Planning · Journal
What are the payment terms for MICE bookings?
Terms are written in the contract for that programme. Typical rhythm: a confirmation deposit to hold lodges and permits, staged payments as suppliers invoice, and a final payment before arrival. Peak safari and gorilla permits often follow stricter supplier rules than a city hotel.
What we tell planners
Payment terms for MICE bookings with Serengeti Experience DMC are programme-specific and sit in the contract, not in a website footnote. We will not publish a fake universal deposit percentage. What incentive houses should expect: a confirmation deposit to hold named lodges, venues and scarce permits; staged payments that follow supplier due dates (camps, aircraft, gorilla permits, Mauritius room blocks); and a final payment before the first guest lands. Currency, bank details and who pays visa fees are named in the same document.
Scarce inventory has a different cash rhythm from a Nairobi board night. Peak July–October Serengeti/Mara, Rwanda gorilla permits and private-island Seychelles often need deposits earlier — which is why we ask for RFPs 12–18 months out. City meetings and some Mauritius blocks can move on a shorter ladder. Group air, if we are not ticketing it, stays on the agency’s or corporate travel agent’s terms with the airline.
Ask in the RFP: deposit timetable, what is refundable at each stage, whether gorilla permits or peak camp holds are non-refundable once issued, and invoicing entity. We match the written terms to the suppliers we are actually contracting. A DMC who quotes ‘pay on departure’ for a 40-person Migration programme is not holding the inventory.
What to brief next
- — Contracted per programme — no universal website percentage.
- — Deposit to hold, staged supplier payments, final before arrival.
- — Peak camps and gorilla permits often need earlier, less flexible cash than a city hotel.
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