Why no Disney Hotel Reward program

[pgianna]

I wonder why Disney doesn’t have any type of Disney hotel loyalty program. I think they are missing out on segment of the market. I personally always stay at the swan dolphin; the major reason is that I can get free nights through the Starwood reward program. I am sure there are many people who stay at the S/D or offsite just to use the hotel rewards. Seems to me they are missing out on people in my situation that they could attract to their Disney hotels. I don’t think there is any type of free nights at any Disney owned hotel offers. Maybe for every 10 nights at a hotel, you get one free. Something like that where you can roll them over to another year. Maybe the answer is, because they don’t have too, people are willing to stay at their hotels regardless.

 

[dzorn]

Why would they give somthing away that they do not need to?

Denise in MI

 

[Marty Joe]

That would be great for you and me, but (imho) Disney doesn't need to. They are at (or near) capacity year round. I'm suprised they still have bounce back... Maybe one day they will have this type of program- and I will be all over it!

 

[Missytara]

They are already offering so many discounts that everyone can take advantage of - whether they have been one time or ten times or fifty times.

I cannot see them offering a discount for people who go more often to gain points.

I think that is what they call the Disney vacation club.

 

[minnie mum]

Agree with the other PPs. Disney doesn't need to institute a loyalty reward program. They have enough loyal guests who return regularly. They also frequently have discount offers. And their occupancy levels are almost always pretty high. In other words, there is no need to institute yet another discount program, so why spend the money required? They are missing out on nothing.

 

[toodycat]

Disney doesn't need a hotel loyalty program because they know we are hooked and will keep coming back, no matter what. The only way to earn some privileges for your Disney obsession is by using their Visa card for everyday expenses. You can accumulate points to be spent on passes, restaurants or hotels. There are some nice discounts too and the ability to purchase a Disney vacation package with 0% interest for six months. Otherwise, the only way to a Disney resort deal is to keep clicking the special offers tab on their website.

 

[TDC Nala]

They don't need one. They really don't have much competition. Guests can go to offsite resorts, but there are lots of Disney loyalists and Disney's become very good at pushing the convenience of staying onsite.

Swan and Dolphin are part of a huge chain of Starwood resorts and whatever loyalty program they have is part of the chain, to help draw guests away from other chains (it's probably even drawn a few guests away from Disney), but Disney operated resorts kind of stand alone.

 

[Lynne M]

Travel industry 'loyalty' programs - all loyalty programs, really - are not so much about appreciating the customer as they about tying customers to a certain business.

They're marketed as 'oh, frequent customers, we love you so much that we'll give you these nice free flight/stays/merchandise if you keep using our business'. But really, the purpose is to make you hesitate before choosing a competitor. If you've got that nice Starwood rewards card, you have a strong incentive to choose Starwood resorts over another hotel company.

From Starwood's perspective, it's a competitive advantage, and they've determined that that advantage is worth the comparatively small number of hotel nights they have to give away.

From Disney's perspective, they've already got enough competitive advantages that they don't need to give away free hotel nights as well. In place of a rewards program, their competitive advantages are free parking at theme parks, free transportation to and from the airport, free transportation to the parks, close proximity to the parks, free wi-fi at most resorts....those things are helping to fill up the resorts enough that there's no need to add a loyalty program as well.

 

[RMulieri]

Why would they give somthing away that they do not need to?

Denise in MI

2nd..Disney gets people in hook,line and sinker..Why offer something when they don't need to?

 

[MAYNARDS99]

Disney already has a loyalty program as far as I can tell.

PIN codes, free upgrades, fulfillment of special requests, etc.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Disney already has a loyalty program as far as I can tell.

PIN codes, free upgrades, fulfillment of special requests, etc.

Personally I wouldn't consider what you said as part of a loyalty program. Pin codes get sent to random people and not everyone gets them, free upgrades are also random and once again not everyone get them. Finally all requests are never guaranteed and not everyone can get what they want.

 

[MAYNARDS99]

CR...true there is no published loyalty program. It seems certain guests do have a better record of getting perks though.

Having an unwritten loyalty program removes the element of expectation. It ensures no guest can complain about not receiving their perks. This would also allow Disney to reduce or end benefits without notice or backlash. With the KTTW card, Disney knows exactly how much, when and where your money is spent.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

CR...true there is no published loyalty program. It seems certain guests do have a better record of getting perks though.

Having an unwritten loyalty program removes the element of expectation. It ensures no guest can complain about not receiving their perks. This would also allow Disney to reduce or end benefits without notice or backlash. With the KTTW card, Disney knows exactly how much, when and where your money is spent.

Personally the only thing that comes to mind with WDW and a loyalty program is those who have Annual Passes. At least they get 10% or 20% their purchases depending on what type of pass they have. Plus there are discounts at some restaurants during lunch and eventually during the year WDW relases Annual Pass discounted rates.

 

[spiceycat]

when this came up before they introduced the 'bounce back plan'

don't think they are willing to anything else.

so many DVC members are unhappy that Disney does not do more for DVC - but it does do what is promised - your home resort at 11 to 8 months - first booked gets it.

it took them a long time - 10 years (might be more) to get DVC members a discount on the annual pass.

maybe you should consider moving to florida when you can - now florida residents get some nice discounts.

 

[LilyWDW]

Loyalty programs are a marketing ploy. They are used to keep a customer with a specific brand. Disney doesn't need that. They already keep their customers coming back based off of other factors.