At your
own pace.

A DMC is the operator inside the destination. We contract the hotels, vehicles and guides directly, hold the licences to operate in Thailand and Vietnam, and coordinate the ground services for the length of the programme. A tour operator packages and sells the trip, usually from your home market, and often buys the ground element from a DMC like us. The difference shows up in two places. Commercially, every layer between you and the destination takes margin and adds distance from the supplier. Operationally, it decides who is accountable at two in the morning when a flight is cancelled in Da Nang: the company that contracted the hotel, transfer and guide, or one that will forward your message to it. Your agency keeps the client relationship, and we can prepare proposals and traveller documents under your brand.

Thailand and Vietnam, through a licensed company in each country. In Thailand we operate Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Sukhothai, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket, Krabi and Koh Samui. In Vietnam we operate Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Hue, Hoi An, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City. Cambodia, including Siem Reap and Angkor, is available as a cross-border extension to a Vietnam programme, not as a standalone destination. One point that catches planners out: Thailand and Vietnam do not share a border, and Laos and Cambodia sit between them, so a combined programme moves by air. A flight is not included or held just because the route shows it; if you want us to arrange it, the quotation lists it in the scope. Pai Dai trades through a Thai company and a Vietnamese company, so for a two-country trip the quotation names the company you contract with, the services in each country and the contacts during travel.

Plan on five to seven nights for one country, twelve to fourteen for both, and eighteen to twenty-one for a deeper Indochina routing that adds Cambodia. Below five nights in a single country, internal flights and transfers start eating the itinerary rather than serving it: Bangkok to Chiang Mai, or Hanoi to Hoi An, costs most of a day each way once airport time is counted. For a combined Thailand and Vietnam programme, twelve nights is the realistic floor, because there is no land crossing between the two countries and the connecting flight consumes a day that a ten-night itinerary cannot spare. Group size changes the shape more than the length. Above roughly forty travellers, hotel allocation and coach movements set the pace, and we build in more buffer between sites. Tell us the nights available and we will say honestly whether the routing fits or needs cutting.

Entry works two ways in both countries. Some nationalities enter visa-free for a set number of days, and everyone else applies for an e-visa in advance. The lists differ between Thailand and Vietnam, so a combined programme can be visa-free on one leg and e-visa on the other for the same traveller. Separately from any visa, nearly every visitor to Thailand must complete the Thailand Digital Arrival Card online before travel. It is not a visa and it is free, but arriving without it causes delays at immigration. Passports should carry at least six months of validity beyond the return date, plus blank pages for stamps. We check the current requirement for every passport nationality on a booking as part of the programme rather than assuming, because these rules change at short notice, and we flag anything that needs action to you rather than to your traveller.

After we receive a complete brief, we provide a costed quote by the same time on the next business day. Complex multi-country or peak-season requests may take longer; we state the revised deadline when we acknowledge the request. Include the destinations, travel dates or a dated window, traveller numbers, rooming split, hotel standard and services you want us to arrange, such as accommodation, transport, guiding, activities or MICE. Tell us which flights are already booked and any language, dietary or mobility requirements. If something material is missing, we ask for that detail before costing. Standard lead time from enquiry to arrival is four weeks or more. Peak season, December to February plus Songkran in April and Lunar New Year, needs eight weeks or more. Hotel availability can be limited, so share your dates while the programme is still being planned.

Every programme is quoted to order for its dates, passenger numbers, rooming and services. Registered trade partners receive net rates; we do not sell from a published rate sheet. Ground costs in Thailand and Vietnam move with season, group size and hotel allocation, so a published rate would be either stale or padded to cover the worst case, which is bad for the partner marking it up. A net rate is your buying price from us. It can include our operating margin and is not a list of raw supplier costs; your agency sets its own selling price. Each quotation states the currency, tax treatment, inclusions, exclusions and how long it is valid. Your agency keeps the client relationship. We also take enquiries from travellers directly through a separate route, so agree with us how communication with your client and the use of your brand will work before the programme runs. Registration is what unlocks net rates, and it is not paid or gated.