2020: General Discussion

[jon81uk]

If you are going to have cattle pens open you must either have plexiglass screens/boards between rows of the cattlepen (like at Disney and Efteling) or make masks mandatory in the queue line. Otherwise every other row of the cattlepen needs to be closed off, simple as that.

Or masks should be worn and distancing attempted would be the other method instead of screening.

But it seems to be happening in supermarket queues and everywhere, people are just not thinking of others and trying to keep 2m, everyone seems to be too selfish.

 

[RoyJess]

Any other passholders having difficulty booking visits? I say this becasue a number of people of Alton Tower's Facebook page are saying they're having problems finding days to book that are free on the website. But those greeked out dates are available to non pass holders.

When i went on Saturday nobody asked to see my proof of pre booking and i just scanned my pass and went in

Not only are we MAP pass holders, but we are also pass holders for a few of our local Zoo's. Even though we are shielding, so going out for us is not an option, but when checking availability for when we do go out, it seems like all pass holders slots have been taken up. You can understand the limiting of the pass holders slots as the on the gate tickets are going to bring in extra revenue. Usually as a pass holder, we make the decision to go somewhere the night before or on the morning subject to the weather forecast. It seems like you have to book up a good few weeks in advance to get a time slot. I certainly won't be renewing any of our passes until this is all over.

From an email from one of our Zoo, it appears that some greedy pass holders have pr-booked up multiple of dates all in one go and then not turned up, the email warned that anyone that does this will have their pass suspended.

I can understand that these tourist attractions are a business and need to have some revenue coming in, but I do feel that they have all not looked after their pass holders well. I would rather that they give us the option to suspend our pass's and add the extra months that we lost during the lock-down to our new pass's when this is all over and we come to renew.


There also seem to be a "no show" culture at the moment, with many people making bookings but not turning up, this has been happening across the board with Theme parks, Zoo's, Restaurants, hair dressers etc...

 

[ringo]

It's going to happen because merlin are too cheap to actually setup accesso properly, they cod easily have it so it blocks passes if there isn't a valid pre-book, but they they don't.

What I think is happening (this applies across merlin) is they are reviewing the scan logs and seeing if the total passes scanned is less then, equal to or greater then reservations.


If its greater then that means passholders are getting in without prebooking so more stringent checks needed, if it's less then it means people are prebooking without going so perhaps a price increase or other incentive to actually go.
(My preferred option is the tayto park method,but again merlin and ticketing systems...)

Not forgetting that some of the no shows might want to cancel but can’t cancel the tickets back to let others book.

Booking system hasn’t been that bad but what was surprising was they didn’t enforce a restriction on amount of visits you can make - this would make it fairer for everyone and could argue limit the risk of an infected person spreading it.

 

[jon81uk]

The simple answer of course would be for the booking system to only allow passholders to have one or two live bookings at a time, so you can't book a second day until after the first day has passed.

 

[Benjsh]

Not only are we MAP pass holders, but we are also pass holders for a few of our local Zoo's. Even though we are shielding, so going out for us is not an option, but when checking availability for when we do go out, it seems like all pass holders slots have been taken up. You can understand the limiting of the pass holders slots as the on the gate tickets are going to bring in extra revenue. Usually as a pass holder, we make the decision to go somewhere the night before or on the morning subject to the weather forecast. It seems like you have to book up a good few weeks in advance to get a time slot. I certainly won't be renewing any of our passes until this is all over.

From an email from one of our Zoo, it appears that some greedy pass holders have pr-booked up multiple of dates all in one go and then not turned up, the email warned that anyone that does this will have their pass suspended.

I can understand that these tourist attractions are a business and need to have some revenue coming in, but I do feel that they have all not looked after their pass holders well. I would rather that they give us the option to suspend our pass's and add the extra months that we lost during the lock-down to our new pass's when this is all over and we come to renew.


There also seem to be a "no show" culture at the moment, with many people making bookings but not turning up, this has been happening across the board with Theme parks, Zoo's, Restaurants, hair dressers etc...

The 'no show' culture you so eloquently speak of is rather synonymous of the country right now. Never has it been so abundantly clear that we share this small island with some of the most selfish people on earth.

 

[RoyJess]

The 'no show' culture you so eloquently speak of is rather synonymous of the country right now. Never has it been so abundantly clear that we share this small island with some of the most selfish people on earth.

The 'No Show' culture is not just unfair to those that genuinely want to use the facilities but unable to make a booking slot, but it is a double blow to businesses that have been in lock-down for the past few months and since re-opening are only operating a part capacity due to social distancing, this selfish behaviour is really hitting businesses hard.

