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Read the article “Disney’s Star Wards Experience” by Jamie Biesianda dated March 7, 2022.
Knowing now that the hotel has closed just over one year since opening, what do you believe the intended benefits of hotel were? Why did it not succeed? (Hint, there are many article to review to help for your opinion. Please site your sources.)
NY Times Travel Section.
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The Galactic Starcruiser is one of the most expensive “hotels” that Disney has to offer, if not the most and that alone can be a drawback to some people. With that being said, there are quite a few things included in that price that make it worth it. The Halcyon is, you can say literally, out of this world. The company spent billions of dollars to have its guest experience space and take them out of reality for two days. As seen in the article, the food served on board is exquisite and took months to perfect the recipe. It is very detailed and very much on theme. Guests are able to be involved in a heavily immersed hotel making every penny they spend worth it. Besides the hefty cost, one other drawback is the duration of the stay, two nights. It’s hard to take in a lot of new technology in just two days but it might give guests a reason to keep coming back for more. One thing that may have been better is if they gave guests the option of how long they want their journey to be, of course within reason and certain limitations as they do take trips to Batuu and have several activities lined up for them during those two days onboard.
Time! It is precious. You made a good suggestion.
The Star Wars experience is overpriced for the limited benefits to offer guest. I get the concept of Disney wanting to people to experience the magic, but does the magic match the price point of guest? Especially for two nights, for the price of Galactic Starcruiser you could stay at a regular hotel for a week.
After reading the reviews from guest the only drawback was expense. Guest did say if you’re into Star Wars you’ll enjoy the experience. Even though I’m not into Star Wars I would go just for the experience. The design was created for guest to enjoy journey through, Disney made an unforgettable experience providing two days’ worth of actives in “outer space”.
The price makes it more exclusive, I think it is a marketing ploy to have the price what it is.
The benefit of having a hotel only meant for a two night stay are that there is a specific target audience and market that controls the way it develops. It’s easier to narrow down the options of which direction the hotel will take throughout its growth. A benefit is that it is easier to make the guest experience worth while. With such a short stay it is easier to create an agenda presenting enough details to keep the guest satisfied whereas a one week stay would be harder because there is only so much you can do and show in a hotel without much repetition. Another benefit is that there is a limit to a guest’s stay that is predictable and the hotel staff can work better around this consistency. This two night limit can be a drawback as well. It reduced the amount of total revenue generated from each guest because there is more volume of guests moving in and out. It can also be a drawback because it is a one time experience for guests. So after this experience although some guests may comeback, other may choose to not return because they already know what to expect on the agenda. This concept also becomes a drawback because with this kind of repetition, the staff developing these concepts must always be finding ways to improve and grow the hotel for it to still be attractive to all kinds of Star Wars fans especially if they already went before.
My mind went to staffing as well. What challenges and benefits does this type of experience offer to management and managing staff and staff relations.
The Star Wars Galactic Star Cruiser was a very highly anticipated experience for many people for a few iconic reasons. Some of those reasons and unique offering included: unique Star Wars theming as if you were aboard a real ship, unique food, interactive experiences and that it was advertised as an experience not necessarily just a resort. Although these were great ideas, there was a lot of something missing, some things that just did not add up for complete guest satisfaction. Some of these were that it was very expensive for only a two-night stay, and it was only designed if you were a complete and total Star Wars fan. I do think the Star Cruiser did get some things right however, like the theming, the imaginers took a long time to design everything from the ship, the rooms, the cast member training and interaction, the development of the food to feel like you were on the planet. You can tell a lot of hard work went into planning this but where I think it failed was the price tag was too much for an average family and would not be worth it if you had little kids that would not be interested in something like that. In any business, you reflect on your performance and on guest satisfaction to improve and in this case, there was only so much you could do to change up every guest interaction. It would be very redundant for the cast members to do the same thing to many different people without the opportunity to grow and experiment with the interactions. Guests also come back to resorts because they liked the experience, and they can expect a different room, view, or experience and at the Star Cruiser it is the same thing every stay so it would be a one and done experience for most guests. I think the Star Cruiser would have succeeded if it were just a themed resort with special offerings you could pay more for if you wanted because then the guests would be able to customize it to themselves.
See the pictures and want me to visit it. However knowing the price of it, makes me want to rethink it. There are many activities the people can do, and have a good time there. Also that the amount of detail that is there, is crazy. The bedding for the parents, kids look can bring them to peace.
For the experience I get why people go there. And knowing that the kids will enjoy it, make it more special.
