VeryChic

Placement organization

Name of organization: VeryChic
Town/city: Barcelona
Country: Spanje
Website: http://www.verychic.com/en/home.cms

Name of student: Cita van den Heuvel

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2015-2016

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Online travel agency
Organization’s activities: VeryChic is an online travel agency that offers people advice on luxury hotels, destinations, special deals from up to 70% and insider secrets that normally only locals know (VeryChic, 2011). VeryChic, as the name says, focuses mostly on luxury travel that will guarantee an enjoyable and unique experience for its members. The slogan says: ´Exceptional hotels, Exclusive offers´ and that is what sums up VeryChic perfectly. Professionals handpick all the destinations that are offered. Whether it comes to questions about cultural events, the booking, or the hotel itself, from the beginning to the end, VeryChic will be there to help its members and guarantee that their stay will be satisfying. The company is to be considered very international and well organized. With its office in Barcelona and over 60 employees of different backgrounds working together, VeryChic successfully recruits members and extends its influence in many countries (Guijs, 2015. VeryChic is a company that plays the middle-man between, on the one hand hotels, on the other hand guests. In the low season luxury hotels have difficulty selling rooms, therefore their advertisements and offers with discounts are placed on the Very Chic website. All the hotels are unique and stylish hotels that offer many facilities for its guests. A few examples are: swimming pool, Michelin star chefs, room service, sport facilities, wellness facilities etc. Next to booking the luxury hotel for a discount price, members also enjoy the benefit of getting information about the destination, must do´s and insider secrets you will not find in any ordinary travel guide.
Target group of the organization: Luxury travellers
Company culture: The work environment of VeryChic is quite informal. Even though it is originally a French company, it is still located in Spain which means that the Spanish culture definitely has an influence on the work environment. Usually work starts at 09:30am and ends around 6.30pm, however they are quite flexible. If you would like to start at 9am and end at 6pm for example that is possible. You are also allowed to chose when you will have your break yourself (in between 12.30 and 4pm you can choose 1 hour).VeryChic has 2 seperate rooms for the employees to have lunch but many collegues will invite you to have lunch outside.The atmosphere is really great, the team is young, the people are open and you will not only improve your Spanish in this company, also your French will increase!
Number of employees: 60
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Production department
Brief description of your daily activities: My daily tasks vary a lot. Firstly, I have to translate hotel information from French into English and implement it in the system of VeryChic. Furthermore, one of my tasks is to check product information and make small changes in the system about e.g. the conditions or services that come with the hotel. I am also responsible for the ‘how to arrives’, documents that explain the customers how to get to the particular destination and how to get from the airport to the hotel. I have attached an example of a HTA to this document in the appendix. Overall, I have been helping the English VeryChic production department whom I will help the rest of my internship in assisting on checking hotel information and publishing information online.Concerning the company assignment, the plan is to write a marketing proposal in relation to the Dutch and Belgium speaking market. We are focussing on the Dutch and Belgium speaking market because it appeared that 14% of all the bookings made from the English website originated from Belgium or The Netherlands.

Brief description of your company assignment: Concerning the company assignment, the plan is to write a marketing proposal in relation to the Dutch and Belgium speaking market. We are focussing on the Dutch /Belgium speaking market because it appeared that 14% of all the bookings made from the English website originated from Belgium or The Netherlands. The marketing proposal will have the following inclusions:
– Information about the Dutch and Belgium market, statistical research and scientific articles, including trends in tourism.
– Analysis of the competitors of VeryChic and the needs of the VeryChic clients that need to be met.
-deas on marketing strategy: how to recruit Dutch and Belgium clients?
-How can we fulfil the needs of our target group with the means of a distribution plan while keeping in mind the objectives of VeryChic?

The main focus of this assignment is to investigate the unique selling proposition VeryChic has compared to competitors in relation to the Dutch and Belgium market. It is of great significance to find out how VeryChic’s product could be successful for the Dutch and Belgium market.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: good

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, social. flexible,
Additional company requirements for this placement? Writing skills
English: Advanced
Spanish: Basic
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: metro (3 stops)

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? myself
How did you go to work every day? by metro

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? no
Do you need a work permit? Nie-number
How did you arrange the necessary documents: foreign registration office
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 3 weeks (during internship)
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
Accommodation (monthly): € 430
Local transport (monthly): € 60
General costs of living (monthly): € 350 (see experience report)
Costs of visa: € –
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? 735 Euro per month

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
not at all
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: Yes
My e-mail address: citavandenheuvel93@gmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Pay respect to the city and its residents!
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: – Sagrada familia
– Passeig de Gracia
– Montjuïc hill (lookout of Barcelona)
– Picasso museum
– Tapas restaurant
– W hotel (fancy party)
– Beach (I recommend you to not go to Barceloneta because of the abundance of tourists, instead go to Bogatell or Poble Nau)
– Olympic park (fountain show, can be found at Placa Catalunya)
– La Rambla harbour

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link