Kenneth Svendsen
Kenneth Svendsen, who was named president of the Walt Disney Travel Co. in 2014, is helping lead efforts at Disney that include, among other things, Disneyland Resort's Diamond Celebration, which marks the park's 60th anniversary; next year's opening of Shanghai Disney Resort; and debut of Disney's river-cruise itineraries. He then spoke with hotels editor Danny King last week in a one-on-one interview and, later, as part of a roundtable interview with other reporters, just as Disneyland was preparing to kick off its Diamond Celebration festivities, which he said would generate "a full house."
Q: With Disneyland celebrating its 60th anniversary during a time when technology and mobile devices are increasingly diverting a typical guest's attention, how do you try to keep those guests engaged?
A: We're relentlessly focused on being consumercentric, and it's migrated more toward interactivity. We look at parades, fireworks shows; we'll display icons and will include interactive photos.
The next generation is very tech-oriented. But technology isn't our biggest differentiator. If you look at our history, we're anchored in story-telling. We're very committed to what Walt did from the first day.
Q: Any chance of bringing the MagicBand (the wristband Walt Disney World guests can use for actions ranging from paying for food and beverages to unlocking hotel rooms to entering theme parks) to Disneyland?
A: We are always looking at ways to resonate more with guests, but that [Walt Disney World] experience looks and feel very different [from Disneyland]. Walt Disney world has a larger footprint.
We're looking at all of our assets to see if this will be the right solution, but we haven't made any other decisions.
Q: What's Disney doing to better cater to travel professionals?
A: Six to nine months ago, it became clear to us that there was a big desire from the travel agent community to be able to make more modifications to bookings online. You would have to call the call center to do that. Now, you can do more modifications online. We launched that three weeks ago.
Q: Is there anything specific Disney is doing to better market either Disneyland's Diamond Celebration or next year's opening of Shanghai Disney to travel professionals?
A: For Shanghai, we're still finalizing that effort.
For Disneyland, we will try to build on this celebration and push for longer lengths of stay because there's more for customers to do. There are lots of (non-Disney) hotels participating in and around Anaheim, so the way we extend the experience is through great partnerships throughout the community. Just as we rely on travel partners, we rely on the 40 or 50 hotels here that are just as connected.
Q: How have the river cruises itineraries been received?
A: If this brand was slightly different, we'd go out and say, "We've had success, let's sell this thing out and get more capacity." The moment we start telling that story more broadly, we'd need to have hundreds of more sailings.
But you'll see an even-keeled consumer-centric approach. We're not looking for a fast buck.
We will have way more capacity, yes, but let's do this in a controlled format so we don't put any guest at risk for having a suboptimal experience.