Corinthia Hotel St. George’s Bay

Placement organization

Name of organization: Corinthia Hotel St. George’s Bay
Town/city: St. Julian’s
Country: Malta
Website:

Student

Name of student: https://www.corinthia.com/en/hotels/malta-stgeorgesbay

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2018-2019

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Accommodation, 5 star hotel
Organization’s activities: It is a 5-star hotel. It offers special experiences, like a tower to tower walk, a massage, picnic on a secluded beach, etc. The hotel also has more facilities, like a spa, gym, pools, restaurants. It works closely together with Marina Hotel. Next to that, the guests are usually business people or leisure people.
Target group of the organization: Business travelers, leisure travelers, families.
Company culture: The company is relatively formal. People do talk to each other on a first name basis. Clothing style is formal as you have to represent a 5-star hotel. The company is very large, so it has a very organizational structure. The company is a hotel chain, as it is spread worldwide.
Number of employees: 269
Dress code: formal
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

I was working in the Digital Marketing department, but also helped out within the Marketing department as both offices were working closely together.

Brief description of your daily activities: Shortly summed up, my daily activities were:
– Manage the hotels’ and restaurants’ presence and activity across all digital platforms through creative strategies
– Stay up-to-date with competitors’ digital platforms
– Keep abreast with new trends and innovations in the hospitality industry
– Ensure brand integrity is kept at all times
– Respond to clients’ online demands
– Create content calendars for all social media platforms for the upcoming months
– Gain insight in the social media analytics to improve content
– Create content for social media (photoshoots)

Every day is different.
Brief description of your company assignment: My assignment was to develop fitting content calendars that would improve long-term planning within the Digital Marketing department and consequently improve the social media pages.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: I was very lucky with my internship. Both my managers were very relaxed and funny. Right from the start, they were like: yes we work hard, but that does not mean we cannot make it fun. So, I had a great time. And whenever there was a problem they would be very understanding and kind. Also, when you have to do some school stuff, they are happy to let you do it. They are eager to help you and teach you more about Digital Marketing. The best place to do an internship for sure.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, team player, sociable, flexible, creativity, hands-on, communication
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office, Photoshop (not necessarily), writing skills, proper English, Social Media knowledge, Photography skills (not necessarily), Canva, Socialbakers (mostly is handy to know, but not necessary).
English: Advanced
Spanish: Basic
French: Basic
German: Basic
Italian: Basic
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane, bus / cab.

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? I found it via previous NHTV interns in Malta. I booked mine online via roomsinmalta.com. Very nice place, however shared. You can go out and roll back to bed. And on working days you can just walk to work.
How did you go to work every day? By foot. It was only a 15 min walk from my accommodation.

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Nope, not if you are from Europe.
Do you need a work permit? Not that I know of.
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? If your English is not advanced it is recommended. Digital Marketing really means having proper English skills.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € Tickets differ. Usually around 100 back and forth from Eindhoven to Malta. Ryanair is your cheapest option, also flying through second rate airports will safe you a lot of money.
Accommodation (monthly): € I had a shared room, however an entire month I was alone, and I paid 395. Sharing is not that great if you share a long time, however the location was awesome.
Local transport (monthly): € Depends how often you go by bus. One ride by bus is often 1,50. It is easy to take a cab which is often around 3-6. I never spend that much only when I go exploring. So, around 5 – 10 euros a week for transport. Usually I went exploring during weekends.
General costs of living (monthly): € So the rent is 395. It depends if you are a savingsperson or if you like to spent. So I would reckon around 600, and then you have 200 or something for food and the rest. But it easily goes up if you are not aware of your money spendings.
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? They only provide lunch.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not really prepare. The country is a lot like the Netherlands, but it looks a bit poorer. Maltese people are a lot different though, very similar to Italians. They tend to be loud, especially when they are angry. They talk a lot with hands. Some Maltese people are very kind and great.
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: jozina-kiep@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Really go exploring during weekends. Malta has great places. In the beginning, I had a negative perspective, because Malta has many people and looks like a giant city. There are people everywhere, however, Malta has awesome Nature parts, great snorkeling, great cultural parts. Go out and explore.

Take care of yourself when you go partying. There might be some weird people about, so not adviced to go totally wasted, but Malta is overall very safe as long as you don’t do anything dumb.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: There is a beach close to the hotel. Paceville is also a 10 min walk from Corinthia, where you can go party. Furthermore, there are many restaurants and places to go for food in Paceville. The bus connections from St. Julian’s and Sliema, are really the best.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link