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Hotels General Discussion

s_g_k said:
I’ve just been looking at a 2 night stay at The Alton Towers Hotel mid week in September, so arguably very off peak.

£253.50 per night.

Just read that again….

For that price I expect high end 4 star standard akin to the global premium hotel brands, whereas the reality couldn’t be more different.

How can they justify charging that much for a tatty un-air conditioned room and an Iceland style frozen breakfast?
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That price is crazy I agree, however I suspect it could be an error somehow, even for Alton Towers £253 for a standard room mid week off peak is bonkers.

Taking a look myself you can get the same stay, midweek for 2 nights in Sep in Splash Landings for £217 for BOTH nights. Splash is always marginally cheaper than ATH but not usually less than half the price, so this makes me think the prices for ATH have been put into the system wrong somehow.

Edit: or perhaps there is a sale or promotion on the way, and these rooms are going to be the base point for them to advertise some sort of big discount, that isn’t really much of a discount at all.
 
Danny said:
I've heard Yvonne Sigg is looking to expand her empire in the UK. Pizza and kebabs outside the hotel entrances. Glass floor in each room with fish underneath. Missing taps. A vomit filled river peacefully trickling by outside. What more could you ask for?
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To be fair splash landings and the pods had what was basically a “kebab” van outside their entrances all of last season
 
Hotels looked very chaotic on Friday evening. Popped in after a day on park (Was stopping at Chained Oak) around 7pm. The queue for the bar in ATH was already at the stairs so went to Splash instead. Bar OK there with only one person waiting and plenty of staff serving but by 8pm the queue for this too was stretching back through the bar.

Down on the first floor for Flambos there was just a mass of people which stretched up to the top of the stairs. Seemed to be 2 queues, one for waiting to be seated and the other to pay but it was hard to tell which one was which and it looked utter chaos. If I had booked to stay on resort, given the prices being charged I certainly would of been less than impressed. Had to fight my way through just to go the toilet :eek:. This seemed a good time to bail and go somewhere else, so headed off and walked down to The Talbot Inn where it seemed much more civilised , and much better choice of beer too.:p
 
Vik said:
so headed off and walked down to The Talbot Inn where it seemed much more civilised , and much better choice of beer too.:p
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Is that safely walkable? I've never ventured that way on foot from the park, it feels like there's some walking along some particularly dicey roads involved?

Maybe this would be a good place to list some viable walking alternatives to the hotels. I've stayed in the Through Ivy House a few times, what other viable options are there?
 
pluk said:
Is that safely walkable? I've never ventured that way on foot from the park, it feels like there's some walking along some particularly dicey roads involved?

Maybe this would be a good place to list some viable walking alternatives to the hotels. I've stayed in the Through Ivy House a few times, what other viable options are there?
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OK in day as long as the drivers make the effort to avoid you, had one that took exception to us being in road, but with no footpaths there is nowhere else to go :eek: , traffic is fairly minimal. Flash light of sorts needed for night, mainly to warn any oncoming traffic of your presence. Probably not advisable with children in tow. Takes about 35 mins from Hotels to Talbot inn, though thankfully walk back to Chained Oak later from there was only about 15 mins. Oddly, google maps suggested walking through the park as being the quickest route from Hotels towards Alton Village. Not sure if security would of been happy with that.:p
 
There’s a couple of ways you can do the walk. I’d advise walking out through the staff/goods entrance, rather than the main entrance (if you’re heading out or back later the main gates will usually be locked anyway and all traffic gets sent via goods in and the security lodge). It saves a decent chunk of the road with some of the hairiest corners. You can cut across the Express/disabled carpark to get onto the access road, which saves a bit of time if you’re leaving Towers Street at the end of the day.

Once you get down to the Chained Oak B&B you can also go down the path there, passing the tree itself and meeting the old railway. Then you pass The Ramblers Retreat and can follow Red Road (barely any traffic on that one and much safer to walk down than Farley Lane).

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Another option for getting down to the village is to walk towards the back of the Enchanted Village, heading for its car park. Here you’ll find a public right of way.

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Make sure you get on the actual path, not the more obvious looking entrance on the bottom corner of the car park (this will only take you to a bit of wasteland used by the park!). Follow the public footpath and it’ll take you behind the hotels and down the hill. You’ll go over the end of the valley the gardens are set in, before the path merges onto the old railway route, passing a small solar farm and the water treatment plant. Eventually you’ll come to Alton bridge itself, where you can use the road bridge to cross over to the pubs.

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We did both at Fireworks last year as we had a cottage in the village, just round the corner from Alton Bridge and The Talbot, but wanted to enjoy a few drinks at the park without worrying about driving. They’re both pretty nice walks, though if you’re planning on going off of the tarmac I would recommend sturdy footwear (especially if it’s wet) and maybe carry a torch if it’s going to be dark! The public footpath from the hotels is a really good route to know if you’re stopping in Alton village and don’t mind a walk. As I say, it’s a public footpath and perfectly legal to use. No trespassing or anything like that.

Forgive the crude maps, but if you can grab the free Ordinance Survey Maps app from the App Store you’ll see all the footpaths clearly marked (it’ll also show where you currently are, so it’s easy to tell if you’re on the right path).
 
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Pedestrians have right of way on a road with no footpath, so if angry drivers moan then just remind them of that.

You are meant to walk on right hand side of the road if there is no footpath so the traffic is coming towards you. Other than that it’s fine to walk on the roads and the cars are legally obliged to avoid you, though obviously be alert.
 
It is ok knowing a person on foot with no footpath has right of way, it is another thing enforcing it on a steep bendy hill in the dark.
I would not use the road to get back to Alton village after dark on foot, the risks are too great.
I would risk breaking my neck on the wooded footpath behind the hotels instead, or get a taxi!
 
Unfortunately we experienced the singer in the Dragon Bar a few weeks ago.

A set list of incredibly depressing songs insued, what ever happened to the family who used to perform? Why do we even need entertainment at that time?

Honestly I just wished to sit down and relax before a long drive home and there's no nice place to do that anymore
 
MattyH said:
Unfortunately we experienced the singer in the Dragon Bar a few weeks ago.

A set list of incredibly depressing songs insued, what ever happened to the family who used to perform? Why do we even need entertainment at that time?

Honestly I just wished to sit down and relax before a long drive home and there's no nice place to do that anymore
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Toilets?
 
I just looked for a 2 night stay in the Alton Towers Hotel for an off peak Tuesday-Thursday visit in September.

What a joke. £253.50 a night, more if you want the CBeebies hotel.

Well and truly above the cost of the world class city hotel chains like Hilton and Marriott without the luxury.
 

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s_g_k said:
I just looked for a 2 night stay in the Alton Towers Hotel for an off peak Tuesday-Thursday visit in September.

What a joke. £253.50 a night, more if you want the CBeebies hotel.

Well and truly above the cost of the world class city hotel chains like Hilton and Marriott without the luxury.
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Interesting... we got an ATH room on a Sunday/Monday in mid-June for £321, and that included park tickets. The room was around £150 on its own, apparently.

I wonder why September pricing is so different? I take it you're going for 2 nights, though... I bet 1 night would be cheaper.
 
Sunday night in mid June isn’t peak time so £150 is about right. That price in September is very steep though. I wonder whether there’s something specific driving such a high price or have the prices been jacked up across the board?
 
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