Rules

Join the Accor Student Challenge

OFFICIAL RULES

DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTEST

Accor, one of the world’s leading hotel operators, is organizing an original and innovative student challenge from March 7th, 2024,to May 28th, 2024 (“the Contest”).

Form teams of 2 or 3 students and compete in 3 rounds on the theme of:

Imagine the future of Social Connection for ibis Family by developing a CSR campaign aimed at engaging a new generation of guests!

You will have the opportunity to work on innovative propositions, network with industry leaders and win superb holidays/experiences in our hotels!

ORGANIZING COMPANY

ACCOR company with capital of 789 095 382 euros, registered with the Nanterre RCS under number 602 036 444 and whose registered office is located at 82 rue Henri Farman 92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux (hereinafter the “Company”), organizes from  March7th 2024 at 00:01 to May 28th 2024 at 23:59 (GMT +1) a challenge (on the website, accessible at www.accortakeoff.com, hereinafter the “Website”).  

AGREEMENT TO THE OFFICIAL RULES

By participating in the Contest, each Entrant fully and unconditionally agrees to and accepts the present Official Rules and the decisions of the Company, which are final and binding in all matters related to the Contest.

When completing the official registration forms, the teams will be asked to accept these Official Rules. Failure to accept the Official Rules will prohibit the completion of the official registration form. Acceptance by the team member having personally completed the official registration form on behalf of the team will be deemed to constitute acceptance by the other members of the team.

COMPETITION TIMELINE

The overall competition schedule takes place between March 7th and May 28th,2024.

The registration takes place from March 7th to April 4th up to extra time till April 7th, 2024.

The first round takes place from April 8th to April 12th, 2024.

The second round takes place from April 15th to May 6th and 7th, 2024. (Depending on the day of presentation)

The third round (hereinafter the “Final”) takes place from May 13th to May 28th, 2024.

The rounds schedule may change depending on the organization needs.

The days and times indicated in these Official Rules are those of the UTC/GMT +01:00 time zone (Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid and Paris). No other time zone will be taken into account for entry into the Contest.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?

Entrants must be:

  • Entrants enrolled at any school of higher education (Hospitality Management school, Business school, University, Design School, etc.); and
  • Aged between 18 and 30 years old at registration; and
  • Registered in one team of two or three Entrants from the same location, country; and
  • In possession of a valid email address.

Entrants cannot be:

  • Employees, apprentices, trainees and/or interns working in the Ibis Family teams of Accor.

Participation in the Contest is subject to each team’s online acceptation of the present Accor Student Challenge Official Rules (hereinafter the “Official Rules”) and to the signature by all team members of the “Authorization to Use My Personality Attributes” which will be sent before April 7th.

Only one participation per Entrant is allowed.

ROUND 1

Entrants have until April 7th to register and submit their project. 

Describe your project in one paragraph.

You will accompany this pitch with a mood board to be submitted between March 7th and April 7th.

Your mood board can be uploaded in PDF format and must not exceed 20 MB. Your descriptive text must not exceed 1000 characters (spaces inclusive).

You will also add a motivation video of your team which cannot exceed one minute and thirty seconds.

The Company cannot be held responsible for the quality of the photo posted on the Website.

How to submit the project?

To submit their project, Entrants should log onto the Website:

Entrants must complete the online registration form, submit their project and complete the forms in full. 

Once a team has validated its project, they will receive an automatic e-mail confirming that the project will be uploaded on April 7th or rejected if containing illegal materials.

You can change your project during the inscription period (between March 1st and April 7th). After validation, a team will not be able to change the content.

The content of each team (text, title, and photo) will be checked by the website administrator. The website administrator will validate the information before it appears on the website. Once all the projects are checked, they will be publicly visible online on April 7th.

If the number of team members is reduced to less than 2 members, the team shall be disqualified. However, the Company reserves the right, not to disqualify teams in which a team member has a legitimate reason to leave their team if there are at least 2 team members remaining to continue the Contest. The reasons considered as legitimate by the Company are, but not limited to, the following: pregnancy, accidents, or hospitalization.

Selection Process Round 1

Each team will be evaluated by the defined judging criteria for Round 1 by a jury of regional Accor professionals.

Every team will be enrolled under one of the geographic areas of Accor Hubs, according to the campus location of the educational center they are enrolled in. 

The 15 teams selected will then move to round 2. Number of allocated projects per hub is based on different factors such as:

  • Number of projects presented
  • Hub headcount in 2023
  • Hub number of hotels in 2023
  • Hub number of recruitment in 2023

If for any reason a team qualified to participate in Round 2 should be disqualified, the team with the next best score in the region (Hub) will be selected. 

*Jury of Accor professionals (composed of – subject to change without notice – General Managers of Accor hotels, HR executives, Experts on the topic …)

ROUND 2

The task of the 15 teams selected for Round 2 is to describe a situation which would showcase their project.

