The Grafton Hotel Dublin

Placement organization

Name of organization: The Grafton Hotel Dublin
Town/city: Dublin
Country: Nederland
Website: https://www.thegrafton.ie/

Student

Name of student: Iva Aleksandrova
Specialist area: Tourism Management (EN)
Placement period: 2021-2022

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Hotel
Organization’s activities: Social Media Marketing
Competitor Analysis
Event Planning and Organization
PR Activities
Assistance with revenue reporting
Target group of the organization: American and European Market
Company culture: Formal
Number of employees: 55
Dress code: formal
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Partly

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

Marketing and Sales Department

Brief description of your daily activities:

• Assisting with social media for the hotel rooms, food and beverage and the events space.
• Working with events team to hand event enquiries
• Work with PR activities and marketing to help with the promotion of the hotel
• Update Database and CRM for communication distribution
• Work with team on showcasing the hotel to existing and new clients
• Work with the website and content management
• Work with revenue and reservations to get an understanding of how this department links in with sales and marketing
• Work on the imagery and content of online booking tools and sites for Rooms and MICE
• The hotel works with Opera Cloud which is the most current level of PMS with Opera so they will be fully trained
• They will get an understanding of how sales, marketing and events department works in a city hotel
• The Sales and marketing and events team is a small team so the internship will get good hands-on experience
Brief description of your company assignment: Conducting a competitor analysis in a highly saturated market and city like Dublin the following considerations will be taken into account when deciding which hotels to analyze.
Areas of research
1. Pricing Analysis

2. SWOT Analysis

3. Social Media Analysis

4. Website Analysis

5. Review Analysis

6. Create a Competitor Matrix- Rates vs Client Satisfaction
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My supervisor is in the office only two days of the week so this internship is not suitable for people who want daily assistance. Communication is of course possible per email if questions arise.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Sociable and independent
Additional company requirements for this placement? Photo editing
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Plane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? By myself
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? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: By myself
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? A few days
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

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 300
Accommodation (monthly): € 960
Local transport (monthly): € 115
General costs of living (monthly): € 1200- 1600
Costs of visa: € 0
Costs of work permit: € 0
What did the company pay for/to you? The internship is paid but no accommodation, transport or food is provided.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
The company is new so there is still no firm established organizational structure. It is a 4 star city hotel in an European capital so it is expected to dress formally and communicate formally with the guests. Communication between the colleagues is a mix between formal and informal.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Yes

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 190638@buas.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Look for accommodation in advance since the housing situation in Dublin is critical. Be prepared to pay at least 800 euros for an individual small room with shared kitchen and bathroom. If you want to stay in a shared room the cost is around 600 euros.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: The leisure activities are countless as the hotel is situated in the city center. Any type of entertainment is available in Dublin but the prices are very high.

Media