• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

General Hotel Discussion

The problem is a standard room in ATH is worse than a standard Travelodge/premier Inn room (the newer hotels, not those god awful service station ones), yeah I’m sure in 1996 they were amazing, but 20+ years later and not much has changed.

The moon rooms are nice and so are the artic ones, but they’ve had budget cuts since the original ones.

But yes you are very much paying for the location and brand than anything else.

I don't think they are worse, just the same as Premier Inn (and they are definitely better than Travelodge!). The basic amenities at ATH explorer rooms are pretty much the same as a Premier Inn. The décor is more interesting, but the basic amenities are what you would expect at any hotel. As others have pointed out there are no goody bags, teddy bear etc anymore in the standard explorer rooms.
 
I don’t think they are worse than Travelodge rooms now the bathrooms have been refurbished, they are just no better and you pay through the nose to stay in them.
 
Also to make a comparison, I don't think that staying on site at Disneyworld Florida offered anything within the room that staying at Alton Towers didn't. The basic amenities (bed, coffee making, shower) are pretty similar and although the rooms are themed I don't think a majority are significantly better than anything at AT.
At Phantasialand the room was probably more authentically themed, but some of that made it worse (the bare concrete floor of our Hotel Matamba room was not comfortable) and again there was nothing in the room itself that made it exceptional, it was the theming and the other benefits (such as ERT) that really made that worthwhile.
At the end of the day in most theme park hotels you are paying a premium to stay on site.
 
Also to make a comparison, I don't think that staying on site at Disneyworld Florida offered anything within the room that staying at Alton Towers didn't. The basic amenities (bed, coffee making, shower) are pretty similar and although the rooms are themed I don't think a majority are significantly better than anything at AT.
At Phantasialand the room was probably more authentically themed, but some of that made it worse (the bare concrete floor of our Hotel Matamba room was not comfortable) and again there was nothing in the room itself that made it exceptional, it was the theming and the other benefits (such as ERT) that really made that worthwhile.
At the end of the day in most theme park hotels you are paying a premium to stay on site.

The ATH rooms are massively modelled on the Disney Hotel rooms.
 
I dont know about others but everytime I walk in to ATH it feels "special". However.... I sadly cant recall the last time I stayed there, I used to stay there all the time. The prices went up and the quality went down. However, for me one of the biggest reasons I dont stay there now is the noise. The hotel seems to amplify the noise of others staying there in a way I havent encountered in other hotels. Hence I tend to opt for a cheaper B&B nearby which guarantees peace and quiet at night!
 
I dont know about others but everytime I walk in to ATH it feels "special". However.... I sadly cant recall the last time I stayed there, I used to stay there all the time. The prices went up and the quality went down. However, for me one of the biggest reasons I dont stay there now is the noise. The hotel seems to amplify the noise of others staying there in a way I havent encountered in other hotels. Hence I tend to opt for a cheaper B&B nearby which guarantees peace and quiet at night!

I agree, the hotel has always felt quite special and the atrium remains beautiful. I think it has always been too expensive, but the removal of the little things such as teddy bears in rooms are where the quality has suffered. I also don't think the breakfast is very good (although the bean-to-cup coffee is better than the old Nescafe), Premier Inn offer a much nicer selection of items.

You are right about the noise, there is definitely something bad about the corridors, or is it just the children within them.

As previously said I think the theming is fine, yes there are theme park hotels which are more full-on such as at Phantasialand, but the AT ones are at least on par with Disney.
The pricing is a little high at AT for sure, but the cost of running something in the middle of nowhere is probably a factor, but I don't think they are ever worth more than £150 a night for two people in one room.
The big thing I think still needs working on is service, there are some great people, but also a lot of poor communication and issues with customer service. The food quality and consistency also need improvements.
 
I have to agree with the noise comments, I have tried ATH 3 times and each time have been unable to get a proper sleep due to noise. Needless to say I don't stay there anymore, whilst Enchanted Village does have drawbacks at least you can sleep at night.
 
