News Ken Potrock leaves DVC and moves to President, Consumer Products Commercialization

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tjkraz

Active Member
Sirwalterraleigh said:
But hasn’t this guy done EXACTLY what DVC’s goals are now?
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In all likelihood, yes.

Let’s be serious...they don’t want to increase perks. Wouldn’t it make more sense to push people into paying higher prices/expecting less for the longterm?

I actually think they’ve given a lot more perks than they wanted these last few years...obviously there’s more pressure on DVC than we’re lead to believe.

In most cases...they’ve already got you - no matter what people say in bluster.
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Don't underestimate the perks as a sales tool. Dollar-for-dollar, $120 per point resale without perks still makes more sense than $180 with perks. But emotional response to the perks plus 50 year contract (vs. as little as 24 yrs resale), easy financing and other factors...it's easy to talk oneself into the direct buy.

As for funding the perks, a lot of it was accomplished by channeling existing promotions budget to more useful areas. In the last few years they've eliminated things like the weekly meets at Atlantic Dance hall (50 days per year of facility rental, staffing, refreshments) and the 4-5 holiday Member Mixers at Epcot. They used to give away free lithographs just for viewing a promotional webcast, which thousands of members attended just for the free print. DVC's old referral program was horribly mismanaged, yet allowed owners to earn up to $2800 cash per year if their name was mentioned at the time of purchase. Go back a few years further and they shuttered the pricey, ill-advised sales offices in Chicago and Long Island.

Route the funds from those programs to much showier benefits like Moonlight Magic and the Epcot lounge. Throw in an impressive array of restaurant discounts (around 100 locations at WDW currently) and the occasional ticket/AP offer and suddenly the perks are a lot more appealing. Members feel appreciated and prospects are a lot more likely to buy direct rather than risk losing access to the free night at Magic Kingdom with all-you-can-eat Mickey bars.

And it may not even be costing DVC more.
 
Sirwalterraleigh

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
tjkraz said:
In all likelihood, yes.



Don't underestimate the perks as a sales tool. Dollar-for-dollar, $120 per point resale without perks still makes more sense than $180 with perks. But emotional response to the perks plus 50 year contract (vs. as little as 24 yrs resale), easy financing and other factors...it's easy to talk oneself into the direct buy.

As for funding the perks, a lot of it was accomplished by channeling existing promotions budget to more useful areas. In the last few years they've eliminated things like the weekly meets at Atlantic Dance hall (50 days per year of facility rental, staffing, refreshments) and the 4-5 holiday Member Mixers at Epcot. They used to give away free lithographs just for viewing a promotional webcast, which thousands of members attended just for the free print. DVC's old referral program was horribly mismanaged, yet allowed owners to earn up to $2800 cash per year if their name was mentioned at the time of purchase. Go back a few years further and they shuttered the pricey, ill-advised sales offices in Chicago and Long Island.

Route the funds from those programs to much showier benefits like Moonlight Magic and the Epcot lounge. Throw in an impressive array of restaurant discounts (around 100 locations at WDW currently) and the occasional ticket/AP offer and suddenly the perks are a lot more appealing. Members feel appreciated and prospects are a lot more likely to buy direct rather than risk losing access to the free night at Magic Kingdom with all-you-can-eat Mickey bars.

And it may not even be costing DVC more.
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Why do you always have to make so much sense??😉

...though you do bring up an interesting question on perks... I wonder what the internal “shell accounting” is on restaurant discounts?

I wouldn’t think they’d bother cutting checks from DVC to mgm food and bev to cover discounts at Hollywood and vine...but stranger behavior/stupidity has been noted prior.
 
T

tjkraz

Active Member
Sirwalterraleigh said:
...though you do bring up an interesting question on perks... I wonder what the internal “shell accounting” is on restaurant discounts?

I wouldn’t think they’d bother cutting checks from DVC to mgm food and bev to cover discounts at Hollywood and vine...but stranger behavior/stupidity has been noted prior.
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I tend to believe there's a bookkeeping entry made for most "perks." Don't know how closely it's tracked--if they account for actual member dollars spent (saved) at H&V or just some agreed-upon dollar amount that DVC pays to food & beverage.

This goes back 10+ years but a DVC contact once claimed they had to "pay" several dollars for every one of the instant FastPass cards distributed during sales tours. I assume the same is true of AP purchases and the like--probably not the full $100 that is discounted per pass, but some portion of it is credited to DVC as an expense and debited to theme park admission revenue.
 
correcaminos

correcaminos

Well-Known Member
tjkraz said:
In all likelihood, yes.



Don't underestimate the perks as a sales tool. Dollar-for-dollar, $120 per point resale without perks still makes more sense than $180 with perks. But emotional response to the perks plus 50 year contract (vs. as little as 24 yrs resale), easy financing and other factors...it's easy to talk oneself into the direct buy.

As for funding the perks, a lot of it was accomplished by channeling existing promotions budget to more useful areas. In the last few years they've eliminated things like the weekly meets at Atlantic Dance hall (50 days per year of facility rental, staffing, refreshments) and the 4-5 holiday Member Mixers at Epcot. They used to give away free lithographs just for viewing a promotional webcast, which thousands of members attended just for the free print. DVC's old referral program was horribly mismanaged, yet allowed owners to earn up to $2800 cash per year if their name was mentioned at the time of purchase. Go back a few years further and they shuttered the pricey, ill-advised sales offices in Chicago and Long Island.

Route the funds from those programs to much showier benefits like Moonlight Magic and the Epcot lounge. Throw in an impressive array of restaurant discounts (around 100 locations at WDW currently) and the occasional ticket/AP offer and suddenly the perks are a lot more appealing. Members feel appreciated and prospects are a lot more likely to buy direct rather than risk losing access to the free night at Magic Kingdom with all-you-can-eat Mickey bars.

And it may not even be costing DVC more.
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Mostly I agree with this, though I got the impression from Potrock himself that the lounge in Epcot was not cheap to do. So not sure it was cheaper or a wash in the long run, but I do agree the perks they are offering now are more useful to many. I personally thought the Merry Mixers and Atlantic Dance hall perks were kind of blah.
 
T

Thelazer

Well-Known Member
helenabear said:
Mostly I agree with this, though I got the impression from Potrock himself that the lounge in Epcot was not cheap to do. So not sure it was cheaper or a wash in the long run, but I do agree the perks they are offering now are more useful to many. I personally thought the Merry Mixers and Atlantic Dance hall perks were kind of blah.
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The Atlantic Dance hall was more than just blah, it was almost comically unfunny that people showed up ONLY for the free snacks (if you don't count the super fans who attended every week with nothing better to do.) The best part, the guise of somehow this "offering" was going to bring new business in.. yet, only existing members were welcomed?

I guess at least it justified a few jobs. Though, many of those who worked in "those" jobs, were secretly looking to move to another area of DVC and FAST (they all saw the writing on the wall.)

As for the lounge in Epcot. Had it Incorporated the image works, and rebuilt the exhibits.. maybe the budget would have made sense.
Outside of that, I think some money games are going on.
 

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