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The Hotels: A Journey

One thing I would say about ATH is that I would personally like it if more if some of the rooms were fitted with single beds as opposed to bunk beds, Premier Inn-style. Of course I don’t think they should replace the bunk beds with single beds wholesale, as I get that the hotel appeals to families, but the bunk beds aren’t particularly accommodating for adults or even possibly older children dependant on their size.

To be honest, new, more spacious bunk beds would probably suffice; the only reason I suggest the idea is because from experience, the ATH bunk beds are quite tough to get into and out of if you’re above a certain size. I remember staying in the hotel on Wicker Man’s opening weekend in 2018, when I was 4 months off 15, and I found getting into and out of the bottom bunk a struggle; it certainly wasn’t roomy enough to sit up in, so I sort of had to slide in sideways in a very undignified manner! For reference, I wasn’t exactly tall at the time (only around 5’7”), so I’d imagine a lot of adults and older children would struggle (I bring this up because there may be groups of adults sharing a room who might not want to share the double bed, or there may be families with older children staying). If I went back now as a fully-grown adult of 5’9”-5’10”, I almost certainly think I’d be using the pull-out bed, in fact I did last time I stayed in ATH when I was about 16.

Would it be possible for them to do this, if they ever did refurbish the rooms? I know the EV bunk beds are far more spacious, so Merlin must know someone who does bigger bunk beds. I was more wondering whether the ceilings in the rooms were tall enough, which was why I suggested singles.
 
You can get standard rooms with a single bed (and pull out bed underneath), you just request it when booking or ring the hotel to request.
 
Sorry to bump this thread, but I thought it would be an interesting one to bump given some searching I've been doing around TripAdvisor and the like at different hotels.

I know many on here are expressing discontent at the Alton Towers hotels, but my friendly question is; are you expressing discontent because you're comparing them to the likes of the Europa Park hotels abroad? If so, I think it's worth noting that they are different scales of product and different prices; when tested on a midweek night in April 2022, Alton Towers' cheapest hotel rate on a per night basis is Splash Landings at £145, while Europa Park's cheapest hotel rate on the same night with the same booking criteria (excluding the camp resort etc for an easier like-for-like comparison, and also excluding Stargazing Pods at Towers) is El Andaluz at the equivalent of £178. So Europa is a more highly priced experience on the whole than Towers, and it's also worth noting that Europa's hotels are mostly 4* Superior, with only El Andaluz and Castillo Alcazar being 4*, while the bulk of Alton Towers' offering is either 4* or 3* (SLH, the option being cited here, is 3*), so Alton Towers isn't aiming to be quite on the same scale in terms of "premiumness" as Europa. Europa also gets vastly higher guest figures, as well, so has more money to play with in terms of spicing up the hotels.

I also think TripAdvisor is an interesting one to bring up too. According to TripAdvisor, all of the Alton Towers hotels are rated 4 stars at present, with the exception of Splash Landings which is rated 3.5 stars (this is surprisingly concurrent with the ratings given for each on the park's website, but that's besides the point). For comparison, every single one of Europa's hotels is rated 4.5 stars, so the difference in rating when all factors are taken into account seemingly isn't that stark among the general hotel staying populace. And if you look at Europa's hotels, there are some equally poor reviews as there are on Towers', even if you're looking more recently.

I'd just like to clarify that I'm not trying to trigger anyone here or imply that anyone is wrong to complain; I apologise if I have, as that wasn’t my intent. In spite of what this post might imply, I also haven’t got a vendetta against Europa Park's hotels; I'm booked in for my first stay in April, and am very much looking forward to seeing what the fuss is all about!

I was just curious to know what people’s point of comparison was here, that’s all.
 
The overall quality of the on site accommodation is simply not good enough to justify the prices compared to the alternatives in the area.

Having said that though, I hope you enjoy your visit Matt. I look forward to reading your review :)
 
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Huge, huge differences between Alton Towers and EP's hotels, they're in a completely different league. The main point is that the "star rating" for Alton's hotels is based on nothing but an assumption made by Alton Towers themselves. The "stars" are not awarded by a classification body, and are simply there to indicate a difference between their own hotels on site.

Europa-Park's star rating is awarded by Deutsche Hotelklassifizierung using a set criteria which is laid out on their website. Therefore unlike Alton Towers the rating is factual and completely comparable to all other hotels in Germany which have been assessed in the same way.

Just off the top of my head, a few things that Europa-Park provides over Alton Towers' hotels:
  • Waiter service at all bars
  • Swimming pool access across the resort to all guests
  • Gym access
  • A wide selection of restaurants
  • A breakfast quality leaps and bounds above Alton's offering
  • A concierge service offering shuttles to/from the hotel
 
Nail on the head @MaxPower.

