News Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin to eliminate 1136 employees

[Lilofan]

There will a number of homes, condos, apts for sale or rent. I think that the Swan and Dolphin have a 99 year lease. Will they be able to make lease payments to WDW remains to be seen. When guests take boat transportation to DHS, they will pass a very lonely and near empty Swan and Dolphin.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Still?

We have not gotten below the pepperoni on the pizza yet

Yes still. As in more cuts than before. As in resuming the bad response to the lack of guests. Some businesses like mine have started to rebound slightly ( enough that I wont be going under) and theres hope that more progress will be made. I'm certainly not fooled by the "Its not that bad crowd", or "When the Vaccine comes it will take care of it" or "It will be over by winter". But theres many businesses that were counting on having workers kept on, and now those workers are caught up in it and are being affected. Yes theres more to come.

 

[FullSailDan]

Business travel as a whole might NEVER come back. Now that everyone is used to Zoom/Skype/Teams etc, there is much less need for people to go face to face.

I work for a big 4 consulting firm, we've been the largest client for several domestic airlines and hotels for years. Publicly we've indicated there will be zero travel unless it goes through significant approvals until at least early next year. In private weve got multiple initiatives stood up to make remote first the reality for years to come. Our clients are way too excited by the cost savings and are more comfortable with not having to manage consultant access, space, etc. In fact our business is booming with clients who want help setting themselves up to be remote capable.

In addition, all of our conferences have gone digital, our space dedicated to in person training classes, client greenhouses and workshops is being closed and repurposed, rumors of it being sold even. Business travel is beyond dead. Companies are realizing it just doesn't make sense (it never did), and there's too much to be saved by offloading building and real estate costs.

 

[SourcererMark79]

The University I work at just cancelled spring break and added that week onto the normal winter break to avoid tens of thousands of students to leave (party) and bring covid back onto campus. A bit premature I think, but nonetheless it's telling of how much a concern this may be beyond new years.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Yes still. As in more cuts than before. As in resuming the bad response to the lack of guests. Some businesses like mine have started to rebound slightly ( enough that I wont be going under) and theres hope that more progress will be made. I'm certainly not fooled by the "Its not that bad crowd", or "When the Vaccine comes it will take care of it" or "It will be over by winter". But theres many businesses that were counting on having workers kept on, and now those workers are caught up in it and are being affected. Yes theres more to come.

Well I agree with you entirely

I should have prefaced it as just pertaining to the I-4 travel corridor. The pain has only just started.

 

[Eduardo Cz 1982]

Sad

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I work for a big 4 consulting firm, we've been the largest client for several domestic airlines and hotels for years. Publicly we've indicated there will be zero travel unless it goes through significant approvals until at least early next year. In private weve got multiple initiatives stood up to make remote first the reality for years to come. Our clients are way too excited by the cost savings and are more comfortable with not having to manage consultant access, space, etc. In fact our business is booming with clients who want help setting themselves up to be remote capable.

In addition, all of our conferences have gone digital, our space dedicated to in person training classes, client greenhouses and workshops is being closed and repurposed, rumors of it being sold even. Business travel is beyond dead. Companies are realizing it just doesn't make sense (it never did), and there's too much to be saved by offloading building and real estate costs.

Nothing you say is surprising at all. Which means massive job loss and lower tier economic ruin.

But that doesn’t get up to the penthouse, does it?

The University I work at just cancelled spring break and added that week onto the normal winter break to avoid tens of thousands of students to leave (party) and bring covid back onto campus. A bit premature I think, but nonetheless it's telling of how much a concern this may be beyond new years.

I saw Ohio state did that...I assume all north of the line will follow suit.

 

[dreamfinder]

The University I work at just cancelled spring break and added that week onto the normal winter break to avoid tens of thousands of students to leave (party) and bring covid back onto campus. A bit premature I think, but nonetheless it's telling of how much a concern this may be beyond new years.

Some places are cancelling short breaks, and lengthening in between semester breaks to avoid needing students to quarantine. A few around me required students to quarantine in their rooms before classes actually started, which led to populated, but yet extremely quiet campuses. I've been this trend in both primary schools, as well as secondary schooling.

 

[techgeek]

Business travel as a whole might NEVER come back. Now that everyone is used to Zoom/Skype/Teams etc, there is much less need for people to go face to face.

I wanted to write that but got sad, thinking I'd get piled on. But it's true.

In addition, all of our conferences have gone digital, our space dedicated to in person training classes, client greenhouses and workshops is being closed and repurposed, rumors of it being sold even. Business travel is beyond dead. Companies are realizing it just doesn't make sense (it never did), and there's too much to be saved by offloading building and real estate costs.

There is a lot of denial of that going around the meeting industry at the moment, but the writing was on the wall when we shut down and the rapid and relatively smooth "Rise of the Zoom" sealed the deal.

The big buzzwords in 2019 in meetings was about enabling easier digital participation. Everything was already starting to get streamed, and historically larger conferences had already begun to see some in-person registration declines. There was also a shift towards smaller, more regional gatherings rather than one large national or international one - because the $$ numbers just kept getting more and more insane, and people don't want to spend the time away for a whole week 'party'.

