Disney Exec Shuffle and DVC

[Doc and Family]

I'm sure most, if not all, of you have read about Disney replacing Aguel with Smith as top-dog of the DVC. Just curious, does anyone expect to see any changes, major or minor, in the way Disney views the DVC now. We have apparently caught enough of their attention for them to put one of their insiders in a position of oversight.
Maybe a good time to start asking for a few perks?????
Just wondering what everyone thought.

 

[RobDoc]

During the last few months, Disney corporate has certainly taken a new interest in DVC. I don't know if the recent personnel change is a reflection of that interest, but corporate has a definite desire to include DVC in it's future plans.

This could mean an increased cooperation for DVC with other divisions and also means an increased scrutiny of DVC by the corporate eye. Hopefully, the increased scrutiny won't involve micromanagement of the program, but it will require diligence of DVC in it's future planning. With the cooperative attitude comes a new interest in the productivity of the program.

Stay Tuned!

 

[WDWguru]

I think they are paying more attention. At the press event for Mission: Space and Philharmagic last month they mentioned DVC several times. On the last day's press conference where they announced the new attractions, they made a point to speak about SSR and said that the DVC had been "successful beyond our wildest expectations". They even went on to talk about how DVC owners are some of their savviest guests. Sounds to me like they know where their $$ has been coming from the last few years and, hopefully, will reward us a bit for it.

 

[Bill K]

Thats the trend today in business. The formula is the same in all business, its 20% of customers generating 80% of the revenue! Maybe they'll give us free points!!!

 

[ArnyVee]

I know that there is a tremendous shift towards 'milking' the DVC side of the business because of the larger amounts of money that Disney can bring in because of it. They have really stepped up the promotion and advertising of DVC within the parks and online.

You could barely spot one of the DVC booths in years past. Now, they are replacing things with DVC booths and making it very obvious that they would like you to approach the booths.

In any case, I hope that any changes will be for the better and that Disney will look out for the existing and new members' benefits and not just the bottom line. It's a dangerous thing sometimes for a company as large as Disney to 'focus' on a particular piece of their company because they tend to try and maximize the income from that piece to make up for their lack of income somewhere else.

I hope that we are pleasantly surprised.

 

[joepoe]

Originally posted by ArnyVee
...obvious that they would like you to approach the booths.

In any case, I hope that any changes will be for the better and that Disney will look out for the existing and new members' benefits and not just the bottom line. It's a dangerous thing sometimes for a company as large as Disney to 'focus' on a particular piece of their company because they tend to try and maximize the income from that piece to make up for their lack of income somewhere else.

I hope that we are pleasantly surprised.

Spoken like a veteran of many a corporate "inititative"! I agree wholeheartedly. Once they have our money, their motivation has been not so much to satisfy us, but to get new members. If they would realize that current members are some of their best salespeople and that word of mouth does wonders for sales, they would treat us more royally. What that means in perks, I do not know. If they could just negotiate better airfares for us out of Chicago or Milwaukee that would be a great start!

 

[crisi]

I wonder as well....

Savvy....huuummmm....unlikely to spend money they don't have to. Able to work the system.

My husband is currently taking part in a corporate initiative to try and get rid of their "savvy" customers and replace them with the stupid ones that will buy things with high margin.

On the other hand, us "savvy" customers require less hand holding. Bet most of us can be off the phone with Disney dining in ten minutes for eight or ten PSs. Most of us take little time at check in - freeing up a desk clerk for something else. We probably take less MS time than a regular guest takes with CRO - and we pay for our time via our dues. We know the transportation system - and can avoid its weaknesses. We fill the parks at slow times and spend Thanksgiving day by the pool. So if they are looking at it as a savvy means less overhead for them - its good.

 

[wvalx]

I think you can have savvy customer's and high margin's. If they provide a spectacular product for a high premium, people will buy, buy, buy, as proven here.


What they need to do is to satisfy the wishes of the rich people like us . Let's face it, DVC isn't for the penny pinchers.

 

[WDWguru]

IIRC, the "savvy" statement was accompanied by an elaboration of sorts. They said we visit often, take advantage of many of the non-theme-park ammenities (they actually had a photo up on the presentation behind them of people golfing as they said this) and bring new people with us to introduce them to the parks and resorts. It was presented very positively (obviously they aren't going to downplay it for the press, so take that for what its worth), but the impression I got was that they wanted to be encouraging this behavoir.

 

[KellyDVC]

they are selling 50 year leases for more than 3-5 times the mfg cost of the resorts. Awhile back someone calculated the number of points sold for OKW, times the avg? sales price and came up with a very large number (north of $100MM) if I recall. Corp will love DVC while it is selling, so expect more properties to maintain the pipeline.

Sorry to be so vague on the numbers, the main point is DVC is very high margin real estate transactions - straight to the bottom line.

Brian

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

My husband is currently taking part in a corporate initiative to try and get rid of their "savvy" customers and replace them with the stupid ones that will buy things with high margin.

That sounds like a Dilbert cartoon.

HBC

 

[crisi]

I agree that savvy could be good. But I've heard enough business speak to also know that savvy doesn't have to mean "good customer"