DVC Survey regarding perks

[cseca]

Interesting Survey. Unfortunately I wasn't chosen to participate in this one. I think I've only gotten two in all the years I've been a member. I really think they should be asking for every member's participation in these types of surveys instead of a random sampling chosen by them. I would have loved to been in on this one.

AGREED!

At least you've done 2. I've been a member for 10 years... never even seen 1.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Received the survey this morning and completed it immediately.

 

[n2mm]

I also got the survey yesterday and did it last night. I continued to support the AP discount, but also supported the discount on regular WDW multi-day tickets. That would be a nice perk for the folks that join us sometimes. Alot of the other stuff I wasn't interested in, golf discount, free popcorn, 10% discount on dining. As an AP holder, Disney Visa cardholder, and TiW cardholder, I can do better on most of the other perks offered. The Tier'd perk was somewhat interesting, but wondered how that would work, as I have the high point count, but seldom have anyone I can refer. It was a long survey.

 

[Halle]

Just took the survey.
I don't have an annual pass but ranked it high along with ticket discounts, golf perks, internet access and free parking at the parks.

 

[poohbear luvs grumpy]

Is a free D23 membership a current incentive and if so how do I get it?

 

[mom of princessx2]

Just took the survey.
I don't have an annual pass but ranked it high along with ticket discounts, golf perks, internet access and free parking at the parks.

Thank you!!! I did not get the survey but was beginning to think no one else liked the golf perks. We would hate to see them go.

 

[doombuggy]

I got the survey and took it last night.
My favorite/top choices were the VIP events, a night in a dream suite, and the free RCI week (which is probably a dream!)

 

[Sammie]

If they truly want it to represent the membership why would they not send one to every member.

I don't mind being in the minority if I truly am, but not by default.

 

[mac_tlc]

To get a statistically accurate response for any survey, you don't have to survey every member in the group. You do need an accurate cross-section of the membership. Think of the Nielsen TV ratings --- they dont' survey every person who wathces TV every week. But they develop a statistically accurate sample of the population.

If any perk is taken away, there is going to be a % that are unhappy and will say the rsults are invalid. I assume the current perks are all used by someone -- at some time.

mac_tlc

 

[perdidobay]

I took the survey yesterday. I gave low priority to Castle Suite rentals, golf perks, D23 membership, anything Disneyland related, and tiered member recognition and referal rewards -they do me no good as I live in a state that does not allow them. The rest I would never use.

High on my list were annual pass discounts and 20% restaurant discounts. The highest thing on my list was free internet.

At the end of the survey were some questions about how happy you were with your membership, had you added points and/or extended your membership, and do you plan on future add ons. Also if you were likely to refer freinds to DVC. I had to say I had a low probability of adding on or refering anyone to DVC as I didn't consider the program at current prices a good value.

IMHO, I think DVC will add/take away whatever perks THEY want to, and just say it was all due to Member "response".

Edited to add: My guess as to why I recieved the survey is that I always do respond to the postcard survey requests after my DVC stays.

 

[cseca]

To get a statistically accurate response for any survey, you don't have to survey every member in the group. You do need an accurate cross-section of the membership. Think of the Nielsen TV ratings --- they dont' survey every person who wathces TV every week. But they develop a statistically accurate sample of the population.

If any perk is taken away, there is going to be a % that are unhappy and will say the rsults are invalid. I assume the current perks are all used by someone -- at some time.

mac_tlc

Hence my previous question, how did they determine the sampling?
The numbers can be skewed a certain way IF that's what they want. It just depends. Statistical sampling could definitely be manipulated...

I guess we'll just see what happens after the numbers are tallied. Since really there's nothing we can do. They are called perks, and DVC doesn't have to give us any.

 

[3DisneyKids]

Hence my previous question, how did they determine the sampling?
The numbers can be skewed a certain way IF that's what they want. It just depends. Statistical sampling could definitely be manipulated...

I guess we'll just see what happens after the numbers are tallied. Since really there's nothing we can do. They are called perks, and DVC doesn't have to give us any.

That's the point, though. In order for this to be as accurate as possible, the sample should be chosen completely AT RANDOM. There are a variety of ways to come up with a truly random sample (there are actually several things they can purchase such as random number generators, randome-digit-dialers if doing a phone survey, etc.). However, the results will STILL be skewed even if the sample is a truly random one because there will be self-selection bias at work here (sorry, I teach statistics!). That means that even if they sent the survey to a random sample, only people who CHOOSE to answer it will do so. Thus, they self-select to do the survey. This, in turn, means that those who choose to complete the survey will only do so because (1) they are really into, excited, and involved with DVC; or (2) they have had either a highly positive or highly negative experience and want to make their opinions known.

As a general rule, the response rate on web-based surveys is 20%. This is far better than direct mail surveys (sent to your mailbox and you fill it out and mail it back)--the response rate for that is 3%. I would expect, though, that due to emotional attachments to DVC, the response rate will be better than the average.

As for skewing the numbers...sure, that can be done with "selective sampling" as opposed to random sampling. But really, that isn't the "best" way to skew your results. If you actually want your results to come out a certain way, then that is aided by the way in which you word your questions (i.e.: "How much do you love your DVC ownership?" See how that is a biased and leading question?...then when they get their results back, they can say something like "98% of respondents report loving their ownership!" Because as long as you answered the question, you would count as "loving" it.)

