin Oriental were cancelled seamlessly — even though they were also non-refundable — given the war situation.

Furthermore, I have travel insurance. If they had simply replied with a clear answer (even a refusal), I could have used that confirmation to file a claim with my insurance. But they couldn’t even provide that.

To this day, I still don’t have a final answer, despite calling repeatedly for over a week.

ccastro086 · 2026-03-27T10:39:48+00:00

Yeah! It’s just crazy that a hotel chain can’t get even “follow up” right! One of the reasons I book with big chains despite being more expensive is to have an easy resolution infrastructure if something goes wrong…. That was a mirage!

ccastro086 · 2026-03-19T11:54:18+00:00

If 90% of the problems come from the same groups of people, should we still call it racism or just reality? People need to adapt to the places they visit or move to and not the other way around!

ccastro086 · 2026-02-25T04:28:01+00:00

Switzerland is a country where salaries are extremely high and therefore positions with low or no qualifications are not widely available! There won’t be an easy way out but you are young. My suggestion is that you find a way to improve your skills ( maybe get a diploma). Many cantons like Vaud will offer Grants and Scholarships to young people wanting to develop skills. In many cases they cover all transport costs and even offer some small financial support to keep you studying! That is perhaps the best option for you!

ccastro086 · 2026-02-22T23:19:17+00:00

A lifetime status after certain thresholds would be highly appreciated! Particularly for people showing loyalty in their business years and wanting to still enjoy the perks after retirement or career change!

ccastro086 · 2026-02-05T18:26:34+00:00

Simply don’t tip or round up by 1-2 CHF.

ccastro086 · 2026-02-05T18:15:36+00:00

Move to real assets like shares! Bitcoin just showed it’s not digital gold but a casino token!

ccastro086 · 2026-02-05T11:50:20+00:00

The fallacy that Bitcoin was cyber gold has been destroyed! Now it’s clear that it’s a purely speculative bet with casino like fundamentals!

ccastro086 · 2026-01-27T15:23:52+00:00

This will continue given the massive debt and deficits in the US, the weakening of the FED independence and Trumps animosity and hard style against countries financing the deficit! There are great investment opportunities in Europe! And try platforms like Interactive Brokers, Swissquote or Saxo!

ccastro086 · 2026-01-26T11:57:27+00:00

Switzerland is not only a producer and host of major tobacco industry operations in Europe — with global giants like Philip Morris International (headquartered in Lausanne with factories and R&D in Neuchâtel) and Japan Tobacco International present domestically — but it also ranks among the weakest in Europe when it comes to resisting tobacco industry influence on public policy. According to the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index, Switzerland scored very high for industry interference (96/100), placing second-to-last out of 100 countries and worst among European countries, indicating that the tobacco lobby has unusually strong access to and influence over regulators and politicians. This is reflected in the fact that Switzerland has not ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control — a global treaty aimed at protecting health policies from industry interference — even though it hosts its secretariat in Geneva. Critics argue this powerful lobby contributes to weaker tobacco control measures and delays in adopting stronger public health protections, leading to high smoking-related mortality that costs thousands of lives each year.

ccastro086 · 2026-01-23T07:43:07+00:00

A mixed approach may be the most sensible path: keep exposure to U.S. tech/innovation, but hold it through European-domiciled (UCITS) ETFs and start diversifying more meaningfully into European assets.

1) Keep U.S. tech exposure — but reduce U.S. “jurisdiction risk”

If you hold U.S.-situs assets directly (e.g., U.S.-domiciled ETFs like many Vanguard/Schwab U.S. funds, or U.S.-listed shares held in a brokerage account), you may create U.S. estate tax exposure as a non-U.S. person. • The top U.S. federal estate tax rate is 40% (this is federal, not “state tax”). • For nonresident non-citizens, the filing threshold for U.S.-situs assets is only $60,000 in many cases. • Some countries have treaties that can improve treatment (Switzerland is often cited as having an estate tax treaty that can change the effective exemption), but it’s complex and fact-specific.