 

[imanautie]

The tayto park method j was referring to is they take a 5EUR Auth hold and if you turn up cancel it and if not capture the charge.
If merlin started doing £5-£10 refundable if you show up prebooks we wouldn't have this issue.

 

[RoyJess]

The tayto park method j was referring to is they take a 5EUR Auth hold and if you turn up cancel it and if not capture the charge.
If merlin started doing £5-£10 refundable if you show up prebooks we wouldn't have this issue.

Merlin simply don't do refundable deposits

 

[imanautie]

Merlin simply don't do refundable deposits

I know, but there's absolutely no reason they couldn't assuming skidata feeds back into accesso.
Edit: even if it doesn't they could just use the fastrack scanners which are accesso not skidata.

 

[ringo]

I know, but there's absolutely no reason they couldn't assuming skidata feeds back into accesso.
Edit: even if it doesn't they could just use the fastrack scanners which are accesso not skidata.

The Fastrack scanners are how Warwick are doing entry at the moment so I’m assuming they are collecting the data on no shows, if they are accurate is anyone guess as not at the prebook comes with barcodes and when they get a guest like that they just wave you through.

 

[Alsty]

Or just charge five pounds and give a five pound voucher valid on that day for food, drink and merchandise. No need to do refunds.

 

[imanautie]

Or just charge five pounds and give a five pound voucher valid on that day for food, drink and merchandise. No need to do refunds.

Not refund but cancelling a hold, it can be done instantly.

 

[yoursilentface]

I think the prebooks are linked to your MAP if you are asked to enter your pass number

We went to york dungeon last week....they looked at my pre books....scanned our passes...and then asked to look at the pre books again to check if the numbers matched up

 

[Alsty]

Not refund but cancelling a hold, it can be done instantly.

I wouldn't trust it. Sometimes scanners don't work or you get beckoned in without being scanned. Voucher is simpler and encourages secondary spend.

 

[imanautie]

I think the prebooks are linked to your MAP if you are asked to enter your pass number

We went to york dungeon last week....they looked at my pre books....scanned our passes...and then asked to look at the pre books again to check if the numbers matched up

From what I've seen of other tickets where pass numbers are required it doesn't actually show the pass number by default. But does the name for some packages.

 

[ringo]

I wouldn't trust it. Sometimes scanners don't work or you get beckoned in without being scanned. Voucher is simpler and encourages secondary spend.

Exactly, my pass doesn’t scan (has expired on the card) but is apparently active on the system and they have said there’s no need for a reprint. And then add in prebook without a barcode and the host would have absolutely no idea what to do other than wave you in.

 

[yoursilentface]

From what I've seen of other tickets where pass numbers are required it doesn't actually show the pass number by default. But does the name for some packages.

She said she wanted to check the numbers matched up

 

[Rojo]

Or just charge five pounds and give a five pound voucher valid on that day for food, drink and merchandise. No need to do refunds.

That would be great and probably the best solution it included per group booking. Otherwise for let's say a family of 4, £20 per visit that can only be spent on resort is quite a stealthy penalty over the year. Especially when you've already paid a premium up front for your pass.

Pros and cons to everything though and AT usually end up damned if they do and don't.

 

[jon81uk]

The tayto park method j was referring to is they take a 5EUR Auth hold and if you turn up cancel it and if not capture the charge.
If merlin started doing £5-£10 refundable if you show up prebooks we wouldn't have this issue.

Well Alton Towers are already charging passholders £1, but that isn't enough to put people off booking multiple days or not showing up.

As @Alsty said it needs to be a £5 charge refundable on a spend on the day. For certain things where capacity is even lower such as Fireworks I would go as far as a £10 charge, unless the passholder has a hotel booking.

 

[jon81uk]

That would be great and probably the best solution it included per group booking. Otherwise for let's say a family of 4, £20 per visit that can only be spent on resort is quite a stealthy penalty over the year. Especially when you've already paid a premium up front for your pass.

Pros and cons to everything though and AT usually end up damned if they do and don't.

Most of the time pre-booking is only needed on fireworks days anyway due to the limited capacity of the front lawn and the fact they are very popular days anyway.
Once Covid is no longer an issue they shouldn't need to have compulsory booking, so yes a £20 charge isn't great but hopefully it only applies for 2020 anyway. Also most people do spend something on site, whether it is lunch, doughnuts or souveneers, or even just a Coke Freestyle activation so getting the £5 back isn't too bad. At the moment it is a non-refundable £1 charge anyway.