Technology Solution for DMC (Destination Management Company)

Destination Management Company is basically a travel company with an extensive knowledge of the given destination, they are the one who basically fulfill any travel package.

DMC comes with the local knowledge of the destination, suppliers – Hotels, Sightseeing, Transfers, Activates, etc. They created their own packages with a pre-purchased inventory from the direct suppliers like Hotels, Transfers, Cars, Sightseeing, Activities, Tickets, etc.

They combine these services together to create their own unique packages and sell them to other travel companies like Tour Operators, Travel Agencies, Corporate Travel Management Companies.

Sometimes DMC’s will also pre-purchase the flights as well to combine with their packaged product.

The major difference between a DMC’s and a Tour operator is the target geography, DMC’s are limited to mostly their Home Geography or very limited number of geographies on the other hand a Tour Operator could be inbound and outbound both and not limited to 1 single destination. An inbound tour operator may or may not be a DMC.

So, the travel technology solution will help DMC’s to overcome their major limitation which is selling to global customers – which is always been a limitation for the majority of DMC before the invention of NEW MEDIA or INTERNET.

Now the question is “What kind of DMC Travel Technology solution will best fit to their requirements?”

As you all have understood so far DMC’s primary advantage is their local knowledge – Language, best hotels, sightseeing, transfers, cars, tour guides, tickets, local travel guidelines, government policies, helping the customer in case of emergencies like loss of travel documents, the issue with the local service fulfillments, etc.

They need a DMC solution which can fulfill all their requirements, will list down some broad modules as follows:

• Managing Suppliers:

DMC can create & manage the profile of their direct suppliers for various services which they are buying offline and also to automate the entire process of buying and selling the services using the technology.

• Direct Contracting Solutions:

As a DMC model – they have pre-purchased rooms or allocations from the hotel suppliers, based on their local knowledge they usually get the inventory from the best of hotels. They negotiated the best rates based on seasonality, the sales volume, customer type, package rates, group rates, discounts, offers, meal plans, etc.

DMC’s also get the direct contracts with sightseeing, activities, cars, transfers, tickets providers as well, they either get the pre-purchased inventory or get the contracts done with the supplier at negotiated rates – which gives them the cost advantage.

Some of the DMC owns their own transfers – Cars or Buses which they want to sell as an independent service or as part of the package.

• Package Management:

DMC basically creates their own packages based on their own inventory of multiple services, they either sell them as a predefined package or they do customize the package specific to the client’s requirements – changing the hotels, activities, sightseeing as per the client taste. Their packages are usually inclusive of Hotels, transfers/cars, and sightseeing, activities. These may on free sell or based on limited inventory.

With the help of travel technology solutions, travel consultants can offer the packages to the customers on the fly, based on the requirements and the system will calculate the final price automatically.

DMC should be able to generate the tour with one destinations or multiple destinations, including multiple mode of transfers, hotels, activities, sightseeing etc.

System should be able to generate the package itinerary, with do’s and don’ts, inclusive/non inclusive, cancelation policy, payment terms etc.

• Guides/Drivers/Vehicles Management:

For a DMC, as they provide ground handling services – meet & greet, transfers, cars, drivers, guides etc. they need to manage the inventory of Guides, Drivers and vehicles in the system.

• Allocation:

Ground handling involves allocating the vehicle – Buses or cars and drivers & guides etc. to transfer the customers from airport, hotel etc. to be transferred to hotels or sightseeing place. Based on the requirements, they may need guide to be in specific language etc.

• CRM:

Will the help of customer relationship modules, DMC’s will able to capture their customers, interested, past bookings, etc. will get to understand their customer’s needs, requirements and can customize and personalize the offerings to fit specific customer requirements or for VIP customers.

• Reporting:

DMC should be able to generate the customer manifestation reports for Arrivals, hotels, etc. to be submitted to the suppliers can also get the confirmation beforehand.

• Sales Channels:

DMC’s to sell to the global customers with the help of travel technology solutions they can deploy multiple selling channels POS, B2C, B2B, API/XML out – with the help of these selling channels they can provide access to their inventory to their global partners and customers -not limited to any geographical boundaries giving them more scope to sell and expand their business many folds.

• Expand into Multiple Travel Businesses:

Once the technology is implemented and if a DMC has required skill sets and expertise, they can also explant into multiple travel businesses like Outbound tour operators, travel agencies, corporate travel management companies, etc.

There are many other modules which DMC can deploy but these are the core modules that a DMC solutions should fulfill to be successful.