General Hotel Discussion

[Matt.GC]

[QUOTE="AstroDan, post: 179807

I do feel that as the new CBeebies hotel comes by though, that a more high-brow approach should be taken to ATH.[/QUOTE]


There will still be plenty of kids in the other hotels. Cbeebies hotel is aimed at pre school children. Plenty of 5,6,7,8,9 year olds etc will still need to be settled down for the night by some sort of decent hour. So I wouldn't hold your breath for 50 shades the musical coming to ATH anytime soon.

 

[PeteB]

Although given the noise issues with the bars in the centre of the hotel I wasn't expecting service to continue beyond 11pm.

Although as others said, I would expect Ma Garitas in SLH to close later, at least serving to midnight.

I see other people often mention this. I wonder why noise was never a problem in the 11 years prior to Merlin taking over? And did anyone notice a few years ago when the outside of Secret Garden was encased in glass?

Also Ma Garitas is supposed to be open until 2:00am but I've been kicked out twice this year just after 12:00 when the staff decided it wasn't worth keeping the bar open for half a dozen people. Obviously I wasn't happy. If you advertise something to stay open until 2:00am then it should stay open until 2:00am, even if there are 0 people in the bar.

 

[Towerslover]

Let's face it, there's still going to be kids in the ath, not everyone is willing to pay £400+ a night to stay in some bright yellow room. I know if I have kids in the future I won't be doing that anyways!

 

[jon81uk]

I see other people often mention this. I wonder why noise was never a problem in the 11 years prior to Merlin taking over? And did anyone notice a few years ago when the outside of Secret Garden was encased in glass?

Also Ma Garitas is supposed to be open until 2:00am but I've been kicked out twice this year just after 12:00 when the staff decided it wasn't worth keeping the bar open for half a dozen people. Obviously I wasn't happy. If you advertise something to stay open until 2:00am then it should stay open until 2:00am, even if there are 0 people in the bar.

I agree that if the bar is advertised as closing at 2am it should stay open, even if it is just with one staff member.

But this was the first time I stayed in ATH in years (did SLH few years ago), so I'm pretty certain my other stays were before the Merlin/Tussauds merger and I don't remember entertainment after 10:30 back then either. There definitely was notices on every door leading out of the lobby though asking for people to be quiet when returning to their room, so I think noise was an issue for a long time.

 

[PeteB]

so I'm pretty certain my other stays were before the Merlin/Tussauds merger and I don't remember entertainment after 10:30 back then either.

Yeah the entertainment used to finish just before 11pm, standard time for most pubs to go quiet. The ATH and Splash bars used to alternate between late openings, usually one would stop serving at 11pm and the other would stay open until 1am. I have drank in ATH before until 1am last orders. This would change back and forth throughout the season.

But the lights would always be on around the hotel and the lake fountains used to run all night. Now they turn them off along with the patio heaters between 10.15 - 10.30 to discourage people from sitting outside.

And, not sure about ATH, but I'm pretty certain the arcade in Splash used to be open 24 hours as well at one point.

Try this - stay seated in the bars past 10:30 or chillout around the main public areas of the hotels, the staff will do a wonderful job of making you feel unwelcome and uneasy.

 

[Dave]

The entertainment is fine at the hotels (to be honest I find that sort of entertainment annoying but I'm a minority). The old entertainment was never anything special, same cheesy fare.

As for the noise I would guess guest complains, a bar stays open late so is not like it's a cost saving exercise over the old alternating system (never been kicked out of the bars before 1:30am) so logic suggests noise was an issue.

Still from a service and drink quality point of view the hotels have gone right down the pan!

 

[bluesonichd]

They should introduce room service.
Many a time I have been almost starving to death in my hotel room in need of food and drink.

The receptions are staffed 24hrs, so get them to do something other than sit behind a desk all night playing candy crush

 

[Dave]

They should introduce room service.
Many a time I have been almost starving to death in my hotel room in need of food and drink.

The receptions are staffed 24hrs, so get them to do something other than sit behind a desk all night playing candy crush

I agree with room service but the night staff do the night cleaning.

 

[jon81uk]

They should introduce room service.
Many a time I have been almost starving to death in my hotel room in need of food and drink.

The receptions are staffed 24hrs, so get them to do something other than sit behind a desk all night playing candy crush

I'm not sure if its needed. I would expect most people in city hotels ordering room service are doing it on expenses. Whereas at AT a family is more likely to have brought snacks with them and will prefer to eat a meal in a restaurant. If you need extra snacks the shop is open til 10pm and the bar til 11pm plus there is a coke machine.

