Is attendance really down at WDW this or…

[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.

 

[AEfx]

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.

Only a portion of rooms are even available this far out. Disney purposefully releases them in waves based on booking/demand, because they want people to have the feeling of scarcity and to encourage them to book the higher priced rooms before they release more lower priced rooms. It works because once people have wrapped their heads around paying for the higher priced rooms, they rarely then want to downgrade.

 

[rtmachine]

I've noticed when looking at rooms that the Fairy Godmother pops up in about a couple nano seconds, it was never like that in the past so I think they are having a hard time filling the rooms that are available.
Plus there always seems to be plenty of AP rooms which normally is not the case for the times I go, even available within a week of going
Again , maybe offer free fast passes or at least an option to buy in advance

 

[Lilofan]

Only a portion of rooms are even available this far out. Disney purposefully releases them in waves based on booking/demand, because they want people to have the feeling of scarcity and to encourage them to book the higher priced rooms before they release more lower priced rooms. It works because once people have wrapped their heads around paying for the higher priced rooms, they rarely then want to downgrade.

Some exec probably got promoted for dreaming up this revenue gainer.

 

[Nubs70]

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.

WDW is doing it to jack up reported occupancy rates.

200 of 400 rooms is a 50% occupancy rate.
200 of 225 rooms is a 89% occupancy rate.

If industry occupancy benchmark is 85%, which would appear better to the markets?

 

[Disstevefan1]

WDW is doing it to jack up reported occupancy rates.

200 of 400 rooms is a 50% occupancy rate.
200 of 225 rooms is a 89% occupancy rate.

If industry occupancy benchmark is 85%, which would appear better to the markets?

The should simply block the amount of rooms needed to stay at minimum of 85 percent occupancy rate.
They reduce costs and the numbers look good too.

 

[pigglewiggle]

This all well and good, but whatever the reasons rooms are starting to not be available, I'm happy we decided to book now and get what we wanted rather than leave it to closer to trip and then the category is gone.

 

[Lilofan]

WDW is doing it to jack up reported occupancy rates.

200 of 400 rooms is a 50% occupancy rate.
200 of 225 rooms is a 89% occupancy rate.

If industry occupancy benchmark is 85%, which would appear better to the markets?

A defunct company Enron tried being the smartest guys in the room but I doubt Disney would follow suit.

 

[Laketravis]

Are they blocked to cut costs?

Simple answer: Yes.

WDW applies yield management to hospitality in much the same manner it does the parks.

 

[el_super]

WDW is doing it to jack up reported occupancy rates.

Investors aren't holding their breath over occupancy rates. It's not all that important of a metric as long as the revenue is still coming in (and it is).

 

[Lilofan]

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.

Since CMs are covered by unions they are scheduled minImum of 32 hours a week for full time.

 

[Lilofan]

Investors aren't holding their breath over occupancy rates. It's not all that important of a metric as long as the revenue is still coming in (and it is).

Too bad the stock has not much to show for it. One is better off investing in the Dow and Nasdaq( both setting records ) long term.

 

[Lilofan]

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?

Close buildings , save on labor staffing , move excess labor staffing to other resorts and parks to fill needs , rinse and repeat.

 

[pixargal]

Does anyone know how much impact DVC has on hotel bookings? Before we bought our points, we were traveling with friends and family and booking hotels rooms. Port Orleans was our favorite place to stay, but we haven't stayed there in many years.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

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?

That is the primary function…since the funky DOS based days of yore

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

That’s a convenient secondary function

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Does anyone know how much impact DVC has on hotel bookings? Before we bought our points, we were traveling with friends and family and booking hotels rooms. Port Orleans was our favorite place to stay, but we haven't stayed there in many years.

That’s a very interesting, difficult to answer question

The best take I can give is dvc was designed with enough inherent benefits that they did not care if those people came off the regular rack rooms…
And as the goal was to lock in those on the hook and then use the new less frequent travelers to fill the traditional rooms and repeat the cycle…it’s “win/win”

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I've noticed when looking at rooms that the Fairy Godmother pops up in about a couple nano seconds, it was never like that in the past so I think they are having a hard time filling the rooms that are available.
Plus there always seems to be plenty of AP rooms which normally is not the case for the times I go, even available within a week of going
Again , maybe offer free fast passes or at least an option to buy in advance

Attendance has been sliding since March 2023…

Which is why the topic of this thread is kinda irrelevant. The answer is “yes”…period.

But it is good discussion nonetheless

 

[Grimley1968]

But it is good discussion nonetheless

Although it has enough tangents to make a flowchart for semiconductor chips seem relatively straight by comparison.

 

[Nevermore525]

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

Blocked rooms are still counted among the available room nights in their reporting data. So whether a room is closed off or not, it doesn’t matter in regards to what they report in their SEC filing:
“Available hotel room nights is defined as the total number of room nights that are available at our hotels and at Disney Vacation Club (DVC) properties located at our theme parks and resorts that are not utilized by DVC members. Available hotel room nights include rooms temporarily taken out of service.”