Hospitality Internships in the Caribbean

I completed a four-month internship with WWI. They found me a placement in Secrets Capri Riviera Cancun and I was very happy with my position. I worked as an assistant to the Quality Control Manager with the work generally consisting of computer based tasks. The manager I worked with was great and made me feel very welcome to the office team. I learned a lot of back office operations in the hotel, something which was a new thing for me. I worked six days a week having Sundays off.

Here are some tips that I would like to leave for future candidates who are considering an internship in Secrets Capri:

Accomodation is provided though be prepared that rooms are plain and old and there is no wifi or other source of Internet available. You are also most likely to share a room with 1-2 other people (which isn´t neccessarily a bad thing!).

Learn Spanish before hand. The work you are most likely to do is in English but please be aware that only a few collegues speak English and most of the hotel staff don´t speak any English. You´ll get more out from your time in Mexico if you learn as much Spanish as possible before arriving so you can mingle with everyone. Everyone in Secrets Capri are extremely friendly so you have no trouble finding opportunities to practice your Spanish! I did only a basic beginners course of Spanish before I arrived and I found it wasn´t enough.

I had a great time in Secrets Capri and Playa del Carmen is definitely a great place to stay. There is so much to do and see that you won´t have trouble finding something to do on your days off!

I spent 3 months working in the Quality Assurance Department in a 5 star resort, which highly interested me and therefore working towards improving the services became more than just a job.
My main duties were related to a project as part of the Guest Satisfaction program, with the level of responsibility assigned constantly increasing,which added value to my overall experience.
Overall, my internship was demanding and exciting, not only because I had the opportunity to work in a completely different environment and adapt to a new culture, but also because I was eager to learn, and challenged myself by accomplishing various tasks.

In this age of job and internship search, having a referral is more valuable than not. That said, the agency listened to my request well and found me an internship with a young hotel company. My request was quite complex, but basically I wanted to be challenged in every single aspect because I am an MBA student with high aspirations, but without relevant experience in the tourism industry. I did not want a simple job such as being a server or working manual job in a hotel, because in the future I want to run my own hostel.

They found me a position in the sales and marketing department of a hotel, which seems to be a perfect position because it doesn't require Spanish fluency, but still allows me to improve my Spanish day after day. I am writing this review about one month into my internship. My Spanish has improved significantly, and I have learned so much more about the hotel and tourism industry.

The only drawback I have from the agency is the responsiveness of the staff. I only had contact with one person from the beginning to the end. I figured the agency was small, but the time it took for the agent to respond to my emails and messages took longer than expected, even though she knew that I was under time pressure (I contacted the agency about 1 month ahead of the desired internship start date). Anyhow, I am happy with the room and board placement they put me in, which is supposedly included in the program and application fees.

"When one door closes, another one opens." It's amazing how one unfortunate situation can lead me to an unexpected journey! After searching online for opportunities, I found World Wide Internship.At first I was hesitant, thinking if this was actually legit but after my Skype interview I felt more comfortable and knew that this was something that I would love to pursue.

The whole process was quick and went by smoothly, well minus the visa part *laughs* (make sure you give yourself enough time to get one) either than that, Linda (Internship coordinator) guided me throughout the whole process and answered any of my questions.

Within a few months, I was off to beautiful Dominican Republic for 6 months! I was in the departments Guest Services and Public Relations at a 5 star resort in Punta Cana. I loved every moment of it, from meeting a lot of interesting guests,my hilarious co-workers and down to earth supervisors.

Although the language barrier was a bit tricky, everyone was very friendly and helpful so that really helped me out. Also, the music, food, beaches, nightlife and everything else was amazing, there's honestly nothing bad to say about my whole experience.

I will never forget this experience and hope to return someday soon. I am forever grateful to World Wide Internship and the people of Dominican Republic for giving me a fresh new start. Gracias por todo y hasta la proxima mis amigos!

This has been a great experience. I love working with the international sales team at Karisma Hotels and Resorts. I get the luxury market while at work and the local culture while at home. The only complaint I have relates to the quality of housing provided. My house often loses power, it has been without hot water for numerous days over the past month, and it floods when there is rain (and there has been a lot of rain). Other than the housing accommodations, everything has been amazing!

I did my internship at GR Solaris Cancun. I was part of the animation/sports team for about 6 months and it was a great experience. I met many people from across the world and learned a lot.The highlight of my internship period was performing in one of the hotel's shows.

At first i had my doubts about this program but it all turned out to be for nothing. I loved to be in the position that i was assigned to and i never felt unsafe! Sometimes i tought that the communication between me and the office was a bit slow and during the time that i was in mexico i didn't hear anything from the office but that's alright. Only big minus is that i honestly don't get why i had to pay so much for the program??? But anyways i had very nice time and now i have an amazing experience to show for the future employees.

I already encountered the first problem arriving at the hotel, being later than expected due to the taxi service, where I had trouble with the security since they were not expecting me anymore. Furthermore, no one at the human resource department spoke good English so it was very difficult to understand the documents I had to fill out and the explanations given. Nevertheless, from that moment onwards my experience only got better and better. At the reception, where I did my actual internship, they did everything to help me out. Although it was very difficult at the start since everything was explained in Spanish and it took me some time to figure everything out, the front desk manager did his best to help me out, he listened to the concerns I had and he really tried to improve me as an employee but also as a person. The coworkers at the hotel were the friendliest and nicest people I have ever met, with their eternal smile. One of the biggest concerns I had before leaving for Mexico as a European girl on her own, was of course the safety. I must admit that I never , at no point, felt in danger. I honestly have felt less comfortable on the streets in Brussels at home, than in Playa del Carmen. It was a dream of a little city and my heart broke when I had to leave. Even up to today, almost 4 months later, no day passes by without thinking about this amazing experience and regretting having left Playa del Carmen. Thank you for helping me live this amazing experience!