Moon Voyager rooms and beyond!

[Rob]

Dan, did they say anything about being able to get any AP discount on them? It's a real shame they are so much, I'd love to stay in one!

I've just been having a chat with Russell about them though and we had a thought. Maybe they are re-doing the whole of ATH and making it more of a premium hotel. So all the rooms eventually will feature extras such as an X-Box and be more unique. The prices for ATH will then be more than they currently are (but not quite £400 for every room!) This would allow Splash to be the cheaper hotel. The lodges would then either be priced somewhere in between the two, or less than Splash depending how exactly they want to go about the lodges. It may not be a popular idea but it wouldn't actually be bad one in my opinion.

 

[TheMan]

A room on 16th March is £400.

Ouch.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

SMH

You can stay in 5 Star Capital City oligarch style luxury for less!! The Dorchester's (Park Lane, Mayfair) Superior Queen perhaps? Maybe even the The Berkeley's (Knightsbridge) Deluxe King is more your style?

There are probably a 100 hotels I would pay 400 quid a room for before I paid it for one of these themed rooms. I was impressed at first, and ready to praise, but now?

Alton Towers, you have well and truly lost the plot on this one - you are in pricing cloud cuckoo land! Imagine the service you get at the likes of the Dorchester too?

Some examples of what I mean!

You want top theming and F&B? How about "The Fashion Tea" in Knightsbridge?

Or maybe you are feeling a bit "Hollywood" and enjoying feeling like royalty...

I mean, come on! ALL CHEAPER than that room!!

My advice is save the 50 odd quid you will save by staying in one of the top rooms in either of those establishments, and spend the money on real, top quality food, service, and experience - then go home, buy yourself some starry wall paper and few props and deck your bedrooms out so you can enjoy it every day.

Honestly, beyond belief.

 

[CoasterCrazyChris]

NB: The rooms are bigger than Travelodge.

Depends. I have stayed in Travelodge rooms that are actually bigger than ATH standard room. Although it was in London.

These Moon Voyager rooms are at LEAST £200 overpriced for March.

 

[TheMan]

NB: The rooms are bigger than Travelodge.

Depends. I have stayed in Travelodge rooms that are actually bigger than ATH standard room. Although it was in London.

These Moon Voyager rooms are at LEAST £200 overpriced for March.

I have used the top hotels in the Country, that are revered the world over, and are cheaper than these rooms to showcase how hideous this pricing is.

It is greed beyond contempt. Those willing to pay this price, in what is essentially off season, frankly deserve to be parted from their money!

 

[Jordan]

For comparison - a quick look at room prices at London's prestigious Savoy hotel returns a room for £390/night for the 16th March, whilst the following weekend you can get a 1-bed suite at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge for £419, which includes access to spa and swimming pool facilities.

Xbox or not, you simply cannot compare the Alton Towers Hotel with the likes of these, however the resort clearly seems to aspire to!

 

[TheMan]

For comparison - a quick look at room prices at London's prestigious Savoy hotel returns a room for £390/night for the 16th March, whilst the following weekend you can get a 1-bed suite at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge for £419, which includes access to spa and swimming pool facilities.

Xbox or not, you simply cannot compare the Alton Towers Hotel with the likes of these, however the resort clearly seems to aspire to!

So, that is The Berkeley, The Savoy, The Dorchester, and Park Plaza.... OR, some moon wallpaper and fixtures/fittings at ATH...

Glad to find almost universal condemnation of this so far, and rightly so - this also highlights and perfectly demonstrates other points I been ridiculed at times for.

They are heading in the direction, of creeping prices, for less and less. This is the first major shock, but shows a mentality - otherwise you don't do this, do you?

Might some of you start to believe, that I do actually know what I am talking about yet?

 

[GAGrathea]

So we've so far had one very reasonable quote and one extortionate one for these - sounds like a case of Towers' famous communication again to me.

I hope the prices do not stay that high - we shall see

 

[James]

They may be so high in price due to the limited number of rooms at the moment.

Hopefully overtime, when more hotel rooms come up to the same standard the prices will drop down to an acceptable level (well acceptable by Alton terms at least).

Although £400 is ridiculous.

 

[Scott]

I very much doubt the prices will stick at that. Two people have now phoned up and received two wildly different quotations.

Clearly something is up if they are trying to charge more for these standard sized rooms then they are for suites. Of course, it is possible they are pricing people out of these to discourage bookings for early season while they work out their pricing strategy and give them breathing room to get them ready.

I really dislike how the entire mood can switch over one thing though... These rooms are the way forward for ATH and are a fantastic idea - particularly if and when they are rolled out across the hotel. The quoted price may be hideously high but I really don't see it staying at that for long.

 

[TheMan]

I really dislike how the entire mood can switch over one thing though... These rooms are the way forward for ATH and are a fantastic idea - particularly if and when they are rolled out across the hotel. The quoted price may be hideously high but I really don't see it staying at that for long.

Mine hasn't really changed that much, I felt it was overpriced anyway, especially for the service mentioned here - OK, when the off season prices (which are very reasonable indeed) were compared to TL prices and what you receive that cannot be argued with. You don't expect brilliant service for that.

