Rapport de Stage ltranger Traineeship as waiter in a hotel in Spain

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Anne : U3 Nom de lentreprise : Lieu : Dates : Langue :

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Oropesa del Mar, Espagne du 06.06.2011 au 06.08.2011 Anglais

Nombre de mots : 2927

Confidentiel

OUI

NON

Dclaration sur lhonneur

Dclaration sur lhonneur de ltudiant Accompagnant les dpts crits et/ou lectroniques Je dclare que : 1. Ce travail destin tre valu, est constitu principalement de mes ides, analyses, interprtations et rdaction. Il rsulte de ma propre activit acadmique et de recherche. 2. Lorsque le travail dcoule directement ou rcapitule le travail dautres, une rfrence bibliographique lindique clairement.* 3. Lorsque les paroles ou les crits dautrui sont inclus dans le texte, ils apparaissent entre guillemets et sont convenablement cits. 4. Toute source employe dans la compilation de ce travail, de quelque nature que ce soit est identifie dans le corps du texte et dans la bibliographie. 5. Aucune partie importante de ce travail n'a t dpose lors dune valuation antrieure dans mes cours prcdents. Tout contenu de mon travail acadmique prcdent est cit et identifi dans la liste des rfrences bibliographiques dans le corps du texte et dans la bibliographie. 6. Aucune aide non autorise n'a t obtenue de ma part auprs d'autres tudiants, amis ou partir de sites Internet du type aide scolaire. ** En signant cette dclaration, je suis inform(e) que ce travail peut tre soumis un logiciel d'anti-plagiat et je donne ma permission pour que l'cole accomplisse ce travail de vrification. Date : 14.09.2011 Signature :

* lEcole a adopt le systme de citation Harvard ** sites internet qui proposent le tlchargement gratuit ou payant de travaux acadmiques

Thanks
I would like to thank my responsible in Marina dOr Nacho, and Federico for their valuable advice and support they have given me in the everyday work. I would also like to thank my teacher, for her guidance. Then, I address my thanks to my colleagues in the hotel for their good temper at work.

Summary
For this traineeship in summer 2011 I wanted to improve my foreign languages. By the way, I decided to go abroad to practice English or to start learning Spanish in an intercultural context. After some researches in the United Kingdom and Malta I really thought about Spain. In fact I didnt find good opportunities for me in the UK, and in Malta the traineeship I found wasnt paid so I couldnt go there. So when I heard about Animafest and I decided to call them to see what their offers were. I read on internet forums and I discussed with other students who have been working in Spain by Animafest. They both told me that it was a convincing organization so I signed for a traineeship in the city of Oropesa Del Mar, to work in a five-star hotel called Balneario hotel as waiter. At the beginning it was a bit hard for me because I didnt speak Spanish when I arrived. But day after day I improved my level in Spanish to speak with clients, my colleagues, people I met there. Most of the clients were Spanish. During the first month my mission was great but at the end of July, a lot of workers quitted Marina dOr because of costs reductions. So, the work was going harder and harder and I was placed in another restaurant. This four star hotel was really huge and we worked like robots forty-five hours a week by thirty degree. But anyway, this experience was a great human experience. The work was hard, sure, but it gave me the occasion to meet many different people from all around the world. I learned about them, them countries, their opinion about the work I was doing too which is very interesting. That helped me to become more and more open-minded and curious. In addition to that I had different points of view from myself, which arent equal than in France. To conclude, this mission was a good experience because I want to set up my own business in the tourism industry. By the way it is very useful for me to see how these kinds of companies like Marina dOr are working. On another side, this traineeship is my first international experience, and today, a manager must have an international profile. So, this traineeship as waiter is the beginning of my international work experience, and that is a part of my profile I want to improve.

Keywords: Waiter - Five Star Hotel - Spain Traineeship Intercultural

Content of the report What? Where? Why?

