Travel Weekly Magellan Awards

The world is rapidly becoming both larger and smaller for travel advisors as they curate more and more custom trips for their clients. Larger because there are more travel-friendly destinations than ever before and smaller because clients are asking for very specific and unique activities that are provided by only a few specialized destination management companies.

Compounding the problem is the amount of time it takes for an advisor to locate a DMC that specifically offers the activities that their clients desire. Unfortunately, finding the right partner is a time-consuming process with the advisor relying heavily on suggestions from their peers, consortia connections (which may be limited to only very large DMCs), and basic internet research. None of these options guarantee finding the right supplier for the client’s needs.

MVT has created a system to solve this problem. MVT advisors are now able to quickly find relevant DMCs and tour operators around the world that provide amazing experiences by utilizing an easy-to-use search feature on the company’s intranet, YTC360. This same system also aids hundreds of DMCs in finding advisors looking for their services.

It began late in 2021, when Montecito Village Travel created its Endless Luxury DMC Collection, a collection of superior DMCs chosen through connections made at leading travel events such as LE Miami, ILTM, Duco, PURE, etc., as well as through its Virtuoso affiliation and DMCs already being used by MVT advisors.

DMCs joining Endless Luxury, are queried for information relevant to working with them. For example, each profile includes information how the supplier is booked, commission, net/commissionable options, payment type options, whether detailed or bundled quotes if offered, their affiliations (i.e., Emotions, PURE, ILTM), the experiences they provide (i.e., Adventure, Private Tours, Culinary), and their primary focus (destination). This last piece of information is particularly important as DMCs within Endless Luxury can only list the top 6 destinations they serve. This maintains the integrity of the list by being able to identify DMCs that primarily serve a destination.

MVT then developed a tool for advisors to quickly find suppliers by destination and travel type/style. Within the tool, they also created a unique profile for each DMC based on the information provided by the DMC.  

To better explain the value of this service, imagine an advisor is looking to plan an adventure trip to Morocco for their client. This advisor has never booked Morocco and isn’t sure where to start. Their client wants to rock climb while in Morocco. By going to the DMC & Tour Cart on MVT’s intranet, YTC360, the advisor can simply ask for DMCs serving Morocco and select the category Adventure Travel. YTC360 will then return a list of DMCs in Morocco that provide adventure travel packages. Within the system, the advisor can quickly see the primary focus of the DMC, if there is community feedback on the DMC, the names of MVT agents who have used this supplier (and their contact information) as well as whether or not the supplier is part of Endless Luxury, Virtuoso or both.

This feature is an amazing asset to the advisor as it allows them to:

• Quickly find suppliers that specialize in the destination and travel type
• Know who (and how many) advisors within the network have worked with them
• Know the primary focus of the supplier
• Click a link to obtain detailed information about the supplier including but not limited to
  • How the supplier can be booked
  • Website and company address
  • Contact information – Reservations and Business Development Manager
  • Commission Level
  • Destinations served
  • Affiliations (ILTM, PURE, LE Miami, etc.)
  • General Information including
    • If they bank in the US
    • If they have a minimum spend
    • If they offer net and commissionable rates
    • If they provide a breakdown with their quotes
    • How they collect payments (client credit card, agency card, wire transfer, etc.)
    • Services offered (i.e., private tours, airport meet and greet, etc.)
    • Travel Focuses (i.e., FITs, Health & Wellness, LGBTQ+, etc.)

Additional benefits to this program include the ability to provide both private notes (viewable only by the advisor) and community notes (viewable to all) to assist others when using this supplier.

Future enhancements that are underway are the inclusion of Private Drivers, Guides, Services and Tourism Boards.

Knowing and understanding the importance of these relationships has created a win, win, win, win situation at Montecito Village Travel.

• MVT wins by elevating and aiding their advisors in securing unique travel options in an efficient manner
• Advisors win from having access to DMCs around the world in a searchable format that provides all of the information needed to work with the supplier
• DMCs win by having access to amazing travel advisors
• Clients win from the experiences curated by the advisor and the DMC who were matched through Montecito Village Travel

Endless Luxury perfectly aligns with MVT’s philosophy that the company’s success is measured solely by the success of its advisors and suppliers.