Accor is organizing an unprecedented contest for students from over 14 European schools and universities

This week, Accor kicks off a contest for university, business school and hotel management school* students. Only the first 300 teams to apply will qualify for the contest which is organized in three stages and focuses on a topical issue: sustainable development in the hotel industry.

Candidates must demonstrate inventiveness, photo and video editing skills, and the ability to convince both in writing and orally in order to obtain the highest opinion scores on the online voting site (www.accortakeoff.com), before passing in front of a jury made up of hotel professionals. The winning team will win a fabulous four-day trip including travel and excursions to one of the group’s hotels. They will be able to choose one of the following five destinations: Saint-Petersburg, Berlin, Athens, Marrakech and Lisbon.

Antoine Recher, Accor’s Global Chief Human Resources Officer, underscores the fact that “The spirit of innovation and achievement is deeply anchored within Accor. Encouraging and stimulating talented young people from a wide range of educational backgrounds so they apply their creativity to challenging concrete hotel industry concerns such as sustainable development, opens up traditional frontiers in hospitality. Our objective is also to widen our recruitment pool to accompany our strong growth.”

Fabrice Tessier, School Partnerships and Relations Director at Accor, explains “Take Off! aims to strengthen our bonds with both students and their schools. We actually approached them when we designed this contest by asking them to imagine the sort of competition they would really love to enter! This contest gives the students an opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge to resolving operating issues and cope with the demands of our industry. It gives Accor the privileged opportunity to interact directly with students and listen to their suggestions in order to build the hotels of the future!”

“The contest’s online and multi-media format is consistent with our e-recruitment strategy. We are on LinkedIn and Facebook, and our Accorjobs online recruitment site, which is constantly enriched with podcasts and video testimonials, received more than 4.5 million visits in 2011. This competition is in line with our vision of a hotel industry of the future that is digital, sustainable and innovative!” concludes Philippe Liger, Accor’s HR Marketing Director.

*List of schools partners – among which:

• Hotel management schools: Glion, Lausanne, IMHI, Paul Bocuse, SEG, The Hague
• Business schools: EM Grenoble, ESC Toulouse, ESSEC, Rouen BS, SKEMA
• Universities : Dauphine, IAE Chambéry et Savoie, Esthua in Angers

Accor, the world’s leading hotel operator and market leader in Europe, is present in90 countries with 4,400 hotels and more than 530,000 rooms. Accor’s broad portfolio of hotel brands - Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure, Adagio, ibis, all seasons/ibis styles, Etap Hotel/ibis budget, hotelF1 and Motel 6 - provide an extensive offer from luxury to budget. With 145,000 employees worldwide, the Group offers to its clients and partners nearly 45 years of know-how and expertise.

source: hospitalitynet
researcher:bonnie