Too many DVC kiosk's?

[kel3420]

We noticed on our trip last week, that there seems to be many more DVC stands than previous trips. Before, if you saw one or two during a trip, that was usually the case, but this time we saw them all over. I am just wondering if we just notice them more now, now that we are members or if there really are more of them. It seemed like every time we turned around there was another one.

If this is the case, and there are more of them, how do you feel about that? How cost effective is it to pay people to be at so many of these all day?

I know they want to sell as many memberships as possible, but at what expense? I wonder if these employees are paid hourly or paid on commission if they entice someone to join. Then add in all of the van runs they have to do, to get people to the main office and home again. I think I read recently also about free meals that some people get when agreeing to do a tour. I will admit though my kids liked the free cotton candy, lol.

We went into the DVC office (on Boardwalk) one afternoon, to ask a question (BTW, you do NOT need to put on your "valid" stickers on your cards for them to be valid ) and noticed there were four people behind the main desk doing absolutely nothing and then several others just hanging around.

Any thoughts?

 

[Maistre Gracey]

There are kiosks following you around, under their own power.... like an episode of The Twilight Zone.

Interpretation: Your sub-conscious is saying 'buy an add-on'.

 

[RobDoc]

Each theme park has one kiosk and each resort has a desk, plus another at DD-Marketplace and another at DD-West Side. They have proven to be a very effective means to promote the product and to get prospective buyers some sales information.

While there is certainly a large force to staff the kiosks and vans, all of the expense is borne by DVD- the developer itself- and none is paid for from our dues. The same goes for the pronotional items given away at Member Updates and the referral bonus paid to existing members. These are all paid for by the developer.

While it would be nice to have staff there only when a guest wants information, the reality of the situation demands that the kiosks be staffed when guests might stop by for a look at the program.

Looks like it's worked well so far!

 

[PamOKW]

There have always been kiosks everywhere....you are probably just noticing them more. DVC members do not bear any of the costs involved so it's up to Disney how much they are willing to spend to make their sales. Juding by the rapidly rising price, it seems to be working.

I think you will always find the sales office pretty slow in the afternoon. There isn't much traffic on the boardwalk during the day. It's the evening when things pick-up and they may schedule tours for the following morning as well. People don't like to give up the prime mid-day for sales tours. I think the most popular time is the morning when they are killing time before a flight.

 

[mb168]

I know there are more than 1 in a park now. There are at least 2 in MGM I can think of. As for free meals and van rides, thats called cost of doing business. Go to Vegas or any "island paradise" and you'll be hounded to death by all the timeshare kiosks. In Aruba, I left a timeshare presentation with $150 in booty . My uncle had $100 and a car rental for 2 days. My DVC guide gave me 2 tickets for a meal but there was a dollar limit on it, I think $25, and I didn't even buy last year. They have to offer something to get the skeptics to talk to them or no one would stop to talk. Then they might get more aggressive

 

[Chuck S]

Now that you mention it ther are at least 2 kiosks at MGM, but I've never seen the one near Sci Fi Drive In operating - maybe they use it in high attendance days.

 

[pkilgore]

Someone Mentioned a referall bonus paid ot member.

anyone what that bonus is?

 

[kel3420]

You are all probably right in that I am just noticing them more now that we have bought DVC - I know what they are, lol.

Maiste Gracey - You had me laughing out loud. How funny you should mention an add on, we were just discussing that.

Best wishes,
Kelly

 

[madcoco]

Maistre Gracey.Thanks

 

[Pig Pen]

All I got was 2 fast passes for Peter Pan...and I bought!

Regarding the referral bonus, we asked about that and it's according to the state laws where you reside. They looked it up for us and we cannot receive a bonus because we live in Vermont. You have to ask though, I don't think they tell you this on their own?

 

[EROS]

Look at it this way. The marketing by DVD generates demand which eventually keeps your point value up. When demand ebbs, with a constant resale supply, then the value of your investment will go DOWN .......

 

[Regina]

We went into the DVC office (on Boardwalk) one afternoon, to ask a question (BTW, you do NOT need to put on your "valid" stickers on your cards for them to be valid

Oh yeah, I can just imagine what would happen if we tried to use an "expired" card at the Disney Store for our discount.

We're lucky if they know what to do with it, much less trying to explain that the date doesn't mean anything.

 

[MikeBW]

Maybe Disney is going overboard. DVC kiosks are popping up more than Kevin Bacon in the movies. 7 degrees of DVC kiosks!!

 

[KNWVIKING]

With BCV selling faster then expected,and Sara Springs under construction, I think DVD may run out of points to sell.At some point they may want to cut back on the number of kiosks just to reduce the demand.

 

[Firefighter Mickey]

Not to pick nits, but it's not entirely true to say that DVC members don't bear the costs of the kiosks.

The cost of these kiosks are not included in your annual dues, but you can sure bet that they are included in the purchase price of the product.

 

[SheriB]

We saw what seemed to be lots of kiosks when we were there in July, in all the parks ( or maybe there weren't that many, but we happened to notice all of them). Since we weren't members then, and honestly had no idea what they were, we were very curious, as they did peak our interest. We kept saying all week, "we've got to check that out." We finally did the last day of our stay, when we visited the Boardwalk to kill some time before going to the airport. I'm so glad we did!

Sheri