One Ibiza Suites

Placement organization

Name of organization: One Ibiza Suites
Town/city: Ibiza Town
Country: Spanje
Website: http://www.oneibizasuites.com

Student

Name of student: Penelope Gillé

Specialist area: Associate degree
Placement period: 2018-2019

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Aparthotel
Organization’s activities: One Ibiza Suites is a 5-star luxury aparthotel. One Ibiza Suites is the result of the renovation of a tourist hotel located on Playa Figueretas beachfront in Ibiza Town. It works as an apartment building with hotel services, which makes it unique in the area. The hotel has 86 units spread over standard rooms, studios and large suites.
Target group of the organization: Families, couples
Company culture: The corporate culture is very pleasant and open. Everyone is ready to help each other. Most employees wear a uniform. There is a hierarchical structure, but this is not felt. Colleagues are sincere and communicate with each other in an informal way.
Number of employees: 69
Dress code: formal
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

Back office. I worked in the management and social media department.

Brief description of your daily activities:
– Answering emails
– Answering reviews on multiple websites
– Social media: I responded to comments that were left on the social media channels. I came up with posts to post on the social media channels. I also analyzed how the posts on their social media channels were doing.
– Reservations: I did telephone service to help the customer with their reservation or to make the reservation for them. I also printed out all the reservations and put them in the computer system.
– Keeping track of the competitors’ prices: I kept track of the competitors’ prices per day. I kept track of the prices from around 20 competitors of the months April, May, June, July, August, September, October and November. These prices were checked and updated daily/weekly to see if One Ibiza Suites needed to adjust their prices to have more attractive prices than their competitors.

Brief description of your company assignment: My company assignment was a competitor analysis.

Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My company supervisor helped me very well. I could always go to him for help. I also received help with opening a Spanish bank account and getting a NIE number.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Representable, teamplayer, sociable, flexible
Additional company requirements for this placement?
Writing skills
English: Advanced
Spanish: Intermediate
French: Basic
German: Basic
Italian: Basic
Other languages: Besides English and basic Spanish, other languages aren’t really necessary, but they could work in your favor.

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Internet
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? You need a NIE number and a Social Security number
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Police station for the NIE number and Oficinas de la Seguridad Social for the Social Security number
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? The social security number took about 20 minutes and the NIE number took a few weeks
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? If you don’t speak any Spanish it would be great to learn some basics.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 225
Accommodation (monthly): € 550
Local transport (monthly): € Not a lot. The bus is very cheap. Think of 2 or 3 euros to get to the other side of the island.
General costs of living (monthly): € 125
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: € Social security number is free, NIE number is around 10 euros
What did the company pay for/to you? The company gave me free meals and gave me a financial compensation of 300€ per month.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I didn’t prepare for the country’s culture, because I visited the country multiple times before.
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: 170966@buas.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do:
For a NIE number you need to go to the police station. Beforehand, you need to make an appointment online, because they won’t let you in without an appointment. There are also a lot of people online offering to get a NIE number for you. Most of the time they will ask you a lot of money to do this, so just do it yourself because it’s only 10€. Keep in mind that a NIE number takes a few weeks to get.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Ibiza is a small island. It’s easy to get everywhere by bus. The bus is also really cheap. You can also go by car, but you need to remember that there are almost no parking spots in the high tourist season. The aparthotel is located in Figueretas, Ibiza Town. It’s a 15/20 walk or a less than 5 minutes busride to the old town of Ibiza. Figueretas is also located next to Playa D’en Bossa. This is also a 15/20 walk or less than 5 minutes busride. Here you can find the nightlife. Think of Ushuaïa, DC10, Pacha Ibiza… One Ibiza Suites is also located next to the beach. And if you want something from home, there are 2 nearby Dutch restaurants and a Dutch supermarket in San Eularia.

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