thegirls said:
I really believe like the airlines and other hotel chains, that Disney needs to have a better 'reward' system for the repeat customer. At this point only the AP can come anywhere near that type of benifit that Disney currently offers. If they choose as a 'corporation' to ignore what most business recoginize as necessary to the bottom line, repeat businees, then I believe in the long run they will suffer.
I believe that is the discussion attempted on these boards and I am glad that it is being discussed!!!
JMHO
Debbie
Something to understand. Disney has to report its profits quarterly. You're talking about much longer-term thinking.
If there comes a point where disney needs to reintroduce codes in order to keep resorts full, it will do so. With gusto. Do you really think if and when that happens, the repeat people are going to say, "ah, to heck with it, I'm not going back there because they didn't give me any codes back in June 2006"? No way. Maybe a few. But disney has a product that you want to buy, and they know it.
Plus, they have been offering some dynamite promotions recently --
free dining is huge. That's going to generate lots of good will and repeat business from the people who are using it. It's just a small segment -- summer AP visitors -- that they appear to be phasing out. With all due respect, summer AP discounters are the very last customers that disney wants unless they have no other option to fill the rooms. We don't buy MYW tickets, we know all the tricks, we get the best discounts, we get discounted dining, and we're the most saavy customers they have. As compared to rack or
AAA customers who buy MYW tickets and don't have dining cards, they hate us. They tolerate us, but only if they have to.
Do you know what I think is really going on? As little as a year or 18 months ago, the whole concept of "codes" was a rarely used thing by the general public. There were a small fraction of us who understood that purchasing an AP pass, even if you were going for less than 12 days, could be a great boondogle. There were a small number of us who knew about mousesavers and these boards and how to get the best deals. Now, discussion of "codes" is ubiquitous. They are mentioned even in the mainstream guidebooks, not just the unofficial guide, and by tour guide mike, etc. Many of the great travel agents who specialize in disney travel do great business because they are vigilent to check for and apply codes. It's gone from a small way for disney to sell unsold rooms to a major expectation that canibalizes their rack and AAA market.
What's happening right now was inevitable. They are weening us off the expectation, and if in the process they drop some AP customers who will instead have to buy expiring MYW tickets, they will be more than delighted. It's all about trying to separate the most number of people from the most dollars possible, and I think for all the talk about what this will do in the long run, the most profitable long-run thing disney could do is to break the public of the code habit. In fact, the thing we have going in our favor the most is what I posted at the beginning of this post -- the fact that they have to report profits by the quarter. Ultimately, they despise unsold rooms, so there's only so much of a short-term hit they will be willing to take to break us of the code habit.
, but i will not be calling 3x a day, obsessing, or changing my plans. I for one hope that there are no AP codes to keep the crowd levels down. 
j/k of course
, I don't think it is so much as a I will take my Business elsewhere! attitude.