Situated within Accor hotel’s community, how would a live enactment of the project with relevant stakeholders look like?

In a video, imagine a situation where your project can be illustrated and put into use.

Your video must not exceed 1 minute 30 seconds and each Entrant must appear in the video.

The Company cannot be held responsible for the quality of the video posted on the website.

Added to the video 5 PPT slides presenting the idea as well as the costs and deployment of the idea.

How to submit the project?

To submit their project, Entrant should log onto the website: www.accortakeoff.com

Entrants must complete the Round 2 submission form to post their project.

Video must be submitted by April 25th.

PPT must be submitted by May 3rd.

The website administrator will check the content of each team (text, title and video) and validate the information before it appears publicly on the website, which the Entrants agree to. 

Selection Process for Round 2

The 15 remaining teams will be evaluated by a jury made of Accor professionals via a 15-minutes conference call on May 6th and May 7th (teams will be assigned with the date by admin)where:

       –   the team will briefly present themselves

       –   the team and jury members will have watched the video prior to the evaluation

       –   the team must briefly pitch their concept/idea/project in 7 minutes

       –   the jury will ask the team 3-5 questions

One week before the conference call, Entrants will receive a notification by e-mail with the hour at which they will relate to the jury. All team members must attend and be on time, team members do not be in the same room, they can connect individually if they need. If none of the team members can attend, the Entrants must justify their unavailability at least 5 days in advance with a valid certificate from their school or doctor. In case of force majeure, a new time for the conference call will be communicated. In the absence of any valid justification in due time, the Entrant will be disqualified.

After Round 2 (semi-finals), 5 teams will be selected to the Final, results will be on May 13th.

If for any reason a team qualified to participate in the Final online should be disqualified, the team with the next best score will be selected.

Accor reserves the right to check the validity of the registration information submitted by students.

FINAL

The Final will be held online on May 28th and if possible, from one of the Accor properties in your region. You will pitch your solution during a conference call. 

Selection Process

Prepare an 8-minute pitch in advance, including the following elements:

  • Concept & Details​
  • Marketing & Communication​
  • Business Model​
  • Implementation Plan​​
  • Scalability
  • Investability
  • Updated resume of each Entrant

On the day of the final, you will be asked to present your final pitch. 

You must prepare 10 slides max and submit your application by May 26th.

The presentation will be followed by 7 minutes Q&A.

The winning team will be chosen after a deliberation of the online Jury on May 28th based on the above criteria.

ELIMINATION

Accor reserves the right to check the validity of the registration information submitted by students at any stage during the Contest.

Accor reserves the right to refuse participation, or to disqualify, at any time during the Contest, Entrants (and their team) who have submitted incorrect or misleading information. Teams will have no recourse against disqualification decisions.

JUDGING CRITERIA

General judging criteria are:

Round 1

  • Project feasibility
  • Originality
  • Connection with Accor Strategy
  • Scalable
  • Investable
  • Team Spirit/Motivation

Round 2 

  • Project feasibility
  • Originality
  • Coherence
  • Cost & Deployment
  • Scalable
  • Investable
  • Aesthetic
  • Team Spirit/Motivation
  • Answers to Jury

Final

  • Originality
  • Concept & Details
  • Business Model
  • Implementation Plan
  • Cost & Deployment
  • Scalable
  • Investable
  • Marketing & Communication
  • Aesthetic
  • Team Spirit/Motivation
  • Answers to Jury

PRIZES

The following prize will be awarded to the winning team:

The winning team

The 2/3 Entrants of the winning team will win a trip to Paris. The prize includes a workshop at Accor HQ with Leadership teams, full coverage by Accor of the cost of transportation (return flights or train tickets from your school’s city), 3 nights in a 4- or 5-star hotel, breakfast as well as other advantages to be specified. Accor will not take in charge any fee or procedure regarding immigration or passport costs.

The prize awarded during the Contest are personal and must be used by the winning team within 1 year of the Final during which the winners are announced. Upon expiry of the 1- year period, the prize will no longer be usable and the winning team members cannot in any way claim compensation in cash and/or in kind should they not have used the prize in the time. Should the prize consist of a trip, all members of the winning team must travel together, except in case of force majeure, prohibiting a team member from participating in the trip.

Winning team members may not transfer, exchange, or redeem any prize for cash; however, the Company reserves the right to substitute, in whole or in part, a prize of comparable or greater value due to prize unavailability. If any prize is refused, a prize notification is returned or deemed undeliverable, or potential winner is disqualified for any reason, an alternate winner will be selected.

The Company will not provide any refund or compensation in the event of any cancellation of the trip by a winning team member of the Contest.

The Company shall not be liable in any way for any dispute which may arise in connection with the allocation of the prize.

