Gemini Turkey

Placement organization

Name of organization: Gemini Turkey
Town/city: Istanbul
Country: Turkije
Website: http://www.geminiturkey.com/

Student

Name of student: Merel Kies

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2013-2014

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Destination Management Company
Organization’s activities: MICE and Incoming department
MICE = preparing event-based tailor made itineraries within Istanbul
Incoming = mediator between hotels and travel agencies, selling tour packages throughout Turkey and within Istanbul
Target group of the organization: Worldwide group-travel seekers and companies from all sizes
Company culture: High sense of hierarchical difference between board and other employees, within department a very open familiy-like team in the MICE department and an individual but friendly team in the Incoming department.
Number of employees: around 40
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? No

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Incoming
Brief description of your daily activities: Follow up customers who didn’t reply to offers
Preparing newsletters
Convert itineraries into “gemini”-style
Brief description of your company assignment: I did not get assigned a company assignment, therefore I decided upon one myself in which I created a promotional plan for Gemini Incoming in order to attract the Japanese market.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Supervision was not sufficient. Only in the beginning I had two short meetings in which I shared my expectations and where we discussed the placement. However, none of those agreements were realized and I did not get enough tasks assigned during my overall placement. Therefore I was spending most of the time with working on school assignments and reading news articles on websites.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Sociable, flexible, take initiative, independent
Additional company requirements for this placement? writing skills
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German: Intermediate
Italian:
Other languages: Turkish – advanced

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Internet
How did you go to work every day? by foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, a visa and residence permit
Do you need a work permit? Yes, Erasmus work visa
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Embassy, turkish police
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 2 weeks in the Netherlands, 1 month in Turkey
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? Yes!!

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 100,-
Accommodation (monthly): € 290,-
Local transport (monthly): € 50,-
General costs of living (monthly): € 300,-
Costs of visa: € 60,-
Costs of work permit: € 70,-
What did the company pay for/to you? Meals in terms of lunch-card with credit
Financial compensation 200,-

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I read some articles and watched some documentaries about the city.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? No not directly, however, its a lovely culture which is very noticeable. Once you are used to it you don’t want anything else.

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: mereeel@live.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: If you do not speak Turkish you can expect an internship in which none to only a few tasks are assigned.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: It is a diverse city, culturally as well as historically. You can spend six months in Istanbul, and visit not a single place double in the weekend. What I loved the most about the city is the fact that it is so dynamic and that this city is alive 24 hours a day.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link