“El que no llora, no mama”

Michelle L., Leisure and Tourism Management, 7. Semester, Hotel Club Jandia Princess, Fuerteventura, Wintersemester 2022/23

The saying above is one of the many things I take home from my internship in the Hotel Club Jandia Princess on the island of Fuerteventura. I worked on this beautiful islands six months, from October 2022 to March 2023, mainly in the guest relations department, which is also the origin of the expression. It states in a metaphorical way that you need to complain if you want to receive something. And complains were a big part of my work which I will describe later, just as the life on the island and my learnings. Firstly, I will start with the planning and application process.

I started to plan my internship in May 2022 when I was still doing my semester abroad on the island of Tenerife. Because of my positive experience there I definitely wanted to stay on the Canary island for my internship as well and started to send applications to hotels of the different islands as hotels are one field of tourism that is especially interesting for me. I wanted to use the internship to find out what carrier paths are possible to achieve and if I could imagine to work in a hotel after graduation. I had to recognize that it was quite difficult to get in touch with possible employers. Especially the big hotel chains often did not even sent a refusal even if they had published job offers. As is did not receive answers and especially no positive answers, I started to search in my surroundings on Tenerife as I lived in a touristic place and went to hotels personally to ask for offers. As I did not apply to existing offers in this case, I often was told that there are no jobs open. My next step was to ask other students for recommendations which is how I got to know about agencies that arrange internships and especially hotel internships as I heard a lot of times that it is hard to achieve an internship searching individually. In the end I used the agency SWEP (Spanish Work Exchange Programme) which of course cost money but which organized a position within one week. In addition, the agency has the advantage of supporting a lot with all the documents that are necessary including Erasmus documents. As part of the agreement is also accommodation in the staff housing of the hotel, the rest of the planning process was really easy and I could start my internship on 3th of October without any more problems.

As already mentioned I completed by internship in the guest relations department of the hotel, in addition I worked at reception and could get a few insides in the reservations department as well. The main part of my daily working routine was to assist to clients questions, complains, problems and any kind of consultation in the guest relations office. I learned how to manage complains which also included a personal development as I also had to react to difficult situations in which clients did not maintain a professional distance and polite manner of communication. This is also how I learned about the Spanish saying which the guest relations manager used to say when clients insisted on compensations. To handle complain I also worked together with the representative of the different tour operators. Another part of my work was to measure the monthly satisfaction. The hotel used questionnaires which all the guests could hand in at the end of their stay so that I could retrieve scores for the different variables measured. In addition, I asked for feedback in personal conversations. Furthermore, I answered online comments and also used them to collect additional feedback which then was forwarded to the management of the hotel. The goal was always to maintain a high level of satisfaction and to avoid negative feedback online. Whenever I had time I also worked in the reception and learned all the typical tasks like doing a check-in which seems to be more simplistic work but which I liked a lot. To be in contact with guests from a lot different countries and to facilitate a pleasant stay in the hotel was my favorite part of the job. Especially because I could use the four languages I speak every day.

Especially interesting was to spend Christmas and New Years Eve in the hotels as there are of course special events to organize which were a nice change from the daily tasks. In addition, the hotel was fully occupied for more than two weeks which was an experience I do not want to miss as I learned how overbookings are handled in reality. Furthermore, in this time there was of course a lot more work to do and I could gain experience in working under much more pressure and to handle stress.

Another really positive aspect of my internship that I would like to mention is the environment I worked in. The team I joined works together for years and has personal relations that go beyond being colleagues, still everyone was absolutely welcoming. I felt appreciated from the beginning and could recognize how their trust was growing by the time so that I was give more responsibilities. Now at the end of my internship I can say that I did not only gain experience but also close friends.

Regarding the life on the island, I already knew what I could expect from the time I spent on Tenerife. This is why there was no culture shock and I could communicate in Spanish from the beginning on. Still, the island is quite different as Tenerife. Fuerteventura is a typical sun and beach destination. There are no big cities or huge amusement parks which is why leisure activities mainly take place in the nature. I discovered stunning places, went for hikes and also used the ferries between the islands to spend some time on Grand Canaria and Lanzarote.

In conclusion, I am absolutely satisfied with my internship. To a large extent this is because of the team I was fortunate to meet and the environment of the island as the Canary Islands are the place I also want to live in in the future. But also the work in the hotel with the personal contact to the clients and the possibility to speak many languages met my expectations so that I am still planning to work in the accommodation sector after graduation. Finally, I also feel a huge personal development as I had the possibility to work with growing responsibilities and had to face difficult situations and conversations. Even if the guest relations department with all the complains to manage is not what I want to do in the future, I am glad for the experience and the insights into the other departments which are certainly options for my future.