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Stargazing Pods
- Thread starter Matt N
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- stargazing pods
Rick
TS Member
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- Crux
At the risk of covering old ground, I think that completely misunderstands the whole concept of the Pods. They are not a cheaper alternative to a hotel - they are a completely different experience. Pseudo camping, without quite being glamping. The fact that I can spend more staying over in a Premier Inn or B&B is irrelevant.
It's like saying "Why have you collected a Dominos pizza, when you could go to a nice Italian Italian restaurant for a few quid more" ? Well ... because tonight I want to eat a pizza in my lounge without cutlery, watching a crap film, cuddled up my nearest and dearest and the dog .... I can't do that in an Italian restaurant.
In the same way, if I opt to camp (or stay in a pod), I am not looking for a hotel experience, nor am I expecting one.
That sounds like a sure fire way to collapse your revenue and destroy any margin that's available to you. If you're camping with kids, eating in the park is a bit of a pain - why wouldn't you want to do it local to your accommodation ?
Many of the recent reviews illustrate what I am saying better than I can:
STARGAZING PODS - Updated 2024 Prices, Reviews (Farley)
Book Stargazing Pods, Farley on Tripadvisor: See 267 traveller reviews, 304 candid photos, and great deals for Stargazing Pods, ranked #1 of 1 Speciality lodging in Farley and rated 3.5 of 5 at Tripadvisor.
jon81uk
TS Member
At the risk of covering old ground, I think that completely misunderstands the whole concept of the Pods. They are not a cheaper alternative to a hotel - they are a completely different experience. Pseudo camping, without quite being glamping. The fact that I can spend more staying over in a Premier Inn or B&B is irrelevant.
It's like saying "Why have you collected a Dominos pizza, when you could go to a nice Italian Italian restaurant for a few quid more" ? Well ... because tonight I want to eat a pizza in my lounge without cutlery, watching a crap film, cuddled up my nearest and dearest and the dog .... I can't do that in an Italian restaurant.
In the same way, if I opt to camp (or stay in a pod), I am not looking for a hotel experience, nor am I expecting one.
That sounds like a sure fire way to collapse your revenue and destroy any margin that's available to you. If you're camping with kids, eating in the park is a bit of a pain - why wouldn't you want to do it local to your accommodation ?
Many of the recent reviews illustrate what I am saying better than I can:
STARGAZING PODS - Updated 2024 Prices, Reviews (Farley)
Book Stargazing Pods, Farley on Tripadvisor: See 267 traveller reviews, 304 candid photos, and great deals for Stargazing Pods, ranked #1 of 1 Speciality lodging in Farley and rated 3.5 of 5 at Tripadvisor.www.tripadvisor.co.uk
The Premier Inn point was that it’s often cheaper than the pods, several of the reviews do refer to pods as a budget option, but often there is a cheaper accommodation if you don’t need to be on site.
Then the pods don’t offer any of the benefits of actual camping such as being able to cook your own meals so you still need to go to the restaurants. Most people staying over will be going into the park so offering meals there makes sense, especially for breakfast. If they allowed camp stoves to be used at the pods then yes it would make sense to eat at your accommodation and treat it as camping but as you need to eat from AT I expect there are people who would rather have a better sit down breakfast instead of just a sandwich.
Maybe it’s just me but I think I would rather either actually camp with the benefits such as being able to cook for yourself or stay in other accommodation where there are enough facilities for everyone to eat in a restaurant.
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Rick
TS Member
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- Crux
Of course there is ... but I still can't compute what that's got to do with anything, if people are staying in them with the intention of staying on resort, the fact that someone can pay to park, battle to get off site and drive 30 mins to Uttoxeter for accommodation that is in no way equivalent ... so what ?
"Hey Rick, you could have got a much cheaper hotel if you didn't want a sea view" ... But I wanted a sea view !
I think the no camp stoves thing is a safety thing first and foremost, but it also has the attractive by-product of hoping that people will spend money in the hotels.
Being able to cook your own stuff may indeed be perceived to be an advantage, but again, I think that is subjective - if you have all the clobber and you are a keen camping family, that's perhaps something that you think about. If you're not and don't have all the equipment in the garage, I think you probably don't.
It's definitely not just you mate, I totally get that these don't work for you, but would urge you to think that if a family was wanting a night away at Alton Towers, that this accommodation has a place in the portfolio.
Here are the latest five Trip Advisor reviews ... (not selected, just the latest) :
The sixth one not so much ... but Kevin's complaint was seemingly about the cleanliness, rather than the concept - which is certainly a problem, if that's common. Interestingly, there was no alternative accommodation (so either the park were blagging, or they were full ...)
James
TS Founding Member
I don't have an issue with the pods (£90 isn't horrific when you consider the upcharge for the privilege of staying on-site) but rather the lack of facilities on that side of the resort. There should be a building on the Enchanted Village site with a bar, entertainment venue, and arcade, and the restaurant should be extended. The pod’s area should have an outdoor stage for summer use.
