Bus2alps

Placement organization

Name of organization: Bus2alps
Town/city: Florence
Country: Italië
Website: https://www.bus2alps.com

Student

Name of student: Lisa Kersten
Specialist area: Tourism Management (NL)
Placement period: 2021-2022

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Touroperator
Organization’s activities: Bus2alps is a touroperator in Florence, Italy. They organise trips for students who are studying/traveling abroad to the Amalfi Coast, Croatia, Interlaken, Tuscany, Cinque Terre, Morocco, etc. I mostly did operational stuff in the office, but I also got a chance to work in the field as a guide and sales employee. I could also go with a marketing position. When you are here you start as an operational employee, but if you like other stuff more you get the chance to develop more in that area. We have occasional events where we try to recruit more students to travel with us.
Target group of the organization: Students
Company culture: The company culture is great! Everybody is really nice and always ready to help. It is a really chill place to work and you get a lot of freedom to develop yourself. There is a hierarchy but it is not that obvious. Very informal company.
Number of employees: 16
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

Operational, sales, guiding.

Brief description of your daily activities: Keeping everything up to date, reaching out to people, flyering, guiding. A lot of back office stuff but if you want to do more than that, you can!
Brief description of your company assignment: Complete a feasibility study to examine the current problem at Bus2Alps of last-minute booking capacity management, make an analysis of the current mode of operation, define the relevant requirements, propose an evaluation of alternatives, and then together work with the operations and product teams to decide upon a future course of action.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: They were great! My supervisor was Rebecca and she is the sweetest person you will ever meet. She will always help you and is really patient. Van, the CEO, was also the most chill person ever. They always help you and got my forms back in a day. If I wanted more time to work on my school assignment, it wasn’t a problem.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? team-player, sociable, stress-proof, flexible
Additional company requirements for this placement? Basic knowledge of excel and google drive
English: Intermediate
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: plane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? HousingAnywhere.com
How did you go to work every day? by foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? nope
Do you need a work permit? nope
How did you arrange the necessary documents:
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? Covid vaccinations, so 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? You can if you want, but it hasn’t been an issue.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 200
Accommodation (monthly): € 950
Local transport (monthly): € 0
General costs of living (monthly): € 300
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Financial compensation of €1000 a month.
Additional sales commissions if you make any.
You get paid for weekend trips.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I didn’t. I’m really used to the Italian culture.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Nope

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 192114@buas.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: This internship is amazing, please go with it. I’ve learned so much and met so many nice people while I was here. It is a busy internship and can be very chaotic, but it is so much fun.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: So many possibilities! I went on a trip almost every weekend, either with work or just with friends. Rome, Venice, Pisa, etc, are all so close. It is just a day trip! You can hike here, Florence is gorgeous to discover, food is great and weather is amazing so you will get tan for sure ;).

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