Yes, you can compare the Towers hotel offering to the likes of Europa (which really shouldn’t be too unfair of a comparison given how Towers choose to market themselves), but the resounding issue here has, for many years now, been the price point.

Towers charge their hotels as a premium accommodation offering, but then fail to deliver on the service expectations that come with charging those prices. This is nothing new, but has been the case for many years now (before the pandemic).

They rely on the fact that they are offering a convenient accommodation selection with no need to travel to the parks, which provides a captive audience. However, if you’re going to charge the same price as many of London’s top 5 star hotels at busy times, you need to ensure that you’re absolutely nailing it.

Of course, no one expects to go to Towers paying the same as The Savoy or Langhams and receive silver service meals and a butler. But when the bar closes at 10pm, the “entertainment” is comparable to Butlins, and there is only a choice of pizza or a pre-packed sandwich if you don’t feel like dining in the restaurant, then I take issue.

Beyond these there is, as we have discussed many times, the quality of things like the breakfast and the general upkeep and maintenance (or lack of). Gone are the days when you could bag a room for 4 people at £50 a night. Back then you could forgive some of its flaws and accept that you were getting what you paid for. Like so many things though, the price has gone up while the quality has slipped.

Yes, Europa Park, Phantasialand and co all go over the top, but they generally have the basic elements of running a hotel down to a fine art. At Towers, it’s merely a place to lay your head.
 
I never knew Towers’ star ratings were made up… sorry about that. I presumed they would have been done by the AA, VisitBritain or another body that does that sort of thing (Basically, the English equivalent of the body who judged Europa’s hotels in Germany)?

I’d also just like to clarify; I’m not trying to book Towers for myself, all of the pricing and research stuff was merely done for comparison purposes. There’s a small possibility that we might be staying at Fireworks this year (I seem to remember my parents airing the possibility at the end of 2021), but as far as I’m currently concerned, the only theme park hotel we’re staying in this year is Europa Park’s Hotel Castillo Alcazar at the end of April.

I haven’t actually stayed on-site since 2019, come to think of it… most of our recent trips have been 1 day affairs, and our first 2-day trip in ages in September 2021 saw us stay nearby in the Uttoxeter Premier Inn (which is surprisingly well located for Towers, usually quite cheap, and generally a very nice place to stay, in case any of you are looking for alternative options!). Our on-site stay frequency has certainly dropped by a fair amount in recent years; when we were younger kids, there was never a Towers visit where we didn’t stay on site and have 2 days on park… although it must be said that our visits were less frequent before I got into theme parks at age 10, with us usually only visiting once a year up until pretty recently (we visited 3 times in 2015 and 3 times in 2018, but I’d say our visits mainly increased during the pandemic when I bought myself a Premium MAP and my parents got Standard MAPs; I did 3 visits in 2021, and even managed 2 visits during the shortened 2020 season).
 
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I wish they would get the hotels officially rated and accredited if I’m being honest. I think it’d give them a bit of a wake up call… I seem to remember a few years back someone pulled up the AA’s checklist and the room they had in Splash fell into the 2 star bracket.
 
Interestingly your price comparison is with Splash Landings. By just considering the room size between the two rooms, I think you can justify the price difference. That’s even befor you get into the quality of the other amenities offered as part of the price.

Personally, I don’t believe the EP hotels are cheap - they’re a reasonably value for a quality product. Alton Towers is a poor value for a relatively mediocre to poor product.
 
venny said:
Interestingly your price comparison is with Splash Landings. By just considering the room size between the two rooms, I think you can justify the price difference. That’s even befor you get into the quality of the other amenities offered as part of the price.

Personally, I don’t believe the EP hotels are cheap - they’re a reasonably value for a quality product. Alton Towers is a poor value for a relatively mediocre to poor product.
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Are the rooms at EP’s hotels larger than those of Alton Towers’, then? I wasn’t sure based off of the images on the site, or I wasn’t sure for the Standard Rooms in El Andaluz and Castillo Alcazar, anyway.

I know the Standard Room Plus in Hotel Colosseo at least sleeps 6, so I did assume that that one was larger, but El Andaluz’ standard room sleeps 4, the same as or possibly less than Towers’, and I think even the Standard Room Plus at Castillo Alcazar (the one we went for) sleeps 5, with the same arrangement as you have at Towers, although don’t quote me on that one.
 
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Matt N said:
Are the rooms at EP’s hotels larger than those of Alton Towers’, then? I
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Like for like, the standard rooms at EP are larger. They have actual space you can walk around the beds in. It's wonderful.
 
venny said:
Personally, I don’t believe the EP hotels are cheap - they’re a reasonably value for a quality product. Alton Towers is a poor value for a relatively mediocre to poor product.
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This.

