Abercrombie & Kent Australia

Placement organization

Name of organization: Abercrombie & Kent Australia
Town/city: Melbourne
Country: Australië
Website: https://www.abercrombiekent.com.au/

Student

Name of student: Sofie Roggeveen

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

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Travel Agency
Organization’s activities: Abercrombie & Kent is one of world’s leaders in luxury travel. With 57 officies around the world, they provide exclusive insider access to experiences that other companies simply can’t provide. They offer fully customized journeys to each content.
Target group of the organization: Baby Boomers/NEOs with a high income, 55+
Company culture: A&K has a departmentalization/ hierarchy structure where every employee serves a specialized role. The company in Melbourne is divided over two buildings, you will sit with your own department and team members. Eventough you have to dress up formal and the company itsel is very luxurious formal, in the office all colleagues are very friendly and always up for a chat or willing to help you with anything. Especially my supervisor Portia was the kindest!
Number of employees: 100+
Dress code: formal
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: Due to the whole COVID situation my daily tasks were mostly working on website stuff, as I finished the placement remotely.

– Creating new hotel pages
– Checking pages on the right content, images, grammar, blank spaces etc.
– Pricing and repricing
– Image search: Provide the images for social media, hotels, website, journeys etc.
– Creating email marketing campaigns, vouchers, invitations, content for social meida
– Collecting, packing and sending promotion material (in the office)
– Contacting clients for several events, hotels,

Brief description of your company assignment: In my company assignment I did research on how to increase the online engagement of A&K Australia.

Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Portia Atkins (Partnership & Event Executive) was the absolute best supervisor I could have wished for! Always happy, enthusiastic, kind and willing to help you with anything. She is always involved and planns a catch up meeting with you every week to see how you’re doing inside and outside of work. Thanks to her I was able to finish my internship remotely.

Eventough all the other teammembers: Araminta (Content & Communications Executive), David (Design and Production manager), Milly (Production Assistant), Serena (PR & Communications Manager) and Anthony (head of Marketing) were super nice aswell and always there to help you out!

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? independent, teamplayer, confident, sociable
Additional company requirements for this placement? n/a
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? First 3 weeks I stayed in an Airbnb, then I found my accommodation via Facebook (there are several groups to join if youre looking for an accommodation in Melbourne)
How did you go to work every day? by foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes Holiday Work
Do you need a work permit? n/a
How did you arrange the necessary documents: embassy
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? Only a few minutes/hours, but I was still waiting for them as I thought it was just a automatic reply so check your attachments directly!
Did you need certain vaccinations? No
How long in advance? n/a

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, not necessary

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1400
Accommodation (monthly): € 500 for a shared room in Southbank
Local transport (monthly): € 15 only used in the weekends
General costs of living (monthly): € depends what youre doing in the weekends
Costs of visa: € about 300
Costs of work permit: € n/a
What did the company pay for/to you? $1000 a month

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Didn’t, it is similar to the Netherlands.
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: 171244@buas.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Enjoy every day, plan trips/events/things every weekend lifes short, time flies by and you don’t know whats going to happen (COVID-19)

Arrive (half) a week in advance because of the jetlag, book an Airbnb/hostel for the first 2/3 weeks you’ll have time to search for the perfect accommodation.

TRAVEL! Every weekend and after the placement.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Melbourne itself has much to offer, I did a free guided walking tour the first week to see all the highlights.

Great Ocean Road, Philip Island, Grampians,

Media