However, what I will not do, is sit here and not be highly critical of circumstances surrounding a place that I have loved for many years. I have loved and visited this place, for longer than some of you have been alive, the fact that quotes are coming back differently (which I confess I must have missed here) is also another example of mismanagement/no co-ordination if true.

I'm sorry this may irk some of you, but I'm not that bothered to be honest, as my number one priority is not pussy footing around, but ensuring the standards at our premier theme park, remain more "premier" and less "premier inn".

I can understand a lot of you have contacts in the resort I don't have, so perhaps that colours how you will discuss matters - that's fair, and decent, I don't have that restriction, and praise and critique as I see fit.

I've gone against the majority in my praise of the theme, name, and general feel of SW7/TheSmiler - whilst questioning will the Gerst hardware do that justice? Still not convinced it will by the way either. I will also happily change my thoughts if new information comes to light, such as Scarefest of which I was extremely critical - which then changed to high praise under circumstances. So I may change my thoughts when more details come to light.

Right now though? I find this a disgrace.

 

[Scott]

However, what I will not do, is sit here and not be highly critical of circumstances surrounding a place that I have loved for many years. I have loved and visited this place, for longer than some of you have been alive

(...)

I'm sorry this may irk some of you, but I'm not that bothered to be honest, as my number one priority is not pussy footing around, but ensuring the standards at our premier theme park, remain more "premier" and less "premier inn".

I can understand a lot of you have contacts in the resort I don't have, so perhaps that colours how you will discuss matters - that's fair, and decent, I don't have that restriction, and praise and critique as I see fit.

I don't really follow...

On this forum we can all be ferociously critical alongside being fantastically full of praise. We all visit this site because of a common interest and we all want that interest to succeed and be the best it can be! Just because you have loved it longer than some doesn't necessarily mean that you care any more or any less.

I equally don't quite see how your consumer tirades, however well-meaning they may be, are "ensuring standards" any moreso than moaning from anybody else. The tone of your post comes across rather 'holier than thou' as if you have some sort of clout that can change things at the parks and in the hotels.

I'll agree the prices are wrong (right now) but I can see them levelling out soon and am prepared to admit I am wrong if it doesn't happen. From a purely room basis though, they look amazing and exactly what the hotel needs. I still have to remind myself that you might be a hotel 'expert' but you are not an 'expert' on Alton Towers hotels, having admitted to never setting foot in either one.

 

[Dave]

Fantastic looking rooms but if they expect to upgrade all the rooms and have people paying more than the Savoy then that's a little loopy. The hotels are already over-priced in season (yet very reasonable when its closed season).

Knowing the resort though its likely a bit of a "computer says no" situation and next week it will drop.

 

[TheMan]

However, what I will not do, is sit here and not be highly critical of circumstances surrounding a place that I have loved for many years. I have loved and visited this place, for longer than some of you have been alive

(...)

I'm sorry this may irk some of you, but I'm not that bothered to be honest, as my number one priority is not pussy footing around, but ensuring the standards at our premier theme park, remain more "premier" and less "premier inn".

I can understand a lot of you have contacts in the resort I don't have, so perhaps that colours how you will discuss matters - that's fair, and decent, I don't have that restriction, and praise and critique as I see fit.

I don't really follow...

On this forum we can all be ferociously critical alongside being fantastically full of praise. We all visit this site because of a common interest and we all want that interest to succeed and be the best it can be! Just because you have loved it longer than some doesn't necessarily mean that you care any more or any less.

I equally don't quite see how your consumer tirades, however well-meaning they may be, are "ensuring standards" any moreso than moaning from anybody else. The tone of your post comes across rather 'holier than thou' as if you have some sort of clout that can change things at the parks and in the hotels.

I'll agree the prices are wrong (right now) but I can see them levelling out soon and am prepared to admit I am wrong if it doesn't happen. From a purely room basis though, they look amazing and exactly what the hotel needs. I still have to remind yourself that you might be a hotel 'expert' but you are not an 'expert' on Alton Towers hotels, having admitted to never setting foot in either one.

If you want to take my posts as Holier than thou, I couldn't really care less truth be told. Bit beyond that by now. Ensuring standards may have been the wrong choice of phrase, I think you know what I mean by now, it's not like it isn't in the context of a greater meaning post now is it? We can all play the facetious game, I chose not to.

This is no different to the SW7 threads where members are convinced there will be "NO washing machine" etc. You don't find me jumping over you with "how do you know" posts like others do, do you? Why? Because I respect the things that you do know that is why. Also, if my mates worked at Alton Towers, or I ran this site etc, you wouldn't find me being this open as I say, it's expected. That doesn't mean to say they are exempt from criticism from you, but to suggest it is anything like people without a more vested interest in the park personally speak, I find totally at odds with the posts I read.

I am not criticising the site for this, or members, it is how it should be! However I think that having watched Towers develop from very little into today, and supporting it across all those years, I will have strong opinions and have experienced a far wider time line that you have, like it or not.