However sometimes Alton Towers Resort is even more expensive than Europa-Park Resort.

Example:

Colosseo for two people, 12-14 August with 2x 2 day tickets. 596€ which is £498 at current exchange rate.

The same dates at Splash Landings, 2x 2 days park tickets, plus cancellation protection comes in at £609.95.

In this case it's over a hundred quid cheaper to stay at a stunningly themed 4* superior hotel... and not a sawdust sausage in sight.
 
I can't find details for Splash which are I believe a little smaller, but standard rooms in ATH are 24m². EP's rooms start at 26m² although there are many rooms which are substantially larger, especially in Bell Rock and Krønasår.

It doesn't sound like a big difference, but it certainly is in the grand scheme of things. You've also got to consider how dated the rooms look at Towers. The furniture, the lighting, the size of the windows and the temperature really make them feel much smaller too. Not to mention the lack of air conditioning in the standard rooms too. It all makes a massive difference to the overall presentation of the rooms.
 
The issue with the hotels for many of us, is we have such fond memories of excellent stays. We remember the freebies you got, or the high quality breakfast. Flambos having the all you can eat buffet where the food was cooked fresh in front of you.

I remember when you could get table service or even room service. You could drop your bags off at reception when you arrived, and they would be waiting in your room when you got back later. The cocktails were made in front of you, rather than being ready made. You could have a drink in the courtyard and enjoy the view.

The standard of cleaning in the room, or the speed at which the rooms get cleaned, means that they can feel tired and dirty.

Over the years, more and more has been taken away from the offering, and the price has continued to go up and up.

The only reason to stop at the hotels at Towers these days is the coinvent location, it used to be that the hotels themselves were a reason to stop.
 
The biggest issue for me is that the hotels are priced similar or higher to a city centre major brand like Hilton or Marriot but AT don’t offer a product even as good as Premier Inn. I expect to pay a premium for the fact it is at a major theme park and also I get costs will be slightly higher due to the remote location, but they need to get the basics right same as you can get at a £50 Premier Inn.
Breakfast is the main weak link. Don’t even need to compare that with other European theme parks, just compare what you get at AT against Premier Inn or Wetherspoons.
 
I think we've discussed at length the issue's with the hotel but have we discussed how they might best be solved?
I would suggest something along the lines of a full scale referb of each hotel individually with a whole load of staff training and significant changes in the way the hotel functions. Perhaps that would mean that each hotel would have to close for a year individually? or maybe it could be done just in the off-session.
I would also suggest a complete reorganisation of the resort, everything rebranded to make it clear it's changed.
Do I think something like this will happen? No probably not. Some refurbishment work and possibly some better training might come eventually however I don't think it will be on the scale needed to make it world class resort that it could well be.
 
JAperson said:
I think we've discussed at length the issue's with the hotel but have we discussed how they might best be solved?
I would suggest something along the lines of a full scale referb of each hotel individually with a whole load of staff training and significant changes in the way the hotel functions. Perhaps that would mean that each hotel would have to close for a year individually? or maybe it could be done just in the off-session.
I would also suggest a complete reorganisation of the resort, everything rebranded to make it clear it's changed.
Do I think something like this will happen? No probably not. Some refurbishment work and possibly some better training might come eventually however I don't think it will be on the scale needed to make it world class resort that it could well be.
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A re-brand would be a wasted exercise in time and resources. It is clear where the line is drawn between the resort and the theme park. In previous years, the resort used to be the highlight and a great escape from the misery of the theme park. Now, the coin has been flipped and the resort segment is the cesspit.

The hotels do not need a full refurbishment. The older rooms certainly do, and not just the bathrooms. As a whole, however, a full refurb would be a waste of money.

The entertainment offerings need seriously assessing, particularly when they are capable of delivering it on park.

The out of restaurant F&B needs an overhaul to offer more options.

The bars need to stay open after kids have been sent to bed, not beforehand which has been the case over recent seasons. Closing before midnight when there is a queue halfway to the stairs in Splash Landings is a ridiculous concept.

Crucially. they need to look at the staffing.

The training (if there is any).

The customer service at the resort hotels is depicted by where you land on a roulette wheel. There is no consistency. There needs to be a level of pride. None of this exists.

Some aircon wouldn't go amiss in the bars either. It was putrid in Ma's on the Saturday of Fireworks last year.

There is no need to close any of the hotels for an entire year. We are well past the tragic seasons following 2015. They ought to be open, delivering high levels of customer service for the premium prices they are charging; not running a bargain bucket Butlins for London-esque prices.
 
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