Pete being flagged...or not? Or sometimes?

disneyland_is_magic

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 16, 2016
I have started wondering if Pete or other vloggers are flagged perhaps more than they realize. Another vlogger I watch had a extra gesture happen at Disney that struck me as unnatural and it didn't seem to occur to them as perhaps not normal protocol. It seems like with MDE, needing reservations for basically everything and magic bands it would be relatively easy to do so either by formally flagging their accounts or by a pro active hotel or restaurant manager who chooses to do so on their own accord and directing frontline CMs who may or may not know why.

I also think the reality is Disney tracks even regular guests in great detail and collects loads and loads of data to project crowds and occupancy so it seems unrealistic they are not tracking VIPs to some extent.

I think about all the ways Disney or staff can and possibly does accomadate special guests with only a small amount of effort and a great amount of discretion, assigning rooms with slightly better locations or views, a housekeeping and/or hotel manager personally inspecting the room just before check in to ensure cleanliness level is top notch and everything is in working order. A restaurant manager hand selecting their best server on staff that night or instructing the host to seat them in a particular area. A lead chef preparing the meal personally rather than a line cook.

I have also started to wonder if as Disney has started hosting many social media influencers and giving them special pre-access if they are partially motivated in doing so to prevent negative initial coverage. By hosting them, they can keep the initial overviews and vlog opinions a bit muted, coming across as fairly positive and/or at least neutral. Perhaps Disney sees it as a way to influence the narrative a bit. While some vloggers may return to do reviews with their full opinions later, this only comes after there is already a lot of coverage out there. I even wonder about the motivate behind some grand gestures, (a recent 7 in 7 review comes to mind where it was obvious they had flagged Pete.) I didn't understand why they almost were unprofessionally obnoxious falling over him and Jackie, except that they almost purposely wanted to take the wind out of team's sails and make it impossible for them to give a full review.

Pete shared the story at Copper Creek with his mother, it's a GREAT story, but I did kind of wonder if someone behind the curtains did know who Pete was even if those directly interacting with them did not. It was a lot of compensation offered without hesitation for an issue that was resolved quickly.

I think Pete's Grand Floridian hotel review (as well as other trips reports online about the GF) have been a bad blow for that hotels occupancy and a reminder to level of influence the internet has now. It's seem like managers can not afford to be indifferent to what is being reported online any longer.

Anyways, I thought it is an interesting topic overall for us to discuss on different levels and aspects.
 
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The influencer portion of your post - that absolutely is what’s happening with Disney influencers, and definitely not limited to Disney either. I honestly find the explosion of influencers in so many industries both fascinating and a little scary. It’s really hard to trust reviews influencers give online, because even when they aren’t sponsored, that doesn’t mean they weren’t given the product or experience for free to review. It feels more like a friend recommending something, when really it’s basically like watching a long commercial. Again, fascinating and scary.

More Disney related, I did also wonder if someone behind the scenes knew who was in that cabin hence the treatment, but I could also see how it could be a case of them bending over backwards for guests in very expensive accommodations. I thought about the people who have reported being moved from one deluxe hotel to an entirely different one not long before check in, with no automatic compensation from Disney, and how much more of an impact that kind of change has on a vacation.
 
I've never been a cast member and I don't know how much information they have access to, but I swear, the level of service my wife and I receive from front desk staff went up exponentially once we enrolled in the Disney direct purchase stock program.
 


I wondered about Pete being flagged too, especially with the story of his mom's trip to the CCV cabins. We stayed at CCV in a 1BR this summer and had a maintenance issue. Didn't have to move rooms, but there was a guy in there working on our bathroom for a couple hours while my husband was working in the living room, and then we couldn't use the shower until the next morning. We got an apology for the inconvenience. Granted, not as big a deal as having to move entirely after having unpacked, but completely crediting the points back for the night was extraordinary even under those circumstances. And I am glad Pete's mom got such great treatment because I bet it made her really happy.
 
I don't know, I think the instance with the cabins and his mom may have had more to do with 3 adorable older ladies and the natural instinct to make them comfortable/happy. :)

(unless I listened wrong, weren't they the only guests?)

