or have they simply decided that the long-term strategic goal of weaning the public off discounts overrides the tactical objective of keeping their resorts relatively full?
Some observations:
Up through Q1 of 2012, it appeared as if the economy was slowly on the road to recovery. Disney has seemed to rely on this as an opportunity to wean the public off of discounts.
However, since then it has become increasingly apparent that the to so-called recovery is stagnating. GDP growth over the last couple quarters has dropped substantially and unemployment has seemed to hit a wall (with the increased possiblity of a double dip recession).
Nevertheless, Disney seems intent on cutting discounts. While
free dining has still been offered, the dates have been much more limited than in the previous couple of years.
Room discounts, in particular, have been cut rather dramatically. These discounts are particluarly relevant to deluxe resort bookings, which has led me to wonder whether the stall in the recovery has not affected the higher-end consumer as much as the rest of the population (or, at least, Disney sees it this way).
But then I hear reports that an entire longhouse at the Poly is closed in the middle of the summer, not for renovations but because bookings in the resort have been insufficient.
Putting all of this together, I'm having a hard time believing that Disney is hitting their usual capacity goals at their higher end (and perhaps even some of their moderate) resorts. This leads me back to my original question.
In any event, it will be interesting to see what kind of room discounts are offered for the remainder of this year and into 2013.
