Apollo Motorhome Holidays

Placement organization

Name of organization: Apollo Motorhome Holidays
Town/city: Brisbane
Country: Australië
Website: http://www.apollocamper.com

Name of student: Emiel Tindemans

Specialist area: MT
Placement period: 2013-2014

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Motorhome Rental Company
Organization’s activities: Apollo rent out motorhomes and campervans in Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada. The global headoffice is located in Brisbane, Australia.
There are four different branches in the ‘Apollo Family’ all focusing different target groups and in with a different price range.
Hippie Camper, only small vehicles for 2 persons. focusing on backpackers and the cheapest brand.
Cheapa Campa, mostly older vehicles and therefore cheaper
Apollo Campers, the main brand, focusing on all kind of target groups and offers a wide range of different vehicles.
Star RV, for the more luxurious travellers.

Target group of the organization: Travellers in Australia, New Zealand and USA
Company culture: Informal
Number of employees: 300
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Commercial Department / Web Team
Brief description of your daily activities: – Supporting with CEO / Google Adwords
– Feedback Forms
– Blog posts
– Create an online presence for one of the agencies Apollo owns.
– Translations into Dutch and sometimes German

Brief description of your company assignment: To have an objective of increasing the number of bookings for holidays in Australia, made by people who reside in the Netherlands. Focusing one of the brands, I picked Hippie Camper.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The supervision is good, if I need any help I can always mail my supervisor or ask her in person.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? independent, patient, representative
Additional company requirements for this placement? Writing skills, SEO
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? Myself, it’s a student accommodation called Urbanest, located in the CBD – South Bank
How did you go to work every day? Train (30 minutes)

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: National Visas Website
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? 1/2 working days

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): € 1300
Accommodation (monthly): € 550
Local transport (monthly): € 90
General costs of living (monthly): € 400
Costs of visa: € 5/600
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? €400 a month

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Internet and I heard a lot of stories from friends and family who travelled through Australia before.
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: 112703@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Get a Go Card for transport, it works basically the same as an OV-chipkaart. The good thing about it, after 9 trips you travel for free. So every Friday you’ll travel home free and you travel for free during the whole weekends (even longer trips).
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Some places that are absolutely worth a visit from Brisbane are: Fraser Island(!), Gold Coast, Byron Bay, Australia Zoo and North Stradbroke Island. Some places that are absolutely worth a visit from Brisbane are: Fraser Island(!), Gold Coast, Byron Bay, Australia Zoo and North Stradbroke Island. If you like sports, there are a number of sports team playing in Brisbane. The two main stadiums are the ‘Suncorp Stadium’ (football and rugby) and ‘The gabba’ (Cricket)

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link