I have to agree with the noise comments, I have tried ATH 3 times and each time have been unable to get a proper sleep due to noise. Needless to say I don't stay there anymore, whilst Enchanted Village does have drawbacks at least you can sleep at night.

Yes thats true actually, I last stayed in EV about 3 years ago only because we took the little one. He loved it and as the weather was very sunny we also enjoyed sitting outside while he played with other kids in the centre of the huts. However, it was boiling hot, we had no fan, dirty towels, extractor didnt work in the bathroom, bed had no mattress protector, kettle didnt work, and when asking for a fan I was told EV didnt have any whereas Splash Landings had fans in the rooms because of its "tropical microclimate". Always makes me laugh when the manager told me that.
 
It's odd as I've always slept like a baby at ATH, maybe I'm a heavy sleeper.

ATH has always had that 'special' feeling to me. It has lost some charm with the removal of perks and 'freebies' over the years, which is a shame as some previous perks really wouldn't cost that much to keep now...

There have been minor improvements in recent years, breakfast I found last year to be far nicer than previous years and the newer coffee machines are far superior. The newer rooms aren't all that bad, they are nicely themed and have little quirks, a games console for kids and the large teddy bear is back in the new rooms.

ATH is expensive, however that has always been the case. At the end of the day you're paying a premium to stay on site, and Towers is comparative to other theme park resorts. Pricing is certainly not out of the ordinary.

I do think they could do more on the perks and services front to give more of a reason for people to choose the resort hotels over a local B&B. Things like room service, exclusive hour in the water park in the mornings, voucher booklets, goodie bags for kids, perhaps do more with hotel entertainment.

Sent from my Huawei P30 Pro using Tapatalk
 
Agreed - I would love to stay back in the hotels again, but for me it would need:

Air conditioning in the rooms
New beds (larger than double size)
Perks voucher booklet
Extra ERT (maybe 30 mins prior to pass holders ERT?)
Room service is a good one
Water park hotel guests only time is another good idea
Adult only floors in the hotel to minimise noise for people travelling without kids
Entertainment in the evenings really needs to improve

I also remember when the hotel had Molton Brown toiletries and things like this, little things, bring people back and make it feel special.
 
Agreed - I would love to stay back in the hotels again, but for me it would need:

Air conditioning in the rooms
New beds (larger than double size)
Perks voucher booklet
Extra ERT (maybe 30 mins prior to pass holders ERT?)
Room service is a good one
Water park hotel guests only time is another good idea
Adult only floors in the hotel to minimise noise for people travelling without kids
Entertainment in the evenings really needs to improve
I thought all the rooms already had AC? And room service does exist, I'm sure...
 
It’s worth noting that if you drop the park an email ahead of your visit and request a quiet room in my experience they will happily accommodate this.

We have requested this a few times and have always been put in a quieter location, such as at the end of a corridor so you don’t have kids running and screaming past your room etc.

The ERT for waterpark is an interesting one, I’m surprised they haven’t looked at this actually. If you visit during an 8pm close period then there is technically an hour where only hotel guests are in the waterpark. As day guests are run in two sessions 10-2.30 and 3.30-8. Hotel guests can stay all day so that hour between 2.30 and 3.30 is much quieter with low queues for slides etc.
 
I thought all the rooms already had AC? And room service does exist, I'm sure...

The only rooms that have air conditioning are the Moon Voyage and Artic Explorer rooms, and these are priced accordingly.

I don't recall any of the AT hotels offering food/drink delivered to the room. Personally I don't think it would add much though, other than potentially more trolleys going through the corridor early morning with breakfast deliveries. I think it would be better to have a reliable bar service and a late night bar food menu.


Agreed - I would love to stay back in the hotels again, but for me it would need:

Air conditioning in the rooms
New beds (larger than double size)
Perks voucher booklet
Extra ERT (maybe 30 mins prior to pass holders ERT?)
Room service is a good one
Water park hotel guests only time is another good idea
Adult only floors in the hotel to minimise noise for people travelling without kids
Entertainment in the evenings really needs to improve

I also remember when the hotel had Molton Brown toiletries and things like this, little things, bring people back and make it feel special.

