Cartagena DMC for Travel Advisors: Net Rates, Itemised Quotes and One Point of Contact
Updated: 21 September 2026 · Written by Marta Fernández, founder of CABÚ Viajes, ground operator in Cartagena de Indias (RNT 215668). Working with advisors and agencies in the United States and Mexico.
In short: we are the ground operator in Cartagena, not a reseller. Net rates on request, one named person handling your file from quote to departure, an itemised proposal you can present to your client in your own format, and every supplier contracted directly by us and inspected by us. Your client relationship stays yours — we never contact them outside the trip and never market to them afterwards.
Why an advisor uses a local operator here
Cartagena is a city where the difference between a good trip and a complaint is entirely in the ground handling: which house is actually quiet at one in the morning, which boat holds its licence, which restaurant will seat eighteen on a Saturday. None of that is visible from a supplier catalogue, and none of it is answerable at eleven at night from another time zone.
What you get by working with the operator rather than through a chain of intermediaries: one margin instead of three, the person who contracts the boat answering the phone, and pricing you can actually defend to a client who has been shopping.
How we work with advisors
| Rates | Net rates on request, so you set your own margin. Or gross with a commission, if that suits your agency better — tell us which and the quote comes back that way |
| Quote turnaround | Within 24 hours on a standard group request, itemised line by line: accommodation per night, each staff role, boats by size, transfers |
| Point of contact | One named person for the whole file, in English or Spanish, reachable on WhatsApp during the trip |
| Your client | Stays yours. We do not contact them outside the trip, do not market to them afterwards, and can operate entirely white-label if you prefer |
| Payment | Deposit to hold, balance before travel, company invoice for every payment. Never to a personal account, never 100% up front |
| Registration | RNT 215668 on the Colombian National Tourism Register, a public register you or your client can check for free |
What we handle on the ground
- Staffed colonial houses inside the walls — contracted with the owners, from around 600 USD per night for a house sleeping sixteen, billed per house. The full breakdown.
- Private boat and yacht charters — 850 to 3,800 USD per boat per day by size, with licence, passenger insurance and port clearance attached to the quote. What a "yacht" really is in Cartagena.
- Private chefs, house staff and bar service, each billed as its own line rather than as a percentage.
- A local concierge on the ground, included at no extra charge, running the days and solving what breaks.
- Airport transfers and vehicles, sized to the group rather than to a taxi rank.
- Restaurant and club tables, island days, wedding weekends around the ceremony — the weekend format is here.
What we check before anything goes into a quote
This is the part that protects your client and, frankly, your reputation:
- Houses are seen, not photographed. Air conditioning and water pressure in every bedroom, which bedrooms are real bedrooms, the noise at one in the morning, and who actually holds the keys when something fails on a Saturday night.
- Boats carry four documents: the captain's licence in his own name, passenger liability insurance, the port clearance for the day, and a maximum legal capacity your group fits inside with the crew counted. We send them with the quote.
- Prices are the owner's prices. We charge no agency fee and take no percentage of the spend, so there is no incentive on our side to push a more expensive house.
- Where Cartagena is the wrong answer, we say so. A group of four on a two-night weekend is better served by a hotel, and we would rather tell you before the proposal than have your client find out.
What we need to quote
Dates or the month, group size, how many nights, the client's non-negotiables, and the departure cities. That is enough for an itemised quote within 24 hours. If you want it in your own template, send the template and you get it back filled in.
Frequently asked questions
Do you offer net rates to travel advisors?
Yes, net rates on request, so you set your own margin. If your agency prefers gross pricing with a commission we quote that way instead — say which when you send the request and the quote comes back in that form. Either way the proposal is itemised line by line so you can present it to your client.
Are you a DMC or a reseller?
We are the ground operator. We contract the houses, boats, chefs and vehicles directly with their owners in Cartagena and inspect them ourselves, rather than reselling another operator's product. That means one margin instead of three and the person who contracted the boat answering when something changes.
Does my client stay mine?
Yes. We do not contact your client outside the trip, do not market to them afterwards, and will operate white-label if you prefer. The named contact for the file talks to you; on the ground, the local concierge talks to the group.
How fast is a quote?
Within 24 hours for a standard group request, itemised: accommodation per night, each staff role on its own line, boats by size, transfers, and what is paid locally. Complex wedding weekends with multiple boats and seventy guests take longer, and we will tell you when to expect it rather than going quiet.
