Buffallo Tours

Placement organization

Name of organization: Buffallo Tours
Town/city: Bangkok
Country: Thailand
Website: http://www.buffalotours.com/

Student

Name of student: Max Probst

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2013-2014

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Destination Management Company/ Tour Operator
Organization’s activities: Buffalo Tours offers tailor-made packages, FIT, GIT, incentives to a variety of nationalities. Operate all tours in-house and manage their own guide, transport,tour leader pool and provides dedicated customer-care/service. Furthermore, they are front runners in the field of responsible, volunteer and educational tourism
Target group of the organization: Dutch and Belgium groups/ Western individual travellers
Company culture: Relatively flat hierarchy divided into 3 layers (GM/Managers/Executives). Modern and open office with a highly communicative atmosphere. Thai ways of working differ from Western. More time is spend in the office but this also implies more time for interpersonal activities.
Number of employees: 40 and increasing
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? I was mainly working in the Product department but also supporting the Operations department on various occasions.
Brief description of your daily activities: Many different activities. Flexibility required. Most activities were based around the group tours.
Brief description of your company assignment: Designing and creating more attractive booklets, folders and other marketing material for FOX Vakanties
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My supervisor was/is the most “frequented” person in the office. Times were hectic. Therefore there was not much time for supervising. The company will take part in a joint venture. Therefore it is possible that there will be even more stress and less supervision.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? flexibility
Additional company requirements for this placement? Office
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Plane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Myself
How did you go to work every day? Foot(very lucky and uncommon in Bangkok)

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes/Multiple Entry Non Immigrant Visa
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Company & German embassy
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 1 month, very smooth
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? Already had the vaccinations

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? Yes
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? Yes/Thais love it when they see you are making an effort to speak their language

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € one way flight ticket: 280 Euro
Accommodation (monthly): € 200 Euro
Local transport (monthly): € low due to walking distance to office
General costs of living (monthly): € 350 Euro
Costs of visa: € 140
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Financial compensation: 8.000 Baht = 180 Euro

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Already have been there
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Somewhat maybe

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: maximilianprobst@web.de

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Respect the Thais. Never shout or get angry. Try all the food was is there. Especially the fruits!
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: In Bangkok everything is possible. To get away from hustle go to the cooler North or the beaches in the South.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link