Life as an Intern
First impression of “Ovolo”…
I still remember the first time I heard about the “Ovolo” brand was at the distinguished speaker series in my university. The founder of Ovolo Hotels, Mr. Girish Jhunjhnuwala shared his own experience of starting the hotel business with us and he explained you have to be different if you want to outstand yourself from your competitors. The values of Ovolo Hotels are indeed quite different from other traditional hotels; they design and provide services from the customer’s perspective. In doing so, they provide free breakfast, free Wi-Fi, free mini bar and free laundry service in the hotel. I was so impressed by the speech and curious about the business model of this hotel at the same time. Hence, I’ve decided to apply for the Marketing Internship at Ovolo Hotels.
I had mixed feelings when I found out I was accepted by the company and I’ll get the chance to learn their unique marketing strategy in this very competitive market. It’s always been somewhat of a challenge when coming to a new work environment, to meet new people and to learn new things; especially this is my first experience working with so many staff members from different countries. Being a Taiwanese studying in Hong Kong, I really enjoy the cultural diversity here; you always learn from the different values and perspectives from other countries. The atmosphere I can feel in the office shattered my worries, which my colleagues are very friendly and team-driven. It is my pleasure working with them, as well as picking up new skills on the fly!
First day at work…
During the first couple of days, I received a job list including tasks on digital marketing, social media marketing and email marketing. Working in the head office is very different from my previous experience working in the hotel property. Although the staff members working in the back office do not have to meet or greet the guests directly, they’ll need to reach out for potential guests and come up with strategies to increase sales. I was assigned to organize the big data and to conduct competitor research. I was so excited to have the opportunity to use tools like Google Analytics and APSIS to observe consumer behavior through analyzing the data. I’ve only learned this theory in marketing class before, but this time I could really get my hands on it; and that is the most valuable part of my internship. I am so grateful for this opportunity and to be receiving mentorship from my colleagues. I realize SEO is so much more complicated than I imagined and it is very important for today’s businesses.
One month later…
One month has past and I have picked up a lot of skills I can apply in my future career. I look forward to perform better in the following two months and hope I won’t let them down from choosing me for the role. One of my colleagues told me the purpose of this internship is to find out where your passion lies. The difference between a job and a career is that you always need to be driven and enthusiastic in your career. I hope to improve myself through the tasks I received instead of completing them as duties. I look forward to taking up more challenges in the next two months. Please stay tuned for more!
Sherry Feng: Majoring in Hotel and Tourism Management, Sherry is a year 2 student at Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is born and raised in Taiwan and now resides in Hong Kong for her study. She is currently working full time on a 3 months summer internship programme at Ovolo Hotels.