What are the payment terms?
A deposit holds the house and the boats, the balance is due before travel, and every payment is against a company invoice. We never ask for 100% up front and never for payment to a personal account. Individual members of a group can also pay their own shares separately, each with their own receipt.
How do I verify you before sending a client?
CABÚ Viajes is registered under RNT 215668 on the Colombian National Tourism Register, which is public and free to check. We also send the captain's licence, the vessel's passenger liability insurance and the port clearance with any quote that includes a boat. Here is how to verify any Cartagena operator, including us.
Useful before you propose Cartagena
- Staffed villas and private charters: the real price bands.
- Nonstop flights from the US, every route verified.
- Is Cartagena safe? The honest answer, with the official sources — useful when a client asks.
- Cartagena vs Puerto Rico and vs Cancún, with published competitor pricing.
- The company profile: who we are, since when, and how we are registered.
How we compare with the rest of the market: the villa, yacht, chef and driver prices other Cartagena luxury operators publish, side by side with ours — including where they are ahead of us — are in Cartagena luxury operators compared. Weighing Cartagena against Mexico? See Cartagena vs Los Cabos vs Tulum. Travelling over Christmas or New Year 2026? See Christmas and New Year's Eve in Cartagena: villa, yacht at midnight, what is still bookable. Celebrating a 40th or 50th? What a milestone birthday in Cartagena costs, per unit. Planning a company offsite? Corporate retreats in Cartagena, with company invoicing. Paying a deposit in Colombia for the first time? The five checks to run on any Cartagena operator, including on us.
What "DMC" means here, and a sample four-night file
Advisors search for a Cartagena DMC — a destination management company that holds the ground product and answers for it. That is what we are, with two differences from the DMCs that show up next to us: we publish reference figures, and we quote every line separately so you can present it in your own template with your own margin. Nothing is bundled into a per-person nightly rate you cannot audit.
A typical four-night file for a group of twelve to sixteen, as it reaches you — reference figures, actual quote in writing within 24 hours:
| Line | Basis | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Colonial house inside the walls, sleeps 16 | Per house, per night, contracted directly with the owner | From about 600 USD a night (above this 20 Dec–5 Jan) |
| Local concierge running the days | No extra charge | Included |
| Private boat, full day, Rosario Islands | Per boat, per day; beach club minimums stated separately | 850–1,500 USD (36–40 ft) to 2,500–3,800 (50 ft+) |
| Private chef | Per service, groceries itemised | Quoted per service |
| Driver and van | Per day | Quoted per day |
| Airport transfers, restaurant and club reservations | Per movement / per table | At the price on the menu; no markup on reservations |
Each traveller can settle her own share separately with her own receipt, which for an advisor managing a group of fourteen removes the single most common source of friction. Deposit to hold, balance before travel, company invoice; nothing is booked until you confirm. How our published figures compare with the other operators in the city: Cartagena luxury operators compared. If you are a concierge desk or a card programme rather than an advisor, the same terms are set out for you in for concierge desks and card programmes.
If your client is a company — executive retreat, incentive trip, team offsite — the format with company invoicing and one expense document is in corporate retreats and offsites in Cartagena.
Write to us now, and what happens next
Message us on WhatsApp → +1 754 201 9833 · answered at any hour, 24/7. Prefer email or a form? Ask for your quote here.
Send these five things and nothing else is needed: the dates or the month, how many nights, how many people, what is non-negotiable for this group, and the city everyone is flying from.
- Within 24 hours on a working day you get two or three houses or boats that actually fit those dates, with what we checked on each one, and an itemised quote: each line priced separately, what is included and what is not, and the payment calendar. No agency fee.
- You choose. Nothing is held or booked until you confirm in writing. If nothing fits, we say so instead of pushing a substitute.
- Deposit against a company invoice — never 100% upfront, never to a personal account — and each traveller can pay her own share and receive her own receipt.
- One named contact on WhatsApp before, during and after the trip, who answers at eleven at night on the 31st. RNT 215668, verifiable in the public Colombian registry.
December and the first week of January are quoted on the actual house, in writing, because those two weeks sell out first.
Send us a request and get it back in 24 hours
Dates or the month, group size, nights, the client's non-negotiables, departure cities, and whether you want net or gross. Net rates on request. Nothing is booked until you confirm.
Send your request here · Ground operator in Cartagena, RNT 215668.