I've stayed in EV in a lodge at the very back of the site. The feeling of being near nothing is very apparent, and it can feel like a trek having to walk to ATH to grab a few drinks. I've never seen the Tipi open on my stays either (not advertised anywhere, and when I've gone to it, it's all closed).
As someone who's stayed on the resort countless times since the 90s, as more accommodation has been built, the hotels (more so ATH) have become more and more congested, with facilities that were never designed to cope with the volume of guests it has now.
I've stayed in EV in a lodge at the very back of the site. The feeling of being near nothing is very apparent, and it can feel like a trek having to walk to ATH to grab a few drinks. I've never seen the Tipi open on my stays either (not advertised anywhere, and when I've gone to it, it's all closed).
As someone who's stayed on the resort countless times since the 90s, as more accommodation has been built, the hotels (more so ATH) have become more and more congested, with facilities that were never designed to cope with the volume of guests it has now.
djtruefitt
TS Team
The problem is since ATH and Splash opened they have added enchanted village and treehouses, CBeebies Hotel and the pods. With the only new facilities being the crooked spoon and CBeebies restaurant.
Which means everyone has to either go to ATH and splash for entertainment and if they can’t get in the crooked spoon they need to get food in one of the other restaurants.
Which means everyone has to either go to ATH and splash for entertainment and if they can’t get in the crooked spoon they need to get food in one of the other restaurants.
Rick
TS Member
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- Crux
@djtruefitt How much is that a problem ? I've never struggled to get a meal or drinks, but I am not usually there at peak times.
jon81uk
TS Member
Technically they added Rollercoaster Restaurant as a dinner venue too.
But it’s activities and entertainment that is really missing from the Stargazing area.
djtruefitt
TS Team
If you ever visit during a busy weekend you can see how busy the likes of ATH and splash bars can get, with massive queues. And you’ll probably struggle to get a place in the restaurants either unless you are eating at 5pm or 9pm.
AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
SGR has no availability on Saturday coming and even breakfast is limited.
Yeah, there's a major capacity problem. They're still selling rooms, of course...
And the less said about pod prices at week the better.
Honestly? The whole pod development is crap.
Yeah, there's a major capacity problem. They're still selling rooms, of course...
And the less said about pod prices at week the better.
Honestly? The whole pod development is crap.
Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
3 nights staying at Alton Towers, let alone in a pod, my lord! Poor Gina needs some help, that can't be good for anyone!
In all seriousness though, a lot of those review sum up the current problems with the hotels side of things. Many state how the pods are great and they are able to use the restaurants/bars and entertainment at the hotels. The restaurants and bars in the hotels that were both initially built to just cater for guests in said hotels. But they now have to cater for guests in the hotels, in the pods, in the Enchanted Village. The capacity of them is just not enough.
Merlin are fully to blame here. Their policy over the last 10 years of adding a load of rooms to their sites without thinking about associated facilities has been poor and is a difficult one to remediate. They were too focussed on meeting targets to please shareholders.
BarryZola
TS Member
It's a bit like the country in general isn't it? Invite as many people in as possible hoping that they generate funds and leave it to them to fight over the available resources/supplies. If you're sitting in Merlin head office I doubt it makes any difference to you, it's just numbers on a screen. In reality they should probably only allow patrons of each particular hotel to use those facilities such as dining/bar as it's not really fair on those who have paid a premium to stay in that setting if they're having to wait ages longer for food and drinks because the pod crew are clogging up the bars and restaurants. If you pay for a pod you get a pod experience etc. Basically just somewhere to sleep with some toilets in the vicinity. Bring your own snacks.
Matt N
TS Member
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- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Are things like Deliveroo and UberEats available in the immediate locale surrounding Alton Towers?
Or is it a less instantaneous case of looking up nearby takeaways and either ringing them up to request a delivery or physically driving there?
With it being a relatively rural area, I was unsure.
It’s a surprising suggestion either way, though; surely Alton Towers staff would be encouraging guests to spend as much money on Alton Towers’ own offering as possible?
To be honest, Alton’s own room service offering worked pretty well for us as an alternative to the hotel food last year. We ordered pizzas for our room, and they were perfectly tasty and much less expensive than the restaurant food!
pluk
TS Member
There is nowhere to tell them to spend their money as there's no availability at the oversubscribed restraunts.
BigShadowtinytree
TS Member
The only place I’ve ever seen suggested on the Facebook groups and similar for a takeaway delivery on resort at towers is Cheadle Kebab. Not sure if that’s because it’s the only place that delivers there, or if it’s the only decent place that delivers. Either way it doesn’t seem like there’s a huge choice when it comes to ordering a takeaway to the resort. I suppose if you drive you can go off resort and find some nice places to eat 10mins away but not everyone wants to do that.
djtruefitt
TS Team
I believe there’s a few options. Cheadle kebab definitely deliver as I’ve used it before.
And yes I’ve seen a manager tell guests to order online as there was no availability on site to eat. And I’ve seen it another time when it was later in the evening as with splash closed there was no option of late night food at all.
And yes I’ve seen a manager tell guests to order online as there was no availability on site to eat. And I’ve seen it another time when it was later in the evening as with splash closed there was no option of late night food at all.