DMCs Beyond the Middleman – Reclaiming the Meaning of Partnership in Luxury Travel
Whose itinerary is that?
There is a moment when you realise you no longer own your work.
You design the journey, manage the details, and handle the clients, yet someone else takes the credit.
That is how the travel industry was built: on borrowed voices and invisible creators.
For years, we accepted that system. We called it representation.
But representation was never partnership. It was convenience wrapped in dependency, a structure that made others louder while keeping you grateful for being seen.
Branded by people who, instead of using your logo, use theirs.
And you pay for this.
For your own silence, for the privilege of being hidden behind someone else’s brand.
The Industry That Taught You to Be Silent and Obedient
You were told you need a rep. That visibility requires an intermediary.
That your job is to operate, not to speak.
You were told someone else would “open doors” for you, but no one said they would close them too, whenever they decide to do that or whenever someone pays them more.
You were told you are too local, too operational, too small to stand alone.
And you believed it, because everyone believes it (everyone cannot be wrong, right?), and the system rewards obedience, not independence.
They convinced you that you have to spoil travel agents at the events you do not personally attend, so they may “remember you” and the services you provide.
It is as ridiculous as it sounds.
And you are not even able to measure that. You are told exactly what the rep wants to tell you.
How come tourism boards and DMOs stopped being the main channel for your businesses, the bridge between you and direct guests?
Somewhere along the way, the industry forgot that visibility should be earned by work, not bought through endless intermediaries…
Representation companies built their business on that silence.
For them, buyers are the meat insert provided by event organisers, the physical presence required to justify supplier budgets.
The saddest thing in this story is that it rarely has anything to do with your needs or your positioning.
It is about filling event tables, not creating value and talking to travel agencies that cannot say no to a meeting request, so they meet everybody listed on the meeting agenda, who were listed at the check-in point in the morning.
Quantity replaces quality. Bodies replace meaning.
Representation Became the Modern Form of Dependence
In theory, it was meant to help.
In practice, it reduced you to a name on a list – one of many. Because no rep wants to stay small, and scaling in this business is quite easy when you have access to being everywhere.
No. Not you. The rep.
Someone else decides who you meet, how you present yourself, and what your brand stands for.
Someone else collects feedback, filters communication, and decides whether your message is worth passing on. Or if the connection with the particular person is right for you.
From their perspective, not yours.
If you think that a rep is objective, you are wrong.
When your representative speaks for too many brands at once, they speak for no one.
They stop being your voice and start being an echo chamber of fragmented information.
Think about it.
Do you really believe your representative has time to learn your itineraries, your philosophy, your values in detail? To remember what differentiates you from your competitors and why?
I remember my last conversation with a French representative who “managed” a business of DMCs from Chile/Argentina in Europe.
We had a proper call – one hour of clear direction, discussing specific needs and concrete itineraries we could build upon.
A perfect match.
It was structured and meaningful.
And then – silence. No follow-up. No email. Not even a PDF with sample itineraries sent via WeTransfer without comment.
Two months later, nothing has happened. And the DMC, who had the offer that perfectly matched our needs and direction, paid for that.
Paid for not selling the offer with us.
That is not a partnership. That is absence disguised as exposure.
Partnership Is Not Delegation – It is Alignment
Real partnership is not someone selling you.
It is someone building with you.
It starts with alignment – in philosophy, in tone, and in direction.
It grows from mutual risk and shared responsibility. It thrives where communication is direct, without interpreters, translations, or layers of self-interest.
You can feel it in every itinerary that works. When the DMC and the hotel understand each other without endless clarification. When both sides know exactly why they are doing what they are doing.
That kind of partnership cannot be sold. It must be built.
Breaking Free from the Chain
Luxury travel does not need more noise. It needs truth.
And to be honest, as a buyer myself, who has attended more industry events than I can count, I rarely find that truth there.
Except for two or three events considered “must-be,” which I truly appreciate for their format and the people they gather, and that I have kept in my yearly agenda, most gatherings are now exercises in repetition – staged enthusiasm (let’s call it gratitude for being allowed to attend), welcome hugs, pre-written stories, dancers hanging below the ceiling, and tired networking routines that lead nowhere.
The rest of the events I decided to attend are small, super productive workshops with destinations – with suppliers that do not compete but complement one another.
Let me be 100% painfully honest – you will not make it by paying your representative to attend another duplicated event that hosts the same buyers all the time, or segregate buyers by nation, not by the way they envision their brand and collaborations with suppliers.
The system that once promised visibility now blocks it – it turns collaboration into performance.
Breaking free does not mean isolation.
It means maturity. The ability to communicate your worth without permission.
It means showing up where people listen, not where everyone performs.
The clients you want do not need another brochure. They (we) need clarity, precision, and a voice they can trust.
That voice has to be yours and has to have your face.
A New/Old but Dissuaded Definition of Visibility
For too long, luxury travel rewarded presence over substance.
That era is ending, and the future belongs to those who reclaim their narrative – who speak, build, and grow without permission.
Do you even believe you may still sell directly to the guests you will serve?
Who convinced you not to?
The problem was never a lack of opportunity. It was a lack of courage to speak up. Yet representation taught you to stay silent.
Direct partnership teaches you to be heard.
And when you are finally heard, you do not need anyone to speak for you.
You speak boldly, with no fear.