When I started searching my traineeship for the summer 2011, I had different options. I wanted to improve my foreign languages. I had the choice between improving my English and beginning Spanish, as my third foreign language. I think learning Spanish is important (its the 3rd most spoken language in the world) and its a language I never studied. After some traineeship researches in English-speaking countries, I have found nothing really interesting for me. To be sure of that and to have no regrets I went to London a weekend in March to look for a traineeship. I tried some unsolicited applications in hotels and restaurants. For this kind of seasonal works I realize that the job market in London was different than in France: I had some positive responses but to start working immediately or it wasnt a seasonal work (the employer was looking for a real worker and not for a student). This is because most of the contracts are unfixed term contracts. After that experience, I thought it will be more profitable for me to go to the United Kingdom or the USA next year: I will be able to obtain a better traineeship mission with studying one year more. So, I decided to start learning Spanish. Actually, I want to work in the tourism industry, and the tourism has become one of the most important sources of incomes in Spain. Because of my beginner level in Spanish, I thought about organizations which can help me to find a traineeship. Some of them were free, like Animafest which is known as a good organization to find a traineeship in tourism in Spain. I call them to pass a little interview and they found me a traineeship in the restaurant of a hotel. I dont needed to speak Spanish to begin working so I accepted.

Companies description: Animafest

Animafest organization was created in 1996 to help students from Europe to find traineeships in Spain. They are specialized in tourism and work with hotels and resorts. Since its beginning Animafest found over 5000 traineeships. Today, Animafest is in partnership with 250 hotels to offer about 400 traineeships a year. The only positions I could apply for without speaking Spanish were in restaurants. So, I was placed in Oropesa del Mar in a large tourism complex called Marina dOr to work as waiter in one of the hotels there.

Marina dOr description

The company was founded in 1983, its headquarters are situated in Castellon, Spain. The group is active in the areas of real estate development, tourism and construction. Since 2004 marina dOr began internationalization. They are now present in Morocco and in Ecuador where they built large residential and tourist complexes. Today the most known project is Marina dOr, Ciudad de Vacaciones which is the biggest tourism complex in Europe. This touristic settlement is built in Oropesa del Mar, Spain. The particularity of its complex is that there are no rooms to rent. Marina dOr is specialized in real estate development so they built apartments even in the hotels. In Marina dOr Oropesa, it represents a total of 21000 apartments. This kind of complex is totally autonomous because of the huge number of people who live there during the touristic season. The customer is definitely on top, everything he could need is available in Marina dOr: Hotels, bars, restaurants, souvenirs shops, sport structures and animations, amusement park, daycare with a lot of activities for children But, there are also nearly the same equipments as a real town: supermarket, pharmacy, doctor, bank, post, clothes shops; and the same services as a town too: security, technical services, emergency

My mission in Marina dOr

My traineeship mission was waiter in the restaurant of the hotel named Hotel Gran Duque which is a four-star hotel. But, most of the time I worked for the five-star: Hotel Balneario. First of all, we had to wear a suit and a bow tie because of the luxury of the hotels. Both of the hotels were so big that the restaurants were self-service buffets. So, waiters job was a bit different than in a classic restaurant with a menu to order. The buffets were open from 9AM to 11AM for breakfast, from 1PM to 3.30PM for lunch and from 8.30PM to 10.30PM for dinner. In the five-star: This restaurant is composed of three rooms which are situated around a central buffet. We were between five and thirteen waiters for between hundred and five hundred clients per service. We had two rooms responsible who were in charge to place the clients at a table, and to divide up waiters in the different rooms. The working teams were changing every service (during a reunion just before the opening), because of the different tasks to do. When clients arrived at their table (placed by the room responsible), waiters had to ask for the drinks: some of them were included and some were to order from the menu. Then clients are going to buffet themselves and waiters had to clear the table and to bring other drinks if clients ask for. All of the dishes to clear away were to take by hands to the washing up room. We mustnt take a room service trolley or a tray, except for glasses. The golden rules in this restaurant were to lay tables again quickly after the leaving of a table. Clients should not wait for a table at their arriving. We had to keep an eye on clients who were eating to clear the table before they come back from the buffet with another plate.
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The jobs I done:

