RCN Domaine de la Noguiere

Placement organization

Name of organization: RCN Domaine de la Noguiere
Town/city: Le Muy
Country: Frankrijk
Website: http://rcn.nl

Name of student: Thijs Hanema

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2015-2016

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: accomodation
Organization’s activities: manage 8 camp sites in France
Placement at the service office. The office does reservtions for these 8 camp sites. Administration work and contact with the guests vi telephone and e mail.
Target group of the organization: families with young children,
Company culture: There is a Dutch atmosphere as the management is completely Dutch. There is a little hierarchy in winter eason when there are little employees, and average hierarchy during high season. The atmosphere is tend to be an informal one because a camp site is not a very formal setting. The management team is new and has no experience, however they are friendly and the overal atmoshepere is good at the camp site.
Number of employees: 30 (during high season)
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? The service office
Brief description of your daily activities: Contact with guests via telephone
Contact with guests via email
Control Webcamp reservations
Webcamp is the part in Unicamp (reservation program) where the reservations come in. If a guest makes a reservation via the web site of RCN, it will come in on the Webcamp. I have to print it and put the reservation request in the system and send a confirmation to the guest.
Setting up brochures
This is a quick and easy job. Two times a week we look at the brochure requests. After we printed the etiquettes, we make a package of 2 magazines of RCN and post them to the concerned family.
Making turnover tables in the reservation system
In the system of Unicamp it is possible to make tables of the reservations made in a specific period. Moreover, it is possible to use variables to manipulate tables. For example make a table of reservations for caravans on RCN Domaine de la Noguiere in the weekend of a promotion code. After I made these tables of turnover, I analyze them and make additional tables. My company assignment is focused on these turnover tables. The report of this assignment is shown in the next chapter.
Transmission of data of reservations
This entails all the information of the reservations made during the day, putting in an excel document and send it to the RCN camp sites. This keeps everything structured, because it can easily become chaotic when several people work in the same mailboxes and system.
Working outside on the terrain
This entails jobs on the camp site, like preparing the pitches or trimming trees. I have done this only a few hours on Saturdays and Sundays in the beginning of the internship. Because I work from 9h till 22h30, it is better to have a short ‘break’ from the computer screen in the afternoon and do this in the Mediterranean sun.
Work in the reception
Especially the last months I worked often in the reception of the camp site. In the reception there is much more dynamics than in the office because you are in direct contact with clients and colleagues. As I knew the systems of the company as well as how to speak to customers via telephone, work in the reception was not that difficult anymore and I managed to do it quite easily.
Make a competitor analysis
Judith Gilibert asked me to perform a competitor analysis regarding the prices of the competitors, so I researched all the camp sites in the area and made price tables. RCN will use this information in order to estimate prices for next year.
Social media strategy
In the last month of the internship, I was in touch with a woman who coordinates the social media strategy for RCN in the Netherlands and France. I send her my input for the strategy. She reacted very positively and sent the PowerPoint with all the strategies to me. Unfortunately, I was too busy the last month with the assignment that I could not find time anymore to offer more input for this social media strategy.

Brief description of your company assignment: Financial Performance of the service office and the camp sites in France regarding reservations.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Very little supervision. In total we planned two meetings of 15 minutes. Also the other interns had little supervision during their placement.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? independant, team player flexible, friendly,
Additional company requirements for this placement? Excel
English: Intermediate
Spanish: Basic
French: Intermediate
German: Basic
Italian: Basic
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane, Train

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Company 9 Mobile home on camp site
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? Yes
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? Yes

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 140
Accommodation (monthly): € 0
Local transport (monthly): € 0
General costs of living (monthly): € 200
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Financial compensation of 520 per month. The last three months free meals.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not really prepare. I could speak some French and have been to France many times.
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: thanema23@gmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Dont be shy, dont stay on the camp site on free days.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Beach, St Tropez, Frejus, Nice, Cannes Monaco, Lyon, Marseille,

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link