Kinga’s internship adventure at Great Stay
I am Kinga, twenty years old and studying Marketing and Communication Support in Antwerp. I live in Etten-Leur, together with my father and my sweet dog. I work full-time in the hospitality industry in Belgium. For the past two months, I did an internship at Great Stay. It was a very instructive period during which I learned a lot of new things. What to tell in this blog!
On Monday 24 February, I started my internship at Great Stay – a company that develops (web) apps for hotels, holiday parks, campsites, rental organisations and owners of holiday home rentals. Think digital information folders, handy maps and even digital cards you can send to family or friends from your holiday address. My first impression? A small but cosy team of three (plus a couple of interns like me!) that does a lot of work. The Breda office is compact, but that makes the atmosphere very personal.
Week 1: The start
The first week was mainly about getting to know the company and gaining knowledge. I immediately got to work designing web apps and making my first attempt at a holiday card. This turned out to be more difficult than expected – as these cards have to meet strict requirements. Nevertheless, I felt at ease surprisingly quickly and even got compliments from the owner on my creativity. A good start!
Week 2: My first blog and becoming more independent
In my second week, I was let loose even more. I got to write my first blog for Great Stay's landing page, completely independently. Super cool that so much trust was placed in me. The rest of the week I worked on web apps again and tried to find time for the cards – although that remained difficult due to the amount of assignments waiting.
Week 3: Tickets successfully completed and look books
This week I learnt a completely new task: creating a look book! Together with Marie-Claire, I designed a visual overview for future clients. I was also finally able to complete and upload a few holiday cards. Despite falling ill, I persevered and took the initiative to revamp older apps myself. Proud moment!
Week 4: SEO, blogs and lots of personal input
I dove into the world of SEO this week. I collected search terms around holiday home rentals and wrote analysis on them, which will later be used for an informative landing page. In addition to this content work, I also helped complete customer data and continued to design web apps. My internship supervisors were happy with my independence and commitment – and that motivates me tremendously!
Week 5: Full-focus on quality control
Week five was all about checking. I checked hundreds of apps for completeness and kept accurate records of everything in Excel. That was a lot of work, but I wanted to get it done – even if it meant going through it at home in the evening. I also adjusted existing cards and brainstormed with my internship supervisor on ways to approach customers for missing info. In between, we also had my mid-term review, where we discussed my growth and set goals for the final weeks.
Week 6: SEO marathon & goal-setting
The sixth week was mostly administrative. Together with Marie-Claire, I continued working on the SEO pages. We checked existing content, added new search terms and created a backup file of frequently used terms for potential clients. It was perhaps a bit 'duller' work, but very useful. And secretly fun, too, as we worked purposefully towards the delivery of the landing page.
Week 7: Instagram plans, press releases & vlogging
The second-to-last week flew by. I worked on visual content for the landing page, came up with ideas for a possible Instagram page for Great Stay ánd made a monthly schedule for the social media posts. I also wrote a press release for people who want to rent out their holiday home. Meanwhile, I worked on a vlog for school and did an interview. This week was nice and varied and I was given a lot of freedom to use my creativity.
Week 8: The last week!
How time flew by! I have learned a lot in eight weeks: from design skills to SEO, from communication to working independently and from ideas to writing blogs. The atmosphere at Great Stay is great, the work is varied and informative. The team really takes you through the whole process and makes you feel completely at ease. I thoroughly enjoyed my internship at Great Stay and would definitely recommend it to other students. It is a very fun, educational internship where you really get the freedom to work independently and are allowed to contribute your own ideas. I am currently embarking on my graduation project, after which I am very curious about what will come my way.
