Dynamic Pricing is coming to Towers

[jon81uk]

I noticed whilst trying to book the Sun Savers tickets for Towers that the offer no longer has any free tickets available during any weekends or school holiday times. Instead they offer tickets as £20 each at weekends and holidays as part of that offer. This struck me as a really bad change for parents on low incomes as what would previously have been a free day out for a parent and child now costs £40 which is a big jump. I’ve got doubt that the change in the Sun offer is part of Merlin’s new strategy regarding pricing and what they deem to be peak days.

£40 is still less than the £68-74 (or more at shorter notice) it would cost otherwise for two people. When I was a kid 30 years ago my parents saved up vouchers at Safeway supermarket to get a trip to Alton Towers we couldn't otherwise afford, there was no completely free tickets back then!

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Well you could argue that there is sort of dynamic pricing in place for even MAP holders, as we need a pre-book. No more deciding on the Friday evening that Saturday or Sunday look good weather-wise so just turn up & get in (assuming they are enforcing pre-book, like they are not RAP... but that is for another thread!)

That's not dynamic pricing, that's first come first served. It's binary, there's availability or there isn't. There's no option to pay more to guarantee your passholder reservation.

 

[jon81uk]

That's not dynamic pricing, that's first come first served. It's binary, there's availability or there isn't. There's no option to pay more to guarantee your passholder reservation.

The allocation amount could still be dynamic, they might allow more passholders on days with few ticket sales and lower passholder allocations on busy weekends.

 

[ScottishChris]

The allocation amount could still be dynamic, they might allow more passholders on days with few ticket sales and lower passholder allocations on busy weekends.

So you believe that that are prioritising higher priced tickets over MAP holders? If that were the case I would be incredibly unhappy and taking legal action. They would need to state this prior to the sale of the pass.

I have enjoyed reading the responses to this. Clearly some people feel that it is the right route to go down, others not. I do feel, however, the biggest question we are all avoiding here is what is a day at Towers actually worth? For me, anything over £35 on a moderately busy day is overpriced. Don't get me wrong - I love Towers, but there is simply not enough quantity or quality at the park to justify more IMO. For towers to suggest their 'on the day' price of £68 offers some sort of value is astoundingly arrogant.

Even charging £45 for a busy day at Towers is ridiculous. The park simply doesn't have ride capacity or opening hours to offer anything resembling a good day out.

Lets put ticketing into context: a peak day at Europa Park (open 9am-midnight) is £60. They have over double the number of attractions, better food and some actual entertainment. Again, I love Towers, but it is offering such poor value for money.

 

[jon81uk]

So you believe that that are prioritising higher priced tickets over MAP holders? If that were the case I would be incredibly unhappy and taking legal action. They would need to state this prior to the sale of the pass.

Yes, they stated they would do it in an email last month, Craig quoted it here https://towersstreet.com/talk/threads/merlin-annual-pass.1724/post-448058 but the relevant sentence is "Please note that all time slots are subject to availability, and that there may be different allocations of time slots for different categories of customer (eg based on ticket or pass type), so early booking is recommended"
Therefore I read that as different allocations for categories does mean they might prioritise day tickets instead of passholders.

For towers to suggest their 'on the day' price of £68 offers some sort of value is astoundingly arrogant.

The on-the-day price only exists for the 2for1 vouchers and to make other discounts look good value. I doubt many people pay it.

Even charging £45 for a busy day at Towers is ridiculous.

If its too high then people won't pay it and the prices will come down again.

 

[Matt.GC]

I think it's the right route to go down if it's part of a wider strategy to wean them off of fake discounts (like pretending you're getting a buy one get one free on a £68 ticket that nobody buys). Or all the other dodgy stuff that plagued the Varney era. There's something far more honest about choosing a date, and deciding whether it's worth it or not on face value.

They'll strive to extract a target value per head from guests one way or the other. Currently that involves the Safestyle UK type smokes and mirrors perception of value. Dirt cheap passes (the model of which is so flawed, they keep bolting on forever changing T&C's, exclusions, benefits, and pricing structures). Cereal boxes. "News" Paper codes. Big new centerpiece orientated rides projected onto the palace of Westminster and spray painted onto sheep, that gives you the impression that the whole resort is like that.