Hope this helps!

 

[skelooch]

IMHO, I think DVC will add/take away whatever perks THEY want to, and just say it was all due to Member "response".

I couldn't agree more, DVC could care less what the majority or minority for that matter thinks or wants. The survey was as phoney as a three dollar bill.
Why not just list 1 perk and have it rated as very important to not very important, instead of having to choose a most important and a least important out of a group of 5 or 6 selected perks.
We will never see the survey results anyway and they'll add or delete whatever "perks" they choose and claim it was due to "overwhelming member feedback".
The only ones I take advantage of are the Annual Pass & the Golf Membership so I would hate to see those go. But we shall see, nothing would surprise me.

 

[JackDiznee]

High priority went to AP discount, 20% dining discount, free internet, special event discounts. multi-day park admittance discount.

Low priority to tiered rewards, Disneyland related, Downtown Disney specialty stores discounts, golf related, castle suite, D23.

Sorry golfers - When DVC was a single resort with a golf course running through it, it was more relevant.

There was one question (I think the 2nd) that appeared to be a verification of reaching the right member.
It said, our records show you joined in 1994, and then gave me the option of checking true or false.

 

[Sammie]

High priority went to AP discount, 20% dining discount, free internet, special event discounts. multi-day park admittance discount.

Low priority to tiered rewards, Disneyland related, Downtown Disney specialty stores discounts, golf related, castle suite, D23.

Sorry golfers - When DVC was a single resort with a golf course running through it, it was more relevant.

There was one question (I think the 2nd) that appeared to be a verification of reaching the right member.
It said, our records show you joined in 1994, and then gave me the option of checking true or false.

Thanks Jack, your responses at least were geared toward perks that benefit more instead of a few.

 

[doombuggy]

I would have preferred the survey to ask me to rank the perks in the survey, instead of pick my most & least favorite perks in each group. While things like a discount on annual passes or MYW passes don't apply to me, I didn't select them as least favorite. Those were things like golf (i don't play), kids services (don't have any), and photopass.

 

[KateB]

I am really interested in the end perks! I am currently a D23 member and would love to get it without the $80 a year cost. I am a fairly new member but am interested in anything that they would be willing to offer me!

 

[Shadeaux]

I couldn't agree more, DVC could care less what the majority or minority for that matter thinks or wants. The survey was as phoney as a three dollar bill.
Why not just list 1 perk and have it rated as very important to not very important, instead of having to choose a most important and a least important out of a group of 5 or 6 selected perks.
We will never see the survey results anyway and they'll add or delete whatever "perks" they choose and claim it was due to "overwhelming member feedback".

These were my thoughts as well. When DVC surveyed OKW members about adding a pool slide, the majority didn't want it, yet they built one anyway. I think that may be the one and only time DVC actually released the results of a survey. The reason members pay for extra towels, toiletries, etc. is due to another survey. I remember taking that survey thinking it was definitely skewed in a way to make the results look like members wanted to be charged extra. I supposed I've just gotten to a point where I no longer trust anything DVC does. They already know what perks they'll be adding or deleting...this survey is meaningless.

 

[Brian Noble]

Selecting from a group is a more rigorous way of getting at rankings without making people go through the effort of ranking everything. So, you get a better response rate (it's not "as hard" to fill out), but you end up getting the information you want. It turns out to be more useful than individually rating without context---a survey arranged around one perk at a time with "important/not important" doesn't force people to make tradeoffs.

And, clearly, that's what Disney is looking for here.

If I were to read between the lines, Disney is (a) looking at a tiered structure to help spur add-on sales among those who are already Members and (b) trying to figure out which perks would be most useful at getting them to move up.

 

[Brian Noble]

It's also important to remember that, at some level, *someone* has to pay for these perks. And, the way that Disney as a company is set up, each internal "business unit" has to account for its own costs, revenues, and profits. That's true even within the confines of WDW: Parks, Resorts, Foods, Merchandise, etc. And, within each major division, each park/property/restaurant/store has to justify its own costs and benefits.

So, even though "from the outside" the perks appear to cost nothing, from the inside everything goes on the ledger of some business unit somewhere. In some cases, perks may be offered by the business units at no cost to the DVC Resort operating budgets (DVCMC---the management company) or the sales operation (DVD---the entity that builds resorts and sells points.) Such "freebies" offered to Members are to help spur business in the offering unit. For example, I suspect that the dining discounts come at no cost to DVCMC or DVD---they are offered only at less popular times, in less popular restaurants, and I suspect that Foods just eats the discount to help get a bit more foot traffic into those locations at those times. On the other hand, Disney is loath to "discount the gate"---usually, it's the last thing on which they offer a material deal. So I would not be surprised if some DVC-related business unit was picking up the tab for some of the Member AP discount.

To the extent that Sales (DVD) is "paying" for any of these perks, they want to make sure they are getting their money's worth for that investment---that it is creating more profits in extra point sales than it is "costing" them in perks. To the extent that Management (DVCMC) is "paying" for them, each Member is paying for them as well, indirectly through Dues. If there are perks that aren't popular enough to justify costs in that way, it would be prudent for DVCMC to drop them.