How to find a trustworthy DMC in Vietnam
Entrusting your travel, logistics and MICE planning to a B2B Destination Marketing Company (DMC) is an important step for your business. But how do you know the DMC is trustworthy? Here’s our insider guide.
B2B DMCs help save corporate clients thousands of hours each year by taking on their travel logistics and international event planning. The value to businesses is crystal clear, yet working with a DMC at a distance can feel like a leap of faith.
Trusted DMC – Mr Linh’s Adventures is an established DMC working in Vietnam and across Indochina. We pride ourselves on delivering an exceptional service to our clients, so they come back to us again and again. Based on our experience, we’ve put together our top hints and tips so you can check the DMC you want to work with is trustworthy, helping you feel confident about your partnership.
Licenses + accreditation
The very first thing you should do as a business hoping to work with a B2B DMC is to check the DMC’s official company documentation. Find out their business license numbers, ask to see a copy of relevant licenses and check if the DMC is accredited with any external bodies. This is especially useful – as third party organisations will not work with DMCs without doing their own due diligence. Also do a Google search of the company name and name of the company directors. It may sounds simple – but this is a quick way to see if there are any potential issues with the DMC.
Trusted DMC – Mr Linh’s Adventures has a business license and an operator license issued by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT). We are also members of trusted trade organisations such as the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). Our company has hundreds of positive online reviews too!
Communication + contacts
Partnerships with DMCs are usually long-distance, so the DMC’s style and speed of communication is extremely important. See how quickly the DMC responds to your emails and ask them to provide a timeline of when they can complete all the tasks required for your project(s). Ensure the DMC works with permanent staff so there will be continuity of service, and ask for a named contact within the DMC who will always be aware of all details of your bookings. Also ensure you have multiple ways to contact the DMC, including email, telephone and video conferencing.
Trusted DMC – Mr Linh’s Adventures responds to enquiries within 24 hours, and our team of permanent staff have been working with us for several years – some since we first started doing business in 2008. All our clients have a named contact person and our customers regularly praise our fast response times. We also use a range of communication tools including email, phone, Skype, WhatsApp and more.
Meet face to face
It may seem impossible to meet in person with the DMC you want to work with when they are located far away, but representatives of good DMCs will travel a few times a year for large trade conferences. Not only does this provide opportunities to meet in person – stands and stalls at such conferences are usually expensive – so the DMCs that have a presence there are usually well-respected and successful operations.
Trusted DMC – Mr Linh’s Adventures regularly has a stand at global trade shows, including World Travel Market (WTM) London and ITB Berlin. Visit our news section for a full list of the events we attend.