Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa students emerge as winners of ‘Accor Take Off Challenge 2013’

Students from Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa (LEH), were declared winners of Accor Take Off Challenge 2013, held in Singapore. 'Novotel Reinvented 2020' – was the theme for Accor Take Off Challenge, this year. Participating teams had to imagine the next generation of Novotel hotels, in terms of products and services to match the expectations of the guests in 2020, keeping the brand positioning and brand vaues in mind.

This competition comprised of three rounds - an online collage submission, a two minute video showcasing Novotel 2020 'services' concept and a finale in Singapore with a presentation to Accor Executive Committee.

Students from LEH created 'NOVA' - Novotel's Own Virtual Assistant, where a guest can check in, ask questions, open doors and customise their experience as per their needs. The jury selected their project titled 'InNOVAte' amongst top 50 entries from 120 entries worldwide as they moved to the second round. The Accor jury then chose 20 entries for the second round where they had to express their ideas through a video. The students from LEH excelled in the second round too and were amongst the top five teams that were invited to present at the Finale. The final round was held at Novotel Clarke Quay Singapore where the students from LEH were declared winners.

The team exhilarated by their performance said, "We are incredibly thrilled to win Accor Take Off Challenge 2013. The journey from first round online to the finale in Singapore has been really exciting. It was a great learning experience at every level. Competing on a global level was really inspiring and brought out the best of us. We are really grateful to Accor for giving us the platform to showcase our ideas. We think it's amazing that a hospitality leader like Accor is valuing ideas from students. We want to thank our college Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa for the immense encouragement and support they have given us."

Rony Kurien, COO, Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa, said, "This award is a testimony to the talent that is being nurtured at Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa. Our students are not only trained for their chosen fields but they are also mentored to become accomplished individuals.'

LEH recently celebrated the convocation of the first batch of its students. The four year hospitality management programme of LEH is a comprehensive hospitality education program. The students are exposed to best in class industry practices and the entire focus of the program is to develop students as hospitality leaders and entrepreneurs. The rigorous curriculum based on this unique pedagogy puts the students through a rigorous self learning process and lays emphasis on practical training.