The Motley Fool’s Rick Aristotle Munarriz writes about the possibility of Disney getting back into community-building.
There are several rival timeshare operators in the area, but most of the development taking place in the outskirts of Disney’s turf is for local residential property and vacation homes. Stubborn mortgage rates, high construction costs, and a glut of available homes have hurt the local real estate market. However, the industry has adapted to consumers balking at high prices for second homes by offering fractional ownership deals, where guests can secure a set number of weeks over the course of the year.
If Disney does decide to begin building homes again — and Iger imagines that the company will — it could be a lucrative move. The family-entertainment giant just needs to make sure that such efforts don’t disrupt its thriving vacation club business. That mailing list would be an ideal audience to upsell to the vacation homes, but it also doesn’t want to devalue the timeshares.
It’s good to make sure you have all of your markets covered and to offer Walt Disney World Resort guests a complete menu of choices, from camping in tents to vacation homes, from loudly themed more-affordable hotel rooms to luxury suites. With Univeral and Busch also continuing to expand their local offerings, people could take longer or more frequent vacations in the area.