How Might The Towers earn the Publics Trust back?

[Stelios]

The summer holidays are way in their stride and with the warmish temperatures right now and the biggest weekend for families going on holiday was weeks ago now, this time of year should usually be one of the busiest for Alton Towers. But as many of us know first hand from visiting this summer, it really isn't.
Walk-on rides, with queues for food outlets being longer than rides. Shifting the opening hours to the usual 5pm close rather than the late, long summer hours. Fast track and food vendors empty, staff unneeded. Heck, even caught a litter picker sat down with not much to do on my visit on July 31st.

Even other Merlin parks across the country arenot getting their usual numbers from what I can deduce scanning queue time apps and sites, though not as bad as The Towers as one would suspect

As anticipated - though maybe not to this extent - the Towers have lost the publics trust due to the incident and it is where we gather our own thoughts as do the higher ups at Merlin and The Towers in deciding how they might earn the publics trust back.

Blowing the budget on Scarefest seems to be an option, as does moving the attention away from the X-Sector end of the park and back to Forbidden Valley over the next years with Air revamps and SW8. Though is that really enough?

What do we all think Alton needs to really get back to the punters to make the £47 million Merlin loss any worse for an immediate impact? Yes, time is a great healer - but if this Scarefest flops then general investment to come will hurt as an obvious result.

Personally, seeing recent documentaries from the Beeb (The Billion Dollar Chicken Shop) and C4 (Domino's Pizza: A Slice of Life) on how KFC and Dominoes work as a business giving an insight into the companies higher ups and staff members that face the customers every day makes me feel how another documentary could prove beneficial to good PR and a clean brand image, think of it as a modern day 'The Magic Factory' BBC Learning Towers documentary from the 90's. Think that but now from all facets of the resort. Fantasy I know, but drastic action may be needed.

So what do you all think the Towers needs to earn the publics trust back? A marketing campaign? Lower prices? Take the loss and blow-out on new attractions? Will be interesting to know

Hope this is the right place for the topic, been my first one in years. The Smiler incident and a long summer has attracted me back to this community however temporary it may be. Good to be back.

 

[AliceHL91]

I honestly think the prices are putting people off. A lot of people thought the ticket prices would go down after the accident, but nope.

 

[Hitch]

I agree with the above, Ticket prices should be reduced back to what they were before "the ride" in the x-sector opened. Because that's the reason many people are not going .

 

[AndrewH]

They should definitely reduce the ticket price or at least they could have a very good offer that would entice many people to come and advertise the deal heavily. This would then bring people in and then they are more likley to return after the offer is over. And they would also make a lot of money from food, drink and merch sales.

And a documentary would definitely help especially if it followed the maintenance team as part of it to show people just how much safety work goes on.

Although it's merin and none of this will ever happen

 

[bluesonichd]

I don't think dropping ticket prices will help, it's not the reason people are staying away.
The perceived risk of getting injured is why people are not going. Even with free admission if people think they will die they ain't going to visit.
The only thing merlin can do is wait, wait for people to forget. I believe they have already forcast lower admissions into 2016
I suppose they could hire Kenny Craig, a few TV adds
... look into my eyes, look into the eyes, the eyes, the eyes, not around the eyes, don't look around the eyes, look into my eyes(clicks) you're under

 

[micksalt]

Open the Smiler, folk are not going because they perceive it to be bad value with one of the major attractions closed. It'd be like buying a new car and finding there's no seats in it.

 

[Sku]

I would agree with "Open The Smiler".

I think a lot of the visitation problems are actually due to missing a headline ride. There is some aspect of safety, but as we have seen, families with young children are still visiting the park in large numbers. Only "thrill seekers" have been put off going.

Without The Smiler, what is the anchor thrill ride at Alton Towers right now? Surely not Th13teen? Rita?

Thrill seekers visit seeking the best new thrill rides, and with the new anchor attraction down, it's going to hurt pretty bad. Not to mention if we look at other more recent attractions, like Th13teen, Rita and Spinball, they probably are not exactly pulling the thrill seekers in.

Sure we have all the legacy B&M coasters, but they are all at least 12 years old, and most people have been on them already many times.

 

[GaryH]

I don't think dropping ticket prices will help, it's not the reason people are staying away.

Hmmm, I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that one. Sure, the accident is a major factor too, but the prices are now exorbitant. Lets face it, as much as we love Alton, the fact remains its an old park, looking tatty in places, which is in dire need of refurbishment and some new rides to make it truely world class.

Once its at that level, then yes, hotel prices, entry prices etc could be considered reasonable, aka, Disney.

But, £50 to get in, the food and drink prices inside now Merlin have control over the outlets, and the stupid hotel prices (around £200 a night B&B) and the lower class of hotel room over what you could get nearby, I think thats a big factor in what is putting people off. When Towers advertise something on their Facebook pages, its full of comments of people who have been to price up a break, only to find they could go on a weeks holiday abroad for a similar cost.

I reckon if Alton advertised hotel rooms for £99 for 4 sharing, with theme park entry, for all of August, the place would be absolutely buzzing (and no, not from the wasps).

 

[Grand_Nash]

All about economies of scale though

If merlin can get 20k of visitors at near to full price and then get them to up sell once on resort It's better than 30k visitors on half a price. If you can forecast a downturn it's easier to streamline staff costs, reduce op hours so you actually increase margins which is actually what merlin are after.

