Citytrip Barcelona

Placement organization

Name of organization: Citytrip Barcelona
Town/city: Barcelona
Country: Spanje
Website: http://citytripbarcelona.com

Name of student: Janne van den Boomen

Specialist area: MTT
Placement period: 2016-2017

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Accommodation
Organization’s activities: Citytrip Barcelona is specialized in the rental of apartment in the city Barcelona. Their main goal is to offer the guests a very comfortable stay, reflected not only in stylish apartments but also in a quick and personal service.
Target group of the organization: 18-100 years
Company culture: The company is very open and informal.
Roy and Nathalie are the owners of Citytrip. Besides the owners the company has about 4 cleaning ladies for all the apartments. There is also 1 maintenance man. Then you have 2 offices with 1 administration employee and 2 full-time front-office employees. Almost all the time there is also an intern.
Number of employees: 10
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? I am working at the reception desk, this is one of the 2 offices in Barcelona.
Brief description of your daily activities: – check-in/check-out guests
– answering emails
– answering phone calls
– making the contracts
– making payments (and put everything correct in the system)
– making offers and new reservations
– contacting with channels as Booking.com/Expedia.com
Brief description of your company assignment: My assignment is an customer-satisfaction research. I did this using reviews from the guests and using a survey.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: At the beginning I always worked with one of the fulltime front-office employees. They were very helpfull and I could always ask everything.
During the weeks you will work more independent, and you also have to work whole days at your own in the office. They give you a lot of responsibility.
All the time you can call to their other company ´Velor Apartments´ in Castelldefels for all your questions. Roy is always working in Castelldefels, and Nathalie from home, so I never worked with them. But I could always call them or send them emails.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, social, flexible, responsible
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office and writing skills
English: Advanced
Spanish: Intermediate
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? By myself
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? No, it´s not necessarily, but it would be very helpfull if you can speak a little bit Spanish

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 180 (incl. luggage)
Accommodation (monthly): € 325
Local transport (monthly): € 30
General costs of living (monthly): € 500
Costs of visa: € –
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? A monthly financial compensation of 250 Euros.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Not, you get used to it really quick because it isn´t that different in comparison with Holland. I already went a lot of times to Spain and I also went to Barcelona before, so it was not totally new for me.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Actually a little bit, you will have lunch and dinner really late

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: jannevdboomen@live.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Start searching for an appartment in advance! I lived in the district Exaimple and I would really recommend to search for an apartment in this district!
I booked my apartment by: Rent Room Barcelona and everything was perfect.

Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: The city has a lot to offer!
You defenitely have to visit:

-Montserrat (!!)
– Montjuïc
– Sagrada Familia
– Parc Guëll
– Tibidabo
– Plaza d´Espana
– Parc de la Ciatudella and Arc de Triomf
– The beach :):):)

Walk through the district barrio gothic and borne, here are a lot of little cozy streets and restaurants!

It´s also a good idea to visit other cities in Spain!

And don´t forget to eat at Brunch and Cake!!!…………….

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link