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The Hotels: A Journey

Rick said:
Are you suggesting that Alton should lower their prices or Phantasialand should raise theirs ?

I don't understand this discussion at all. It's like you're all just discovering how capitalism works. If you rub two sticks together, you'll get fire, btw.
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I'm suggesting Towers either lower prices or increase quality. Not hard to understand the discussion, naturally you compare prices for the same type of product
 
Rick said:
Are you suggesting that Alton should lower their prices or Phantasialand should raise theirs ?

I don't understand this discussion at all. It's like you're all just discovering how capitalism works. If you rub two sticks together, you'll get fire, btw.
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no one is questioning that capitalism is the driver of the global economy, they are discussing the greed of Merlin when other operators in similar capitalist economies are not price gouging to the same extent. No one is expecting Merlin will do anything about it because of a few conversations on here but it’s a discussion forum so it’s discussed.

I mean from my perspective 10 years ago I would have stayed on resort 5 times a year, by last year I stayed on resort once for Octoberfest, but we decided to stay in Farley for Fireworks. Next year I have no plans to stay on resort so their prices have put me off. Whether they have an impact on other guests we just have to wait and see…
 
Poisson said:
I'm suggesting Towers either lower prices or increase quality. Not hard to understand the discussion, naturally you compare prices for the same type of product
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But that doesn't maximise profits does it.
The hotels get to capacity, so they whack up the prices, and cut standards, and the mugs still pay.

The Beach have the same style regarding customer service...if you don't like it, fresh mugs turn up every year anyway.

Britannia Hotels have built an empire on dodgy British hotels!
 
rob666 said:
But that doesn't maximise profits does it.
The hotels get to capacity, so they whack up the prices, and cut standards, and the mugs still pay.

The Beach have the same style regarding customer service...if you don't like it, fresh mugs turn up every year anyway.

Britannia Hotels have built an empire on dodgy British hotels!
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Lots of different ways to achieve your capitalist goals.

Screw everyone over for as much money with the lowest possible quality is one way, a short term immediate profit route.

Or you can provide something excellent at a fair (not cheap) price and recieve lower immediate returns but a lot stronger long term growth and financial reward.

Those mugs will stop turning up at some point, or at the very least it'll get harder and harder (which will be more and more expensive on the promotion and advertising spend) to get people to return.

I expected to see less shortermism under the current owners. The current direction is a real shame.
 
We have sourced other accommodation for all our trips this year yet do often check back to see if it works out roughly similar to the Uttoxeter premier inn. For a extra £10 each we can stay on site at alton rather than drive and pay out for the fuel there and back again to the park and pay out for the PI breakfast. Whilst the PI breakfast is better by the time we've added fuel in it has levelled out most times.

Of course this does depend when you stay. To me after being the only driver of our group and its a good 4.5 hours to the park I don't wanna drive anymore that day unless I have too as its a good 20 mins or so from park to Uttoxeter subject to traffic.

Swings and roundabouts for sure.
 
Chained oak again for us this summer. £110 a night for 3 of us, nice quiet rooms, lovely fresh cooked local breakfast with real sausages, and bbq area for the evenings. I can’t ever see me staying in Alton towers hotels again given the price and more importantly the quality they know (don’t) offer.
 
GaryH said:
Chained oak again for us this summer. £110 a night for 3 of us, nice quiet rooms, lovely fresh cooked local breakfast with real sausages, and bbq area for the evenings. I can’t ever see me staying in Alton towers hotels again given the price and more importantly the quality they know (don’t) offer.
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and the chained Oak is probably not much further to walk to the main park entrance than the resort hotels.
 
Where we stayed for fireworks was a 5 min walk to the entrance, was comfy and relaxing. It wasn’t budget by any means but cheaper than the resort and a more pleasant experience.
 
GaryH said:
Chained oak again for us this summer. £110 a night for 3 of us, nice quiet rooms, lovely fresh cooked local breakfast with real sausages, and bbq area for the evenings. I can’t ever see me staying in Alton towers hotels again given the price and more importantly the quality they know (don’t) offer.
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That's good split 3 ways yes. Stayed there before nice place.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
There won’t ever be competition so close to the park in terms of chain hotels. The nearest premier inn or travelodge is still a 30 min drive away from the park.

Alton is in the middle of the country so they can charge whatever they want if people want the convenience of staying on site. And people who have never been before will pay it thinking they are paying the premium for something very special.

Edit: I’ve just taken a look how much the Smiler room is.

Now bear in mind this is a standard sized room, right next to the atrium on the top floor with the lifts immediately outside the front door. The room is covered in vinyls but has the same size double bed and same size bunks as the other rooms.

For 2 nights B&B mid August Fri-Sun it’s coming out as £1007 !
 
Last time I stayed overnight it was at Rue Hill campsite about a 5 minute drive away. Slept in my campervan. £10 a night and there were washing up facilities and toilet etc. Got a cooker, food, drink, bed and TV in the van so it's all good.
 
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