Is attendance really down at WDW this or…

[pigglewiggle]

many rooms are blocked (not being used) at some resorts

Well then they are blocking almost all the rooms at Beach/Yacht and Wilderness because only rooms left were highest priced. Oddly enough the only room category left at Poly was resort view for the wildly good deal of $899 a night.

 

[Andrew25]

what this should tell Bob
- expand the parks and attractions asap... quit mainly redoing/replacing things

It'll be interesting to see what happens attendance-wise at UOR this summer. Summer attendance is in decline, and they've put all of their eggs in the same basket for debut of several new experiences.

There's been a trend/shift towards visiting Jan-Mar, will be interesting to see how quiet the parks are (if that's the case).

 

[Laketravis]

what this tells me
- many are going to the beaches in Florida (and not as many to Disney now?)

I can say from late August to early December I went to Florida four times. Only one of those trips involved WDW.

 

[Tha Realest]

I was assured countless people were eschewing vacationing in Florida

 

[Lilofan]

I was assured countless people were eschewing vacationing in Florida

MCO rolled the dice. The $2 billion Terminal C is officially open welcoming international arrivals and Jet Blue.

 

[Sorcerer Mickey]

It'll be interesting to see what happens attendance-wise at UOR this summer. Summer attendance is in decline, and they've put all of their eggs in the same basket for debut of several new experiences.

There's been a trend/shift towards visiting Jan-Mar, will be interesting to see how quiet the parks are (if that's the case).

It's way too hot. I've been and will be a Floridian for life, understanding it's always been hot, but the past summer was on another level. We're already there in May. It will be unbearable come July.

 

[Lilofan]

It's way too hot. I've been and will be a Floridian for life, understanding it's always been hot, but the past summer was on another level. We're already there in May. It will be unbearable come July.

Get your central AC and vehicle AC a pre summer check up before the real heat comes. Yes, summer 2023 was next level.

 

[Laketravis]

It's way too hot. I've been and will be a Floridian for life, understanding it's always been hot, but the past summer was on another level. We're already there in May. It will be unbearable come July.

Unless you're like me, coming from a climate of just as high humidity and temps well over 100 for 40-60 consecutive days in a row. When we were in USO last mid-August and standing in the shade it felt like the air conditioning was on

 

[Disstevefan1]

many rooms are blocked (not being used) at some resorts

Are they blocked to cut costs?

 

[HauntedPirate]

I was assured countless people were eschewing vacationing in Florida

There's been no shortage of tourists visiting Orlando and Florida in the past 18 months. They just didn't visit the big Orlando theme parks in droves like in the past.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Are they blocked to cut costs?

Well, when you don't have to clean and staff for a full slate of rooms, you are saving money. It's also smart, because you're consolidating your available resources on a smaller number of rooms (presuming they don't just schedule workers for fewer hours and whatnot). Whether the savings is enough to off-set the loss of revenue from the shuttered rooms is another matter entirely.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Well, when you don't have to clean and staff for a full slate of rooms, you are saving money. It's also smart, because you're consolidating your available resources on a smaller number of rooms (presuming they don't just schedule workers for fewer hours and whatnot). Whether the savings is enough to off-set the loss of revenue from the shuttered rooms is another matter entirely.

Is the decision to block rooms based on a best guess that no one would booking these rooms?

On the one hand they are saying bookings are down and on the other hand they are blocking rooms.

All of this while they build, build, build DVCs.. Its confusing.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Are they blocked to cut costs?

Likely….and maybe to skew occupancy figures?

@PREMiERdrum what do you think?

 

[HauntedPirate]

Is the decision to block rooms based on a best guess that no one would booking these rooms?

On the one hand they are saying bookings are down and on the other hand they are blocking rooms.

All of this while they build, build, build DVCs.. Its confusing.

As far as I know, it's all based on projections and forward booking. I would presume they could bring rooms back into service if demand warranted, since it's not like a majority of visitors are booking last-minute trips and they couldn't have the staff on hand to be able to handle additional room occupancy. But I'll let others who know more about this chime in, I'm merely guessing based on what I've read and learned over the years.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Likely….and maybe to skew occupancy figures?

@PREMiERdrum what do you think?

Blocked rooms being out of the inventory thereby making occupancy figures look better?

 

[GhostHost1000]

Blocked rooms being out of the inventory thereby making occupancy figures look better?

Possibly. They could say occupancy is 95% (if only 75% of the rooms are available to book for example)

 

[LSLS]

So we just saw, Florida breaks all-time tourism record for 2023, and the single quarter record for Q1 2024. And as @pigglewiggle states, checking now, the cheaper rooms are going fast for December.

It makes you think the "bookings are down" messaging, is purposely placed misinformation to make folks think, "Hey, bookings are down, lets go now when its not MOBBED"

Fake news is everywhere...

It was reported in their annual and quarterly reports. There is no reason they would say that even if that wasn't illegal. What is way more likely to be happening is that blocks are being taken offline. If you sold 200 rooms out of a block of 400, it looks bad. If you sold 200 rooms but you have limited your number of available rooms to 225, the percentage looks way better.

I mean, I don't have actual data to say that was done at Old Key West, but good luck convincing me the Contemporary or Beach/Yacht have the rooms available, but due to it's extreme popularity Key West is totally sold out other than 2 bedroom villas.

 

[PREMiERdrum]

Likely….and maybe to skew occupancy figures?

@PREMiERdrum what do you think?

As far as I know, it's all based on projections and forward booking. I would presume they could bring rooms back into service if demand warranted, since it's not like a majority of visitors are booking last-minute trips and they couldn't have the staff on hand to be able to handle additional room occupancy. But I'll let others who know more about this chime in, I'm merely guessing based on what I've read and learned over the years.

I'm not comfortable sharing the number, but there's a good deal of inventory offline in the Value and Moderate categories. The cost to bring these blocks back up is not insignificant, in addition to staffing up to accommodate them.

Also, re: room categories "running out" for later this year...

Inventory management has been tighter since the COVID reopenings, and only a certain amount of rooms and room categories are in the hopper and available at any given time. I've never quite figured out the methodology of blocks, holds, and availability cadence, but I'm sure the big brains can make sense of it.

 

[Tha Realest]

I'm not comfortable sharing the number, but there's a good deal of inventory offline in the Value and Moderate categories. The cost to bring these blocks back up is not insignificant, in addition to staffing up to accommodate them.

Also, re: room categories "running out" for later this year...

Inventory management has been tighter since the COVID reopenings, and only a certain amount of rooms and room categories are in the hopper and available at any given time. I've never quite figured out the methodology of blocks, holds, and availability cadence, but I'm sure the big brains can make sense of it.

Is the blocking of rooms not so much an attempt to juice the occupancy numbers as it is the staffing / cleaning / turnover say, of a wing of a resort?

 

[PREMiERdrum]

Is the blocking of rooms not so much an attempt to juice the occupancy numbers as it is the staffing / cleaning / turnover say, of a wing of a resort?

The main driver is adjusting the offerings to demand in the quietest way possible.