Accor staff member wins a trip to visit sponsored child

Accor staff member Carla Rodas with Accor Australia Vice-President Simon McGrath.

The Accor Hotel group has teamed up with children’s development agency Plan International Australia on a successful program to boost staff morale and motivation.

Accor and Plan have been corporate partners since 2004, with the hotel group donating $25,000 a year to support Plan’s work with children in developing countries, along with supporting emergency appeals.

But the two organisations thought they could get more benefit out of the relationship, and created a campaign to deepen knowledge and support from Accor staff.

The result was a competition in which every staff member or hotel that sponsored a child with Plan was eligible to win a trip for two to visit their sponsored child.

The winning hotel, the Mercure Melbourne Spring Street, chose Executive Housekeeper Carla Rodas to represent them as a reward for her 18 years service. She will soon be leaving to visit the Mercure’s sponsored child, 12-year-old Catylen, in her community in the Philippines.

“I am thrilled that I will get to meet Catylen very soon,” said an excited Carla.

“I never dreamed that I would be heading to the Philippines to see her but as a result of this wonderful initiative with Plan I will now get to see where our money is being spent and how it is helping Catylen and her community.”

Plan in Australia’s chief executive Ian Wishart said the competition was a great example of how a partnership with a not-for-profit organisation could provide mutual benefit to both parties.

“We believe that you can reward and inspire staff while contributing to causes that matter, with benefits for everyone involved,” said Mr Wishart.

 “Accor have been a fantastic partner, and they wanted to encourage their staff to support us. But we wanted to do it in a way that rewarded their staff and boosted staff morale.

 “We made sure that Accor staff would learn more about the work of international development agencies through posters, communications materials, information on the Accor intranet site and more.

“We also created a customised landing page on the Plan website for Accor staff that they could access via their own intranet. Here they could learn more about how and where Plan works, along with seeing on an interactive map where other Accor staff and hotels were sponsoring children.

“Of course, our partnership with Accor has been a great way for Plan to promote who we are and what we do, and also to raise funds for our work. But even more than that, it demonstrates that in corporate partnerships we do our best to consider the partner’s objectives, so that both organisations benefit.”

Accor Australia Vice President Simon McGrath agreed that teaming up with Plan was a positive experience all round.

“All parties benefited from this initiative and we couldn’t be more pleased with the support shown by our staff and the increase in awareness of Plan’s work,” he said.

“Whilst Carla will enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime experience of visiting the hotel’s sponsored child, as a result of this initiative many of our staff will now experience the ultimate reward of sponsoring a child and being part of their lives and the development of their community.”

Accor plans to continue to actively promote Plan and communicate regular updates on any new initiatives.

Find out more about Accor's ongoing partnership with Plan

Find out more about Plan's corporate partnership program

Find out more about how your business can get involved with Plan

ENDS

About Carla Rodas:

Carla’s grandparents immigrated from the Portuguese island of Madeira to Angola, a Portuguese colony, in the 1860s.

Carla was born in Angola in the late 1950s and grew up in a rural area where her parents ran the general store. When Carla was a teenager her parents sent her back to Portugal during Angola's struggle for independence because they were concerned for her safety. Being born in Angola, Carla was a strong supporter of independence.

She was married in Portugal and immigrated to Australia in the early 1980s. Soon after arriving in Australia she became a room attendant at the Victoria hotel and was quickly promoted to a supervisor before being transferred to what is now the Mercure Hotel Melbourne in 1992.

In 2008, Carla took six weeks off work and travelled with her son back to Angola. This was the first time she had been back and seen her mother in 22 years. While she was initially scared, she describes the trip as the best thing she has ever done. She feels like, in a way, she was going home, but it was sad to see the lack of development since she had left. She felt it was an invaluable for her teenage son to see the hardship that people in this part of the world experience.

Carla will take the same empathy for the underprivileged with her on her trip to the Philippines.

Editor’s notes:

To speak to Carla Rodas or Simon McGrath, please contact:

Peter Hook
General Manager Communications
Accor Asia Pacific
Ph: 02 9280 9860
Mob: 0407 462 213
peter.hook@accor.com

To speak to Ian Wishart please contact:

David Cook
Media Officer
Plan International Australia
Ph: 03 9672 3652
Mob: 0448 816 900
David.cook@plan.org.au

Plan is one of the oldest and largest children’s development organisations in the world that works to empower communities to overcome poverty. By actively involving children, and working at the grassroots with no religious or political agenda, Plan unites and inspires people around the globe to transform the world for children. Plan works in more than 49 countries.