For a Destination Management Company (DMC) or Incoming Agency the following criteria apply:
- registered business and licensed according to local regulations for a minimum of three years.
- operation in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations
- comprehensive insurance according to the local requirements and law, sufficient to protect clients, from a reputable insurance company
- communication of expertise, experience, qualifications and services of the company, employees and partners to the public.
- The DMC/incoming agency handles a minimum of 5 events per year and a minimum of 500 guests per year.
- The staff engaged must be sufficient, in number and qualification, to meet the size of the jobs that are offered and undertaken
- permanent non-residential office and normal public office hours
- a good quality and updated website with all sufficient information and offers, email account/s with a private domain, the “Quality in Travel” logo featuring on the website
- written agreements (contracts) with each client (paper or electronically accepted methods) stating, at a minimum, the services to be provided, fees and billing procedures, the term and termination aspects of the contracts and the procedures in the event of a complaint
- organized responsibility for the quality of products and services of the subcontractors and regular checks on the maintenance of these quality data
- the DMC/incoming agency must prove that it is a financially sound company (Statement of its main bank, or bank references for a year)
- if applying for the first time, the DMC/incoming agency must provide a minimum of three recent client references
- acknowledgement of proposal requests and complaints within 24 hours and provision of an individual answer/proposal that meets the client’s demands and requirements within 72 hours
- The DMC/incoming agency should introduce or have introduced some form of quality management in which it should:
- define criteria of quality
- monitor these criteria, e.g. by customer feedback, and keep a written record on it
- maintain an effective complaint management system with clear responsibilities
- persistently care for the improvements of products and services
- give your personnel the chance to learn about quality improvement
- clarify responsibilities for quality management and response to customer opinions