Charlotte Weston, Pacific World's Regional Marketing Manager comments on how various crises demonstrate a DMC's true added value:

Know your True “Added Value” – Hoping for the Best, but Planning for the Worst

Whatever next? The noughties and the tennies seem to throw fresh challenges at this industry on a daily basis. If it isn’t volcanic ash and other natural disasters, it’s political unrest, air strikes and economic crises that are testing the resilience of the international MICE industry today. 

But on the positive side, in an era when the industry is constantly being tasked with more creative solutions while delivering added value, these mega-challenges provide real opportunity for industry suppliers and intermediaries to demonstrate the true meaning of our collective added value, and it is essential that we are able to clearly articulate exactly what that is.

Over and above the ‘standard’ added value items we talk about - the fun, the gloss, the VIP treatment and the dollar value, the crucial added value that DMC’s deliver for corporate clients is: Effective risk management, in uncommon territory, should the unexpected occur. And the industry would certainly benefit from tweaking its sales pitch to focus on added value in the context of the “worst-case-scenario” environment.

Of course no one wants to talk about risk management until it happens. So whilst addressing this in a presentation may not be perceived as the most positive sales pitch, handled correctly, going forward, it will likely be the one that wins a supplier the business, based on presenting positive solutions that manage and reduce the risk of international events, as a priority, over and above simply presenting the ‘gloss’.

Of course risk management isn’t nearly as sexy a topic as why a stunning beach resort complete with surrounding cultural and CSR activities will be the ultimate reward or motivator for your guests. But just as on the corporate side, events are driven as much today by procurement as they are by marketing, it is the combination of cost/ROI, security and gloss that are the drivers of the industry today, and to retain our position, we need to promote our contribution to all three.

Today’s practice of prioritising dollar value encourages corners to be cut as far as risk management is concerned. When clients go direct to third party suppliers for individual elements – a hotel, or a restaurant only, they are effectively removing their safety net for the whole event.

A case in point is the recent volcanic ash situation in Europe, which lead to multiple airport closures over many days.  During this period, working with intermediary customers, DMC’s managed re-housing of guests when hotels filled up, managing multiple relocations and rescheduled homebound journeys, and sorting out local medical emergencies, as some examples. Regardless of having only needed limited services, the groups remain the client’s responsibility, and this is where DMC’s and agencies prove their true value, in delivering essential in-destination risk management solutions – effectively in-destination insurance, should something go wrong.

Full-service agencies and regional DMC’s demonstrate added worth in emergencies. Agencies that provide flight booking and visa services and multi-destination DMC’s that provide the capabilities to relocate events and guests seamlessly, at short notice, really prove their weight in gold in an emergency situation. DMCs have direct access contacts with key suppliers in the destination to pull strings to make certain that, when travel resumes, VIP groups are the first to receive seat allocations and boarding passes home.

But for now, procurement is leading the race, and apart from the lawyers, no one wants to talk about risk management until it is too late, but increasingly this will change and it will change quickly, so let’s help it along. It’s time to woo marketing, legal and procurement with security, peace of mind, great value, return on investment and of course, a large touch of gloss, to demonstrate real added value through the essential professional services that must continue to be provided and promoted to this industry.

Charlotte Weston

Regional Marketing Manager

Pacific World DMC Asia