Muchosol

Placement organization

Name of organization: Muchosol
Town/city: Valencia
Country: Spanje
Website: https://www.muchosol.co.uk/

Name of student: Janneke de Vries

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2017-2018

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Online vacation rental portal
Organization’s activities: Muchosol stands for offering customer service and warranty. The role of the company is to only mediate between the rental agencies and the final customers. The customer service is about mediating between the agencies and customers before, during and after a booking has been made. Next to the customer service the customers of Muchosol have the warranty of booking an accommodation for the best price guaranteed. The product that is offered are villas, houses and apartments in mainly Europe.
Target group of the organization: Families
Company culture: The company is divided in four different departments: the direction and administration
department, the marketing department, the product management department and the customer service.

There are no strict rules within the company but there are some rules that belong to the corporate structure: no official dress code within the company, but ripped jeans cannot be worn. The computer cannot be used for personal matters, and it is not allowed to constantly use your phone during working hours. The kitchen, with all the products, is available for everyone, etc.
Number of employees: 25
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

Marketing department

Brief description of your daily activities: I am responsible for the Dutch marketing department.
We only work with online marketing. My daily activities are keeping the Dutch social media accounts of Muchosol up to date: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram (ES/UK) and Pinterest (UK), writing and translating blogs, writing newsletters, translating websites and finding possible influencers that want to cooperate with our company.
Brief description of your company assignment: My company assignment was to attract more Dutch visitors to the website of Muchosol. I needed to find out myself, how I was going to achieve this. I decided to start writing a marketing plan for the Dutch market, to find a solution how to get more visitors to the website.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The supervision was excellent! My company supervisor is Dutch which made it easy to communicate. Thereby, she explained everything well and if I had any questions she was always there to help me.

Requirements for students on placement

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

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Relatives
How did you go to work every day? Bicycle

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? Yes, spanish language course

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € €100 single ticket
Accommodation (monthly): € €300
Local transport (monthly): € €30
General costs of living (monthly): € €400
Costs of visa: € €0
Costs of work permit: € €0
What did the company pay for/to you? I received a monthly financial compensation of €350 gross.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I read about the Spanish culture, what was important to know.
Except from that, not much. Since Spain is a Western country, located 2 hours away from us, I did not expected many differences.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Yes

Future students on placement

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

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: You should definitely try the Spanish gastronomy, it is delicous. Thereby, a typical Valencian drink is "Aqua de Valencia", you cannot miss! Besides, cycle through Turia Park, party at Marina Beach/Umbracle, visit other cities close by, hire a scooter and discover the city, join Erasmus parties, etc.

What you should not do is thinking that the weather is always above 20 degrees. It is April right now, and I still have had every week a day of rain. Thereby, Spanish people love to do everything in a calm way. You need to wave your hand in a restaurant, otherwise they will not help you. In addition to that, is Valencia a quite city with less violence so nothing to be afraid of!
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Valencia is a growing tourism destination, and perfect for both relaxing and discovering. The city has an old town and new town. Thereby, it has a beach called playa de malvarossa. If you want to escape from the city, places nearby are Port sa Playa (Venice of Valencia), El Saler (the best paella!) or Albufera; a great nature park that you cannot miss.

If you want to make a weekend trip to different cities, you have a lot of possibilities. Barcelona is 3 hours by train from Valencia, Madrid 1,5 hours, Alicante 2 hours, or what I did; Mallorca is half an hour flying from Valencia and only costs €30 for a ticket. The same for Ibiza!

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link