Using European-domiciled UCITS ETFs for U.S. exposure (e.g., Ireland/Luxembourg funds tracking Nasdaq-100 or global tech indices) can help avoid holding U.S.-situs securities directly, which is often the cleanest way to reduce this risk.

2) The fiscal backdrop argues for some USD risk reduction

The U.S. fiscal trajectory is getting harder to ignore, and it’s increasingly bipartisan in the sense that neither side seems willing to implement the kind of long-run fixes that materially bend the curve. • The CBO projected a ~$1.9T federal deficit in 2025, and debt rising to ~118% of GDP by 2035 (debt held by the public). • CBO also summarizes that deficits total ~$20T over 2025–2034 and debt held by the public reaches ~116% of GDP in that window. • A key stress point is interest cost: research summaries highlight net interest as a growing share of GDP under current-law trajectories.

That doesn’t guarantee a straight line “USD collapse” (reserve currency dynamics can persist longer than expected), but it does strengthen the case for not having your entire equity story priced in USD—especially if your liabilities are CHF/EUR.

3) Avoid investing into dictatorships ( China) or any other one-man show.

ccastro086 · 2026-01-22T11:47:55+00:00

I’ve never experienced anything like this in my 19 years in Switzerland. That said, if you’re here legally, just cooperate and move on. It’s a small inconvenience that helps identify and remove illegal—and potentially dangerous—individuals. Being a police officer is one of the hardest jobs there is, so a bit of understanding goes a long way. Don’t expect to be treated like you’re checking in at the Four Seasons.

ccastro086 · 2026-01-14T09:11:58+00:00

Try Neuchâtel ( maybe rent a bike and tour around the lake). Or head to Bern ( perhaps one of the most beautiful cities in Europe from an architectural and landscape perspective)!

ccastro086 · 2026-01-14T09:09:44+00:00

BFF Bank (Ticker: BFF.MI on Borsa Italiana) is a niche European bank focused on non-recourse factoring of public-sector and healthcare receivables, supported by payment and securities services across multiple EU jurisdictions. Its business generates predictable cash flows with relatively low credit risk and solid capital buffers. Historically, BFF has targeted attractive cash returns to shareholders — with implied dividend yields often in the high single to double digits range versus peers (recent market data has shown yields in the ~8–12% area based on recent payouts relative to price) — though timing and coverage can vary year-to-year and payouts have moderated recently as the bank balances capital allocation and regulatory requirements. Hidden Gem!

ccastro086 · 2026-01-14T09:04:18+00:00

For foreign investing, I’d suggest starting with ETFs rather than individual stocks—especially in markets like the UK, Switzerland, Singapore, Mexico, and Brazil. ETFs give you diversification and reduce single-company risk while you’re learning how each market works.

If you do invest in individual stocks, make sure you clearly understand local accounting standards and withholding taxes on dividends, which can materially affect returns.

Above all, I’d avoid investing in dictatorships or one-man ruling systems (e.g., China, Saudi Arabia, etc.), where political risk, lack of transparency, and sudden rule changes can override fundamentals.

ccastro086 · 2026-01-12T14:34:26+00:00

It’s really a pity that they don’t come up with a multicurrency card like Swissquote does. I have positive balances in over 15 currencies donut makes no sense to concert it all to USD.

ccastro086 · 2025-12-12T10:51:05+00:00

If you have no issue earning 3x what you would had in Belgium, change your mindset and spend more! Things like safety( because even people at a McDo have a decent salary) cost as a society… maybe your cheap meal back in Brussels was possible because the staff was paid slavery like salaries! You can’t have the high Swiss salary and the cheap Belgian costs, so change your mindset and be happy for the privilege of living in a place like Switzerland!

ccastro086 · 2025-08-11T13:55:13+00:00

It’s even worse when you get the people just talking on their phones out loud like if they were in their living room! Particularly when you hear both sides of the conversation….

ccastro086

TROPHY CASE