DVC Direct Sales Strategy Changing?

[ziravan]

What I would really like to know - and you can't tell it from available data - is if DVC is happy or concerned about point totals for PVB.

I guess we'll only know if they start discounting points. My guess is that they won't discount monorail points even if they are disappointed with sales. I don't think they'll want to admit it by discounting points.

 

[Dean]

What I would really like to know - and you can't tell it from available data - is if DVC is happy or concerned about point totals for PVB.

I guess we'll only know if they start discounting points. My guess is that they won't discount monorail points even if they are disappointed with sales. I don't think they'll want to admit it by discounting points.

Historically all we've gotten in this area has been minimal and indirect information. From what I can tell, DVC tends to be overly optimistic when it comes to sales. That was definitely true with VWL, HH & VB.

 

[Brian Noble]

Do any of the above charts include Aulani?

 

[wdrl]

Do any of the above charts include Aulani?

DVC Mike's charts in Post #1 include some Aulani data. Individual monthly data for Aulani begins with June 2014. The other charts in this thread focus mainly on the WDW resorts and are labelled accordingly.

 

[ain0004]

I think several things fall into place here. One. Price increase…..No offense a 20,000 can buy me a decent car. Nothing fancy. But will get the job done. So some people cringe at that price tag. Next on the list. when those spikes happened. They also had better promo for AP. AKA the 399. PAP deal. And the renewal. These are attractive to new buyers. DVC has not anything (new) or (exciting) to attract members or new members. I also think new management. Plays a roll. Also unless they put more restrictions on not buying direct. Why not buy from a dealer. Cost is lower. Lets face it, DCL exchange rate is high. And unless you have an insane amount of points, you won't do disney adventures. Buying resale makes sense. I am also totally turned off by the Poly. We are family of 5. no way would we ever stay in a studio. Hate to say it……Disney dropped the ball on that idea. And I am sure there are people who will pay to stay in the bungalows…But for that price tag. I will be staying a grand villa and saving my points.

 

[tjkraz]

Next on the list. when those spikes happened. They also had better promo for AP. AKA the 399. PAP deal. And the renewal. These are attractive to new buyers. DVC has not anything (new) or (exciting) to attract members or new members.

The $399 PAP offer was in November / December 2012. Another PAP discount was later offered in February / March 2014.

I don't see any sales spikes in either of those timeframes.

 

[browniemtb]

I think they priced it to avoid that spike. I'd be interested to see a chart showing revenue, rather than points sold. Prices are up 20%-60% over that time period. I'd expect some decreased demand based on that pricing, but increased revenue.

I agree...I know if I was in the market now I would balk at the purchase jut because of price.

 

[JWG]

With no resort available such as OKW / SSR / AKV - there is no large value purchase available. So, DVC (like many things at WDW) is becoming (has become?) a more high end purchase. I thought we paid too much for BLT in 2010. Now to see the resale prices $10+ more per point than that is astonishing. Given the revenue the past couple of years is being drivegn by VGF and PVB, they may be doing ok on that side of the equation.

As a side note, I was able to get added to the BLT wait list yesterday - so it's not necessarily closed as someone had mentioned.

 

[dreaming4disney]

JMHO: they could make 1 BRs more attractive by having them sleep 5 without taking out all drawer space. Use a sleeper chair. Its much more comfortable to have a family of 5 in a 1 BR over studio. We just stayed a few nights at VGF in a Studio with our 3 teenagers. We wanted to try it out. It was tight! We were tripping over luggage the whole time. Couldn't wait until we were in a 2 BR at BLT. I thought it was funny that none of us used the tub/shower. Everyone liked the other shower better.

Couldn't they also shift points to make the 1BR more attractive for booking?

Also, I agree with the idea that the studios at PVB would have been nice to have king size beds.

 

[DVC Mike]

I added sales for June 2015, where sales for the Polynesian pickup, as well as the second half of 2010, in the first post in this thread.

 

[Minniesgal]

JMHO: they could make 1 BRs more attractive by having them sleep 5 without taking out all drawer space. Use a sleeper chair. Its much more comfortable to have a family of 5 in a 1 BR over studio. We just stayed a few nights at VGF in a Studio with our 3 teenagers. We wanted to try it out. It was tight! We were tripping over luggage the whole time. Couldn't wait until we were in a 2 BR at BLT. I thought it was funny that none of us used the tub/shower. Everyone liked the other shower better.

