For advisors and DMCs
One brief, sent once, answered properly
A structured trip request is a brief that captures every variable a DMC needs before quoting: exact dates, party composition and ages, arrival and departure points, service level, what is in and out of scope, budget band and decision deadline. Sending it removes the clarification rounds that make DMC responses slow and non-comparable.
The back-and-forth is the cost
Between a first enquiry and a usable proposal there are usually three or four exchanges, each adding a day. Multiply that by the two or three DMCs an advisor approaches and the client is waiting a fortnight for something they expected in days.
None of that latency is anyone doing their job badly. It is the predictable result of starting with an incomplete brief and discovering the gaps one question at a time.
What a complete brief contains
These are the fields that change a price. Anything missing here becomes an assumption, and assumptions are what make two proposals impossible to compare.
- Exact dates, or the window and the flexibility within it
- Party composition, including children’s ages at time of travel
- Arrival and departure points, and whether internal transport is in scope
- Service level in concrete terms - property tier, vehicle class, guiding standard
- Explicit inclusions and exclusions, especially flights, tips and entrance fees
- Budget band, stated honestly, and whether it is per person or total
- Decision timeline, so the DMC knows what effort the request warrants
It works in both directions
For the advisor, a structured request means proposals that arrive faster and can be compared without retyping. For the DMC, it means quoting against facts instead of guesses, and not spending a day on an enquiry that was never going to convert.
This is the rare workflow change where the two sides are not trading against each other. Both are paying for the same missing information.
Frequently asked questions
What information should a DMC ask for before preparing an itinerary?
Exact dates or a window with stated flexibility, party composition including children’s ages, arrival and departure points, service level in concrete terms, explicit inclusions and exclusions, an honest budget band, and the decision timeline. These are the variables that change a price; anything left out becomes an assumption.
What information should I include when sending a trip request to a DMC?
Everything that affects the price and the plan: dates, travellers and ages, arrival and departure points, what standard of accommodation and guiding you expect, what is in and out of scope, a real budget band, and when you need to decide. A vague budget produces a proposal you cannot use.
How can I send the same trip request to multiple DMCs?
Use a structured request that is authored once and sent to each DMC you want to consider, rather than writing individual emails. Identical briefs are what make the returned proposals comparable - if each DMC answered a slightly different question, no formatting afterwards will fix the comparison.
Should I tell a DMC my client’s budget?
Yes, as a band rather than a single figure. Withholding it does not produce a better price - it produces a proposal aimed at the wrong tier, which then needs a full revision cycle. A stated band lets the DMC show what is genuinely achievable at that level.