Accor TakeOff! Student Challenge Opens Registration

Today, Accor is launching the 2023 edition of the TakeOff! Student Challenge, a worldwide prize-winning competition offering, for the first time, job opportunities within the Group. This year, Accor has unveiled a challenge theme in line with the Group’s digital strategy, asking students: "What memorable digital and innovative experiences could Accor offer to its guests to develop and ensure their loyalty?” 

As a world-leading hospitality Group present in 110 countries, Accor has almost 80,000 people joining every year and is on track to attract and recruit more talent seeking to explore new challenges and #LimitlessPossibilities. Accor’s talent initiatives are focused on engaging and attracting young and emerging talent through school partnerships and notably the yearly Take Off! Challenge. This is a worldwide competition in which students are invited to focus on a real Accor case study, pitch their business projects and be evaluated by Accor’s leadership team and experts. A great opportunity for young people to develop a network, challenge themselves and exchange ideas with people from around the world, this is also a platform to enable students to benefit from peer-to-peer coaching with the competition’s alumni.

Launched in 2012, TakeOff! challenge has been inspiring more than 6,000 students worldwide with a wide range of topics linked to the Group’s activities, such as F&B, Technology, Design and New Ways to Travel. This year's topic is focused on Innovation & Digital. As a pioneer in digital transformation and the first player in the industry to have a dedicated Digital Factory, Accor continually enhances the digital experience for its clients by offering an ever more seamless and personalized service. Digital talents are at the core of Accor’s innovation, and we hope the younger generation of digital wizards will play a part in disrupting and developing the industry. 

In the 2022 edition, nearly 600 students from 200 schools across 37 countries registered for the challenge, among which 16 finalists presented their ideas to the jury. The final prize for the champions was a 3-day trip to Paris during which the three winners visited Accor headquarters and hotels, conversed with Accor teams, and enjoyed a French cruise experience on the Seine River. In addition, two students from the runners-up teams enjoyed a memorable experience at the Living Adventure in Qatar during the Football World Cup. For this 2023 edition, Accor has the ambition to help the younger generation explore the professional world and attract more young talent into the hospitality industry. 

Once again, this year, Accor invites students to think outside of the box and consider how to reshape guest experiences by driving digitalization and innovation. Growth and development are at the heart of the Group’s talent culture. As such the goal of this year’s competition is to enable students to benefit and learn from the expertise of Accor’s leadership, and ultimately provide them with international internships/apprenticeships/first job opportunities across the Group. This will allow them to develop their career paths within a leading global hospitality player. 

Megan Ng Min Feng, 2022 TakeOff! Challenge winner from Nanyang Technological University Singapore, said: “TakeOff! was an unforgettable experience that allowed me to stretch my creativity, gain greater clarity on the inner workings of hospitality and lastly challenge myself to develop innovative and revolutionary solutions. One advice I would give for the coming participants: Be up to date on the latest trends and developments in the industry and attempt to think from a user and Accor’s perspective to determine the right fit in the solutions.” 

Steven Daines, Chief Talent & Culture Officer of Accor, said: “Accor is rebuilding the hospitality of the future and looking for young leaders to make it happen. Attracting young and emerging talent is the priority for us and we promise limitless growth & development opportunities for all. TakeOff! Student Challenge is the best way to empower students, potentially leading to new career paths within Accor.  We are looking forward to seeing young candidates develop their full potential and explore limitless possibilities during this amazing journey.” 

Registrations are open from March 6th 2023 and students have until April 9th 2023 to submit their project.