Abercrombie & Kent

Placement organization

Name of organization: Abercrombie & Kent
Town/city: Melbourne
Country: Australië
Website:

Name of student: Laura van Ruler

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2014-2015

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour Operator
Organization’s activities: Abercrombie & Kent offers luxury travel holidays to destinations all over the world. The company has 50 offices worldwide and has both outbound and inbound departments, the TOCs and the DMCs. The Melbourne office is the only one that deals with both outbound and inbound travel.
Target group of the organization: High-End Cruise Liners; 50+ luxury travellers
Company culture: Written communication within the company is quite formal. Everything is documented and when something needs to be done it always needs to be asked by email. However, I found the oral communication to be quite informal, whereas the style of talking to each other is pretty direct and easy-going. There is definitely a sense of hierarchy in the company, but it’s not highly noticeable. People work hard and during the cruise season, which is from mid-October until the end of March, it can be a stressful environment to work in. Yet, since it’s Australia people still appear to be quite relaxed and will help you if needed. Take in mind though that you will have to take initiative when it comes to doing things around the office.
Number of employees: 8 working in cruise, 45 in total
Dress code: formal
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? The internship takes place at the cruise department which is part of the A&K DMC. The cruise department provides shore excursions for passengers who come to Australian cities by ship. Moreover they handle land programs as well as turnarounds.
Brief description of your daily activities: – General administration for the cruise department
– Contacting and booking guides for the excursions
– Answering phone calls
– Keeping track of emails and answer them when required
– Printing of documentation for pier managers and guides
– Preparing guide packs and signs
– Assist with the dispatch at the pier
– Ad-Hoc cruise related tasks to support the cruise team.

Brief description of your company assignment: To create a new and innovative tour product for cities in Australia with high volume port calls. What essentially is being asked, is to create attractive excursions for people who are on a cruise and who look to spend their time ashore in a group activity and explore the respective city/area in Australia. The cities that were to be included in this assignment were Melbourne, Broome, Exmouth & Geraldton.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The supervision by the organization was good. There have been plenty of catch-up meetings to see how I was doing and if everything was going alright. Keep in mind that the cruise team is likely to be very busy with their work, so you have to find a way keep yourself busy sometimes and you’ll have to show initiative. They will definitely have something to do for you, you just have to ask.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, flexible, teamplayer, stress-proof
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office. Particularly Excel, Outlook and Word
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Via a previous student
How did you go to work every day? Bicycle or public transport

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Working Holiday Visa
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Online, via the Australian Government’s website
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? Only a few hours
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? Only if your English skills aren’t very good

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1400 (includes ticket to New Zealand)
Accommodation (monthly): € 460,-
Local transport (monthly): € 40,-
General costs of living (monthly): € 300,-
Costs of visa: € 290,-
Costs of work permit: € n/a
What did the company pay for/to you? The company pays you 300 AUD per week, which is paid monthly. However, due to Australia’s progressive tax system you will be paid around 800 AUD per month. You should definitely be able to pay your rent with this money, but don’t expect to become rich off of it. Australia is fairly expensive compared to the Netherlands so you’re going to need the money.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Not that extensively. Prior to my departure I researched the country’s culture a little on the internet. Buzzfeed Australia usually comes up with informative listicles (lists disguised as legitimate articles), which provided me some insight into the, self-perceived, Aussie Culture at the time.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Not really

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 120519@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Enjoy your placement period as much as possible. It sounds like a cliche, but the time really flies by. There’s a big chance that you will be able to go on one, or more, of the excursions that A&K offers so make sure that you do that. Also take the opportunity to go aboard on one of the cruise ships that comes into Melbourne. The ships that come in are massive and it’s great to see one from the inside once.

I recommend to acquire a bicycle, and the compulsory helmet, as it makes going to work both easy and affordable. Also it’s a nice to cycle around Melbourne so you can explore different areas of the city. However if it rains/it’s cold/it’s cloudy/it looks like it might rain/ you just don’t feel like being active I highly recommended using the city’s extensive tram network and you should be able to get where you want to go just fine. Most importantly just enjoy your time in Australia and do whatever makes you happy.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Melbourne is a great city and there are plenty of things to do. It seems that there’s always something going on, and if not there’s always the street musicians and performers to entertain you as you stroll around the city. The city has great lane ways filled with some really good coffee places to discover, as well as nice rooftop bars with amazing views over the city.

Definitely take day/weekend trips and try to see as much as possible. The Great Ocean Road, the 12 apostles, Phillip Island, the Mornington Peninsula and the Grampians are all located around Melbourne and it’s easy to make trips to these places. Also if you have the chance, you can make a weekend trip to Sydney.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link