Stoke Travel

Placement organization

Name of organization: Stoke Travel
Town/city: Barcelona
Country: Spanje
Website: http://stoketravel.com

Student

Name of student: Maxime Budel

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2015-2016

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour operator
Organization’s activities: Stoke Travel is a travel organization that offers surf- and festival trips all over Europe. They compose the trips, sell the trips and communicate with possible affiliates.
Target group of the organization: Backpackers / budget travellers
Company culture: Stoke has a very informal working atmosphere. They expect the intern to work independent, and they expect them to be a part of the team. The intern has the same responsibilities as most of the workers and therefore it is easy to become a part of the Stoke Family, cause it really feels like a family.

During my time at Stoke Travel I had the best supervisor I could wish for. Of course she made the important decisions, but we always consulted each other and she treated me like an equal.
Number of employees: 20-50
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes and no, hard to explain in one line.

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? I was working in the online marketing department, especially focussing on SEO, Google Analytics, Google Adwords and social media.
Brief description of your daily activities: A brief description is hard to give… I was preparing a social media plan, working on different Google Adwords Campaigns, prepared Google Analytics reports and kept myself even more busy with updating the website, in different languages, making all the pages look the same and make sure they were SEO proof.
Brief description of your company assignment: The social media plan was my company assignment. It was not a regular social media plan, there was another student to do that. I was planning a social media campaign to celebrate the 50k likes they were reaching. Therefore I conducted research, planned the campaign and made arrangements.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My supervisor I had the first 3 months was AMAZING! She taught me so much about the job and I owe her a lot. Unfortunately after 3 months she decided to leave the company and I got the opportunity to run the department by myself while the HR team was looking for a replacement. I decided to take this opportunity and during my last 2 months I was supervised by the CEO of the company, but only the rough lines, since he trusted me enough to make my own decisions concerning the department.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? independance, teamplayer, sociable, flexible
Additional company requirements for this placement? SEO, WordPress, Writing skills
English: Intermediate
Spanish: Basic
French: Basic
German: Basic
Italian: Basic
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? myself, but there is also a possibility from the company
How did you go to work every day? metro / walk

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? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? If your English is not good, sure. Otherwise; not at all.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 200
Accommodation (monthly): € 400
Local transport (monthly): € 50
General costs of living (monthly): € ?
Costs of visa: € 0
Costs of work permit: € 0
What did the company pay for/to you? Nothing. But I could come with on the trips for cost price only, sometimes even for free.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Not really, I had often been in Spain before so it wasn’t that much different.
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: 130676@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: DON’T go if you do not like to hang out with your colleagues after work and if you do not like to travel and go to the weirdest festivals. Do go when you do so!
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Have you ever been in Barcelona? There is something you can do on every corner of every street. One side you are in the mountains, other side you are standing on the beach. In the middle you have one of the most beautiful cities of Europe.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link