My Internship at Siam Kempinski Hotel Bangkok

As part of the BBA in Tourism and Hospitality Management degree, students must complete a 4-6 month internship – where they do it is all up to them! 4th semester student Catherine Latzenhofer decided to head east to exotic Thailand and get a taste of hotel operations first hand at an internationally renowned luxury hotel brand. She sent us some impressions from the Thai capital of Bangkok:

‘’From the very beginning it seemed certain to me – I wanted to experience my internship in an unforgettable environment. I knew those six months would be the perfect opportunity to explore the world and gain hands-on experience in a remarkable setting abroad.

Due to several recommendations, the Kempinski brand was my first choice for where to apply, and therefore I attended the Kempinski Career Day in Munich in February 2012.  Since I already enjoyed working in China for a short time back in 2008, I kept a close eye on the Asian properties of Kempinski. After introducing myself to the General Manager of the Siam Kempinski Hotel Bangkok, the whole application process went very quick – a few weeks later I had a Skype interview with the Director of Sales and Marketing, and suddenly it became serious: I am going to do a Management Traineeship in Sales & Marketing in Bangkok for half a year between February and August, 2013.

When I arrived in the ‘City of Angels’, I was overwhelmed by my first impressions of Bangkok, as well as felt comfortable from the very beginning. After my orientation week, I was introduced to diverse tasks for which the S&M department is in charge of as well as which goals they have to accomplish. Consequently, I have been gaining experiences in different departments relating to Sales & Marketing: Sales, Marketing/E-Commerce, Catering Sales, Reservations, and Public Relations.

The whole team has been establishing a comfort zone for me since day one. I enjoy working together with highly knowledgeable people from whom I am able to learn a lot. Different team building activities such as team outings or the ‘Kempinski Sport Day’, got me even closer to them.

Soon I recognized and appreciated at the same time how much respect Kempinski shows towards Management Trainees. From the very beginning I was allowed to attend management meetings or join sales calls and external sites inspections. Moreover, I have been given a lot of responsibility such as designing promotional packages for business partners in terms of coming up with an idea, communicating to different involved departments, finalizing the promotion, and last but not least, distributing it to the target group. Likewise, I already helped with an event starting from the point of selling it, organizing it, and lastly viewing the final performance.

MODUL University provided me with great fundamentals for working in a multicultural setting. Recently I have been able to apply various acquired skills in terms of the interaction with another culture, language barriers, as well as relevant know-how gained from different courses.

Experienced with the international environment at MODUL University, I am enjoying my time together with people from around the world, who have already become good friends. Besides, Bangkok offers you everything the heart desires - shopping, dinning, clubbing, and an amazing starting point for travel in Thailand as well as to several other charming destinations that Asia has to offer.

As result of the support of my family, friends as well as a great team, I am able to enjoy my stay in Bangkok to the fullest. I look forward to all the unique experiences that are still to come in my last couple of months. At the same time, I am convinced that I will continue in the hotel and tourism field in the future, and hence I am already curious about the destination where I will end up next!’’