I think that’s also a possibility, especially to explain the dinner (they were given room service I think?) and the assistance moving everything. The points being returned though, I don’t know about that, that’s a lot of points for them to refund in this scenario without even being asked.
 


It would be naive to think Disney isn't going out of its way whenever possible to up the experience of people who are basically doing marketing for them. I don't have an issue with that, it's just advertising at a different level and I doubt there is a way to keep away from that without employing a staff of thousands and registering under wholly separate names/addresses/payment methods each and every time. What I have issue with is vloggers failing to disclose exactly what they've been given or the value of same or "burying" that bit of information in a comment as opposed to the video itself.

There are certain vloggers who won't reveal the extent of their "hosting" or "sponsorship" and are presenting their experiences as typical as to what you're going to get as an average consumer. That's the part I find distasteful and I vote with my clicks away from those folks, regardless of their popularity. DIS doesn't get the views of many of these but I know how much it is they're paying, whether the company paid or not, and they don't critique without money going out of their hands. That works for me.
 
Yes all those are possible. Maybe it was their age or that they are frankly quite charming, or that the cabins should be a concierge level of service for anyone.
But...the fact is Disney had blatantly flagged Pete during his 7 in 7 reviews. He owns a TA, a Disney forum, he now hosts a DVC show and is actively promoting and recruiting new DVC members in partnership with the DVC store. Pete directly affects their bottom line now.
It seems quite likely a gentle courtesy call was placed by the DVC office to the hotel management to alert them in the days ahead of the reservation.
 
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I was thinking about this today, if a manager isn't alerted each and every time Pete enters a park or checks into a hotel or a restaurant then Disney is missing a trick. He is one of Disney's most important independent influencers and it would be worth it for him to be discreetly shadowed and for all staff to be made aware of his presence, especially after the Grand Floridian debacle. I wouldn't go there now, apart from the Cafe. I did love his rant about the 'witch' at the front desk but was sorry that he and his mom were inconvenienced so.
 
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It seems there are some vLoggers who tend to stay pretty anonymous such as AJ on DFB while others have a much more public personality. Disney knows who they have to take care of, it can be better service or free trips or special access to events. Look at the Trackers or more recently Michael Kay. Disney would be foolish to ignore this very important social media marketing opportunity
 
It seems there are some vLoggers who tend to stay pretty anonymous such as AJ on DFB while others have a much more public personality. Disney knows who they have to take care of, it can be better service or free trips or special access to events. Look at the Trackers or more recently Michael Kay. Disney would be foolish to ignore this very important social media marketing opportunity

I was under the impression that DFB (and AJ) are much less objective than they try to appear to be. Is that wrong?
 
When we stayed in a Poly bungalow, we had a slight issue - the hanging chairs were missing from
the deck. They said they’d look into it and they forgot to get back to us — turns out there was an issue with ours and they couldn’t take others from another deck because the bungalows were all occupied.

We only asked again because we were surprised we hadn’t heard back (and it would have been nice to have the extra seating on the deck for our group.) We did not complain, we just asked about it and followed up.

They refunded a whole night of our DVC points and fastpasses without us asking for any compensation. We didn’t expect anything. A whole night of points back for a bungalow is very significant - you could stay for almost a week in a studio on one night of bungalow points.

I don’t doubt that Pete gets special treatment, but I think when people are shelling out a very large amount of points per night on the unique bungalow or cabin accommodations, I think Disney is extra careful to be sure everything is in order/stay on top of damage control.

I think this could have been because it was a cabin booking, not necessarily because of who was staying there.
 
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I was thinking about this today, if a manager isn't alerted each and every time Pete enters a park or checks into a hotel or a restaurant then they would be very stupid indeed. He is one of Disney's most important influencers (although not in the traditional sense as he isn't rewarded by them) and it would be absolutely worth it for him to be discreetly shadowed and for all staff to be made aware of his presence, especially after the Grand Floridian debacle. I wouldn't go there now, apart from the Cafe. I did love his rant about 'the witch' at the front desk but was sorry that he and his Mom were inconvenienced so.


I do think that in reference of general Disney products he is a one of many, many VIPs, some wealthy, famous, major YouTubers much bigger then the Dis, etc, so maybe it’s too much to try and prevent everything.
But in the much smaller scope of the DVC world, he has definitely become very significant. I am not sure I can think of a DVC owner more influential at this point.