If you reintroduce the smiler and say look we have the 6 biggest rides in the UK people will begin to come again. Also a major incentive for merlin is to try and convert people into more visits, return tickets, annual pass etc. If you paid online £15-20 for online ticket, next day £10 is not great value and then you have considerably devalued the annual pass offering. Currently By visiting towers 3 times you paid for a year pass as every marlin attraction you can go to but at £20 You would have to double your visits. It's perceived value to the consumer.

 

[Martin]

I would agree with "Open The Smiler".

I think a lot of the visitation problems are actually due to missing a headline ride. There is some aspect of safety, but as we have seen, families with young children are still visiting the park in large numbers. Only "thrill seekers" have been put off going.

Not to mention, there's the fear that if one major ride isn't safe, the others aren't either. Even before the crash, big scary thrill rides are normally considered less safe, which is not the case but it's understandable why people feel that way.

The best thing they can do is get The Smiler open, but only after all the reports are public and H&S have released a statement assuring the public it is safer than ever. With the impact the crash had, I think they'll still struggle unless they really stress how safe it is, quietly opening it again might not be enough.

 

[GaryH]

One thing to consider is a few years ago when the RMT crashed and people were injured on that. Granted, no one lost a limb, but, if I recall, the park didnt go as quiet as it has done now.

 

[jenniferelka]

I think a lot of it will just come down to time. This was a big accident and will take a long time for people to stop linking a lack of safety to the park. We gotta wait for people to forget and for the media to lose a bit of interest.

The fact of the matter is that this is what Alton Towers is now associated with for the majority. I do think things like showing they are a caring and honest company will help, as they have been doing. I also think getting The Smiler up and running as soon as they can will help, not just because it's another major ride back but because it may bring some sort of closure to the goings on for the public. Not saying they will forget, but once the media calms down a bit about it reopening I think the general public will think about the accident less.

 

[Tom]

I can't see the Smiler being closed having any effect on numbers. If it is, I would actually suggest it has a positive effect.

In terms of winning back trust, slashing prices will not do that - although it may win back numbers to some extent. Trust has to eb re-earned, and that can only be done with time.

 

[Matt Creek]

In terms of getting Towers trust back to the public:

1/ Dropping ticket prices could work (after all £50 is too much for the park in its current state), however we know that would be the last thing they would do, however doing more offers for tickets etc. might work plus they shouldn't increase it next year IMO.

2/ Scarefest is where they need to pull the stops to heal some of the poor attendance we will see this year and lots should be depend on mazes, theming and the park overall.

3/ More money should be spent on refreshing and modernising the park as a lot of the older areas are looking worn and tired such as Towers Street, Katanga Canyon, Forbidden Valley plus Cloud Cuckoo, Dark Forest & areas of Mutiny Bay to a lesser extent.

Hopefully Forbidden Valley will be getting refreshed over the coming years with the Air enhancements, food loop & SW8 hopefully plus perhaps a new/second entrance there too even.

 

[bluesonichd]

but who pays £50 anyway, its either bogof so £25 or buy online for £38
saying people aren't going because the Smiler is shut, well, 3 years ago when it didn't exist and the only major ride in X Sector was Oblivion, it didn't stop people visiting, park was always busy.
Its just going to have to be a waiting game.
Arrrrh! The GP make me so mad with their irrational small world thinking. They all want a good kicking up the arse!

 

[James]

but who pays £50 anyway, its either bogof so £25 or buy online for £38

That's true although people look at the face value. Alton Towers advertises its ticket prices as £50 on the day, so even though *most* people know there are offers and BOGOFS around, all they still see is that price, 50 quid. Which is pretty off putting.

They should have some kind of 50% off summer offer for theme park tickets. Numbers are down so they've got nothing to lose by dropping the price for a few months, it could help them slightly until Scarefest/Fireworks comes.

I'm not too bothered about anything being done this summer though. All the effort should be pumped into the end of the season with the two big events, so they end the season in a better position.

 

[Cheese]

If some people that would otherwise have visited this year are staying away because they're concerned about safety and maintenance, I think it's the perfect time to give the whole park some TLC. We know that rides are diligently checked on a daily basis, but many guests don't, and the fact that the park looks and feels quite tired and scruffy in some places can't be helping to ease their concerns. It's been like that ever since I started visiting regularly in 2010. It's not the way that a major park should present itself even during times of trouble free success, and in the wake of the Smiler incident I really don't think it's doing them any favours.

 

[IanB]

I would love to see a online behind the scenes video blog at Towers, aimed at all guest, not just us lot. Show the staff getting the rides ready in the morning, carrying out the safety checks, and then enjoying the first ride of the day to confirm it is working.

They could have the ride opperators dispatching the rides, maybe even show what steps are taken if a sensor show an error.

Keep them short and fun, but interesting to the general public and maybe run it along side a competition each week where 10 pairs of tickets are given out to who ever can answer a question that has the answer in the video. Maybe have last weeks winners in the next video so they share it with thier friends.

Just something to show the General Public how complex these coasters are, the maintance that takes place and the extensive safety checks that carried out each day to ensure they are safe to use.

The Alton Towers Facebook page has nearly 1.4m likes (Although I doubt they are all UK based) and it is the perfect place along side Twitter and YouTube to promote these videos.

Ian

 

[blindaccess]

According to my research on Alton Towers they won't gain the publics trust till 2017. This is also have been confirm by Merlin Entertainments. The prices of tickets are 40% on the door only not sure if it will stay that way after August. I hope this helps.

 

[delta79]

technical issues are not helping. a guest today link a ride shutdown with the smiler incident