Ride Availability/Operations 2022-24

[Dave]

It's entirely fair to judge her for being completely invisible (to guests at least) while all this is kicking off tho, save for 1 reply on Instagram basically saying the customer was wrong or overly harsh to point out a ride's poor reliability. She is the public face of a business which is taking tens of millions in revenue from customers this week and giving them a terrible experience in return.

A good manager would absorb the tension and take the heat out when times are tough so their staff can deal with getting things stable again. There's any number of ways they might do that but saying nothing and/or pretending everything is super are not valid options.

I have no doubt a good amount of what's going on is not Ms. Sammut's fault directly, but this is her job. Accountability is not the same as blame.

She isn’t the public face of the park at all.

And knowing some people who work at the resort they all say she is approachable, engaging and available to the team she leads (who she is responsible for).

The public face of the resort are the marketing department, and I guarantee they will dictate a lot of the engagement the divisional director can undertake.

None of that takes away from the absolute shower that the resort is in at the moment, but to attack one individual who had not been in the role for long is not really appropriate. If after next year things haven’t improved then sure I think there would be place for polite and respectful critique of her management as an individual, but right this minute I don’t see much to suggest the current horror show isn’t the chickens of the past 15 years coming home to roost.

 

[WillPS]

She isn’t the public face of the park at all.

Rubbish. She has put herself front and centre in a way no previous person in the same position has - with an instagram feed for her as "Bianca @ Alton Towers", a starring role in much of the park's social media (including that incredibly cringy video that keeps being posted, which was a masterclass in setting expectations unnecessarily high) and finally she has made herself a star attraction at these recent events.

None of this was historically part of that job. And it's to her credit that she has done these things, but you can't do this stuff and then expect to be able to slip behind the scenes again when stuff is tough.

She has made managing guest expectations through marketing part of her job - she has to do the rough bits as well as the smooth bits. Well, she doesn't have to but I think we've all worked for managers who haven't done this and felt the pain.

And knowing some people who work at the resort they all say she is approachable, engaging and available to the team she leads (who she is responsible for).

Stuff the poor souls who actually have to interract with guests then? The ones she's stitching up with her own personal branded content?

The public face of the resort are the marketing department, and I guarantee they will dictate a lot of the engagement the divisional director can undertake.

They are literally not the public face at all, none of them - and who reports to who here? Ms. Sammut is in charge of Alton Towers, surely?

Again, it'd be a hallmark of an absolutely terrible manager to try and use one of the teams they lead as a shield.

None of that takes away from the absolute shower that the resort is in at the moment, but to attack one individual who had not been in the role for long is not really appropriate. If after next year things haven’t improved then sure I think there would be place for polite and respectful critique of her management as an individual, but right this minute I don’t see much to suggest the current horror show isn’t the chickens of the past 15 years coming home to roost.

This isn't about legacy - it's about what's happening right now. If she had taken over this week or maybe even this season I would totally agree, but the perilous state of things should be abundantly clear - there was time to take further mitigating actions and also time to sort of the level of expectation. None of this has happened. The buck with this stops with who is running the show.

 

[owenstreet7]

She isn’t the public face of the park at all.

And knowing some people who work at the resort they all say she is approachable, engaging and available to the team she leads (who she is responsible for).

The public face of the resort are the marketing department, and I guarantee they will dictate a lot of the engagement the divisional director can undertake.

None of that takes away from the absolute shower that the resort is in at the moment, but to attack one individual who had not been in the role for long is not really appropriate. If after next year things haven’t improved then sure I think there would be place for polite and respectful critique of her management as an individual, but right this minute I don’t see much to suggest the current horror show isn’t the chickens of the past 15 years coming home to roost.

I am thinking that the issues are from up above rather than the current divisional director. It may seem harsh to go after an individual in this case when it's clearly a team effort and she is potentially a puppet when it comes to running the park.

There's a chance that her hands are completely tied as a result of a range of factors including engineering staff recruitment and retention issues and she's making the best of the situation which is unfortunate.

