Are you suggesting sales are going badly, SETH?
Haha not as well then if they had removed them. Looks like worse offerings but means they likely expect to be lite on sales projections. Could also mean that they expect CCV to sell out and drop those incentives so they wanted at least something to go along with RIV at WDW.
That would be a bad look if they said incentives were going away and then went back on that. Incentives always go through fluctuations. It feeds the FOMO cycle. Great incentives (and Riviera saw its best ever this summer) are always, invariably, followed by less appealing incentives.
Does Disney really ever bring back "better incentives" though? Asking because from everything I always saw price always just keeps creeping up. What I guess I mean is lower total price because $10 off $200 is worse that $5 off $180.
You must know something DVD doesn't then. In case you didn't notice, they fired a bunch of people. They shelved Reflections, after spending tons of cash on marketing and starting construction. This is a massive, years-long decision to steer the Titanic away from an iceburg, costing money and jobs, and it takes a long time to undo it. They wouldn't have shelved Reflections if they didn't think this was going poorly. Shelving Reflections means RIV will be the only (new) WDW property for sale for a looong time and DVD expects several years to sell out. Maybe they can slap some paint on Yacht Club or Jambo if we magically go back to normal.
I mean, sure, people bought with the incentives, and those deals were good! Maybe even more people bought than we expected, but let's not pretend like this is going well. DVD's actions obviously show it isn't.
In case you didnt know there is a pandemic, hardly no one is traveling, there is recession in the air, WDW was closed for months, DL/VGC is still closed, Aluani closed for months and WDW is likely at 25% capacity for the next 6-12 months.
None of that has anything to do with Riviera selling badly. That is a concept that DVC in general is going to see a slowdown in sales. Also the layoffs were a general number and did not specify positions (think of every single person located in VGC, Aulani, and DLC that physically can not work).
They also shelved Mary Poppins and the new event center at Epcot guess that is on Riviera as well right? Its completely illogical to attached Riviera sales to what Disney is taking as actions during the current pandemic and resulting economy exiting it.
They could drop the
point charts to match BLT (Std/Lake), drop the resale restrictions, and give free APs for the first year and guess what? They still would be laying people off, putting a hold on Reflections, and all other actions that still pending.
This is all relative and I can fairly easily tell who has not worked in larger sales based rolls dealing with projections, quotas, and goals.
If Riviera were selling out soon and Disney anticipated big sales, Reflections would still be on, just like DL Tower is. Reflections getting shelved is the direct consequence of Riviera sales and projected sales. A DL Tower level of anticipated sales would mean the construction would go on, like in DL, where there isn't even an open date.
Prior to COVID after 12 months (only being open for 3) it was outpacing VGF which sold out the quickest in DVC history. The #1 and #2 sales months both were post opening (Jan/March) when people could see the resort finally. In addition it was on pace to sell out in 2022. I forget when was reflections supposed to launch? Seems like it was 2022. So it was dead on pace for where DVC was projecting it.
You are not going to increase sales between March and now based on everything going on. None of this is attached to Riviera instead is just attached to where the world is.
It would be stupid for Disney to continue Reflections based on the current environment because they can always fast track the resort later if they need to in 2021/22/23.
haha
