Do you think Disney will ever institute a loyalty program?

[whoever]

Disney had the market locked up, and still does for the most part (9 out of the top 10 them parks are Disney). That being said, Universal has some pretty nifty properties gaining ground... Harry Potter, Despicable Me, etc... all drawing people in.

Any chance of Disney ever instituting a loyalty program? It could drive up business as a whole... give a little, reap a lot.

 

[disneychrista]

What would be the point in this? Frequent visitors already get discounted admission in the form of Annual Passes. And having an annual pass gets you discounts on food and purchases.

 

[whoever]

What would be the point in this? Frequent visitors already get discounted admission in the form of Annual Passes. And having an annual pass gets you discounts on food and purchases.

Targetted hotel specials for one. Buy enough, get some special perk.

 

[zanzibar138]

I would like to see some sort of loyalty program that covers Disney resorts worldwide It's great that they've introduced an AP that is valid for both coasts in the US, but I think they could go further than that. Maybe a special 'club' for people who have been to each one, with ongoing AP style discounts or something? Or maybe if you're an AP holder for one park, you can get a discounts on tickets to another? Or maybe a stopover package? If you stop at one of the Asian properties on the way to/from Europe or the US, you can get a special package for 3-4 nights there? There's lots of things Disney could do for people who visit multiple locations.

 

[figment_jii]

Targetted hotel specials for one. Buy enough, get some special perk.

They already offer hotel specials for annual passholders. I generally agree with disneychrista that the annual passholder is rather like a loyalty club because it includes discounts for shopping and food.

I suspect that setting up some type of international pass would be difficult because not all of the international parks are wholly-owned by Disney.

 

[zanzibar138]

They already offer hotel specials for annual passholders. I generally agree with disneychrista that the annual passholder is rather like a loyalty club because it includes discounts for shopping and food.

Actually I disagree that an AP covers this. What about those people who go every 2 years without fail? They don't get the benefits of an AP, but they are still a 'frequent' visitor.

I suspect that setting up some type of international pass would be difficult because not all of the international parks are wholly-owned by Disney.

I agree that setting up an international pass would be difficult and not worthwhile. However, there must be something they can do in the way of discounts/perks etc. It's a little disconcerting to be concurrently holding APs for DLP, HKDL and DLR, and having paid full price for all 3. I really think that a 5 (soon to be 6) park challenge would be a great way to get some international crossover and really encourage people to make sure they include a Disney park in their travels (eg if someone is going to Germany, they might make more of an effort to make DLP part of their trip).

While we're in that area, many people from the UK only visit WDW, and consider DLP to be an inferior park that is not worth visiting (I couldn't see it myself, but each to their own). Disney might convince more of those people to give DLP another chance if they offered a discount to people already heading to WDW.

Also, from Australia to Europe (well, to the US as well, but it's a little more out of the way), people tend to stop in Singapore, where they might visit Universal. If there was some sort of stopover package or discount available for HKDL for people who were visiting Disney parks in Europe/US, I'm sure many people would choose to route their flights through HK instead, therefore increasing loyalty to the Disney brand.

Anyway, this is just a thought that DH and I have had since we travel to multiple locations. I'm sure it's such a low percentage of Disney's clientele that they're not really interested. Just seemed like a suitable thread to put it out there

 

[bryanb]

All great ideas. However, loyalty programs are very expensive and labor intensive to manage. They also add a layer of complexity to the guest experience -- with all the potential for confusion and dissatisfaction that is inherent to such a system. Plus, a loyalty program creates an additional sense of entitlement (justified) which creates expectations that are sometimes challenging to meet. Before Disney, or any company, decides to go down this route they would have to ensure that the increased profits are worth the costs and downside.

I think the Universal effect has been positive overall on Disney. Even if many people spend a few days at a competitive theme park, Disney's overall profit increases due to the rising tide that brings more tourists in.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

Actually I disagree that an AP covers this. What about those people who go every 2 years without fail? They don't get the benefits of an AP, but they are still a 'frequent' visitor.

There's a difference between being a regular visitor and a frequent visitor. I'd call visiting once every two years being an occasional visitor, and I don't know that that merits special discounts similar to an AP or loyalty program. If the criteria for perqs were that wide, wouldn't everyone qualify for a discount?

I know I make a choice every year between being a frequent or occasional visitor. I can choose to visit multiple times and purchase an AP to get dining, merch, and hotel discounts all year. Or I can just buy hoppers, only visit once or twice, and not get any discounts.