Couldn't they also shift points to make the 1BR more attractive for booking?

Also, I agree with the idea that the studios at PVB would have been nice to have king size beds.

The majority of 1 bedrooms are too small for the sleeper chair which is why it hasn't been included at VWL, BWV or BCV.

 

[DVC Mike]

I'd like to express my appreciation for the efforts of "wdrl" (Wil) in gathering this data every month, and publishing it on DVCNews.com

 

[dreaming4disney]

Minniesgal,
I believe that if they wanted to add a another bed somehow to a 1 bedroom, they could find a clever way to do it. Even if I were staying with only my husband in a studio, I don't like not having more drawer space. The closet is not enough for two people. A big reason we purchased into DVC was to have bigger accommodations. it would have been nice to see PVB have a king size bed and a slightly larger kitchenette. Maybe even a small W/D. I also believe they could manipulate the points to make a 1 bedroom more attractive for booking.

But I digressed from the topic. Sorry. Maybe Disney was being over confident that the points would sell at PVB no matter what the accommodations were and it was cheaper and easier to build studios. I'm mostly a reader here on the boards but for years, a lot of people said they would buy in a heartbeat if Poly got some DVC rooms. I guess time will tell.

 

[zavandor]

This strategy is consistent with everything else at WDW.
Every time they publish a revenue report, we read "increased average spending per guest". It means: tickets cost more, food costs more, rack rates go up. And yet, they get record attendance. If they keep prices low, many more people would go to WDW, and they they would need to build new attractions, new hotels, new parks. Why do that when they can just charge more per person? Less people can afford it, but those going will spend more.
They say they middle class is disappearing: WDW is adjusting its demographic target.

 

[rfc0001]

Great post Mike. BTW, some of your images are missing

I'd like to express my appreciation for the efforts of "wdrl" (Wil) in gathering this data every month, and publishing it on DVCNews.com

I agree...

 

[SpaceMountain77]

For the past several years, I have wanted to know the saturation point for DVC at WDW. If resorts continue to be built or converted every 2 - 3 years, then will we see 8 - 12 more DVC resorts through 2042?

 

[Popouri DVC]

How about by 2064? Astonishing that I might be still reading these things then...

Much more likely I'll be pushing up posies.

 

[freediverdude]

I would be interested in hearing how they made the decision to do all studios plus some bungalows at the Poly. I like the studios, I purchased there, but it would be interesting to find out why they did that, since none of the other resorts are set up that way. Is it an experiment? Did their research show they needed a lot more studios on the monorail? Can they fit more spending guests in a smaller space with all studios? Would be interested in their logic.

 

[Dean]

I would be interested in hearing how they made the decision to do all studios plus some bungalows at the Poly. I like the studios, I purchased there, but it would be interesting to find out why they did that, since none of the other resorts are set up that way. Is it an experiment? Did their research show they needed a lot more studios on the monorail? Can they fit more spending guests in a smaller space with all studios? Would be interested in their logic.

We'll never know but my guess is that it was more of a vote not to use 2 rooms to make a one BR rather than a vote for the studios. The real question to me is why they didn't upgrade the studios to something more given the sq ft they had to work with and the fact there were no 1BR and no regular 2 BR. My guess there is they didn't want to make an outlier that was completely different than the rest of the system. IMO, that was a mistake. They could have made them both more desirable and had more points to sell.

 

[Bellecruiser]

I agree with Dean and many others that the decision to put only studios in PVB was a mistake, and is responsible for the current slow sales. (I don't count the water bungalows as even an option due to their high point cost). I suspect that Disney is worried about the slow start there. We have to remember that many sales at new properties are to current DVC members who want to add on, and that has been very slow at PVB. So MANY people said they were waiting for the Poly DVC when VGF was being built and sold, but that groundswell of sales never happened. There were so many Poly people that my husband and I worried about adding on at VGF...wondering if we were making a mistake.

In terms of why they did this... I think the pp who pointed out the imbalance in the system was probably onto something as well as those who pointed out reduced construction costs for producing studios. But to make this kind of a bad decision at one of their their flagship resorts...the Poly, which is beloved by so many...I think it is major. I wonder if Ken Pot...(the head of DVC...whatever his last name is) will be held accountable. I suspect he is viewed as a superstar.