Citytrip Barcelona

Placement organization

Name of organization: Citytrip Barcelona
Town/city: Barcelona
Country: Spanje
Website: http://citytripbarcelona.com

Name of student: Juul van Onna

Specialist area: MTMC
Placement period: 2013-2014

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: accomodation
Organization’s activities: Intermediate for renting apartments throughout Barcelona. They are looking for investors who want to rent their property. In case they want to, they add the apartments to their website and also to different channels such as booking.com. People from all over the world book these apartments for spending their holidays in Barcelona.
Target group of the organization: 20-100 yrs.
Company culture: The company is quite small. They have 4 cleaning ladies, 2 owners, 1 administration employee, 1 fulltime front desk manager, 1 nightwaiter, 1 repairman and during all seasons there are 1-2 interns. This company is quite informal, you can for example dress whatever you want (as long as it is representive). You will speak to the owners, but in general you will work the most with the front desk manager.
Number of employees: 10
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? In some ways they do, but i think there is still space for improvements. I got my assignment after 9 weeks for example.

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? I work at front desk next to the front desk manager. We take care of the activities you will find below.
Brief description of your daily activities: I arrange all incoming bookings, phonecalls, modifications, check-ins and social media updates.
Brief description of your company assignment: I am doing research on the potential of the Russian market. The company wants to attrack more Russian tourists because it is an upcoming market. They asked me to search for their preferences, such as what they may need during their stay and what kind of accomodation they are interested in.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My direct collegue Ana Espla, is my supervisor as well. You will get a lot of responsibilities during your intern. They expect that you are flexible, pro active and that you don’t mind to work long hours. You can always ask questions to your supervisor, but they want you to be a kind of independent.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? flexible, stress proof (especially during high-season), independent and pro-active.
Additional company requirements for this placement? wirting skills (sending e-mails), MS office
English: Advanced
Spanish: Basic
French: Basic
German: Basic
Italian: Basic
Other languages: Because people from all over the world visit this company, they prefer an intern who speaks and write a lot of different languages.

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: airplane

Accommodation

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

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?
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, understanding spanish would make this internship much easier.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 100€
Accommodation (monthly): € 450€
Local transport (monthly): € 40€, in case you use the underground.
General costs of living (monthly): € 250€
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? They pay me 250€ per month.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I have been in Spain serveral times, so I already knew a lot about the country. We also went to Sevilla and Granada for a studytrip.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Yes, this culture is less stressed comparing to the Netherlands. They do not have lunch at 12:00 and they just see what the day will bring. It has a positive influence on the working environment.

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: juul26nov@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Don’t expect an internship as they are in the Netherlands. You will work different shifts as already metioned before. The internship is not comparable to the quality of a Dutch internship.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Barcelona is a beautiful city with a lot of culture. It even got a beach where you can spend your time after work or during the weekends. The life, especially during the summer, is much better than Holland. This city offers you good food, nice weather, a beautiful culture and of course a good nightlife.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link