Whilst other parks are doing better in ride availability, their queues are abnormal across the board and that's seems to have been normalised as a result in this country.

I'm hoping there will be a review at the end of the season of this season's October half term week and plans put in place for improvements in the coming seasons.

I'm not defending Bianca although she is the most public I've seen from a divisional director.

 

[Dave]

Rubbish. She has put herself front and centre in a way no previous person in the same position has - with an instagram feed for her as "Bianca @ Alton Towers", a starring role in much of the park's social media (including that incredibly cringy video that keeps being posted, which was a masterclass in setting expectations unnecessarily high) and finally she has made herself a star attraction at these recent events.

None of this was historically part of that job. And it's to her credit that she has done these things, but you can't do this stuff and then expect to be able to slip behind the scenes again when stuff is tough.

She has made managing guest expectations through marketing part of her job - she has to do the rough bits as well as the smooth bits. Well, she doesn't have to but I think we've all worked for managers who haven't done this and felt the pain.


Stuff the poor souls who actually have to interract with guests then? The ones she's stitching up with her own personal branded content?


They are literally not the public face at all, none of them - and who reports to who here? Ms. Sammut is in charge of Alton Towers, surely?

Again, it'd be a hallmark of an absolutely terrible manager to try and use one of the teams they lead as a shield.


This isn't about legacy - it's about what's happening right now. If she had taken over this week or maybe even this season I would totally agree, but the perilous state of things should be abundantly clear - there was time to take further mitigating actions and also time to sort of the level of expectation. None of this has happened. The buck with this stops with who is running the show.

I think this fixation on one individual isn’t helpful.

Obviously you know all the contributing issues internally and have evaluated the day to day operational decision making made by said individual, assessed its effectiveness and considered it lacking. Sadly unlike you the rest of us have not had such high level access to that information so have to wait and see what occurs before jumping to conclusions.

However this debate is going nowhere, I choose to wait for evidence of individual incompetence rather than organisational incompetence before levelling such an accusation and with something as large as Alton Towers, with such a long history of neglect I just feel that time needs to be given to see what can be done.

I will say with the clear evidence Merlin are cost cutting across the group I am not hopeful anyone could fix the situation but then that becomes a problem far bigger than one human.

 

[WillPS]

I think this fixation on one individual isn’t helpful.

Obviously you know all the contributing issues internally and have evaluated the day to day operational decision making made by said individual, assessed its effectiveness and considered it lacking. Sadly unlike you the rest of us have not had such high level access to that information so have to wait and see what occurs before jumping to conclusions.

However this debate is going nowhere, I choose to wait for evidence of individual incompetence rather than organisational incompetence before levelling such an accusation and with something as large as Alton Towers, with such a long history of neglect I just feel that time needs to be given to see what can be done.

I will say with the clear evidence Merlin are cost cutting across the group I am not hopeful anyone could fix the situation but then that becomes a problem far bigger than one human.

I'm not seeing allegations of incompetence anywhere, what I am saying is there is no good management on display.

When Steve Jobs presented the iPhone 4 he said all sorts of superlatives about how wonderful it was. When antennagate kicked off it was he who presented the mitgating steps they're taking. He did so with his patented lack of humility, but he offered himself up nonetheless. Customers (rightly!) expected him to do it, and staff needed him to do it to show the problem was acknowledged and allow them all to move forwards.

That's a textbook example of what being a figurehead of a large organisation is all about.

You don't have to make yourself a known figurehead, and you don't have to be visible ever - but if you do it's totally unacceptable to just front the good stuff and ignore the bad. That's cheerleading, not leading.

 

[Benzin]

You don't have to make yourself a known figurehead, and you don't have to be visible ever - but if you do it's totally unacceptable to just front the good stuff and ignore the bad. That's cheerleading, not leading.

Merlin are good at that, based upon the distinct lack of staff who were loving the adoration the day after Hyperia opened.

However, I'm not entirely sure what people would expect her to say or do in this situation? Doing a social media based video isn't going to fix things, nor have the sort of reach that is potentially needed. I doubt they also want to give any fuel to the press to infer that the park is unsafe.

