Abbey Tours Scotland

Placement organization

Name of organization: Abbey Tours Scotland
Town/city: Edinburgh
Country:
Website: http://www.abbeyscotland.co.uk/

Student

Name of student: Josien

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2013-2014

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: DMC
Organization’s activities: Overseas agents book individual and group travel in Scotland with Abbey Tours.
Target group of the organization: Overseas agents from markets located all over the world.
Company culture: There are 4 departments in the Scotland office, these are FIT (individual), group/customer care, accommodation and operations. Each department has one manager and of course one managing director. Company culture is semi formal. Many nationalities in the office: Scottish, German, Spanish, Swedish, French, Italian and English.
Number of employees: 29 (incl. number of interns in high season)
Dress code: formal
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes except for having very little to no time to work on school assignments/reports.

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? FIT department. Consists of one manager and 2 full time employees and 2 interns (myself included).

Brief description of your daily activities: Daily tasks mainly concern making bookings for clients from the German market (includes Switzerland and Austria) and French market.
This is done using Tourplan. In order to confirm hotels/B&Bs, often you have to phone these accommodations to check availability and rate. For other services, usually only email contact is necessary to book.
Brief description of your company assignment: Creating an itinerary of 7/8 nights in Scotland with the theme of gastronomy (which is VisitScotland’s next year’s theme for Scottish tourism).
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The FIT manager is Brigitte and she is very helpful and explains well.
She makes you feel involved with the company and makes you feel equal to the other employees.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? independent, organizational (sometimes many things to do which requires this skill and being stress-proof)
Additional company requirements for this placement? basic knowledge of French and/or German can be helpful but is not required, basic skills in Excel and Word. Business English.
English: Intermediate
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages: German and French basic skills can be helpful.

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Internet, used zoopla.co.uk (others have used gumtree)
How did you go to work every day? By foot or bus.

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No, EU citizens do not need to.
Do you need a work permit? No, EU citizens do not need to.
How did you arrange the necessary documents:
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
Did you need certain vaccinations? No
How long in advance?

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? No

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 200 (Easyjet, depends on date)
Accommodation (monthly): € GBP 325 (excl. internet, gas, electricity etc.)
Local transport (monthly): € GBP 51 (4 weekly card)
General costs of living (monthly): € –
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Financial compensation of GBP 250.00 per month.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
No preparation.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? No.

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: No
My e-mail address: josienbastiaansen@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Usually interns stay in a hostel for about a week before being able to move into the room after viewing. Recommend arranging viewings before arriving in Scotland.
Can be practical to get British pounds before arriving.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Many free museums in Edinburgh, through Abbey Tours you will get to know what Scotland has to offer in tourism and colleagues are happy to recommend places to you. Sometimes possible to get discount or free tickets to suppliers of Abbey Tours Scotland.
Office is located very close to the main shopping street (Princes Street).

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link