Abercrombie & Kent

Placement organization

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

Name of student: Amber ben Zineb

Specialist area: MT
Placement period: 2016-2017

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: Cruise Passengers
Company culture: The internal culture is pretty informal. Everyone is very relaxed and open. External communication is formal.
Number of employees: 70
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: – Booking guides
– Creating run sheets
– Helping down at the pier
– Preparing/ Printing documents for the pier manager
– Assisting the Cruise team wherever needed
– Helping with proposals

Helping down at the pier is not daily, but just on ship days.
Brief description of your company assignment: Creating three new tours for three ports.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My supervisor Toby Biddick was very helpful. He would always ask how I was doing at work and in my personal life. Everyone else in the office was really helpful as well. They would always ask if I wanted to do something and then check up on it regularly.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, Teamplayer, Flexible, Stress-Proof
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

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, Working Holiday Visa
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Online via Australian Government
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 4 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? Only if your English is extremely bad

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 750
Accommodation (monthly): € 450
Local transport (monthly): € 100
General costs of living (monthly): € 1000
Costs of visa: € 300
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? $1200 per month, but you have to pay tax so around $930-$1000 a month

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I didn’t prepare for the country’s culture at all. Australia 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: 143178@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Make sure you go on a cruise ship and on some tours that the cruise department offers. Try to plan ahead so you know what you want to do and you can make the most of your weekends.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: There is so much to do in and around Melbourne. Try to go on a road trip or book a flight, Sydney is only 1.5 hours away and you can see a lot in one weekend.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link