Hotels General Discussion

[Dave]

There’s some pretty ludicrous arguments being rolled out here as a defence for some pretty basic, obvious cleaning just not being done.

The algae hasn’t appeared overnight. The hotel is open. It’s possible to clean something more than once a year. It’s possible to clean stuff in the winter.

This isn’t an oversight or blip, it’s just yet another example of standards across the park being in the absolute doldrums.

I mean someone who does this thing for a living gave an explanation, I wouldn’t call that ludicrous.

I think the comments from @siralgenon about the waterpark are more telling. It usually gets a deep clean in early January, clearly hasn’t this closed season.

 

[venny]

Amazing how other, well run establishments manage to keep their canopies clean. Indeed Alton Towers hotel used to be one.

You can clean it in the winter; they haven’t.

 

[Dave]

Amazing how other, well run establishments manage to keep their canopies clean. Indeed Alton Towers hotel used to be one.

You can clean it in the winter; they haven’t.

I have seen bits of towers look like that in February even decades ago. I mean if we go back to the so called golden age of Towers you would t have seen it as the place wasn’t open in Feb. That part of the world is far more exposed to these things than many other park locations

But again the signs of continued deterioration are described better in the post about the water park, which are far more indicative of brewing issues than a yet to be cleaned canopy.

 

[rob666]

For what the hotels charge, and as they are open year round, such inexpensive maintenance should be done year round.
Simple as that.

 

[GaryH]

Asking the obvious but why not take the canopies down for the winter? Not like people will be sat out there in the rain and cold weather.
If they leave them up for smokers then why not put a separate smoking bus shelter kinda thing around the corner out of sight.

 

[Dave]

Asking the obvious but why not take the canopies down for the winter? Not like people will be sat out there in the rain and cold weather.
If they leave them up for smokers then why not put a separate smoking bus shelter kinda thing around the corner out of sight.

That would be too sensible…

 

[AltonLover123]

Asking the obvious but why not take the canopies down for the winter? Not like people will be sat out there in the rain and cold weather.
If they leave them up for smokers then why not put a separate smoking bus shelter kinda thing around the corner out of sight.

Because then the narrative will be

“Merlin removing more and more. We’ve paid a lot of money to stay and we can’t even enjoy the grounds now. They’ve added a cheap shelter around the corner. And this, at the supposed best theme park in the UK!”

 

[jon81uk]

If they leave them up for smokers then why not put a separate smoking bus shelter kinda thing around the corner out of sight.

I think smoking is only permitted at the front of the hotel anyway, although not 100% certain (and some people probably ignore the rules and smoke on the patio anyway).

 

[Steve74]

Because then the narrative will be

“Merlin removing more and more. We’ve paid a lot of money to stay and we can’t even enjoy the grounds now. They’ve added a cheap shelter around the corner. And this, at the supposed best theme park in the UK!”

So true! Merlin can't win in some situations!

Asking the obvious but why not take the canopies down for the winter? Not like people will be sat out there in the rain and cold weather.
If they leave them up for smokers then why not put a separate smoking bus shelter kinda thing around the corner out of sight.

I've often thought this over the years about theming items around the park - like the FV entrance arch for example - in a couple of years if they aren't cleaning it annually, that will be green with algae etc. So why don't they wrap these objects up in tarpaulin for the winter? For the cost of tarpaulins, they'd be prolonging the life of the objects for many more years, potentially saving hundreds if not thousands of pounds all for the cost of a few sheets of plastic from Screwfix! To me that is just logical. Most of us put away our garden furniture and BBQs for the winter to prolong their lives, so why on earth doesn't Towers do the same?

 

[George W]

I wouldn't worry, all of the dates I've cross checked the prices have gone up 40+% from the last year, inflation hadn't gone up 40% over the last few months so surely that means the quality of the hotels are going up too right?, right?.

I'm going to stop staying on-site from now on, it helps that I now live closer to the park but also my 3-4 onsite visits a year is now over because the off peak night for 1 person was £90 last year and it's £132 this year.

 

[Benzin]

£250 odd quid with MAP discount to stay on second Saturday of proper season?