I also am surprised about the gas leak. How was it discovered and the cabin not taken out of inventory quickly enough? How did it get cleaned by housekeeping with a known gas leak?
Unless it was discovered after it’s last cleaning shortly before their arrival by someone re-checking the room for them and they didn’t react quickly enough?
 
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You may be right about that. But refunding a night's points is a huge deal in the DVC world. It seems like a pretty big compensation.

I agree - it is a big deal. We are not Disney influencers in any way - just your average DVC members - and received a whole night of bungalow points back for them not getting back to us about some missing hanging deck chairs (without asking for any compensation or putting up a fuss - just inquiring about them.) We were blown away by that response.

I’m wondering if cabins and bungalows have a different conflict resolution/damage control escalation.
 
I’m wondering if cabins and bungalows have a different conflict resolution/damage control escalation.
I definitely agree it’s possible, but you did have to ask twice about them? It seems like maybe they were potentially embarrassed that not only furniture had been missing, but you had to bring it to their attention a second time? If they had followed up and found the chairs immediately, would other compensation been different?
If it’s true though these are a different criteria, that’s great to know there is a certain guarantee of quality that comes with them people will find reassuring.
 
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I also think the reality is Disney tracks even regular guests in great detail and collects loads and loads of data to project crowds and occupancy so it seems unrealistic they are not tracking VIPs to some extent.

If the Disney system is simply pulling up a main account for a person and linking a reservation to that account, wouldn't cast members only have to flag an account once to have that information always reappear for future stays? If that's the case, then once an account is flagged, it's always flagged.
 
I have started wondering if Pete or other vloggers are flagged perhaps more than they realize. Another vlogger I watch had a extra gesture happen at Disney that struck me as unnatural and it didn't seem to occur to them as perhaps not normal protocol. It seems like with MDE, needing reservations for basically everything and magic bands it would be relatively easy to do so either by formally flagging their accounts or by a pro active hotel or restaurant manager who chooses to do so on their own accord and directing frontline CMs who may or may not know why.

I also think the reality is Disney tracks even regular guests in great detail and collects loads and loads of data to project crowds and occupancy so it seems unrealistic they are not tracking VIPs to some extent.

I think about all the ways Disney or staff can and possibly does accomadate special guests with only a small amount of effort and a great amount of discretion, assigning rooms with slightly better locations or views, a housekeeping and/or hotel manager personally inspecting the room just before check in to ensure cleanliness level is top notch and everything is in working order. A restaurant manager hand selecting their best server on staff that night or instructing the host to seat them in a particular area. A lead chef preparing the meal personally rather than a line cook.

I have also started to wonder if as Disney has started hosting many social media influencers and giving them special pre-access if they are partially motivated in doing so to prevent negative initial coverage. By hosting them, they can keep the initial overviews and vlog opinions a bit muted, coming across as fairly positive and/or at least neutral. Perhaps Disney sees it as a way to influence the narrative a bit. While some vloggers may return to do reviews with their full opinions later, this only comes after there is already a lot of coverage out there. I even wonder about the motivate behind some grand gestures, (a recent 7 in 7 review comes to mind where it was obvious they had flagged Pete.) I didn't understand why they almost were unprofessionally obnoxious falling over him and Jackie, except that they almost purposely wanted to take the wind out of team's sails and make it impossible for them to give a full review.

Pete shared the story at Copper Creek with his mother, it's a GREAT story, but I did kind of wonder if someone behind the curtains did know who Pete was even if those directly interacting with them did not. It was a lot of compensation offered without hesitation for an issue that was resolved quickly.

I think Pete's Grand Floridian hotel review (as well as other trips reports online about the GF) have been a bad blow for that hotels occupancy and a reminder to level of influence the internet has now. It's seem like managers can not afford to be indifferent to what is being reported online any longer.

Anyways, I thought it is an interesting topic overall for us to discuss on different levels and aspects.

What evidence do you have that supports any of this??? Where are you getting the grands occupancy rates before/after Pete’s rant? Ohana is still hard to get a reservation for after Pete’s rant on it.
 

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