Jabu Holiday Homes

Placement organization

Name of organization: Jabu Holiday Homes
Town/city: Cape Town
Country: Zuid-Afrika
Website: http://jabuholidayhomes.com

Name of student: Ashley Bos

Specialist area: MT
Placement period: 2016-2017

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Property management organisation / Accomodation
Organization’s activities: Jabu Holiday Homes is a property manager and trusted organisation for people to discover and book hand picked accommodations in Cape Town. The company rents out houses or apartments from house owners to holiday guests.
Target group of the organization: Families/couples
Company culture: The company is divided in two companies: Jabu Holiday Homes and 4Exchange. 4Exchange is the student side of the company and Jabu Holiday Homes the holiday guests side. Hereby is Willemijn the boss of Jabu and Katelijne the boss of 4Exchange. Both companies work together and help each other. Within the companies everyone is equal. They treat you as a real employee and good friend.
Number of employees: 4
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Jabu Holiday Homes is a small company, where mostly you and Willemijn are working. You will be involved in almost every department. From bookings till marketing and promotion.
Brief description of your daily activities: – Answer e-mails and enquiries
– Social media
– Arrange last-minutes
– Make sure the accommodations are booked
– Make invoices
– Arrange check-ins/outs
– Solve problems
– Update the new website
– Make brochures
– Make student portfolios
– Weekly/monthly checks accommodations

Brief description of your company assignment: Jabu Holiday Homes is a property management organisation. It is my task to look if destination management is a interesting option for Jabu Holiday Homes.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Willemijn is great as a supervision. She gives you responsibility and freedom. When you have problems, you can always ask her. The same counts for the other employees. They all make you feel part of their little family.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? independent, stress-proof, flexible, sociable
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office
English: Intermediate
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Company
How did you go to work every day? By foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Exchange Visa
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Embassy
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? A few weeks
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? A few weeks before departure

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? It is not necessary, but it can help

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 800
Accommodation (monthly): € 450
Local transport (monthly): € 50
General costs of living (monthly): € 300/400
Costs of visa: € 200/300
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? All the things I had to do for the company, they paid for.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Read different articles about it on internet and talked to people who already been in Cape Town.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? No, because the owners are Dutch

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: xashleybos@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Start on time with arranging your Visa and vaccinations
If you are far from your internship or you are planing to do a lot of activities, it is smart to hire a car
(It will give you a lot of freedom)
Don’t take taxis but use the uber ( is a lot cheaper)
Make sure you bring a lot of money, there are so many things to do!
Book an extra week to go on Garden Route

Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: – Climb Table Mountain (skeleton gorge route)
– Kirstenbosch
– Climb Lion’s Head (full moon)
– Diving with seals
– Paragliding Signal Hill
– Cape Point (chapman’s peak drive, boulders beach)
– Robben Island
– Wine tasting (Constantia)
– Shark cage diving
– Horse back riding (on the beach)
– Go to the several beaches Cape Town as to offer
– Visit New York Bagels for lunch
ETC

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link