Finalists

Finalists will benefit from an experience within one of our properties. (Restaurant or spa)

Disqualification

Noncompliance with the Official Rules will result in disqualification and the forfeiture if any prize.

Winner publicity

Students participating in this Context accept that, if they win a prize, the Company will have the right, without additional payment or permission, to use their name, age, town of residence and likeness for the purposes of announcing the winner or runners-up of this Contest and for related promotional purposes.

PERSONAL DATA

The Entrants’ personal data is processed by the Company, in its capacity as data controller. Such processing is necessary for the purposes of running the Contest, managing the Contest entries and its smooth operation, determining the winning team, and awarding the prize.

The Entrant’s personal data is intended for authorized personnel of the Company, its affiliates and service providers involved in organizing and managing the Contest.

Unless otherwise stipulated by legal or regulatory provisions, the personal data of non-selected Entrants shall be retained until June 13th 2025. The winning team members personal data shall be retained until  March 2025 for the awarding of prize.

To exercise their rights (access to data, rectification, erasure, restriction or objection to processing, definition of instructions for data processing after their death), Entrants must write a message directly through the Agorize platform. .

Entrants may also contact Accor’s Data Protection Officer by writing to data.privacy@accor.com or lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

In any case, the information provided by the Entrant in connection with the Competition should not contain any so-called sensitive information, such as details relating to health or sexual orientation, racial or ethnic origins, political opinions or religious and philosophical beliefs.

CONFIDENTIALITY

During the Contest, Entrant and/or teams must not have any direct and/or indirect contact with the media regarding the Contest, unless authorized by the Accor School Relations and Partnerships Department.

INVOLVEMENT OF PROFESSORS, SCHOOL STAFF, UNIVERSITIES

The support of professors and/or University staff and/or school must be limited to general information only. Professors or university and/or school staff can be represented on the jury for Round 1, Round 2 and/or the Final. They will not be authorized to express their opinion or vote for their own school’s team.

 CLAIMS – APPLICABLE LAW – COMPETENT JURISDICTION

Any dispute, questions and/or claims relating to the competition, must be received within 15 days of the date at which the winning teams (of round 1, round 2 or the Final ) have been announced.

The claim must be sent to : “Take Off! Join the Accor Student Challenge”– Global Schools & Talent Attraction – Tour Sequana– 82 Rue Henry Farman – 92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux, France.

These rules are governed by French law.

In the event of any dispute arising out of the interpretation or enforcement of the Official Rules, the Entrant and the Company shall first seek an amicable settlement. If an amicable agreement cannot be reached, the Entrant or the Company may refer the dispute to the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent French Court.

If one or more provisions of these Official Rules are declared void and/or not applicable, the other clauses shall retain their full force and scope.

MISCELLANEOUS

Accor reserves the right to shorten, cancel, or modify the Contest or the present Official Rules, without the teams and / or team members being able to claim compensation thereof.

“Take Off! Join the Accor Student Challenge”, its concept, content, look and feel, logo and all other graphic elements and organization are and will remain the sole property of Accor.

Accor is not responsible for errors in the entries of teams and team members, malfunction of the website, incorrect e-mail addresses, or connection problems related to the competition.

Teams will not be reimbursed for materials or resources used in the preparation of their presentation.

AUTHORIZATION TO USE THE PARTICIPANTS’ IMAGE

The Entrant expressly agree that Accor SA may directly or indirectly, fully or partially, and on an exclusive basis, use their image as it was captured with their consent by the photographer or/and the filmmaker for any purposes including, but not limited to advertising, marketing and/or events, with the right to include their name in the frame of the event “Take Off! Join the Accor Student Adventure”; said use may be either at no cost or for consideration, provided that it is intended to promote the Contest.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

1) By submitting any audio or video entry, Entrants thereby grant to Accor and their affiliates, subsidiaries, licensees and assignees, an irrevocable, perpetual and royalty-free right to use, reproduce, edit, display, transmit, prepare derivative works of, modify, publish and otherwise make use of the submitted work or other information in any and all media, whether currently existing or hereinafter created, throughout the world and for any purpose. In addition to other things, the rights granted to Accor include, but are not limited to, the right to resize, crop, censor, compress, edit feature, caption, affix logos to, and to otherwise alter or make use of the submitted work.

2) By submitting an entry, Entrants thereby represent and warrant that the submitted work or information does not and shall not infringe on any copyright, any rights of privacy or publicity of any person, or any other right of any third party, and the Entrants grant all rights and licenses to the contest sponsor herein, including but not limited to, all necessary rights under copyright, free and clear of any claims or

3) Entrants acknowledge and agree that Accor shall have no obligation to post, display or otherwise make publicly available any work submitted by the Entrant, and may, in their sole and unfettered discretion, remove, edit, modify, or delete any work that the Entrant have submitted.