Abbey Ireland and UK

Placement organization

Name of organization: Abbey Ireland and UK
Town/city: Edinburgh
Country: Groot-Brittannië
Website: https://www.abbey.ie/

Name of student: Vivian Koolen

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2017-2018

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: DMC
Organization’s activities: FIT department (1-16 pax): creating itineraries for individual bookings, entering bookings in in-house booking system, arranging transfers, arranging activities, advising travel agents, contacting hotels
Group department: (16+ pax): basically everything that the FIT department does, only it is split up in 3 different departments: customer care (receive the booking and make sure that the client stays up-to-date), accomodation (booking and contacting hotels) & operations (arranging transfers and activities).
Target group of the organization: Groups and individual from all ages and all continents
Company culture: Communication between different departments is quite informal. On Fridays after work, they love to go out to the pub for a few (or many) drinks to celebrate the weekend. Dress code is business casual from Monday to Thursday (no jeans, that is the only requirement) and on Friday, you can literally wear anything you'd like.
Number of employees: Around 40
Dress code: formal
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Absolutely!

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

FIT (individual)

Brief description of your daily activities: Receiving bookings, entering bookings in system, calling hotels to check availability and book hotels, arrange transfers, create custom itineraries, making quotations. I'm mostly working within the USA and Swiss markets (strange combination, I know but it works).
Brief description of your company assignment: Creating new promotional material for Wales, which is a destination that Abbey started to offer last year (creating new itineraries basically).
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Supervision is absolutely superb. My manager is my company supervisor and he, together with the colleague with whom I work the most, keeps an eye on me. I get a lot of freedom so I do not feel like I'm being watched, but whenever I have questions, I know that there is always someone who can help me.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Team player, flexible, result-driven and having an eye for detail.
Additional company requirements for this placement? Basic excel skills are enough and being able to write a proper English business mail could also be useful.
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? Facebook group 'Edinburgh to let'
How did you go to work every day? Bus

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? No, but I would recommend watching a few Scottish series (like Outlander, for example) to get used to the accent a bit since we all know that sometimes, you won't have a clue what someone is saying (especially when you have to call people from islands like Orkney or Shetland)

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € Around 150 euros
Accommodation (monthly): € 600 euros. Edinburgh is REALLY expensive, so keep that in mind!
Local transport (monthly): € 64 euros. I have RIDA card that I have to pay for every month, but it allows me unlimited use of public transport in Edinburgh
General costs of living (monthly): € 700 euros (depending on how much you drink since alcohol here is hella expensive, and if you smoke you better quit since pack of cigarettes costs around 15 euros. I know.)
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Financial compensation. I believe something around 300-350 euros, but I don't know how much exactly. Not too bad, though.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I didn't. Maybe it would be wise to train your liver a bit before you arrive in Edinburgh, since office parties (yes, multiple) can get really crazy really fast. You'll thank me for this tip.
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: viviko97@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Don't call the UK 'England'. Just don't. If you want to live past your placement, you will have to get used to this.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Way too much. Google it, you'll be busy for a month straight. Personal favourites:
– Edinburgh: national museum of Scotland, Edinburgh castle, palace of holyroodhouse, Arthurs' seat (I nearly died everytime but the view is really pretty), Calton hill (same here)
– Glasgow: Kelvingrove museum, Celtic park
– Stirling: Stirling castle, the city itself is really pretty as well
– Inverness: Culloden battle field, Loch Ness is not that exciting so I would rather go to Loch Lommond
– Fort William: Jacobite steam train (MUST DO! Book as soon as you have confirmed your placement because the train sells out REALLY fast), Glen coe
– Pitlochry: really cute little village

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link