Groovy Grape Tours

Placement organization

Name of organization: Groovy Grape Tours
Town/city: Adelaide
Country: Australië
Website: http://groovygrape.com.au

Name of student: Jelmer de Mare

Specialist area: MT
Placement period: 2015-2016

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Provider of nature & wildlife tours
Organization’s activities: The company offers a various amount of tours from Alice Springs, Adelaide and Melbourne, showcasing the cultural and natural gems of the area.
Target group of the organization: Backpackers
Company culture: Informal in the office, contact with customers/agent is formal with a hint of personal interest.
Number of employees: 6
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Reservations
Brief description of your daily activities: Reservations: Making bookings and answering enquiries through email and telephone. All the bookings are made through Respax booking system. This also includes opening and closing procedures with the running of the office from time to time.

Operations: Preparing the vehicles and equipment for upcoming tours. The interns each have to work one day a week in the yard in peak season.

Marketing: Helping the marketing manager, with daily tasks like preparing orientation and events and compiling tour statistics and data in Excel-documents. The interns have to write blogs about their experiences with the Groovy Grape Tours that they experience during the internship.

Accounting: The interns, under instruction from the account manager, prepare paperwork for the tours, putting data in Excel-documents and file paperwork.

In general, the interns are working on a daily tasks list which has to be done every day. On this list, the activities are:
• Emailing and calling stakeholders about numbers, dietary requirements and upgrades for departing tours.
• Send bulk emails to customers who will join a tour or are coming back.
• Update tour availability for stakeholders, by entering availability in an Excel file.
• Organize and send brochures to stakeholders.
• Contact tour guides about the numbers, dietary requirements and upgrades for the tours departing the next day.
• Make trip packs with all the paperwork for the tours departing the next day.

Other activities the interns are involved in are:
• Entering agent sales in an Excel file.
• Entering surveys manually on Survey Monkey.
• Audit completed trip accounting forms by: check receipts, separate paperwork for the Account Manager and Operational Manager and store them on the right place.
• Maintenance of first aid kits.
• Organize and distribute agent bonuses for stakeholders who have booked package tours.
• Updating the itinerary on the website.
• Translating text for on the website or brochures.
Brief description of your company assignment: Strategic Marketing Plan observing the sustainability of Groovy Grape Tours and the involvement of Human Resources
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Supervision is mostly by the operational manager
General support by accounts manager, marketing manager & other reservations staff

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? independent, teamplayer, sociable, flexible, patient, accurate, confident,
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office, MS Excel, writing skills
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

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? bicycle

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? working holiday visa
Do you need a work permit? no
How did you arrange the necessary documents: internet
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 2 weeks
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? no

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1200
Accommodation (monthly): € 600
Local transport (monthly): € 0
General costs of living (monthly): € 400
Costs of visa: € 200
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? $600 a month, free tours

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Read about it online
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: jelmerdemare@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Arrange a room before you get in Australia
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Port Noarlunga
Electric Circus
Rhino Room
HQ

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link