Disney built a Star Wars-themed hotel intending to gather all Star Wars fans in one place. The hotel is focused on providing exceptional service but seems to be targeting only one specific audience, which limits its appeal to a wider audience. Guests need to bond with strangers during their two-day stay, which may be tiring, especially in a hotel where people come to rest. The two-day duration also seems short, limiting the time for guests to fully enjoy the experience of living in the cabins of Halcyon. The idea is great, but the environment may get repetitive, and any staff changes may affect the experience. Personally, I am not familiar with Star Wars and would prefer to stay at another Disney resort where I wouldn’t feel lost. The hotel’s exclusivity may also be a reason why it closed, as it could have been too much for other Disney guests who were not interested in Star Wars.
Disney built a Star Wars-themed hotel, intending to gather all Star Wars fans in one place. The hotel is focused on providing exceptional service but seems to be targeting only one specific audience, which limits its appeal to a wider audience. Guests need to bond with strangers during their two-day stay, which may be tiring, especially in a hotel where people come to rest. The two-day duration also seems short, limiting the time for guests to fully enjoy the experience of living in the cabins of Halcyon. The idea is great, but the environment may get repetitive, and any staff changes may affect the experience. Personally, I am not familiar with Star Wars and would prefer to stay at another Disney resort where I wouldn’t feel lost. The hotel’s exclusivity may also be a reason why it closed, as it could have been too much for other Disney guests who were not interested in Star Wars.
I saw the limitations too, I do not see why Disney found this as an opportunity.
As mentioned in the article, “Disney’s Star Wars experience: How a unique hotel was created,” the Galactic Starcruiser was described as an experience and not a hotel. Guest went on a 2-night adventure aboard Halcyon developing their own character in an immersive universe. The cabin is like a cruise ship with no natural light, a bunk bed, under the bed storage and pull-out desk. The 2-night experience was about $5000 per couple according to The Washington Post “Disney misread Star Wars fans. Now it has an expensive flop on his hands.” The hotel was supposed to be a luxury cruise through space. The price, the role playing is all marketing strategy in my opinion. Every ship must dock and that’s why the end of the voyage came September 2023.
The Star Wars hotel in concept is a great idea a great big experience that rivals that which of their Galaxy’s Edge really immersing their guests in a Luxury space cruiser it really is the ultimate Star Wars fans dream to be able to take a role in the story and really interact with the space and characters of their favorite movie franchise and this really is targeting the die hard and most committed fans of Star Wars. The Fact that it only attracts people who are die hard fans is one of the issues that this hotel faced it attracted a portion of the demographic of people who visit Hollywood Studios that go see Batuu and because of that it would only house a very small amount of guests and that brings us to the second reason the food, the experience and the actors and the hotel itself, has costs and those costs were high so they had to charge high prices for people who were going to stay at the hotel and the problem with that is the other big issue with the hotel. The combination of the two issues I mentioned before make for one really big issue for the hotel since its already a small demographic of star wars fans it slaps another filter for this small demographic by asking for a high price for a night making it so that only a handful of people could afford to stay here so it makes sense why their hotel had failed if they were able to some how drop the cost it would allow for more guests but unfortunately it didn’t come to floriation.
I think the economic model they used (scarcity) was out of balance. They could not attract enough people to make the product scarce and desirable.
Disney wanted to create an interactive experience based on Star Wars which covered all the bases. Die-hard fans always imagine themselves as part of the series so why not bring it to life? Their design had much thought put into it as well as the menu did. They succeeded in creating a travel cruise in space with unique menu items. They had several meals as well as meals with dietary restrictions. When I first saw the Iced Felucian Shrimp Cocktail, I was curious as to how they could make such a dish.
Unfortunately, it was too expensive for both the guests and Disney. A reservation for two guests costs about $5000. Disney suffered financially since they had to employ several actors to support the theme. Even though many would have enjoyed the experience it was not affordable for everyone. They could have altered the stories to have fewer actors and allowed guests to have their mini-activities.
Yes, a big loss.
The intended benefits of the hotel were to increase the guests’ immersive experience that could not fit in Galaxy’s Edge. It can fit all of the boxes that a Star Wars fan could have. However, the $6,000 room rate, is already a great factor to consider when planning for a vacation in the Disney resorts. According to The Washington Post, Galactic Starcruiser also opened during an outcry about Disney’s nickel and diming tendencies. (Sampson 2023) It can be overwhelming for guests, even someone who is a Star Wars fan to enjoy and take in all of the information and entertainment that the hotel has to offer. We can also factor in the time that guests spent most of their day rope dropping and staying in the parks until it closes. It would be difficult to rest and recharge for the next day and miss out on what you have paid for. In my opinion, this type of hotel can only be one and done experience for guests and it is only a trip they must make if they do not wish to visit the parks.
I wonder if guest went to the parks as well as the hotel. I think that would be too much overload/stimulation.