When in reality, you get there and you quickly realise that the park is not open long enough in relation to the queue lengths, so they shake you down for fast track. Or that they've replaced an included attraction for an upcharge one (that even pass holders have to pay extra for). Or that, because you didn't pay the premium parking charge, you now have to walk to and from your car along an extremely boring, long and hilly pathway because that monorail you remembered from years ago is no longer fit for purpose and lacks investment. The tacky primary coloured building façades that you swear didn't look that bad years ago. That walk down the hill in X Sector to find that 50% of the area's attraction line up has been removed. When you fancy a burger, and realise it's £14 and is worse than Pedigree Chum in a bread roll. Didn't there used to be a check-in desk with cool themed steps up to it for the kids where these screens are now? I swear there used to be a Spa around here somewhere?

I fully accept that to make any assertion that it's anything other than a good old fashioned cash grab at this early stage would be incredibly naive though. For all we know, the current state of affairs could be as good as it gets, only with price rises subliminally snuck in for good measure.

Value for money is extremely subjective. So is what one considers an enjoyable experience. Personally, I'd say around £40 for a good 12 rides and 8 hours on park would be worth it if I could get some edible quick service food for a tenner, less the tenner if I can't. As things currently stand on an off peak 10-4 day, no entertainment, no food, wham bang thank you mam running around whoring coasters and nothing else? Maybe £25? 10-17 Saturday with 70-100 min queues? £10 for a stroll around the gardens.

What would I consider good value? Well I don't think it's totally fair to compare Alton to the likes of Europa and Phantasialand because they're clearly in different leagues of quality, and I've never expected that of Towers. I'd expect more of a level like Alton Manor, Forbidden Valley 1997 - whenever the red waterfalls went level of quality throughout most of the park (not all, parks are never really finished). But 1998-2004 levels of quality (proportional to the time period of course, I'm not saying whack a 44 year old Vekoma Corkscrew with Bayern Curve back in or put a big blue tent over the Smiler) on a good 7-10 hour day depending on crowds? A good 5 or six additional attractions (maybe an indoor coaster, themed flats and family dark ride with a retheme of Walliams)? A Sky Ride? A decent monorail? I'd pay £60+ for it probably.

 

[ScottishChris]

Yes, they stated they would do it in an email last month, Craig quoted it here https://towersstreet.com/talk/threads/merlin-annual-pass.1724/post-448058 but the relevant sentence is "Please note that all time slots are subject to availability, and that there may be different allocations of time slots for different categories of customer (eg based on ticket or pass type), so early booking is recommended"
Therefore I read that as different allocations for categories does mean they might prioritise day tickets instead of passholders.

My word. If that means they will overly restrict pass holder slots on busy days for the purpose of being able to sell high-price tickets it is overly despicable. I no longer have my pass, but if II did I would be wanting to have answers. I mean, when you enter into an agreement with your season pass you don't expect to be disproportionately treated simply because premium pricing is in place on a certain day and Towers could simply make more money.

Having a look at the Premium Pass T&C's, I notice section 1.2.4 states "Merlin, in its absolute discretion, reserves the right to vary the opening and closing dates of the Attractions, to require pre-booking for any Attraction (for which a small fee may apply)", so they could literally start charging pre-booking fees for mandatory pre-booking for season pass holders with no advance warning and with no way to exit the season pass agreement. Could we see 'dynamic pricing' come to season pass pre-booking?

 

[Tom]

It remains to be seen what they will do, but I have a feeling that a say 15k cap on numbers at Alton Towers could be a new thing but that you will have to pay through the nose to experience sold out days in the summer.

In terms of the lower end, I believe some off-peak days can easily drop to as low as 3-5k, and many of those probably pass-holders. If you're selling tickets for say £20 to get 1-2k more in and not incur an additional costs, surely that is a good thing.