Conrad Bali

Placement organization

Name of organization: Conrad Bali
Town/city: Tanjung Benoa, Bali
Country: Indonesië
Website: http://www.conradbali.com

Student

Name of student: Esther de Brouwer

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2012-2013

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Accommodation
Organization’s activities:  Resort, Meeting & Events, Weddings, Leisure
Target group of the organization: Especially the luxury segment, leisure travelers, business travelers and weddings – MICE
Company culture: Conrad Bali has a welcoming and warm work environment. Respect is shown towards all employees and trainees, employees are always willing to help and both management and colleagues will see you as any of their colleagues.
Number of employees: 550-600
Dress code: uniform
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes, the HR department of Conrad Bali helped me with arringing my visa and required documents. In addition, compensation and accommodation (for the first 2 days) was arranged.

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Sales & Marketing, Finance, Reservations, Housekeeping, Property Operations, F&B, Spa, Front Office etc.
I worked in Marketing & Sales – Marketing/Pr
Brief description of your daily activities: First of all: daily tasks vary each day which leads to a great variation of work!

One of the main responsibilities was updating Conrad Concierge, the online application used by all Conrad properties. The online application provides guests to manage their stay from virtually anywhere in the world at any time. While updating Conrad Concierge you can be as creative as you want which makes it really fun to do.

Furthermore I prepared monthly activity sheets to promote in-house events, related to Food & Bevrage and Spa, updated the creative library, revised the marketing plan and several presentations.

I have organized and coordinated several photo shoots such as a lifestyle photoshoot, MICE photoshoot, Product Shoot and a Media photoshoot.

Brief description of your company assignment: My assignment was ‘’Organizing and coordinating a Lifestyle photo shoot for a total revamp of the website’’

I had to create a storyboard featuring image references and venues to give the photographer a clear idea what Conrad Bali was looking for. I had to cooperate with the photographer and his creative team to create a schedule and a final storyboard. In addition, I had to cooperate with Food & Beverage, Housekeeping, Reservations and Properaty Operations to ensure all included venues were clean and blocked for a certain period of time.

Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: You will work closely together with the MarComm/PR manager, Director of Business Development and Graphics. They are all very professional, friendly, willing to help and they appreciate your ideas (don’t be afraid to take initiatives).

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? You definitely need to be a team player as you will corporate with several departments, such as Graphics and Food & Beverage. However, being able to work independent is required as well as you have to be able to figure things out and to handle things on your own. In certain situations you will experience a great workload, whereby you need to be stress-proof and flexible. Other requirements are: social, representable.
Additional company requirements for this placement? Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Photoshop (only need to re-size images)
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages: Learning the basics of Bahasa Indonesia makes you able to understand your colleagues as the language is really easy to pick up.

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? The first two days of accommodation and airport pick up was arranged by the Human Resource department, all arranged very well. After two days I decided to leave the accommodation and to find something on my own (Price of this type of accommodation is around 200 – 300 euro a month). There are many trainees/employees of Conrad Bali staying here, however, I decided to stay somewhere else.

I decided to stay in a “Kos Kosan” – Room for Rent, a property owned by a Balinese family. It was a basic and simple room, however, it had all facilities that I needed. Every morning I had to walk around 3-5 minutes to work (price: 80 euro a month).

Do not hesitate to ask locals / colleagues if you have problems finding a room yourself.
How did you go to work every day? by foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes
Do you need a work permit? Yes
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Conrad Bali helped me arranging a “Kitas” as the arrangement of a work permit takes place through an office in Jakarta.

Required documents: Birth certificate, statements from school, letter of approval from immigration in Jakarta, sponsor letter, return ticket.

Human Resource will arrange the process once all documents are collected. It takes around 1 month to receive the letter of approval from Jakarta.

Once the process is completed you have to visit the Embassy in The Hague to request your visa, which takes 3 working days.
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? One month
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes, I am not sure about all vaccinations as I already had them.

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? Bahasa is helpful

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 700,00 – 1000,00 (return ticket – depends on season)
Accommodation (monthly): € 80,00
Local transport (monthly): € 40,00 – 50,00 (motorbike incl. fuel)
General costs of living (monthly): € 150,00 (depends on your lifestyle, you can make it as cheap/expensive as you want)
Costs of visa: € I don’t remember the exact costs but I had to pay €850 for a 6 months working visa which included 6 months development fund ($100 dollar a month)
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? The company provides you ‘’Conrad Money’’ which you can spend during the day. Each month Conrad Bali provides you with a new amount of Conrad money (amount depends on your work hours/days).
Financial compensation is 1.000.000 Indonesian Rupiah per month which is around €80

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I already knew this from the fieldwork
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? No. Conrad Bali is an international oriented organization with different nationalities and religions. I easily adapted myself to the Indonesian culture.

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 101175@edu.nhtv.nl / edebrouwer93@gmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: To do:
– Learn the basics of bahasa Indonesia. The language is easy to pick up and to understand
– Learn about the Indonesian culture and traditions.
– Rent a motorbike and explore the beauty of Bali (easy to escape from traffic jams).

Don’t’s
– Stay in crowded areas such as Kuta / Seminyak. After a long day at work I noticed that staying in a quiet area is better than staying in touristic and party paradise Kuta.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: The company is located in Tanjung Benoa where there’s not that much to discover. The strip of Tanjung Benoa consists out of luxury accommodations, restaurants and shops. In addition the area is well-known for its water sport facilities.

From this area you easily reach close areas as Nusa Dua, Jimbaran and Uluwatu – you will discover Bali’s most beautiful beaches in the south of Bali.

If you have time it would be great to discover the whole island (Ubud, Bedugul, Lovina, Kintamani, Tegalalang etc). Beautifull beaches are around the corner and also kuta (tourism and party area) is only 20-30 minutes away.

I have done a motorbike trip and discovered the entire island by myself. If you have any questions about sightseeing or other things, do not hesitate to ask me.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link