Nah it's ok I'll stay at a Premier Inn for £48 instead.

 

[Mick]

It’s not particularly detrimental to a guests stay, but it’s still not great is it. And imagine if you raised it at reception and they replied ‘it’s okay because it’s due to be cleaned up in a couple of months time’.

 

[Bert2theSpark]

It’s not particularly detrimental to a guests stay, but it’s still not great is it. And imagine if you raised it at reception and they replied ‘it’s okay because it’s due to be cleaned up in a couple of months time’.

A good member of staff will record complaints like this and if they had good management they would use it to build an evidence base to push against cost cutting measures.

Jumping on what’s been discussed in the Merlin General thread, I think the free Merlin Pass is an indicator of sales not being where they want to be, but also the inflexibility to drop the prices.

My dentist has recently been brought by private equity and so many people are up in arms about it, particularly with price rises which they justify has been forced on them because the firm is losing money hand over fist, and they can’t justify reversing price increases until they have an evidence base of customers walking away to push against corporate. Sounds like something similar may be happening at Merlin from what I’m reading on here.

 

[rob666]

Asking the obvious but why not take the canopies down for the winter? Not like people will be sat out there in the rain and cold weather.
If they leave them up for smokers then why not put a separate smoking bus shelter kinda thing around the corner out of sight.

Because the plastic coated fabric gets very brittle in the sun, that's why.

Our nice plastic/teflon coated sail style shade cracked when we tried to unfurl and shift it.

 

[venny]

I have seen bits of towers look like that in February even decades ago. I mean if we go back to the so called golden age of Towers you would t have seen it as the place wasn’t open in Feb. That part of the world is far more exposed to these things than many other park locations

But again the signs of continued deterioration are described better in the post about the water park, which are far more indicative of brewing issues than a yet to be cleaned canopy.

I’m not sure what your point is here. Is it that the maintenance/upkeep has always been this bad? Because it hasn’t.

If the point is that there have, in the past, been other areas of neglect, I agree. But at that time it wasn’t as emblematic of a wider pattern of disrepair across the park.

The hotels have been open during winter for decades. We visited In the mid-2000s, there was a steam fair in the hotel grounds, the food in Secret Garden was really good, and dare I say the hotel was well presented and clean. It was February, but somehow the staff had battled the notoriously exposed conditions of the rolling Staffordshire hills to keep the exterior presentable.

 

[Dave]

I’m not sure what your point is here. Is it that the maintenance/upkeep has always been this bad? Because it hasn’t.

If the point is that there have, in the past, been other areas of neglect, I agree. But at that time it wasn’t as emblematic of a wider pattern of disrepair across the park.

The hotels have been open during winter for decades. We visited In the mid-2000s, there was a steam fair in the hotel grounds, the food in Secret Garden was really good, and dare I say the hotel was well presented and clean. It was February, but somehow the staff had battled the notoriously exposed conditions of the rolling Staffordshire hills to keep the exterior presentable.

My point was if we obsess over a canopy that might just be further down the line of cleaning (they generally do clean this stuff), we ignore the actual worrying points (back to the waterpark).

I mean they seem to be repainting the corkscrews which suggests maintenance isn’t completely cancelled but the waterpark is always cleaned in January yet it hasn’t been this closed season…. I don’t think obsessing over some tents is the point.

 

[Steve74]

If the state of Duel in the year prior to it closing to become the Curse and the state of Nemesis and its station before it was Reborn are anything to go by, then maybe - just maybe - the waterpark could be closing for a long-term major revamp in the near future? I've never been in there other than seeing it from the Splash reception windows and the walkway to the other hotel so I can't really comment on it's current state and how worse it has or hasn't got over the years. But Towers has history for letting rides slip in non-safety critical maintenance areas in the run up to a major refurb so who knows? We can dream I guess.

 

[James]

The whole lake area of ATH has been a state for ages. Walking around there last October there were weeds all over the place, water features not running, rotting wooden benches and furniture, the gazebo with peeling paint and looking abandoned… that whole area has been neglected for more than the closed season.