Hotel Dos Palmas Country Inn

Placement organization

Name of organization: Hotel Dos Palmas Country Inn
Town/city: Alajuela
Country: Costa Rica
Website: http://dospalmascr.com/

Name of student: Karin van Asselt

Specialist area: MT
Placement period: 2013-2014

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Accommocation
Organization’s activities: Hosting tourists on two locations nearby the airport.
Target group of the organization: Travelers in Costa Rica
Company culture: informal culture. There is a small location, where you are by your self. You live at the hotel. On the bigger location you live at the hotel as well, where the owners al so staying. You have to be self sufficient, because the owner will not
Number of employees: 6
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? No

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? This company doesn’t have any departments. I was working in the hotel, for every kind of thing. Most of the time I picked up the telephone, and I have to welcome the guests in the hotel and give them the information they need.
Brief description of your daily activities: Picking up the telephone
Making reservations
keep clean the hotel
welcome the guests in
giving information about the county to the travellers
organize rent a car
coordinate the housekeepers.
Brief description of your company assignment: A quality research about the tourist in Costa Rica, Costa Rica as a tourism destination, the tourist from Dos Palmas, why do they choose Dos Palmas, How satisfied the guests are about Dos Palmas, and as conclusion and recommendations what Dos Palmas can do better for the guests to return back, and to post reviews on the internet, what nowadays won’t happen that much.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The owner does not supervise. He is busy all the time with his own aspects of the job.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? independent, teamplayes, flexibele, sociable, taking initiative
Additional company requirements for this placement? Working with Google Drive, MS office
English: Intermediate
Spanish: Intermediate
French:
German: Basic
Italian:
Other languages: Dutch

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: airplaine

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? company
How did you go to work every day? lived at the hotel

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? 1 month
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? 1 month

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): € 900
Accommodation (monthly): € 0
Local transport (monthly): € 20
General costs of living (monthly): € 0
Costs of visa: € 0
Costs of work permit: € 0
What did the company pay for/to you? Meals, accommodation.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not prepare. I worked at a Dutch hotel and I was there most of the time. When I went out for traveling or something, it was just an experience to learn more of the culture by my self.
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: karinvanasselt@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: This is a company where the high and low season are very important. Do not go to this company in a low season. You will be bored and the location of the company is not near a centre or something.

Be really sure if you would like to work at this company. Before, my recommendation, send me an email and I would explain to you all my experiences.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Nothing at all. The hotel is not located nearby a centre of anything.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link