Hertz’s London Heathrow operations hosted seven Kingston College Travel and Tourism students at weeklong work experience placements throughout April.

Hertz and Kingston College connected through their affiliation with the Global and Travel Tourism Partnership, a multi-country educational foundation to introduce students to career opportunities in travel and tourism.

Hertz Heathrow’s area manager gave the Kingston College students daily assignments in customer service, teamwork and office learning skills. This included observing customer service at check in, working as part of the instant return and gold desk teams and helping customers with directions and luggage handling.

"We were delighted to host the Kingston College Travel and Tourism students at Heathrow, our largest airport location in Europe,” said Michel Taride, Hertz International RAC group president and chair of the GTTP's Advisory Board. “The college has an impressive travel and tourism studies program, aimed at helping students with career planning and preparation. Providing practical work experience for students is a great way for the travel and tourism industry and educational institutions to work together to foster future talent."

Based in London, Kingston College’s service department offers level 1-3 travel and tourism courses aimed at students aged 16-19. The goal of the college's work experience program is to expose students to a travel and tourism-related working environment and to work as part of a professional team.

"Our students thoroughly enjoyed their Hertz work experience,” said Martin O'Brien, program leader – service industries at Kingston College. “… As many students are planning a career in travel and tourism or wider service industries, they particularly appreciated the opportunities to greet and help customers as well as work alongside the Hertz Heathrow team. I would like to thank the team at Hertz for providing our students with such a fantastic opportunity."