Spa redevelopment

[Ben]

Remember back in 2023 when the spa just closed then didn’t reopen for ’essential future growth and development’?
I’ve not been back in ATH since but I’m curious if anyone has noted any growth or development? I assume they turned the lights off, locked the door and ignored it

 

[DiogoJ42]

It belongs to the mushrooms now.

 

[jon81uk]

Remember back in 2023 when the spa just closed then didn’t reopen for ’essential future growth and development’?
I’ve not been back in ATH since but I’m curious if anyone has noted any growth or development? I assume they turned the lights off, locked the door and ignored it

Do you have a link stating that was the reason? I thought they did just close down.

 

[Ben]

Do you have a link stating that was the reason? I thought they did just close down.

Towers times link

 

[djtruefitt]

They closed the doors, frosted over the windows and I assume nothing has happened in there since.

 

[jon81uk]

Towers times link

A longer section of the quote from the spokesperson “This was a difficult decision but one we feel is essential for the future growth and development of the Resort”

They didn’t close it to redevelop the spa, it’s purely because the running costs were too high and they wanted to reallocate that money to other projects. Now it’s likely the didn’t actually directly spend the money on something specific, but it could have been a decision along the line of keep a (I assume) loss-making or low profit spa open or have extra theming in the Nemesis queue or longer opening hours in the park.

TL: DR I think they wanted the money for future growth not the building space.

 

[James]

I think the spa was in a state of disrepair/holding on for dear life for several years before it closed. I would be surprised if it was making much money or had many visitors apart from a loyal customer base. It's likely that an unexpected high cost arose, or it reached the point where they could no longer operate it without significant investment.

The original plan seemed to be for the Spa to undergo a complete refurbishment, coinciding with the planned Spa extension and a new 'Spa Hotel' (now known as CBeebies Hotel). Towers/Merlin likely concluded that a CBeebies Hotel had more potential and scrapped the Spa hotel and its refurbishment and extension, leaving the spa in limbo until they decided to cut their losses and issue an ambiguous statement about growth and development, etc.

I'm surprised they haven't gutted it out and created more hotel rooms/suites.

 

[Hid]

Alton needs to step by step refurbish the resort side its all well having investment to the park but Alton could do with other activities outside the park

 

[Slugjc]

With the spa.

Keeping a spa up and running is costly. Speaking as a former employee of council run leisure centre, I fully understand why they decided to bin the whole project off.

Upkeep in a leisure centre is hard. Simply replacing a broken tile is a logistical nightmare. To keep an area of poolside, changing room dry. Forget it. Ok you can maybe smooth over a chipped or cracked tile. Simple corden off. Maybe do it at night. However, a replacement or fixing a tile in the pool. Could cause more trouble than it's worth. Simply draining a pool, could result in more times becoming loose. Not to mention the week+ it will take to empty, dry and refill, get the water to temp and the right levels of chemical into the water.Plus make sure the plant room isn't affected.

I can also image that another issue. You are totally dependent on tourist. Not the local's. A simple Google search will show you. Other places offer bigger and better facilities for the same price. That rules the locals out.

 

[jon81uk]

Other places offer bigger and better facilities for the same price. That rules the locals out.

Although in terms of spa facilities the Alton Towers thermal spa was one one of the cheaper places I think. When it closed it was £40/45 for the three hour session (£30/35 back in 2020) which was quite competitively priced I think and there was often good package prices (like the Rasul mud treatment). But as you note the running costs are high, especially with the electricity costs of saunas and similar.

 

[Slugjc]

Although in terms of spa facilities the Alton Towers thermal spa was one one of the cheaper places I think. When it closed it was £40/45 for the three hour session (£30/35 back in 2020) which was quite competitively priced I think and there was often good package prices (like the Rasul mud treatment). But as you note the running costs are high, especially with the electricity costs of saunas and similar.

Plus you are seriously relying on guest to the park. Not always a steady stream of income.

 

[jon81uk]

Plus you are seriously relying on guest to the park. Not always a steady stream of income.

I think they did get a reasonable number of people booking a spa break (like you would at a lot of hotels) in the winter when the park was closed. Likely not enough people more recently (especially as energy costs have gone up a lot). But that was one of the ideas of having the spa, to try and make the hotel & spa a destination when the theme park is closed and try and get year-round income. But high energy costs for the park and cost of living meaning people cutting back on treats probably didn't help.

 

[Slugjc]

I think they did get a reasonable number of people booking a spa break (like you would at a lot of hotels) in the winter when the park was closed. Likely not enough people more recently (especially as energy costs have gone up a lot). But that was one of the ideas of having the spa, to try and make the hotel & spa a destination when the theme park is closed and try and get year-round income. But high energy costs for the park and cost of living meaning people cutting back on treats probably didn't help.

It did always have a cheap and cheerful feeling to it.

Package's at a proper spa hotel, although more expensive. Would still have.been better value.