Avila Hotel

Placement organization

Name of organization: Avila Hotel
Town/city: Willemstad
Country: Nederlandse Antillen
Website: http://www.avilahotel.com/over-het-avila-hotel/

Name of student: Melanie Maenen

Specialist area: MT
Placement period: 2015-2016

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Hotel
Organization’s activities: The products that the Avila Hotel offers are Rooms & Suites, Bars & Restaurants, Wellness, Romance, Concerts & Events, Conference & Banqueting.
Target group of the organization: The Avila Hotel responds to the luxury market, and it specially appeals to people who have enough money for a holiday with lots of experience in a luxury hotel with authentic stories. They attach great importance to an unforgettable holiday while taking care of the customer’s peace of mind. The Avila hotel appeals also to the business market; besides rooms and suites, they offer different rooms to host meetings or conferences.
Company culture: The daily policy consists of the directorate, Mrs. Tone Møller, daughter of the owner, Commercial Director and Mr. Paul Kok, General Manager and shareholder.

Hereby there is an executive team that consists of six members. Together with the directorate they make decisions.

General Manager
Financial Controller
Rooms Division Manager
Sales & Marketing Manager
Human Resources Manager

Down below this executive team are the ‘Head of departments’; they are in charge of different departments with supervisors who take care of the operational section of accompanying staff for their own outlet.

The different outlets are: Housekeeping, Food & Beverage, Kitchen, Maintenance, Front Office, Reservations and Security.

Number of employees: 150
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Sales & Marketing department and assisting in the Conference & Banqueting department.
Brief description of your daily activities: – Updating the website
– Check websites of tour operators
– Analysis of target markets
– Assist with advertorial/ editorial magazines
– Following advertising trends of competitors
– Assist with promotion
– Maintain the internal promotion circulation schedule
– Assist with preparation of materials for sales calls
– Prepare and maintain stock of sales kit and materials
– Prepare and analysis guest happiness tracker
– Weekly Key Performance Indicator report
– Weekly room rate comparison
– Maintain CRM
– Constantly updating of email lists and best booker list
– Update media overview
– Assist with preparation of site inspections
– Filling in documents
– Telephone handling/ taking notes/ messages
– Handle reservations and upkeep of reservations list for events
– Prepare Alibi’s package for distribution
– Make weekly meeting room signs for Conference & Banqueting events
– Assist allround in the Sales and Marketing and Conference and Banqueting department.

Brief description of your company assignment: Make a detailed action plan where it is extensively illustrated which CRM system Avila must invest in and why, accompanied by a progressive schedule how to implement this CRM system in all concerned departments and especially to incorporate the already existing GHT (guest happiness tracker) and what the benefits are for each department.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The supervision by the organization is very good, I get a lot of attention and everybody is willing to help.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, social, flexible, stress-proof, representable
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office, writing skills
English: Intermediate
Spanish: Basic
French:
German: Basic
Italian:
Other languages: Dutch mother tongue

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? I arranged it myself on the internet.
How did you go to work every day? By car

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No
Do you need a work permit? Yes
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Via huisvestingcuracao.nl on this site you can find the documents that you will need.
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 1 month
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? Not necessary

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 800
Accommodation (monthly): € 420
Local transport (monthly): € My car: 500
General costs of living (monthly): € 500
Costs of visa: € –
Costs of work permit: € 250
What did the company pay for/to you? Monthly 850 Guilders (425 Euro) and lunch meal every day

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did some research on the internet and I spoke to a friend that have been on Curacao too.
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: melaniemaenen@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: I recommend to hire a car because otherwise you will not see how beautiful Curacao is
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Going to beautiful beaches, swimming with dolphins, got your PADI, climing the Christoffelberg (mountain), going out, visit klein curacao and a lot more!

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link