The buck stops with the budget given by the higher ups unfortunately. Best she can probably do is put together something that shows they need more budget and more attainable targets that have some actual consideration to the wider impacts on the attendance.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

When Steve Jobs presented the iPhone 4 he said all sorts of superlatives about how wonderful it was.

Famously not being able to get the iPhone to load web pages, stopping the presentation and throwing a strop and having a meltdown until the audience got off the WiFi.

When antennagate kicked off it was he who presented the mitgating steps they're taking.

When antennagate kicked off, he sent a very snotty email to customers accusing them of "holding it wrong".

He did so with his patented lack of humility, but he offered himself up nonetheless. Customers (rightly!) expected him to do it, and staff needed him to do it to show the problem was acknowledged and allow them all to move forwards.

Apple only responded because a class action lawsuit had been filed against them. It was finally settled in 2012, giving everyone the option of $15 or a free bumper case.

That's a textbook example of what being a figurehead of a large organisation is all about.

In another presentation demo, Steve Jobs couldn't get his camera to work. He ends up throwing it at one of his employees, and berating them sarcastically, in front of dozens of journalists, their fellow coworkers and other audience members.

From: https://youtu.be/1M4t14s7nSM?si=LLkvZiLWjDJyzJN5


Steve Jobs is a textbook example of how not to be a figurehead for a large organisation. He was great at selling things, but he alienated customers, was notoriously horrible to staff, and had disdain for anyone who dare question his approach or company.

This was also a man who denied the paternity of his daughter for pretty much her entire lifetime, despite having taken a DNA test proving otherwise. He later gave his daughter's name to an Apple product, but denied it had anything to do with her, and still denied that she was his daughter.

If Bianca took the Steve Jobs approach it would be disastrous.

"You're riding the coasters wrong"
"Let's see what an expert can do"

 

[Bowser]

Is there any precedent for parks publicly acknowledging poor service?

Also I was going to say everything is open by lunchtime but then 3 went down again.

 

[WillPS]

Famously not being able to get the iPhone to load web pages, stopping the presentation and throwing a strop and having a meltdown until the audience got off the WiFi.

When antennagate kicked off, he sent a very snotty email to customers accusing them of "holding it wrong".

Apple only responded because a class action lawsuit had been filed against them. It was finally settled in 2012, giving everyone the option of $15 or a free bumper case.

In another presentation demo, Steve Jobs couldn't get his camera to work. He ends up throwing it at one of his employees, and berating them sarcastically, in front of dozens of journalists, their fellow coworkers and other audience members.

From: https://youtu.be/1M4t14s7nSM?si=LLkvZiLWjDJyzJN5


Steve Jobs is a textbook example of how not to be a figurehead for a large organisation. He was great at selling things, but he alienated customers, was notoriously horrible to staff, and had disdain for anyone who dare question his approach or company.

This was also a man who denied the paternity of his daughter for pretty much her entire lifetime, despite having taken a DNA test proving otherwise. He later gave his daughter's name to an Apple product, but denied it had anything to do with her, and still denied that she was his daughter.

If Bianca took the Steve Jobs approach it would be disastrous.

"You're riding the coasters wrong"
"Let's see what an expert can do"

I'm not saying he was perfect or even outstanding, I'm citing one example of handling a very toxic situation the right way.

Not an Apple fan boy (although I do use Macs nowadays).

 

[Mick]

Any sort of public facing video or news update stating ‘these are the problems, and this is what we’re doing about them’ will never happen, for two reasons. Firstly, it’s amplifying the problem, lowering guest expectations and would hit the income. Secondly, because if things fail to improve at the rate that they say, or even improve at all then they’re setting themselves up for further criticism and bad press.

The best you’ll get is anecdotal comments - e.g. someone bumping into her at the park, having a brief chat and relaying the comments.

 

[WillPS]

Merlin are good at that, based upon the distinct lack of staff who were loving the adoration the day after Hyperia opened.

