• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Merlin Entertainments: General Discussion

John_P said:
Visited The York Dungeons today.

Obviously it's got a number of the usual staples, the judge, plague doctor, and the torturer. But also some I've never encountered before in the witch/possession scene, the haunted room with the house keeper, guy fawkes head on a poll, and the stage coach/dick turpin finale.

All in lots of fun, in a small group going through so felt like I was getting picked on nearly every room.

Definitely reccomend if you're in York and looking to do something that'll take about an hour.
Click to expand...
I live pretty near york so we've done it a few times

The dick turpin finale and witch room can both be superb depending on the actors in them on the day...the witch room especially...probably my favorite room of all the dungeons

The 'keep the southerners out' room can be pretty comical too
 
Another new appointment at the top, this time Sarah Venning as the new Chief Digital and Data officer.

"Joining the Executive team, Sarah’s position will focus on bringing together the key areas in Merlin’s technology, data, and digital capabilities to build a world-class digital strategy and deliver a seamless digital experience for guests and over 30,000 Merlin team members. Venning’s responsibilities will also include co-leading the business transformation efforts to achieve optimum performance in technical and specialist areas.

Sarah is currently Global Digital Officer at Pret A Manger, and previously held senior roles at the John Lewis Partnership and Heathrow Airport. She brings with her a rich experience of technology, digital marketing, and commercial management, as well as having particular experience in end-to-end business transformation.

Sarah is passionate about bringing together physical and digital experiences for both guests and teams and is deeply interested in how to build teams and create a strong sense of belonging, and in enabling businesses to take better decisions through harnessing powerful data."
 
Nice end to my London visit with a go on the London Eye. Only booked in the early afternoon and times were quite limited. Most importantly my Gold map allowed me to use the fast track line. Was pretty busy though, think from joining the queue to being in the exit gift shop it was about 40 minutes.

Great weather for the views and experience today!
 
Last edited:
Makes for an interesting read, in all the wrong kinds of ways. Apparently none of the other principle shareholders in Merlin existed, and Nick Varney alone was responsible for the Smiler crash...
1687064814641.png




www.dailymail.co.uk

Boss who told Alton Towers crash victim revenues fell is knighted

Sir Nick Varney, the ex-chief executive of Merlin Entertainments, which owns Alton Towers, Legoland and Thorpe Park, was knighted 'for services to the visitor economy'.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk
 
He was the Chief executive though...although other directors and executives were there, he held ultimate responsibility as the top executive officer.
The responsibility for the accident does indeed come down to him in my eyes.
He was gaffer, he sets the rules that others, including managers, work by.
The accident was on his watch, he should take the blame within the group.
 
As far as major accidents are concerned, Merlin does have one of the best track records in the industry, so I don’t know if it’d be fair to withhold a knighthood based on The Smiler accident. Certainly, there are companies like Six Flags which seem to have a worse track record.

Having said that, there have been a few concerning accidents. The Smiler accident and the Tomb Blaster queue are the two that come to mind first. I don’t think the CEO can necessarily be blamed for the intricacies of the The Smiler accident, but there does seem to have been a widespread culture of pushing staff to work faster than they safely could, which may have contributed to engineers taking shortcuts to get the ride open. Would the accident have happened with a different culture? We’ll never know. But the CEO would have been involved with some of the top level decisions that may have been a factor. If he wasn’t, then he should have been.

Given that Merlin does have a low rate of major accidents, I don’t know if that on its own would be a reason to withhold the knighthood, but it’s a valid issue to raise.
 
Also of course he was involved with marketing for Alton Towers and the Tussauds group in the 90s before he formed Merlin Entertainments. So he does have a very long career within attraction marketing and management.
 
rob666 said:
He was the Chief executive though...although other directors and executives were there, he held ultimate responsibility as the top executive officer.
The responsibility for the accident does indeed come down to him in my eyes.
He was gaffer, he sets the rules that others, including managers, work by.
The accident was on his watch, he should take the blame within the group.
Click to expand...
Don't get me wrong, this is true, especially given that the incident was easily avoidable.

Still think it's worth pointing out that when criticizing Merlin around that time period; more attention should of been paid to Blackstone (who interestingly were in the process of selling off their historical shares around the time of the incident, about 2 years after Merlin was floated), valueact, and CPPIB.
All of those entities had more sway over Merlin company policy than Varney ever did, as an individual. A lot of us back in the day (I'm guilty of this) acted as if Varney was sitting on a chair stroking a cat in a dark room plotting all the cutbacks, cautiousness and lack of investment.

