Barrio Life

Placement organization

Name of organization: Barrio Life
Town/city: Barcelona
Country: Spanje
Website: https://barrio-life.nl/

Student

Name of student: Britt van Gastel

Specialist area: Tourism Management (NL)
Placement period: 2019-2020

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour operator
Organization’s activities: Barrio Life is a Dutch travel organization based in Barcelona and Madrid and specializes in the destinations of Andalusia, Portugal and Morocco (Sahara). By offering tailor-made solutions to customers, every customer can put his trip together completely the way he wants. In addition, sustainable tourism is very important for Barrio Life and they therefore participate in various sustainability projects.
Target group of the organization: Dutch travelers aged 45+ and families with children
Company culture: Barrio Life is an informal travel organization where no one is higher than the other. We are all 1 team and you don’t have to look up to anyone. In addition, this informal culture is also propagated to the customer because customers are always addressed with ‘je of jij’.
Number of employees: 4
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 currently working in the marketing department of the company which is very interesting. Together with someone else we are the marketing team of the organization and because it is so small, I am allowed to lead a lot of projects and make decisions for the company. At the moment Barrio Life is working on a lot of adjustments concerning online marketing that I can help a lot with.

Brief description of your daily activities: Every day I am busy with the online marketing of Bariro Life. I have online customer contact and ensure that our social media channels stay up to date and are provided with fun content. But most of the time i am busy managing various projects such as setting up advertisements on different sites and preparing an online program for the sales department. I am also working on website changes on our new website so that it works well.

Brief description of your company assignment: My business assignment has to do with the fact that barrio life is very concerned with sustainability internally but does not show this to partners and customers. So I’m actually going to write a marketing plan on how they can best communicate externally in the field of sustainability.

Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Within the company I actually work a lot on myself because I am busy with projects. Whenever I have questions, I can almost always ask them immediately and I also hold many consultations to show how far I am with projects.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Sociable, flexible, teamplayer, representable
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office programs
English: Advanced
Spanish: Basic
French: Basic
German: Basic
Italian: Basic
Other languages: Within the company we only speak Dutch. So Dutch has to be your mother tongue.

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? Bicycle or the subway

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: School and DUO
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? A few days
Did you need certain vaccinations? No
How long in advance? N.V.T

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

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 150 euro
Accommodation (monthly): € 572 euro
Local transport (monthly): € 10 euros a week
General costs of living (monthly): € 300/400 euro
Costs of visa: € n.v.t
Costs of work permit: € n.v.t
What did the company pay for/to you? We receive a salary of 250 euros every month

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Spain is not a completely different culture compared to the Netherlands so I did not prepare myself for it.
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: brittvangastel@kpnmail.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: You don’t really have to buy a bike in Barcelona, public transport is very cheap and there are not bike paths everywhere which makes cycling very difficult sometimes.
Find a home in Born! I have lived in this neighborhood and it is highly recommended because it is not very busy yet but you are close to everything.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: It is of course very nice to visit the major tourist sites but also visit local spots! Carrer de Blai is a very nice street to eat pinchos and Born is a very nice area to live and walk through. Visit Tibidabo for a beautiful view of the city.From Barcelona you can also visit a city near Valencia for little money, such as Valencia
And don’t forget to visit the cafés and clubs !!

Media