I honestly have to wonder why this is so hard for them to grasp. They have a product where they can sell an easier vacation. Not the product they are selling now. And it’s a narrative people want to buy - make vacations easier. They would just have to give it a little thought.
Start with convenient transportation from the airport - buses or Minnie Vans that are dedicated to airport to hotel guest delivery. Can be third party provided, just meet a specific standard. Buses and vans hold luggage, so you don’t need a separate luggage contract, as long as people can grab their luggage and get it loaded on the bus or into the van, they know it will get with them to the hotel. Just staff extra staff to help at both ends to help. Basically, a Disney skycap.
Second, make the parks easier.
Switch to an entirety lightning lane only option, add it to a few more rides, and just eliminate genie + altogether. Haunted mansion, when run properly is a people eater. It doesn’t need lighting lane, nor do a bunch of other rides. Just use all the que areas as they were intended.
Third, add back the easy magic that gives people something new - parades, entertainment, extra hours or longer park hours. Extra that adds value to the guest.
Fourth, fix the digital platform. Make booking work, streamline the crap out of the options. Instead of the fifty different options, clean things up so it’s fast and simple. Use initiative questions with limited options. Why do fast food places only offer so many combo options - speed and ease. People like things that are fast and easy and will often pick them for those reasons. People don’t want to work at it. Do the work for them, use the K.I.S.S. principle.
And finally, Make bundling it all together easier and faster. This is where you appear to offer the biggest discount. Want our next ‘just relax- 5 day package’? That should cost you $X,XXX per person, but with this easy package, you save $X! What a deal! Throw in a bonus for certain packages - free room upgrade, free limited edition popcorn bucket, free limited edition lanyard, etc. and make them resort specific. Make items only available through on resort stays using bundles.
I often think Disney over analyzes their data, in an effort to extract every dollar today. The market is telling you the value is diminishing - because it doesn’t look as good as other options. Because other options are now the same amount of work (or less) and the same cost (or less).
Pull a page out of your own playbook and increase the perceived value, decrease the effort (less work, more vacation), increase the magic, increase the earnings.