 

[Leah]

I think the point is that for the price you pay for the hotel, you expect services that even premier inn's offer. This includes room service, and a bar open to a decent time.

Its worth pointing out that there were a few staff in dragon bar in the evening of fireworks Sunday, but the queue was still going out the door because of how slow they were. Not something you'd expect if you'd payed that amount for the hotel.

 

[jon81uk]

I think the point is that for the price you pay for the hotel, you expect services that even premier inn's offer. This includes room service, and a bar open to a decent time.

Premier Inn doesn't offer room service and the pub/bar usually closes 10:30 or 11pm, so no difference. I just don't think room service is a necessity.

Its worth pointing out that there were a few staff in dragon bar in the evening of fireworks Sunday, but the queue was still going out the door because of how slow they were. Not something you'd expect if you'd payed that amount for the hotel.

I had a barman go out to change a barrel taking almost 5 minutes slowing down service a lot that night. Also it seemed like all the staff (four of them) were behind the bar, so no-one collecting glasses leaving all the tables a mess. But I think the queue was deceiving, at a normal bar or pub nobody would queue, you just crowd round the bar. For whatever reason at ATH only the people being served were at the bar and everyone formed a nice orderly line. If everyone had crowded round instead you wouldn't even notice all the people waiting.

 

[bluesonichd]

I always have to take snacks now.
They class themselves as a premium quality hotel, room service should be offered as standard, I rate them more along the lines of a Travelodge

 

[jon81uk]

I just don't think it would be well enough used. Most people complain about them charging £2 for a 500ml coke in the shop, who is going to pay £3 for a 330ml delivered? or £2 for crisps or £15 for a burger?

I think they are offering pizza delivery to the enchanted lodges now anyway as the Crooked Spoon can't cope with a crowd and this makes more sense as sitting outside your lodge with pizza might be nice. But if I'm at ATH, I'd rather go to Secret Garden or walk down to the shop.

 

[PeteB]

They should introduce room service.
Many a time I have been almost starving to death in my hotel room in need of food and drink.

The receptions are staffed 24hrs, so get them to do something other than sit behind a desk all night playing candy crush

STOP THE BUS!

You mean Towers don't offer room service any more? That's news to me, because it's something they did used to do. It was really expensive though. I once had to order a pizza and cokes to my room in Splash at 2:00am and it cost about £40.

Pretty digusting if they've stopped doing it as there is no where else to get food or drink during the night.

Towers goes down another notch! How low can they sink?

 

[bluesonichd]

I just don't think it would be well enough used. Most people complain about them charging £2 for a 500ml coke in the shop, who is going to pay £3 for a 330ml delivered? or £2 for crisps or £15 for a burger?

I think they are offering pizza delivery to the enchanted lodges now anyway as the Crooked Spoon can't cope with a crowd and this makes more sense as sitting outside your lodge with pizza might be nice. But if I'm at ATH, I'd rather go to Secret Garden or walk down to the shop.

Nothing beats eating a big fat greasy burger while in bed though ! and as for the secret garden menu this year, very very poor, never found anything on it I liked or enjoyed

 

[Rob]

If a pizza and cokes cost around £40 then I would imagine that would explain why they might have got rid of it, I'd imagine very few people actually used it! To be honest I had no idea they used to do room service and it doesn't bother me that they don't anymore, I'd rather just wait until breakfast than be ripped off at 2 in the morning!

 

[PeteB]

If a pizza and cokes cost around £40 then I would imagine that would explain why they might have got rid of it, I'd imagine very few people actually used it! To be honest I had no idea they used to do room service and it doesn't bother me that they don't anymore, I'd rather just wait until breakfast than be ripped off at 2 in the morning!

Not the point though is it? It's something which is offered at all higher end hotels as standard.

Perhaps this is why the Towers hotels lost their 4 star rating down to 3?

 

[James]

I remember snacks being offered for hotel guests, delivered to your room. I doubt it cost that much to run the service as not many would use it, so it doesn't do much harm to offer room service/snacks.

 

[Dave]

Not the point though is it? It's something which is offered at all higher end hotels as standard.

Perhaps this is why the Towers hotels lost their 4 star rating down to 3?

Wasn't that because they don't have a free to use pool?

May have imagined that

 

[jon81uk]

I remember snacks being offered for hotel guests, delivered to your room. I doubt it cost that much to run the service as not many would use it, so it doesn't do much harm to offer room service/snacks.

But if not many people are using it you are paying staff and a chef to sit and do nothing, as if they are assigned to do something else and then switch it will slow the room service down leading to unhappy guests. I imagine they did stop offering it if no one was using it as it wasn't worth the staffing costs.