I wonder, though, if you may be talking about people who only visit every couple of years, but those visits are long visits, as most DLR visits from your part of the world tend to be? If that's the case, you need to bear in mind your travel market has access to far longer ticket media (i.e. 10-day tickets, etc.) than we have access to domestically. So biennial visitors from Aus & NZ are already receiving a discount that we in the States can't access. If we want to visit for more than five days at a time, we have to either purchase additional, expensive single or multi-day tickets, or purchase APs.

 

[whoever]

I'm obviously coming at this from my own perspective, but we are now going three times per year, staying onsite as a family, at their most expensive hotel, and buying hoppers mostly for our trips (I'm an AP). I myself am now going 5-8 times per year, dropping $ on merch/food each trip (the really Disney $ makers).

For each 10 days we stay at the grand, why not toss us a top-floor theme park view, or a day or two of Concierge for example of a loyalty program? Costs Disney practically nothing, but ensures we continue to enjoy our trips to maximum happiness..

 

[disneychrista]

Loyalty is a funny thing.
Is someone who goes to Disneyland twice a year but also goes to Six Flags, Universal, Knotts, etc more loyal than a person who ONLY goes to Disneyland every other year? Or is the bi-annual visitor more loyal because they only go to Disneyland?

 

[whoever]

Loyalty is a funny thing.
Is someone who goes to Disneyland twice a year but also goes to Six Flags, Universal, Knotts, etc more loyal than a person who ONLY goes to Disneyland every other year? Or is the bi-annual visitor more loyal because they only go to Disneyland?

Well. we only go to DIsneyland for location-destination-vacations. We do local in-state stays, but not what I consider destination-vacations.

THe wife and I just ate a $200 deposit on a Vegas vacation to do Dapper Day this September instead. THat sounds pretty loyal to me.

 

[sarahb74]

LEGOLAND have a scheme where annual passholders from the UK (not sure if it applies to passholders in other countries) can present their pass at any other LEGOLAND in the world and get 50% off entry - I would have thought that something like that would be easy and quite cheap to do? Its a nice gesture and if we had time this trip it might encourage us to visit LEGOLAND California rather than another park. Unfortunately we only have 5 days and I am dedicating them all to Disneyland!!

ps I don't know why but every time I type LEGOLAND it capitalises itself

 

[figment_jii]

Actually I disagree that an AP covers this. What about those people who go every 2 years without fail? They don't get the benefits of an AP, but they are still a 'frequent' visitor.

There's a difference between being a regular visitor and a frequent visitor. I'd call visiting once every two years being an occasional visitor, and I don't know that that merits special discounts similar to an AP or loyalty program. If the criteria for perqs were that wide, wouldn't everyone qualify for a discount?

I agree with mikedoyleblogger on this one. I do think you can be a loyal guest if you go every other year, but your not really a frequent guest in the sense that most loyalty clubs that I've dealt with seem to imply. For many of the ones I've joined, your "points" expire within a year or two, which would pretty much rule out the occasional/infrequent guests.

I'm sure it's such a low percentage of Disney's clientele that they're not really interested. Just seemed like a suitable thread to put it out there

I agree that it would be great if AP holders could get a discount at the other parks, but I do doubt they do that. It took them long enough to create the WDW/DLR pass, I can't imagine how hard it would be to get all of the parks to agree to deal. At least both WDW and DLR have the same parent company; the same cannot be said for DLP or Tokyo. I'm not sure how Hong Kong or Shanghai are set-up.

 

[DLR29]

Ummm...DVC?

 

[whoever]

Ummm...DVC?

DVC isn't anything other than a timeshare.

 

[zanzibar138]

There's a difference between being a regular visitor and a frequent visitor. I'd call visiting once every two years being an occasional visitor, and I don't know that that merits special discounts similar to an AP or loyalty program. If the criteria for perqs were that wide, wouldn't everyone qualify for a discount?

I know I make a choice every year between being a frequent or occasional visitor. I can choose to visit multiple times and purchase an AP to get dining, merch, and hotel discounts all year. Or I can just buy hoppers, only visit once or twice, and not get any discounts.

I wonder, though, if you may be talking about people who only visit every couple of years, but those visits are long visits, as most DLR visits from your part of the world tend to be? If that's the case, you need to bear in mind your travel market has access to far longer ticket media (i.e. 10-day tickets, etc.) than we have access to domestically. So biennial visitors from Aus & NZ are already receiving a discount that we in the States can't access. If we want to visit for more than five days at a time, we have to either purchase additional, expensive single or multi-day tickets, or purchase APs.

