ORLANDO -- Walt Disney Parks & Resorts has become more
aggressive about requiring its partner tour operators to include
its Park Hopper passes in all their Orlando packages, sources said.
"[Disney is] taking a more aggressive stance in passes being
included in off-site hotels than in previous years," said one
operator, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We don't think it is
in the best interest of the clients or the agents."
Although it is possible to strip the passes from packages using
off-site hotels, operators said the process cannot be done via the
CRS.
It requires agents to make a phone call, which eliminates any
bonus commission points for booking through a CRS, and also has a
cost in time spent on the phone.
It also means the travel agent loses the opportunity to get
segment credit for the CRS booking.
Lucy Hirleman of Berkshire Travel in Newfoundland, N.J., said
Disney's requirements impose extra costs and "interfere with the
way I choose to run my business."
It's the time of year when Disney renegotiates contracts with
the 11 tour operators, designated Disney Select, who are allowed to
include the 16 Disney-owned and operated hotels at Walt Disney
World in their packages and to participate in Disney's marketing
efforts.
The list includes Gogo Worldwide Vacations, Travel Impressions,
Kingdom Vacations, American Airlines Vacations, Delta Vacations,
Continental Airlines Vacations, US Airways Vacations, United
Vacations and others.
Disney's travel industry sales and marketing department for some
time has required all Disney Select operators to automatically
include four-day passes when Disney on-site hotels are used.
Contracts are said to differ from one operator to the next, but
the typical contract requires operators to include the four-day
passes in their on-the-shelf packages of three or more nights, and
to include the passes in all marketing and advertising.
But Disney is said to have become more aggressive lately about
its desire that the operators include four-day park passes in their
off-site hotel packages, sources said.
At stake for the operators is future access to Disney's on-site
hotel rooms should the operators refuse to cooperate with the
off-site ticket requirement, although none contacted would say this
for attribution.
A Disney spokeswoman declined comment on the grounds that terms
of the operator contracts are confidential, but added that the
contracts have not essentially changed since the early 1990s.
The push to include four-day passes in 2001 operator off-site
hotel packages, which reportedly includes a wider selection of
hotels, has ruffled the feathers of some of the operators, but none
will risk offending Disney, as long as demand for on-site,
Disney-owned hotel space remains so strong.
A call to one Disney Select operator's reservation line revealed
that one-day Disney passes are never offered in any on- or off-site
hotel package. Only four-day or longer passes are offered.
The reservationist said, however, that one-day Universal Orlando
passes (to either of its parks) were always available.
At this time, the purchase of the Disney four-day pass when
staying off-site was an option, the reservationist said, regardless
of length-of-stay.
The four-day pass can add hundreds of dollars to the price of
the package even for two people, but it is unrestricted and less
expensive on a per diem basis for those who want to spend their
vacation doing only Disney. For such clients it is desirable.
Disney has discontinued three-day passes and has not offered the
two-day for years, leaving multiday purchases of the higher-price
single-day ticket as the only option.
Current contracts, according to some operators, also include the
provision that they can strip the passes from their off-site hotel
packages if necessary "to save the sale."
"If clients say they don't want the passes, we can strip the
package," said one operator who asked not to be identified, "but
only if the client says they won't take it otherwise."
Thus, Orlando-bound clients who want to take a golf vacation
away from Disney, or want to visit only Universal Studios, do not
have to buy the Disney passes, though it's inconvenient for the
agent.
Separately, Disney also has its own tour operation, the Walt
Disney Travel Co., which sells packages using both on-site and
off-site hotels. The Disney Select operators have rights to sell
identical packages.
A spokeswoman for the Mark Travel Corp., Milwaukee, parent of
several Disney Select tour operators, such as US Airways Vacations,
observed that Disney has been "an outstanding partner." Elements of
the tour companies' 2001 Florida offerings were not yet in place,
she said. Therefore, the company declined further comment.
On-site hotels: Rooms to grow
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- The Disney-owned and operated hotels
at Walt Disney World account for 21,000 rooms.
Not included in that total, but also on Disney real estate, are
the Walt Disney World Swan (Westin) and Dolphin (Sheraton), both
under the same ownership, as well as seven hotels adjoining
Downtown Disney, including a Best Western, Doubletree, Hilton,
Wyndham, a Courtyard by Marriott and two independents.
During 2002, the number of Disney-owned and operated hotels will
have grown and the room total will reach about 28,000.
If non-Disney hotel rooms are counted, the on-site inventory
will reach 33,000, representing at least one-third of the Orlando
area's rooms.