Green Wood Travel

Placement organization

Name of organization: Green Wood Travel
Town/city: Bangkok
Country: Thailand
Website: http://greenwoodtravel.nl

Name of student: Dennis de Witt

Specialist area: MTT
Placement period: 2014-2015

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Touroperator
Organization’s activities: Making tailor made travel itineraries for the Dutch and Belgium market visiting Thailand.
Target group of the organization: Dutch and Belgians
Company culture: Quite formal, you have to dress smart but it’s a ‘suit’ company. The hierarchy is very visible just as in Thai culture in general. The boss is really the boss and doesn’t appreciate any critique if you compare to it to the dutch office culture.
Number of employees: 15
Dress code: uniform
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? More or less

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Tour coordinating and social media
Brief description of your daily activities: Keeping up with the social media, writing texts for the blog, writing descriptions of new tours, updating text from website, adding new photo’s to the website, creating new itineraries for clients. Answering phone calls and emails from customers..
Brief description of your company assignment: How tour operators can successfully implement the use of social media to maximize it’s full potential.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: You are pretty much responsible for the work you do and what you do. When you have questions there is always someone to ask and help. However your supervisor will not check everything you do or say everyday what you have to do. Sometimes you get a ‘project’ on which you can work between the day to day work stuff.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? stress-proof, independent and very flexible
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office
English: Basic
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages: Basic Thai, Dutch

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Company arranges a condominium
How did you go to work every day? Public Transport

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Tourist visa
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Embassay in The Hague
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 5 days
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? I was shot up already but I guess a 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): € 550
Accommodation (monthly): € 30
Local transport (monthly): € 30
General costs of living (monthly): € 350
Costs of visa: € 90
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Company pays for accommodation.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not really prepare for the culture.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Yes, the hierarchy and not always able to speak your mind.

Future students on placement

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

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Keep an open mind and forget about the western norm and way of life. Listen to your superiors and try not to talk back. Explore Bangkok and especially Bangkok night life, try to get in touch with locals and they will show you the best places.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: The temples and all the tourist sites, Bangkok nightlife.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link