One other component of this evidenced by lay-offs like this... on the service side - hospitality / exhibition / tech - the industry is completely gutted. Most everyone I know that did corporate gigs is now either jumping careers or retiring early, so we're setting up for a massive institutional knowledge hit to the labor required to actually pull off conventions. There's some unskilled labor in the mix, but for the most part it's a small industry and there's a lot of very specialized skills involved that you can't exactly get a degree for. Everyone that's in it fell into it, and stayed because they found a home in it. There was already a strain on well-qualified talent across the board, because while the pay is good the demands of the job are challenging with a lot of stress and long hours. I knew banquet servers that would make very good money, but during the season would regularly work breakfast, lunch, and dinner shifts. Exhibit companies staffed a lot of overnight shifts with skilled forklift drivers moving freight around and laying carpet for exhibits. A large convention center show can easily require 50 security guards x 3 shifts a day for the run of the show. A general session starting at 8am means everyone supporting it is in the room and working at 6am, and depending on the schedule might be there until midnight when the awards banquet finally wraps.

None of these people can sit around and wait for 2 or 3 years for this stuff to come back. We're all going to have to move on. Sure, companies will 'find someone else', some people will come back, and the world will continue to spin... but much like Disney isn't ever going to really be the same, neither is the meeting business.

 

[Horizons '83]

We have grown fond of much of the staff at the Swan and Dolphin over the last decade or so since me and my wife have been traveling to WDW. I really hope they find a way to re-hire these awesome folks when the business returns. I understand its a business, and they have to do what they need to do but it still is a crappy situation.

 

[mlayton144]

I think that the Swan and Dolphin have a 99 year lease. Will they be able to make lease payments to WDW remains to be seen.

fairly certain the Swolphin is owned by Marriott or other large hotel company , don’t think not paying their lease will be an option, maybe they negotiate a buyout or something - more land for DVC development LOL

 

[ThatMouse]

Another article that raises more questions than it answers. Is Marriot moving out??

 

[mlayton144]

If WDW took control of land would be VERY interesting what they would do with property , demo it and rebuild ? Don’t think that would happen with the Cove construction and cash crunch , but the possibilities are many

 

[kingdead]

There will always be business travel--it'll just be very upscale and expensive (instead of catering to 2,000 drunk mid-level businessmen, it'll be 20 higher ups and the perks will be MUCH more interesting and illegal). Zoom meetings aren't much fun, and they can be recorded and hacked, after all...

That kind of customer may or may not want a Disney World hotel (but if he does, he's going to need the whole thing, for privacy's sake). That and whatever goes on is NOT going to be family friendly.

 

[ThatMouse]

fairly certain the Swolphin is owned by Marriott or other large hotel company , don’t think not paying their lease will be an option, maybe they negotiate a buyout or something - more land for DVC development LOL

My Googling powers came up with: Disney owns the land, but the builders own the buildings. Disney benefits by getting a share of their revenue, an EPCOT convention center, and any say on future development. The employees & reservations are run by Marriot.

 

[mdcpr]

Much of this is related to the convention / meeting side of the house. Could you have those travel experts let business know it’s ok to start booking meetings again? ‘Cause right now, they aren’t. At all. Not for 2020. Not for 2021. Everyone remains in a ‘wait and see’ mode in that sector of the Orlando economy.

The problem is that businesses that used to book large events and book multiple hotels found a way to deliver these events virtually and successfully. Now they are wondering what is the point of spending millions of dollars for thousands of people to spend a week at a conference/even in Orlando. I'm sure the same thing is happening in Las Vegas. I don't think big events like the ones Orlando was used will come back. And if they do, it will take easily 2-5 years before big conferences happen again.

 

[Lirael]

I don't think convention hotels are the only ones suffering. I think we'll soon see any foreign tourist centric attraction/store/hotel going under, sadly. There are places a USA tourist in Orlando won't feel the need to go to, while foreigners lost it (ex: outlets & brazilians)

I work for a big 4 consulting firm, we've been the largest client for several domestic airlines and hotels for years. Publicly we've indicated there will be zero travel unless it goes through significant approvals until at least early next year. In private weve got multiple initiatives stood up to make remote first the reality for years to come. Our clients are way too excited by the cost savings and are more comfortable with not having to manage consultant access, space, etc. In fact our business is booming with clients who want help setting themselves up to be remote capable.

In addition, all of our conferences have gone digital, our space dedicated to in person training classes, client greenhouses and workshops is being closed and repurposed, rumors of it being sold even. Business travel is beyond dead. Companies are realizing it just doesn't make sense (it never did), and there's too much to be saved by offloading building and real estate costs.

Oh hey, Big 4 here too! My company doesn't have any plans to open up offices before 2021, and quite honestly I think they're saving money with all this: no more paying the cost of maintaining all those people in offices, no air-con, no water, electricity cost etcetc. Meanwhile they can offer "cheaper" contracts for clients in other cities since there's no more airfare/hotel costs for consultants/auditors

 

[wdwmagic]

Another article that raises more questions than it answers. Is Marriot moving out??

No

 

[techgeek]

Another article that raises more questions than it answers. Is Marriot moving out??

What questions does it raise? It’s pretty straightforward. They have no business, therefore they need less staff.

 

[Epcotfan21]

This is incredibly sad. Anyone know how many employees currently work there? 1,136 seems like a huge amount. I wonder what this would leave them with.