<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>A properly designed and operated Member Services website for DVC members would be a great way to lower the cost of providing Member Services functions to the ever increasing population with Internet access...[/quote]
Personally, I'd love to have a full-service DVC site, but while I'd like to agree with Werner, I don't think that's true yet. Remember the thread about how many people use the DVC forum? It got about 400 replies. If we assume that one out of 10 DVC internet users sees this forum, that's still only about 4-5000 internet users out of tens of thousands of members. With the cost of creating a reservation site probably in the quarter million dollar range, plus its infrastructure, it's much more cost effective to add to MS.
Also, many people prefer to use the phone and talk to a real person. I sure wouldn't trust my exactly-7-months-out ressie for BWV to a website. And what about those spur of the moment and last-minute phone calls for various reasons?
I think we internet-savvy folks tend to lose site of the fact that the majority of people are not online, and of those who are, most do no serious online stuff. Very few (if any) commercial websites have generated the amount of traffic they predicted, and none has made a financial success of it yet. So I can't see Disney putting much emphasis on the site until the numbers look better.
I sure hope I'm wrong!
(BTW, if I was Disney, I'd put my web development efforts into the theme park sites, since those sites will grab new customers, and new money, whereas the DVC members are already committed.)
Peter and Syl
DVC (OKW) '92, VB '95
Going to OKW May 19-30 and Dec 8-19
[This message was edited by Peter Johnson on 04-12-01 at 08:38 AM.]