Abercrombie and Kent

Placement organization

Name of organization: Abercrombie and Kent
Town/city: Melbourne
Country: Australië
Website: https://www.abercrombiekent.com.au/

Name of student: Rachel Beek

Specialist area: MT
Placement period: 2015-2016

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Touroperator
Organization’s activities: It’s a luxury travel organisation. They book complete holidays for guests.
Target group of the organization: Cruise Passengers
Company culture: The company culture is informal.
Number of employees: 60
Dress code: formal
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Cruise Department
Brief description of your daily activities: We organize tours for cruise passengers who are coming to Melbourne. During the day I am mostly working on booking and confirming guides for a tour. I do this by sending emails and making phone calls. Every week I have to be at the port as well to make sure the passengers get on the right coaches and are with the right guides. I have to count the tickets and make sure the passengers of the cruise ship are happy.
Brief description of your company assignment: I have to develop three new tours for three ports for the American Market.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My supervisor was Toby Biddick, he was very helpful during my internship. All my colleagues were. They would let me work on my own but would always check up on me to see if I was doing alright. I could always ask for help and they made me feel like I was a big part of the team.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Flexible, stress proof, teamplayer, sociable and representable
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office, writing skills
English: Advanced
Spanish: Basic
French: Basic
German: Basic
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Bike / Tram

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? previous students
How did you go to work every day? Bicycle

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, working holiday visa
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: embassy
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 2 weeks
Did you need certain vaccinations? No
How long in advance? X

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): € 1200
Accommodation (monthly): € 450
Local transport (monthly): € 140
General costs of living (monthly): € 600
Costs of visa: € 400
Costs of work permit: € X
What did the company pay for/to you? They gave me a financial compensation of 300 dollars per week.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
The Australian culture is pretty simular to the western culture of the Netherlands. The only change was the language which didn’t cause any problems for me. There was no need for any 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: Yes
My e-mail address: 133481@nhtv.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Make sure you’ll have a good vision about the money. It’s always more then you expected.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Melbourne is an amazing city to live in. There is a lot to do and Australia has many things to offer.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link