Accor has announced it will provide the winner of E4's new TV series, 'Fred's Last Resort', hosted by First Dates' hotel star Fred Sirieix, with a 12-month placement opportunity across three of Accor's flagship hotels in London.
The programme will see twelve young contestants placed in a five-star resort on the Cote d'Azur in a competition to learn every aspect of working in the hospitality industry. It will challenge participants to learn new skills needed to provide first-class customer experiences, following the excitement, humour, and challenges along the way.
The winner will be provided with the opportunity to spend a year working within Accor hotels across London, enjoying bespoke training placements at Novotel London Canary Wharf, Sofitel London St James and The Savoy, a Fairmont managed hotel. The tailored programme will include Training & Development via the Accor Academy to support the winner's professional development, a dedicated mentor throughout the year and a tailored career programme in each hotel dependant on their area of interest, gaining experience and know-how from some of the industry-leading experts.
Fred Sirieix said, "Accor are a giant of the hospitality industry, so we are thrilled to offer our lucky winning recruit the chance to work for them. During filming, our recruits got to experience the luxury of Les Roches Blanches Hotel in the South of France - and now the winner will get a huge breadth of training that only an international brand like Accor is able to offer – it really is a life changing opportunity."
The placement will offer the chance for the victorious contestant to work across a variety of roles in flagship hotels of some of the best-known hotel brands in hospitality, offering a comprehensive and bespoke training to catapult the winner into the sector.
Prior to the placement, Accor will also be providing the winner with a tour across the Group's European hotels, from Warsaw to Montreux to Lisbon, offering an insight into the range of opportunities that exist within the hospitality industry and the span of Accor's brands.
Baiba Plume, Accor Director of Employer Branding, commented: "Fred Sirieix is a great role model and champion of hospitality careers so we are delighted to be working with him and partnering with Channel 4 on this important show, which we hope will help transform many people's perceptions of the hospitality industry. Hospitality is defined as the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers – it impacts people's lives positively and is a sector driven by passionate, hard-working people. This, however, is not the perception in the UK. Fred's Last Resort will hopefully help tackle some of the misconceptions of the sector and spotlight how rewarding hospitality careers can be.
"Supporting and nurturing young talent is so important within the industry, and we look forward to providing the winner a career-changing prize, offering support, guidance and the tools to grow their knowledge and skills as they embark on their journey into the world of hospitality."
The series will be airing on E4 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 14th March and available on All 4.