Before every service, our restaurant responsible divided the team at every task we need to do. There werent waiters only for working in the three different rooms of the restaurant. Every service we had a worker who deal with: - The line of the buffet: A waiter had to keep the boxes full of plates in that way the clients are able to take plates every time they want. - The bar: Even if clients asked a waiter in the restaurant, another waiter is at the bar to serve his colleague to save more time, to open wine bottle for example. This waiter has to separate the bottles for recycling, and too keep full of drinks fridges, cutting lemons for cocktails, serving coffee - The room service: Every request from a client in his room to the restaurant was prepared quickly on a meal cart. From nine AM to eleven PM the reception could call the restaurant, when the meal cart is ready we had to go to the reception to sign and to know which room asked the room service. It is the same thing for the room service for drinks but twenty four hours a day and seven days a week. - The supplying of drinks: Every Monday morning two waiters had to go to the warehouse of Marina dOr which is situated near of the train station at the back of Marina dOr city (Its station is only for supplying in material and everything a city could need. The clients stop at the station just before to catch a taxi to bring them to Marina dOr along the sea. We had to do the stock list before going there and to check out and in the goods we brought. - The cafeteria: From ten AM to midnight the cafeteria just in front of the restaurant was open. It was the place where people were drinking aperitif or coffee because of the terrace. I used to serve there a lot of cocktails there and a lot of Champaign Just after the service before leaving we had to lay tables for the next service (or to clean the bar, the boxes...depending on what task we did in that service). All the team leaves the restaurant at the same time so if we finished a room we went to help our colleagues to finish at time. After the breakfast we laid the table for the lunch, after the lunch for evening, and after for the breakfast again. In the four-star: I have worked for the four star hotel only two weeks, but waiters work there was nearly the same. There wasnt a room service but cafeterias. The biggest difference with the five star is that waiters had to deal with between one and two and sometimes even three thousands clients a service! We were between ten and twenty five waiters which are not enough but our first mission was to try to keep the restaurant as clean as we can.

The making up of my traineeship: The positive sides:

The first thing positive is that during this two-month traineeship I was learning Spanish. When I arrived in Spain I didnt know any Spanish at all. But know I can understand a basic conversation and I am able to speak a little bit. Today I want to continue learning it because of my poor level in grammar: most of the time it was spoken Spanish, not written. Working in Marina dOr gave me the occasion to live in an international context: there, workers come from all around the world. Most of them come from Eastern Europe South America, the Maghreb. That way of life, with so many different nationalities, gives another view angle from the world around us. It helps to be more open-minded which is necessary to become a good manager. For example, I saw from myself in the four star hotel that you dont work the same way during the Ramadan when more than a half of your waiters are Moroccan! Concerning the skills and knowledge I first improved my skills as a waiter, how to serve wine, how to bring more and more plates in one time I saw how it can be hard to stay smiling and friendly with a difficult client, or when you are very tired because of warm and work. I learned about how works a big complex for tourists like Marina dOr because I had the occasion to spend some time to discuss with many different workers from every part of the complex, like receptionists, the animation team, supply chain workers, managers This traineeship was a real challenge for me because I left France without really knowing where I was going to work and what my work was. But, after a beginning a bit difficult I improved my level in Spanish and I adapted myself to the life in catering in Spain, and I enjoyed some little trips in the country or typical activities (like paddle which is a sport between tennis and squash) during my free time.

The negative sides:

Opposite to the good sides in this traineeship I had some things more negative. A few days after my arrival in Marina dOr, about fifteen French trainees arrived (in contract by Animafest too). Most of them were French so, on one side I wasnt in a total immersion. When we were French people together we were speaking French But on the other side I had speak a bit of English with Latvian and Russian students. Another point which was hard to deal with is our working conditions. It was not working hours (even if in catering, working on evening could be wearying), but the heat in the restaurant because of the kitchen and because we were running all the service with plates and glasses. We were a minimum of waiters for a lot of clients. For example, in the five-star I had constantly during the service around forty clients to serve, a hundred in the four-star

hotel. We hadnt time to eat or the food at our lunch in the employees room and that situation was going worse day after day.

Conclusion
To finish, this experience certainly permitted me to improve myself in terms of interpersonal skills (adaptability, to be reactive). About the know-how, I really appreciated the help and the comprehension of our colleagues. They did all they could to teach us some techniques to go faster every day. But bosses were strict, and definitely not my friends, even if they told me that I was working well! I saw how the financial crisis can touch big companies in Spain like that big tourist complex, they have less and less customers but the costs stay the same. I saw that it is the payroll the biggest problem, and that is why the work was going harder and harder in Marina dOr even if hotels werent full at all.

Bibliography
Web Sites : http://www.stagespain.com: It is animafests website on which I applied and I took the

information I needed to go working for Marina dOr http://www.grupomarinador.com: It is the website of the company Marina dOr

Annexes
Annex 1: the city of Oropesa Del Mar, Spain

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Annex 2 : Marina dOr situation

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Annex 3 : My resume for that traineeship

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