Working at a hotel, hostel, ecolodge or guesthouse abroad: what is it, why should you do it and where is the best place to go?

• Activities: the work can range from reception work and maintenance work to sometimes managing a local employee.
• Salary: from room and board to a salary that allows you to provide for yourself.
• Accommodation: In most cases, you will stay at the accommodation itself. Sometimes you sleep in a tent or you can bring your own tent.

Why would you work at a hotel, guesthouse or ecolodge abroad?

• To stimulate your sense of involvement: you often work very intensively with the same people at a hotel or accommodation for a long time, you often also sleep in a room with them. You have to like that, but you also make friends for life. To make the world around you more sustainable: by looking for work at an ecolodge or sustainable accommodation, you can combine your work and interests nicely.
• To be profitable in a creative way: Some owners will not be able to pay you a salary, but can offer a place to sleep and food in exchange for work.
• To gain new experiences: During your stay abroad and when you go to work, you will experience much more than if you were to travel around alone.
• To increase your self-awareness: further away from your familiar environment, you will discover more quickly what you can actually do and what you actually want. By going to work, you will encounter yourself more often, get to know yourself better, and accept who you are and want to be.
• To test your environmental awareness: by living and working in special places in the world, you will experience a foreign culture in a completely different and more authentic way.

What do you need if you want to work at a hotel, hostel or ecolodge?

• Be environmentally aware: wherever you work, you will always have to take your environment into account. Every country has its own rules and customs that you will have to adhere to to a certain extent.
• Being aware of the organization: every organization also has its own way of looking at hospitality and hospitality. Here too, you will have to take more into account. Just like with the limitations/challenges that some schools have due to a lack of money or facilities.
• Communication skills: knowledge of the local language is not a must but it is a big advantage and in addition you will often have to be able to communicate well with the guests of the accommodation where you will be working.
• Professionalism: on some days and certainly during the high season you will have to work hard.
• Flexibility: the weather conditions, the behavior of animals and the growth of plants do not always go according to plan, which means that your flexibility will often be called upon.
• Collaboration skills: being able or learning to collaborate with local managers, owners and employees.

What is the best place to go when you want to work at a hotel, hostel or ecolodge abroad?

• Working in backpacker hostels: Mexico, Peru, New Zealand
• Working in hotels: Spain, Austria, Curacao
• Working in ecolodges: South Africa, Costa Rica, Caribbean, Malawi

To what extent are you insured for risks if you work at a hotel, hostel or ecolodge abroad?

• There may be several reasons why you need separate insurance for paid work abroad.
• During work, internship, or volunteer work abroad, the coverage of your own local health insurance normally expires. You then need special insurance to remain insured for illness and accidents. Local employers usually offer no, or limited, supplementary insurance.
• There is a chance of accidents because, for example, you are doing work with which you have little experience.
• A number of specialized insurances offer opportunities to do (temporary) paid work abroad.
• Read more: Travel insurances and insurances for long term abroad - Theme
• Read more: Betaald werken in het buitenland verzekeren (NL)