Abercrombie & Kent

Placement organization

Name of organization: Abercrombie & Kent
Town/city: Melbourne
Country: Australië
Website: https://www.abercrombiekent.com.au/

Student

Name of student: Arletta van der Sleet

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2015-2016

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour operator
Organization’s activities: Tour operator that focuses on luxury travel, customized holidays offering journeys to each continent, covering many destinations worldwide. A&K has 50 offices worldwide, 47 DMCs and three main offices consisting of DMC & SMC; UK, USA and Australia.
Target group of the organization: High-end travellers / cruise guests
Company culture: There is a hierarchy within the company, however the company culture is quite relaxed. Written communication can be quite formal, however oral communication is mostly informal.
Number of employees: 60
Dress code: formal
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Cruise department
Brief description of your daily activities: My daily activities have changed during the internship.
The cruise season is Oct-March, so at the start of my internship the daily activities mostly exsisted of:

– General administration for the cruise department
– Contacting and booking guides for the excursions
– Answering phone calls
– Keeping track of emails and answer them when required
– Printing of documentation for pier managers and guides
– Preparing guide packs and signs
– Assist with the dispatch at the pier
– Ad-Hoc cruise related tasks to support the cruise team.

My second part of the internship mainly existed out of:
– Helping out with proposals
– Preparation for next year’s cruise season.
Brief description of your company assignment: To create 10 new tours for Cruise passengers coming in into Australia.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My supervisor Toby was really helpful and would check up on me regularly. Being really busy it did appear that things as my mid-term assessment happened not on time.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Stress-proof, independent, team player, flexible
Additional company requirements for this placement? Ms Office
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? Previous students
How did you go to work every day? Public transport & by foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, Working holiday or internship visa.
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Online via the Australian Embassy
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 1 hours
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? Only if your level of English is very low

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1320
Accommodation (monthly): € 400
Local transport (monthly): € 100
General costs of living (monthly): € 1000, though you can make this as expensive as you want 😉
Costs of visa: € 350
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? I got an financial compensation of 1200$ per month, however after taxes around 1000$ would be left each month.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I didn’t prepare at all for the country’s culture. When you’re located in the bigger cities the country’s culture is pretty similar to the Netherlands.
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: Arletta_s@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Enjoy your internship as much as possible! 20 weeks just flies by. Make sure you join one of the excursions A&K offers, this way you can actually see what you are selling!

Also make sure to grab to opportunity to go on one of the cruise ships! I have been on the Queen Mary 2 for tour and lunch and it was an amazing experience. Ask your colleagues if this is possible. They will probably be able to arrange something.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Melbourne is an amazing city to live in! There is always something happening. Make sure that you visit one of the city’s amazing Rooftop bars. Don’t me discouraged if you can’t find them, the best bars are usually in small Alley’s, ask some Aussie’s they will probably know the best bars :).

Use your weekends for road trips!

From Melbourne you can do a lot of 2-3 days road trips!
Definitely do:
– Great Ocean Road
– Philips Island (You can see the world’s smallest penguins here!
– Grampians National Park
– Wilson’s Promontory
– Mornington Peninsula

Also travel around Australia!

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link