Equally I have said multiple times, I accept having not set foot in the hotels, I based my points entirely on reading the opinions and thoughts of others. I have said no different, however a price like this is easy to judge. You do not need to be an expert in "Alton Towers Hotel" to understand good service, appropriate pricing, and relevance to your product & target market. That's ludicrous. It will have its nuances, and subtleties as all places do - it was argued that service is somehow different wherever you go in the world - in terms of locality, customs, quirks of each place yes, but the fundamentals of price/service are universal in language and it doesn't take a genius to work out, that Alton Towers at 400 quid a night are no where near it.

I have great experience in hospitality, I don't proclaim to be a "hotel expert", I do however possess common sense.

Experience, and dedication to trades or places over many years, instills within you a passion if you care, if you think you get annoyed with stuff that happens to Alton now, give it another 10/20 years then you will understand - that is not a slight or slur upon anyone, it is just how life is, and the more you experience it, the easier it becomes to spot these issues a mile off.

I love this place, and I do not want to see if become a bastian of high cost and poor relative service. These rooms even if they lower the price, are up against the UK's very best and most prestigious hotels, earlier we are talking "great value compared to Travel Lodge" - now we are saying, more expensive the London's premier 5 star historical hotels!!! Moon Room theme or not, the prices should be half that! There is no "Disney" premium, there is no special service, and there is hence no motivation to pay way over the odds to stay - even if it is my favourite place in the UK to visit.

This post is full of passion for a place I love, not "holier than thou" attitudes. I understand, text can come across wrong, especially when I get into all out text mode! However, it is not to belittle anyone else here or their opinions, that is not my style and I hope that has cleared up any misunderstandings and we can avoid any further use of more personal sentiments...

 

[Scott]

I'm not being facetious, I'm stating my personal opinion on what you posted and how it came across to me and possibly others when reading it. Sometimes all of this talk of experience and knowledge can come across over-bearing is all. You might not mean that or mean to be argumentative but sometimes your 'experience' or 'expertise' can seem like you know more than others and thus your opinion should be more valid. I'm not saying that is what you necessarily believe but it is how it can come across to me - on a personal level.

I can't really be bothered to find a lot else to say (which might seem lazy on my part but I'm not bothered) as your post is just a wall of text which I'm too tired to go through properly. Basically, I agree that the price is too high and that I hope it lowers over the next few weeks. I also agree that the resort needs a lot of work to feel like a premier product again. I also think that the rooms will look fantastic and are a great idea.

Maybe if we need to continue the thoughts on posting style we could discuss it elsewhere so we don't take this off topic

 

[Rob]

If the price stays at £400 for the rooms throughout the season then I really hope they don't sell any of them as to be honest they don't deserve to. £400 is an obscene amount of money for a room in ATH, even if it is nicely themed. In reality, I expect prices to come down sharpish.

 

[rightbackgranty]

£400 a night is more expensive than a room at the Disneyland Paris Hotel on the same date. I know there are many criticisms of DLP, but that £400 includes entry to 2 parks, a downtown village and vastly superior entertainment.

That said, £400 sounds like an error to me. I've found the AT website inconsistent at best when pricing up hotel rooms, so I'm expecting it to drop!

 

[TheMan]

Maybe if we need to continue the thoughts on posting style we could discuss it elsewhere so we don't take this off topic

I am happy with who I am, and my thoughts, and if some find it over bearing then that is never my intention but I don't make apologies for being passionate, or indeed experienced in areas.

I am 35 years old, not 16, and I have worked since 14 whilst at school - starting in catering, washing up etc, doing the hard graft. The reason I relay my experiences, is so that people have a reference point to where my opinions come from... the topics I have no knowledge of, I happily admit and respect those that do (those posts just don't get mentioned very often). Crikey, even BigT would back me up on that!

I don't think it is right, because I have much experience, that this is deemed a bad thing - I have offered it to many, as advice or help if needed - and have done this quite a bit, in private, and continue that as this is what I do everywhere I go.

Anyway, that is a bit off topic and I have expressed my opinions and why.

What is ironic, is you will hardly ever find me debating in many coaster tech threads, why? Well, there are people here far, far more talented and knowledgeable in this area than I am lol! People like Al, Sam & John really know their stuff & I enjoy learning from them, it's a great privilege in fact... that desire to learn, is why I have gotten involved passionately with many industries.

Anyway, 400 quid, phwoaar, that's a bit steep ay it (as they say down this way)

 

[Poisson]

£400?? Jeezus, do they get the base price and apply the Merlin formula* to it?

*Merlin formula is: Base Price + (Your Age x 4+1) + The Amount Of Money Spent + (18 x 12.2) = Room Price!

 

[Ben]

Removed some non-topic discussion.

I suspect the £400 rate might be a trial to see how the public react to the price, if even us ardent fans are disappointed by the cost I expect they will come down with a bump fairly soon.

In my eyes the better way to have them as they are upgraded rooms (i.e. not suites) is standard room price + 10%. That way, they feel premium, the price is still variable to the resort and always higher than normal.

 

[GAGrathea]

Just off the phone from the resort, latest quoted price for Sat 16th March was £370, with no discounts.

FTW though!