$995 for 1 night at the Polynesian

[jw24]

People pay outrageous prices for their own personal reasons.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[luv]

I agree...I didn't say anything about the "best". Disney may be near the top of expensive, but certainly not near the top of "best". Wanting and being able to afford what you want doesn't always mean it has to be the best quality or the best value.

Just try telling a 6 year old that staying at a Four Seasons is a better value than waking up and looking at the Magic Kingdom each morning. People pay outrageous prices for their own personal reasons.

The six year old would probably be even happier to stay at the All-Stars or AoA. Kids love those places. Or the Nick hotel.

 

[willtravel]

There's a reason why plenty of rooms are available even on short notice.

Then I would have to assume that it does not bother anyone in WDW management that rooms at the Poly are sitting empty? By the way, don't prices on rooms go up in August?

 

[willtravel]

I cannot think of a bigger waste of money. A thousand dollars (after taxes) for 1 night in a lagoon NON-theme park view room at a 40 year old hotel. That's during holiday season. But even during the dead season of September you will pay $790 after taxes, again for a standard non-theme park view room.

Seriously, you could stay at the Wilderness Lodge and with the savings eat at Victoria and Alberts every night of your stay. Or you could stay at, say, Coronado Springs and basically have everyone's tickets and meals paid for. And those are two very fine hotels.

Couldn't you go to Hawaii for those prices and get the real thing? Atmosphere.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Then I would have to assume that it does not bother anyone in WDW management that rooms at the Poly are sitting empty? By the way, don't prices on rooms go up in August?

WDW occupancy rates have been declining for several years. IMHO, this is mostly due to the economy but events at Uni haven't helped either. Nor has WDW's failure to build anything to attract new guests.

Last year, WDW rooms ran at about 80% occupancy. There are about 5600 Deluxe Resort rooms, 7500 Moderate Resort rooms, and 10,600 Value Resort rooms with Value Resorts having the highest occupancy rates. Occupancy rates would be much lower except a large increase South American business in recent years has helped Disney, something Burbank truly appreciates, as does the Orlando economy.

Because occupancy rates tend to be lower for Deluxe and Moderate Resorts, the difference between an 85% vs. 80% occupancy rate represents roughly $100M in annual profit not being captured so, yes, the declining occupancy rates bother TWDC management. Think of it this way. It costs TWDC less than $30 to service an occupied room (mouse cleaning, water, electricity, etc.). With the Poly going for over $400/night many nights, every unoccupied room represents a lot of lost profit.

WDW's pricing structure is impressively complex now, with over a dozen seasons. This year, May 31 to July 13 is "Summer" season, July 14 to August 17 is "Value 2" season, and August 18 to September 26 is "Value 1" season.

 

[willtravel]

WDW occupancy rates have been declining for several years. IMHO, this is mostly due to the economy but events at Uni haven't helped either. Nor has WDW's failure to build anything to attract new guests.

Last year, WDW rooms ran at about 80% occupancy. There are about 5600 Deluxe Resort rooms, 7500 Moderate Resort rooms, and 10,600 Value Resort rooms with Value Resorts having the highest occupancy rates. Occupancy rates would be much lower except a large increase South American business in recent years has helped Disney, something Burbank truly appreciates, as does the Orlando economy.

Because occupancy rates tend to be lower for Deluxe and Moderate Resorts, the difference between an 85% vs. 80% occupancy rate represents roughly $100M in annual profit not being captured so, yes, the declining occupancy rates bother TWDC management. This of it this way. It costs TWDC less than $30 to service an occupied room (mouse cleaning, water, electricity, etc.). With the Poly going for over $400/night many nights, every unoccupied room represents a lot of lost profit.

WDW's pricing structure is impressively complex now, with over a dozen seasons. This year, May 31 to July 13 is "Summer" season, July 14 to August 17 is "Value 2" season, and August 18 to September 26 is "Value 1" season.

Then why charge those prices. I know. Because they can. If you price to where it is more affordable maybe it would get filled. The sad thing is it's like states do, raise taxes to recoup or generate revenue (New York city, Chicago, many others) . Then businesses move out. Sorry, not trying to stir politics. But there comes a point where you price yourself out of business. Even the supposed discount on rack rate is a farce at WDW. I stayed at BWV on rental points. If it had not been a half way decent price for eight nights, I would never have stayed there. 6 to 8 nights at Poly? My sensibilities kick in.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Then why charge those prices. I know. Because they can. If you price to where it is more affordable maybe it would get filled. The sad thing is it's like states do, raise taxes to recoup or generate revenue (New York city, Chicago, many others) . Then businesses move out. Sorry, not trying to stir politics. But there comes a point where you price yourself out of business. Even the supposed discount on rack rate is a farce at WDW. I stayed at BWV on rental points. If it had not been a half way decent price for eight nights, I would never have stayed there. 6 to 8 nights at Poly? My sensibilities kick in.

From a business perspective, it bothers me that WDW management is willing to convert highly profitable rooms at a resort as popular at the Polynesian to DVC. Occupied rooms at the Polynesian represent a tremendous revenue stream.

