The three prices on every lodge night, what each party in the chain is paid for, and why you will never see a net rate on a public page.
Three prices for the same bed
Every lodge night in Namibia has up to three prices. The rack rate is the public price, published on the lodge's own site, the one a direct guest pays. The net rate is the confidential price a lodge gives a DMC or ground partner: the DMC buys at net, adds its margin for the design, booking and ground operation, and sells on. The STO rate (standard tour operator rate) is the discounted rate a lodge offers contracted tour operators directly. Net and STO rates are never published. That confidentiality is not coyness; it is what protects everyone's margin in the chain, including yours.
Who adds what, and for doing what
The lodge provides the bed and takes the property risk. The DMC earns for assembling the whole journey: route design, multi-supplier booking, the vehicle and transfer operation, and being answerable on the ground when something changes. The operator earns for the client relationship: marketing, selling, contracting and servicing the traveller in their home market. Each margin pays for real work, and a healthy chain has all three, which is why the system produces better outcomes than any party trying to capture the whole price alone.
Why you cannot see our rates on this website
Operators ask us, reasonably, why our trade pages describe net rates but show none. Because the moment a net rate is published, it stops being a net rate: it becomes a public reference price that undercuts the operators who sell at rack, collapses the margin structure for every partner equally, and penalises exactly the partners who commit volume. Our rates are agreed per partner and shared directly, in the contracting conversation, where they belong.
White-label, briefly
White-label is an operational arrangement, not a rate type: the programme is designed and run by the ground partner but presented entirely under the operator's brand, documents, briefings and in-trip contact included. Combined with net rates, it lets an operator sell Namibia as its own product with its own margin, while a local team runs it. We explain our version in full on our white-label page, and the practical terms of partnering on working with us.
Questions, answered
What is the difference between a net rate and an STO rate?
A net rate is the confidential price given to a DMC or ground partner, who adds its margin and sells on. An STO (standard tour operator) rate is the discounted rate a supplier offers contracted tour operators directly. Neither is published; both sit below the public rack rate.
Why are DMC net rates never published?
Publishing a net rate turns it into a public reference price, undercutting operators who sell at rack and collapsing the margin structure for all partners. Net rates are agreed per partner and shared directly during contracting.
Planning a Namibia journey? Tell us your dates and we will design it properly. Or browse our itineraries and the rest of the journal.