Experience Scotland

Placement organization

Name of organization: Experience Scotland
Town/city: Penicuik
Country: Groot-Brittannië
Website: https://experiencescotland.co.uk/

Student

Name of student: Rilana Doolhoff

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2017-2018

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Destination management company
Organization’s activities: As Experience Scotland is a DMC, they create bespoke tailor made trips. These trips vary from leisure to conferences and incentives. Everything can be includes such as accommodation and ground services but the flight arrangements are excluded.
Target group of the organization: Mostly Belgium and French clients but there are clients from all over Europe and soon from China !
Company culture: The company has an informal culture, it is more a wee family. The staff has a quite diverse cultural background and are all very friendly and there to help you.
Number of employees: 9 full-time & 3 interns
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

Although it is a small office, there are two different departments. I mostly work in groups and leisure but sometimes help with conferences and incentives.

Brief description of your daily activities: I am mainly in contact with suppliers via email or phone, create proposals for clients, making presentations, write up quotes, make road books and vouchers etc.
Furthermore, I got given my own groups to look after which means you do everything from start to finish.
Brief description of your company assignment: I will be doing a competitor analysis which means that the company will gain some insight in how they are performing and how they are doing within the DMC market etc. To goal is to see where or if the company can make improvements.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The supervision is good overall as everyone is very helpful, if my supervisor is busy which he normally is, there is always someone else to help me out.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? independent, team player, sociable and stress-proof
Additional company requirements for this placement? Writing skills and Office
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: by plane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? the company arranged it for me
How did you go to work every day? by foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No
Do you need a work permit? No
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, just being around people that speak English will help improve your English well enough.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € Around 200
Accommodation (monthly): € Accommodation is paid for me
Local transport (monthly): € 1,70 pound for a single busticket, around €15 per week
General costs of living (monthly): € €200
Costs of visa: € –
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? My accommodation and my dinners.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I never prepared for any cultural differences as I thought it would be similar to the Dutch culture, which is quite true. there are some small differences so it will not be hard to adjust.
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: x_Rilana@live.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Whilst being here, explore as much as you can because Scotland is a lovely country! Edinburgh is about 40-45 minutes away by bus which isn’t too bad and it is a lovely city to explore.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Penicuik is lovely but there is not too much to do. I’d recommend going to Peebles to Go Ape! if you like to be active, or go up the mountains in Penicuik. If you like to go shopping or to enjoy a drink then i’d recommend Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link