DVCs are a different beast. Their profit (ignoring foreclosure and ROFR) is one-time only. Due to timeshare laws, annual Maintenance Fees can be charged at cost only. Long-term, an occupied cash room is much more profitable than a timeshare. Why turn presumably highly profitable existing rooms into DVC? To me, the best explanation is that the Poly's occupancy rate is down significantly and WDW management doesn't see it fully recovering any time in the foreseeable future.

The Poly has approximately 850 rooms. If I correctly understand @tikiman, it looks like they are converting about 150 rooms to DVC. That represents about 18% of the Poly's total capacity. To me, the DVC at the Poly suggests that the Poly's current occupancy rate is under 80% and WDW management sees a conversion to DVC as a way to recover lost revenue from those unoccupied rooms. In other words, WDW management has thrown in the towel and doesn't think occupancy rates will ever climb back to their once envious levels.

If I correctly understand @tikiman's previous posts, earlier plans for DVC were much bigger. In other words, many more rooms were slated for conversion. That makes my wonder if current Poly occupancy rates are much lower but Disney management backed off their more grandiose plans either because they got cold feet or are hopeful that Poly occupancy rates eventually will rebound somewhat.

 

[willtravel]

From a business perspective, it bothers me that WDW management is willing to convert highly profitable rooms at a resort as popular at the Polynesian to DVC. Occupied rooms at the Polynesian represent a tremendous revenue stream.

DVCs are a different beast. Their profit (ignoring foreclosure and ROFR) is one-time only. Due to timeshare laws, annual Maintenance Fees can be charged at cost only. Long-term, an occupied cash room is much more profitable than a timeshare. Why turn presumably highly profitable existing rooms into DVC? To me, the best explanation is that the Poly's occupancy rate is down significantly and WDW management doesn't see it fully recovering any time in the foreseeable future.

The Poly has approximately 850 rooms. If I correctly understand @tikiman, it looks like they are converting about 150 rooms to DVC. That represents about 18% of the Poly's total capacity. To me, the DVC at the Poly suggests that the Poly's current occupancy rate is under 80% and WDW management sees a conversion to DVC as a way to recover lost revenue from those unoccupied rooms. In other words, WDW management has thrown in the towel and doesn't think occupancy rates will ever climb back to their once envious levels.

If I correctly understand @tikiman's previous posts, earlier plans for DVC were much bigger. In other words, many more rooms were slated for conversion. That makes my wonder if current Poly occupancy rates are much lower but Disney management backed off their more grandiose plans either because they got cold feet or are hopeful that Poly occupancy rates eventually will rebound somewhat.

Again, if they would only change there pricing structure.

 

[hull327]

In my personal opinion I think WDW needs to reduce resort rooms/packages about 20% across the board. This would increase visitor volume which would then offset the reduced rates. Increased volume also increases merchandise, food and other such park spending. They'd actually wind up making more money. I know for my family, and maybe we're an anomaly, but at 20% less we'd likely stay for 7 days twice a year rather than the 1 time every 12 - 18 months that we plan now. We time our trips around FDP weeks and at 20% less per stay we could afford to go once in the late winter/early spring and then again in the fall.

 

[retroeric]

Think of it this way. It costs TWDC less than $30 to service an occupied room (mouse cleaning, water, electricity, etc.). With the Poly going for over $400/night many nights, every unoccupied room represents a lot of lost profit.

I bet it's quite a bit lower than that. I had a friend in house cleaning, and she told me each person was required to clean 4 rooms per hour. And she was making almost nothing, like $10 an hour before gratuity. So you could say Disney spends $2.50 per room each day, and I guess twice that if the room is cleaned twice a day (can't remember if they do this like DCL does). Throw in a couple dollars or so for the chemicals and materials used to clean, and the utilities (which isn't much with Disney's extremely efficient system) and I bet it costs about $15 a day per room.

I wonder how lucrative it would be for Disney if they ever decided to register with Priceline or implement a last minute discount program. I mean if a room is only costing $15-20 a day to service, isn't selling it for $200 a lot better than having it empty and making nothing?

 

[tare]

I cannot think of a bigger waste of money. A thousand dollars (after taxes) for 1 night in a lagoon NON-theme park view room at a 40 year old hotel. That's during holiday season. But even during the dead season of September you will pay $790 after taxes, again for a standard non-theme park view room.

Seriously, you could stay at the Wilderness Lodge and with the savings eat at Victoria and Alberts every night of your stay. Or you could stay at, say, Coronado Springs and basically have everyone's tickets and meals paid for. And those are two very fine hotels.

Not quite sure where you have seen those rates. The GF is much higher for better view rooms than the poly.

 

[cslafferty]

When we traveled with our 3 teenagers we would stay at either CR or Poly consierge for several reasons. We could all fit comfortably into one room, we could use the in room frig which saved us having to eat out for breakfast and lunch, the evening spread in the Poly concierge lounge was enough to fill up on, and the close proximity of the CR saved us literally hours of travel time that we could instead spend riding rides. And, just in case you think we have "money to burn," I'm a public school teacher and my DH is a township firefighter.