And in the context of Smiler crash, there is an alternative argument. Paying staff adequately, and ensuring there are resources and knowledge to ensure sufficient training would of been far easier had more operational expenditure been directed at Merlin parks. Had expenditure been higher in those areas, we can speculate on whether the accident would of happened. I think on that basis it's reasonable to point the blame at the big dogs as well as Varney.

But equally, had Varney been more attentive of the operations within the business, Smiler crash probably wouldn't of happened. Apparently tiny small miscommunication mistakes caused the crash after all. Things that a CEO should have control over, all things considered. So I do get your point , either way.
Funcone said:
As far as major accidents are concerned, Merlin does have one of the best track records in the industry, so I don’t know if it’d be fair to withhold a knighthood based on The Smiler accident. Certainly, there are companies like Six Flags which seem to have a worse track record.
Click to expand...
You raise some good points, but I'm not sure I follow through with this particular point. Just because another company has more incidents of gross negligence doesn't absolve the other of wrongdoing. Even one gigantic mistake is a gigantic mistake in and of itself.
 
Last edited:
Merlin's 2022 Accounts have been published, I haven't had chance to look through in great detail- but it appears revenue has recovered to pre-pandemic levels at just under £2billion and operating profit is up significantly against 2021 at £385m.

Interestingly Alton Towers get a specific call out as part of the Resort Theme Park results:
The overall performance was driven by the Operating Group’s two largest resorts, Alton Towers Resort in the UK and Gardaland Resort in Italy. Alton Towers Resort reported record revenue, driven by strong revenues per guest, reflecting customer demand, our dynamic approach to revenue and capacity management, and a strong product offering that included a successful events programme. Demand for short breaks supported strong accommodation room rates
Click to expand...

Given Merlin's history of funding parks that are doing well better than those that aren't, this can only be positive.

Full report here:

 
Another at the top appointment in Asha Amster as the new Chief Transformation Officer, starting from September.

"Starting with us at Merlin in an exciting time of growth, Asha's role will empower our global teams by building new capabilities and talent, as well as leading brilliant transformational initiatives as we look ahead to a number of incredible opportunities in the coming years - she will help us prepare for our next thrilling chapter.

With an incredible energy and can-do attitude, Asha's role will be key in ensuring that our teams' skills, experience and development are in alignment with our growth. Asha comes to Merlin from her role as Chief Operating Officer at Baby Cow Productions, where she excelled as a commercial and operational strategist, translating strategy into clear actions.

Asha said “I am thrilled to be building on the already epic success of the Merlin business. Creating world-famous brands involves world class customer experience, world class partnerships and world class innovation. But most of all, it involves world class people - engaged and focused, pushing for a unified outcome and who can tangibly both see the journey and their role within it.”
Click to expand...
 
Baby Cow Productions is Steve Coogan's production company, they've done a lot of good comedy in recent years such as the Witchfinder, Red Dwarf and Gavin & Stacey. That's an impressive CV, I think she will be a good fit in the new Merlin management team.
 
When I first heard about Nick Varney retiring, I was fully expecting a management overhaul by promoting internal talent from within the company and not much ultimately changing within the framework of the continuity candidates.

I'm genuinely surprised that not only Merlin have been headhunting for talent outside the company but also people in industry-adjacent professionals. This strongly shows the company has a genuine vision and leadership in place.

This genuinely makes me optimistic for the future of the company hopefully leading to the company producing much better quality attractions. I hope they keep it up.
 
Another day, another appointment. Spencer Holt joins from August as the new Chief Experience & People Officer.

It's a newly created role in the exec team which oversees the employee and team "journey". He currently has more than two decades of experience working globally in the pharmaceutical, finance, franchising and sales industries, and is the current Chief Learning Officer at the Global Leader Group.
 
Danny said:
Another day, another appointment. Spencer Holt joins from August as the new Chief Experience & People Officer.

It's a newly created role in the exec team which oversees the employee and team "journey". He currently has more than two decades of experience working globally in the pharmaceutical, finance, franchising and sales industries, and is the current Chief Learning Officer at the Global Leader Group.
Click to expand...
Are there many people left on Merlin's board from the Varney-era, or people that have been promoted from within?

It seems to be an entirely new team both at the board level and at more regional level with the SLT team at Towers as well. Not sure if the trend continues in other areas of the company though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top