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The Hotels: A Journey

Matt.GC said:
Short answer is no. The operational expenditure savings will barely be enough to cover a fraction of the higher energy bills the resort has been experiencing in recent years, or the minimum wage going up again this year.

If it reopens again in the next couple of years, then maybe it was a large unexpected cost cropping up that's been put on the back burner for now whilst pre-planned investment funds are committed elsewhere.

If it's left empty or replaced with something crappy like a soft play, then it's just another thing on the long list of long-term degradation cut backs.
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I think even if it was a large unexpected cost it still won’t come back. If say something expensive went and the calculation today is “not worth the expenditure to replace or repair” why would that calculation change?

The only reason the resort has a Spa is because they built a water park and decided they didn’t need a hotel pool anymore, bar some minor works in the old kids club upstairs and a few additions around the pool for sauna and steam room it was pretty much zero cost.
 
Dave said:
I think even if it was a large unexpected cost it still won’t come back. If say something expensive went and the calculation today is “not worth the expenditure to replace or repair” why would that calculation change?

The only reason the resort has a Spa is because they built a water park and decided they didn’t need a hotel pool anymore, bar some minor works in the old kids club upstairs and a few additions around the pool for sauna and steam room it was pretty much zero cost.
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I don't think it will come back either. It's not my point that the cost would change, in fact the cost would likely be higher in the future for various reasons, I was making the point that this is probably a conscious downgrade, even if the timing isn't, and therefore a cut back of sorts even if may not have been immediately forseen.

So whilst the haste in which it has closed is intriguing, it was probably an inevitability eventually anyway. They would have had an at least top line, ball park knowledge of the condition of all of their assets company-wide, yet if as we both suspect it does not reopen, then the choice was made beforehand that they didn't see this facility as part of their future.

So a resort that is required to attract a wide demographic of leisure visitors for 5 months of the year when the park is mostly closed, and operates 5 hotels concentrated within a single area during peak season, cannot, or is unwilling, to operate this type of facility. A considerable downgrade.
 
Matt.GC said:
I don't think it will come back either. It's not my point that the cost would change, in fact the cost would likely be higher in the future for various reasons, I was making the point that this is probably a conscious downgrade, even if the timing isn't, and therefore a cut back of sorts even if may not have been immediately forseen.

So whilst the haste in which it has closed is intriguing, it was probably an inevitability eventually anyway. They would have had an at least top line, ball park knowledge of the condition of all of their assets company-wide, yet if as we both suspect it does not reopen, then the choice was made beforehand that they didn't see this facility as part of their future.

So a resort that is required to attract a wide demographic of leisure visitors for 5 months of the year when the park is mostly closed, and operates 5 hotels concentrated within a single area during peak season, cannot, or is unwilling, to operate this type of facility. A considerable downgrade.
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Downgrade yes, based on the small number of people who used the spa “considerable” I suppose is debatable”.
 
Never visited the Spa, but its sad to see another ‘premium’ element of the resort disappear.

Am I right in saying Cbeebies is connected to it? I wonder if the intention is to utilise the space for some sort of extension to Cbeebies hotel. I dont know the feasibility of that as I’ve never been in there either.


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jmc said:
Am I right in saying Cbeebies is connected to it? I wonder if the intention is to utilise the space for some sort of extension to Cbeebies hotel. I dont know the feasibility of that as I’ve never been in there either.
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No the CBeebies Hotel is an entirely seperate building with no link to the main hotel. The spa/pool building is slightly seperate but connected to ATH.
 
jon81uk said:
No the CBeebies Hotel is an entirely seperate building with no link to the main hotel. The spa/pool building is slightly seperate but connected to ATH.
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Whilst there is currently no access from CBeebies into the Spa building, it was literally constructed right up to the existing Spa. The plans show the recess where the whirlpool was located was literally behind the walls of the right hand side of the CBeebies lobby. Therefore I doubt it would take much effort to knock through to extended the CBeebies Hotel into that space if they wanted to.

spa plan.JPG
spa whirlpool.jpeg
Lobby.jpg
 
Squiggs said:
So it looks like these four suites are the next on the chopping block. Now, of course any or all of these could be up for rethemes, but it'll be interesting to see what is announced.
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Having seen the pictures of the new Oero themed room at Chessington, gotta say I am slightly concerned what might be in store for any rethemed suites at Towers this year.
 
AT86 said:
Having seen the pictures of the new Oero themed room at Chessington, gotta say I am slightly concerned what might be in store for any rethemed suites at Towers this year.
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A spa themed suite where they vinyl the walls as if you were in a real spa! For a more realistic experience, putting the shower on it's hottest setting and then sitting on the toilet seat to soak in the steam is recommended.
 
While booking ATH for opening, one thing that has frustrated me with the new hotels booking system is the lack of PayPal as a payment option, when the Holiday Extras system offered it. This is a bit of a pain as I liked to put medium-large purchases on PayPal Credit, which I now can’t do for hotel stays. Plus, you get PayPal buyer protection as well.

It’s not the end of the world in my case as I’ve got the money to be able to pay for it, but it’s another instance of something that you could previously do being removed.
 
Leigh said:
While booking ATH for opening, one thing that has frustrated me with the new hotels booking system is the lack of PayPal as a payment option, when the Holiday Extras system offered it. This is a bit of a pain as I liked to put medium-large purchases on PayPal Credit, which I now can’t do for hotel stays. Plus, you get PayPal buyer protection as well.

It’s not the end of the world in my case as I’ve got the money to be able to pay for it, but it’s another instance of something that you could previously do being removed.
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Can you use Klarna?
 
Leigh said:
Nope.
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It might not be an option listed on their site, but if you access the site via the Klarna app it may allow you to create a "one time card" you can use to pay in full on the site then pay in 3 to Klarna (one payment now, then 1 and 2 months time). I've gone to altontowersholidays.com from within the app and the "create card" button is available so worth trying that?
 
Steve74 said:
It might not be an option listed on their site, but if you access the site via the Klarna app it may allow you to create a "one time card" you can use to pay in full on the site then pay in 3 to Klarna (one payment now, then 1 and 2 months time). I've gone to altontowersholidays.com from within the app and the "create card" button is available so worth trying that?
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Fair enough, I don’t have Klarna (it’s another line of credit I don’t need) and I don’t think PayPal Credit offers anything similar sadly.
 
It’s about they don’t offer a system like other companies where you pay a deposit and then the remainder a few weeks from your stay rather than all up front. Mid summer you’re looking a grand easily for hotel and theme park, similar to what you’d pay to go abroad.
 
We stayed in October for SF, room was fine yet we had no hot water or heating which was eventually sorted.

Nice and quiet the lodges are and rather cute we think.
 
idleross said:
Looking at booking the Woodland Lodges in March. Has anyone stayed in one of them recently - If so, how was it?
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I prefer the lodges to the hotel rooms. They are larger inside, separate bedroom area for the kids, a lot quieter than the hotel rooms and in the summer you have the outside seating area.

Main downsides to them is in the summer you only have a tiny square window to open.
 
Alton Towers are in the process of migrating hotel reservations from Holiday Extras to an internal system, which hopefully will be much better and give them more oversight and control. This has only recently gone live for bookings from 4th February 2024 - so I would check back again soon, and hopefully these issues will be ironed out.

Although I still have my concerns after that opening weekend lack-of-discount thing.
 
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