When we plan a vacation to anywhere, we save up a certain amount of money according to what we can afford to put away each month and what type of experience we are looking for. That's the figure i deal with. Then, I fit the components of the vacation (lodging, food, souvenirs, etc) into that figure. I start off with where I want to stay and see where that gets me, and then adjust accordingly. The past few years when the economy was bad, I started planning at POP. We really wanted to experience more Epcot dining, so we compromised by staying at a value resort. One year I adjusted our dates and our dining plans and was able to upgrade to POFQ. When it was really bad, we downgraded to a camping weekend in northern Michigan! This year we really scraped to save and we're going for a theme park view at CR. I rarely look at the per night price, because I'm always thinking about total package price.

So to me it's not a matter of being "loaded" or throwing money away. It's about what is important to me and what I'm willing to sacrifice to make it happen.

 

[Sassagoula-Rvr]

I don't like the value resorts that much...And I would LOVE to stay at Contemp or Poly some day (monorail and all) to me part of the vacation is being on property...I know it's a rip off compared to off site hotels...But I enjoy being able to ride the boat to DTD from our resort...etc...it's all one bundled thing. But we have found money wise...POFQ is where it's at for us...great value, small resort, great themeing and a food court...which is not fine dining by any standards...but with a group with many different tastes...some meals it's nice that everyone can do their own thing yet still eat together and talk etc. Or being able to eat whenever you want...if kids want to go to pool...fine...grab a snack or meal before/after. Very little planning is required.

 

[cbettua]

I bet it's quite a bit lower than that. I had a friend in house cleaning, and she told me each person was required to clean 4 rooms per hour. And she was making almost nothing, like $10 an hour before gratuity. So you could say Disney spends $2.50 per room each day, and I guess twice that if the room is cleaned twice a day (can't remember if they do this like DCL does). Throw in a couple dollars or so for the chemicals and materials used to clean, and the utilities (which isn't much with Disney's extremely efficient system) and I bet it costs about $15 a day per room.

I wonder how lucrative it would be for Disney if they ever decided to register with Priceline or implement a last minute discount program. I mean if a room is only costing $15-20 a day to service, isn't selling it for $200 a lot better than having it empty and making nothing?

Disney is already on priceline.
http://www.priceline.com/hotel/hote...0a364a050a201308051504198e3010222334&plf=PCLH

 

[Big C 73]

Deluxe resorts should range from $270-$450 and that is it.
Moderate- $185.00-265.00
Value- $89.00-$110.00

 

[retroeric]

Disney is already on priceline.
http://www.priceline.com/hotel/hote...0a364a050a201308051504198e3010222334&plf=PCLH

Not for bidding they aren't.

 

[tikiman]

Even holiday rates max out at $857 for themepark view room in a standard level room but club level gets up there in the holiday seasons and Peak Season rates being $1055 for Themepark View rooms and $995 for Lagoon view rooms. It maxes out at $1060 before tax for Themepark club level from 12/20 -012/31 but hopefully no one is paying full price.

 

[ford91exploder]

Trouble is DVC member fees are about 4x per room than a similarly sized timeshare in downtown Manhattan, So there is some suspicion that DVC MF's pay the entire operating cost of the hotel which is why the mouse is pushing them into every resort.

From a business perspective, it bothers me that WDW management is willing to convert highly profitable rooms at a resort as popular at the Polynesian to DVC. Occupied rooms at the Polynesian represent a tremendous revenue stream.

DVCs are a different beast. Their profit (ignoring foreclosure and ROFR) is one-time only. Due to timeshare laws, annual Maintenance Fees can be charged at cost only. Long-term, an occupied cash room is much more profitable than a timeshare. Why turn presumably highly profitable existing rooms into DVC? To me, the best explanation is that the Poly's occupancy rate is down significantly and WDW management doesn't see it fully recovering any time in the foreseeable future.

The Poly has approximately 850 rooms. If I correctly understand @tikiman, it looks like they are converting about 150 rooms to DVC. That represents about 18% of the Poly's total capacity. To me, the DVC at the Poly suggests that the Poly's current occupancy rate is under 80% and WDW management sees a conversion to DVC as a way to recover lost revenue from those unoccupied rooms. In other words, WDW management has thrown in the towel and doesn't think occupancy rates will ever climb back to their once envious levels.

If I correctly understand @tikiman's previous posts, earlier plans for DVC were much bigger. In other words, many more rooms were slated for conversion. That makes my wonder if current Poly occupancy rates are much lower but Disney management backed off their more grandiose plans either because they got cold feet or are hopeful that Poly occupancy rates eventually will rebound somewhat.

 

[tare]

People getting "free" dining.

I love free dining.

 

[luv]

Even holiday rates max out at $857 for themepark view room in a standard level room but club level gets up there in the holiday seasons and Peak Season rates being $1055 for Themepark View rooms and $995 for Lagoon view rooms. It maxes out at $1060 before tax for Themepark club level from 12/20 -012/31 but hopefully no one is paying full price.

$1200 for a night at the Poly is insane. Even if you get some free Diet Coke and a view.

IMO, anyway.

But if people are paying it, then I guess they think it is worth it.