However, I'm not entirely sure what people would expect her to say or do in this situation? Doing a social media based video isn't going to fix things, nor have the sort of reach that is potentially needed. I doubt they also want to give any fuel to the press to infer that the park is unsafe.

The buck stops with the budget given by the higher ups unfortunately. Best she can probably do is put together something that shows they need more budget and more attainable targets that have some actual consideration to the wider impacts on the attendance.

An acknowledgement that things have no been as good as they should have been, and some sort of mitigation for guests - a heads up and an opportunity to change bookings as an absolute minimum.

Dragging, what, 100k(?) people to the park through a TV adverstising campaign and god knows what else and subjecting them to this is short-sighted in the absolute extreme. Nothing can be done in the timescales required to make these rides work better, we know that, and there's no budget for much else. All you can reasonably do at that point is be honest about what you've got, promise improvements and let guests make their own mind up whether to continue with their expectations set correctly.

It doesn't have to be a negative message overall.

 

[Ethan]

Good to see Nemmy back on 2 trains. Makes a world of difference to the queue. It seems that the maintenance team got out some magical dust this morning to get everything open

 

[BigShadowtinytree]

I don’t know what’s changed today compared to the last few days but from my armchair, queue times don’t seem too bad and there seem to be far fewer breakdowns. Dare I say it, people might actually be having a nice day on park.

 

[s_g_k]

Yeah today is a marked improvement on the last few days.

For all we know, multiple key engineers could’ve been off sick which may have had a big impact on getting rides signed off / quick fixes being done / getting Nemmy back on 2 trains.

 

[venny]

I feel like I’m repeating myself, but it does seem fair that there is some reasonable critique of a person who has intentionally put herself at the forefront of personal public engagement between the park and its audience. It’s not just appearing in videos, it’s interviews, podcasts, presentations, meet and greets, even putting your initials on the Nemesis theming. At what point in a tenure should you be responsible/accountable for poor service, poor ride availability, poor recruitment? It can’t all be someone else’s fault.

Of course some of the issues currently experienced are a product of years of underinvestment or decisions above Resprt level, but there is little perceivable improvement to either the large or small problems we see.

If management aren’t responsible for the current terrible ride availability (see numerous examples in this thread), the current cuts to opening hours, the current approach to F&B (see the “it’s not our fault” responses to complaints), the cuts to events (see removal of FoT, Mardi Gras) or the current terrible service (see closed Guest Services queue), what exactly should they be held accountable for?

How much longer should we give them before closing the Guest Services queue is their responsibility?

How many more “everything’s great” videos, podcasts and presentations do we listen to without accepting them on face value?

 

[Bowser]

I don’t know what’s changed today compared to the last few days but from my armchair, queue times don’t seem too bad and there seem to be far fewer breakdowns. Dare I say it, people might actually be having a nice day on park.

It's Halloween, all the parks are quiet today. Will be interesting to see if this is maintained for tomorrow.

 

[addy2503]

I don’t know what’s changed today compared to the last few days but from my armchair, queue times don’t seem too bad and there seem to be far fewer breakdowns. Dare I say it, people might actually be having a nice day on park.

It's an MAP restriction date today for all but the platinum passes, so likely fewer people on park. Think similar has happened with restriction dates earlier in the year?

 

[Bowser]

It's an MAP restriction date today for all but the platinum passes, so likely fewer people on park. Think similar has happened with restriction dates earlier in the year?

The weekend was a MAP restriction date too and that was absolutely heaving. I think people just have other plans on actual Halloween.

 

[addy2503]

The weekend was a MAP restriction date too and that was absolutely heaving. I think people just have other plans on actual Halloween.

Yeah, you're probably right, maybe a mix of both?
Or maybe people have seen what the last few days have been like and not bothered going?

 

[Bowser]

Yeah, you're probably right, maybe a mix of both?
Or maybe people have seen what the last few days have been like and not bothered going?

All the parks are quiet (including non Merlin) so don't think that is the case.