I suppose I am looking at it from a different perspective. I would not consider a Disney trip every other year to encompass the majority of the population. Maybe the majority of the DisBoards I don't really know how often the average US resident visits a Disney park, but I would have thought it would be a once or twice in a lifetime thing for a LOT of people Besides, I'm not talking about ongoing discounts for these people, maybe more like a 10% discount on your tenth stay or something. Then it wouldn't matter how often people visited, if they were 'loyal' and 'regular' visitors, they would still qualify for the discount eventually. I'd think that for most people (who aren't particularly Disney fans and don't frequent Disney travel forums), 10 trips in a lifetime would be a lot.

Yes, Australians qualify for the 10 day pass. It is not a 'discount'. It's still more expensive than a 5 day pass. It just means we can stay longer, which I think is fair given that we're travelling for at least 14 hours to get there. It does not give us any discount on food or accommodation, which really adds up over the course of 10 days!

LEGOLAND have a scheme where annual passholders from the UK (not sure if it applies to passholders in other countries) can present their pass at any other LEGOLAND in the world and get 50% off entry - I would have thought that something like that would be easy and quite cheap to do? Its a nice gesture and if we had time this trip it might encourage us to visit LEGOLAND California rather than another park. Unfortunately we only have 5 days and I am dedicating them all to Disneyland!!

ps I don't know why but every time I type LEGOLAND it capitalises itself

This, exactly There's no reason why Disney couldn't implement something like this. And it wouldn't need to be anywhere near a 50% discount to make me happy - even 5% would be better than nothing!

I know that not all Disney parks are wholly Disney owned, but I think if they can all participate in DVC, then they should all be able to participate in something like this.

 

[disneychrista]

I would not consider a Disney trip every other year to encompass the majority of the population.

The majority of population does not visit a Disney park every year, that I agree with. But Disneyland has a lot of local visitors, I would gather that the majority of Disneyland visitors visit at least once per year. When we were locals we did annual visits to Disneyland.

Yes, Australians qualify for the 10 day pass. It is not a 'discount'. It's still more expensive than a 5 day pass.

If the cost of the 10-day is cheaper than purchasing 2 5-day then it does in fact give you a discount on admission.

 

[Iceman93]

Loyalty programs tend to be offered in industries (airline, cruises, restaurants, etc.) where the product is largely a commodity. Companies are trying to give you a reason to give more of your business to them rather than their competitor when the product they are offering is largely the same.

Disney has no competitors, really. Universal, Knott's, Six Flags, Great Wolf Lodge, and other companies offer themed entertainment experiences. But they are in no way comparable to Disney when one considers the whole package of what Disney offers. Just based on their historical catalog of characters and music, Disney sets themselves apart, but they have also managed to create immersive themed environments with incomparable experiences and unsurpassed guest service. You might get a better night's sleep at a Ritz-Carlton, or a better meal at Spago, or (arguably) a better immersive land with Harry Potter. But no one puts excellence in all those categories (and more) together like Disney.

They have no need to offer a loyalty program, that would suffer from the negatives a previous poster mentioned. They already have APs, DVC, D23, Club 33, Castaway Club, and used to have the Magic Kingdom Club and Disney Club. Each one targets a specific audience and offers a limited, defined set of benefits to encourage repeat business in specific ways. But a guest who's planning a trip to Europe and is already loyal enough to Disney to even consider adding DLP to their vacation doesn't really need a little discount or whatever to tip them over the edge.

We'd all like to get a discount or an upgrade or whatever that fits our particular spending and behavior pattern. But we need to take our own situations out of the equation and think of it in terms of the company's needs. They simply don't need to offer a loyalty program to get most (all?) of us to keep spending our money with them!

 

[hjgaus]

DVC isn't anything other than a timeshare.

Yes it is BUT....... every now & then they give us DVC members a little something in return for our annual payment of loyalty!! (LOL)
Such as recently getting to see movie previews like Guardians of the Galaxy (this was our 5th movie preview so far within a year) & WAY better AP discounts than usual !!!

 

[zanzibar138]

The majority of population does not visit a Disney park every year, that I agree with. But Disneyland has a lot of local visitors, I would gather that the majority of Disneyland visitors visit at least once per year. When we were locals we did annual visits to Disneyland.

Yes, as you say, local visitors can get all the benefits of an AP. I think it would be nice for non-locals to get some sort of loyalty bonus

We'd all like to get a discount or an upgrade or whatever that fits our particular spending and behavior pattern. But we need to take our own situations out of the equation and think of it in terms of the company's needs. They simply don't need to offer a loyalty program to get most (all?) of us to keep spending our money with them!

Of course I don't expect Disney as a company to cater to my specific needs and circumstances, but what's the harm in friendly banter about the possibilities? I definitely agree that it's unlikely Disney will ever feel the need to offer anything other than APs and DVC. They certainly don't have a problem attracting customers

And with that, I will bow out.