Maybe removing the bunk beds from some rooms so they have kingsize beds and having these rooms all in one area would make an "adults only" offer. They should be the same price as other rooms though unless AC is added.

Re-opening the woodland walk and doing proper one hour ERT would be a big advantage I think. Maybe some evening ERT too (even just Nemesis and Air as close to Rollercoaster Restaurant would be great).
 
It’s worth noting that if you drop the park an email ahead of your visit and request a quiet room in my experience they will happily accommodate this.

We have requested this a few times and have always been put in a quieter location, such as at the end of a corridor so you don’t have kids running and screaming past your room etc..

Indeed, cant fault the staff for this. I have a photo of the floor plan in Splash landings top floor so I request specific room numbers. Always used to get them and they overlook the waterpark while being down the end of the corridor top floor so mostly quiet.
 
I thought all the rooms already had AC? And room service does exist, I'm sure...

They used to have room service but not any more, I think it was around the time when ATH dropped from 4* to 3*.

In answer to @GaryH, they'll never make adult only rooms / floors in Merlin hotels, infact I don't think any theme park resort would.
 
They used to have room service but not any more, I think it was around the time when ATH dropped from 4* to 3*.

In answer to @GaryH, they'll never make adult only rooms / floors in Merlin hotels, infact I don't think any theme park resort would.

Both room service & adult rooms without the bunk beds / garish vinyl theming may well be very beneficial to the conference business / overnight bookings relating to conferences, especially in the closed season.

A couple of years ago a relative had to organise a big conference for the West Midlands based company she worked for. Alton Towers was on the list as a possible venue - she visited Towers to meet up with one of their conference organisers for a tour. The Conference Centre itself ticked all the boxes, but one look at the ATH & Splash Landings rooms put Alton Towers off the possible venue list.

They ended up using the Hyatt Regency on Broad Street in Birmingham - so budget was not the issue. It was the quality / style of the accommodation that Towers could offer not being business-orientated.
 
It's a shame the Spa Hotel never happened along with the spa extension as that would have offered an 'adult' hotel. Obviously CBeebies was the better option at the time.

ATH did offer room service for years, the menu got smaller and smaller each year, eventually ending up as just a snacks and drinks offering, and I think probably sometime between 2011-2013 the service disappeared entirely.

Sent from my Huawei P30 Pro using Tapatalk
 
Both room service & adult rooms without the bunk beds / garish vinyl theming may well be very beneficial to the conference business / overnight bookings relating to conferences, especially in the closed season.

A couple of years ago a relative had to organise a big conference for the West Midlands based company she worked for. Alton Towers was on the list as a possible venue - she visited Towers to meet up with one of their conference organisers for a tour. The Conference Centre itself ticked all the boxes, but one look at the ATH & Splash Landings rooms put Alton Towers off the possible venue list.

They ended up using the Hyatt Regency on Broad Street in Birmingham - so budget was not the issue. It was the quality / style of the accommodation that Towers could offer not being business-orientated.

Sorry if this sounds very blunt but the every day use of the rooms will outweigh the conferences wanting to stay in them over night and on top of that, the conferences that stay overnight who don't like the hotels.

Alton Towers have always marketed the Conference Centre to be quirky so it would be expected that the rooms follow suit. I don't think anyone would have a Conference at a theme park resort and then be surprised that rooms were themed.

I'm normally one of the first to jump on the 'Alton Towers have gone down the pan' wagon, but I wouldn't expect them to have un-themed rooms or adult only rooms. (Unless the whole hotel was catered to that bracket, which I don't think would ever happen either).
 
And the standard ATH rooms are not even that heavily themed, there is no vinyl just framed artwork of Sir Algernon. Not sure why the regular explorer rooms would put anyone off for conferences, but I could understand that the moon voyage and attic rooms aren’t very corporate.
 
Top