The Hotels: A Journey

[AT86]

It won’t be a bar or nightclub, there would be too much late night traffic down the corridors - there are rooms right up to the spa entrance.

The entry/exit via the hotel corridors could easily be closed off/made staff only.

Entry via the ATH gardens and via the pathway towards CBeebies Hotel would be more logical.

Noise would absolutely be a consideration though for surrounding rooms etc, I am sure it could be overcome though. I doubt a nightclub would be on the cards, but a quiet bar area could work.

 

[GaryH]

I still doubt it personally. You’d have people stood by the doors smoking and talking late at night. I think it’s probably just closing for a year or two until they can afford to do something with it.

Weirdly just looking at the reviews on TA they have been generally very good. Maybe that’s why it’s closing - the reviews are too good!

 

[MattL27]

Honestly I don’t think anything will replace it.

Not all things which go, should be replaced by something else. There’s not much room and it’s going to cost quite a bit of money to turn it into a standard room. I can see it being left to rot.

Regarding the spa, the booking system was via email. You couldn’t see availability unless you emailed and it’s quite hidden on the website. The whole experience looks like it’s in the 2000s (which I could say for the whole hotel I suppose)

Alton Towers Hotel is probably the “nicest” out of all the hotels for me. However it’s very 90s with the carpets and the style and colour of the wood. It doesn’t scream luxury more Britannia hotels. In order to bring the spa into line; you’d probably have to bring the hotel too.

They really need to create a centre parks experience from the resort. Especially at the price they are charging, less haven holidays (from what I saw entertainment wise)

 

[Poisson]

They really need an 18+ bar. Bit of creativity, turn the above into a childrens play area and turn Emperor's into such a bar from the play area it is.

 

[siralgenon]

They really need an 18+ bar. Bit of creativity, turn the above into a childrens play area and turn Emperor's into such a bar from the play area it is.

They're never going to have an 18+ bar at Towers. It goes completely against their family friendly mission statement and that's not even starting on the fact they can't keep the bars open they have at the moment.

Just like the spa it also wouldn't have enough people to make it worth while. The vast majority of people staying are with children or part of a larger family where they wouldn't leave the children so it wouldn't be worth it for the handful of adults that stay on their own.

If ever a park were going to do this it'd be Thorpe Park and I'd go as far to say it goes against their strategy now as well.

My thoughts are it'll be transformed into a playroom / indoor experience and joined onto the CBeebies Hotel a bit like the new Playroom at the Legoland Hotel.

 

[Relife]

An indoor playroom though not a daft idea is still rather depressing for a resort that's all about experiences. The original Alton Towers hotel used to be really good back in the 1990s but I've not stayed recently. I can't help.but feel they lost thier way in what Merlin wants the hotels to be.

 

[DiogoJ42]

They're never going to have an 18+ bar at Towers. It goes completely against their family friendly mission statement and that's not even starting on the fact they can't keep the bars open they have at the moment.

Just like the spa it also wouldn't have enough people to make it worth while. The vast majority of people staying are with children or part of a larger family where they wouldn't leave the children so it wouldn't be worth it for the handful of adults that stay on their own.

If ever a park were going to do this it'd be Thorpe Park and I'd go as far to say it goes against their strategy now as well.

My thoughts are it'll be transformed into a playroom / indoor experience and joined onto the CBeebies Hotel a bit like the new Playroom at the Legoland Hotel.

If you build it, they will come!

 

[siralgenon]

If you build it, they will come!

I mean they built a spa and no one came.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Probably too many kids around.

 

[James]

I would prefer to see the space become something communal (new bar/show space) rather than a CBeebies only experience. The resort needs more space for guests to go in the evenings.

 

[Matt.GC]

If true, this would be another significant milestone in the downgrading process of the resort.

What a disaster. When it was new, it was an excellently designed facility and I've used it many times. Then the usual Towers rot we've come to expect crept in, everything broke, little maintenance happened, then they blocked in the conservatory.

It was one of the few original parts of the resort that was absolutely wonderful by original design (the best I've been to in its heyday, and I've been in numerous aqua spas in hotels and private health clubs), that was in desperate need of some TLC. I feared it was going to get the crappy Waterpark/Dark Forest/Walliams world paint slop treatment. But closure, to be replaced with something tacky, or properly nothing at all, is even worse.

Just when my confidence in the whole resort couldn't be any lower. Seems they won't be happy until Alton becomes a low quality parody of it's former self.

 

[Hyperia Super Stan]

Closing that spa is the worst decision they've made in a while, it just needed a bit of tlc. If Phantasialand could upgrade their spa at Hotel Ling Bao, then Alton Towers have no excuse. The temptation to snub Alton Towers for a year and visit Phantasialand instead is strong. Honestly it seems that even Thorpe values their guest experience a great deal more than Alton Towers currently do.

 

[rob666]

Is closing the spa really part of "the journey to excellence"?
We seem to be going backward, again.
Time to consider the return of the old topic title.
We seem stuck in a deep seated culture of mediocrity regarding the hotels, to quote the original poster.

 

[Relife]

You can bet that it Universal goes ahead those shiny new hotels will have a spa or two. Are we getting to the point where the Alton Towers hotel is just an overpriced Travelodge. The hotel needs an upgrade it used to be a special place to go but it's regressed and competition is leaving it behind.

 

[BarryZola]

Maybe it was not making enough profit and with the new government led rise in minimum wages coming in and recruitment being tough for them anyway, they just can't be bothered with it any more. It's just another thing for them to have to bother manning and they probably couldn't get an equivalent of Aramark to run it for them so they thought sod it and stuck 2 fingers up to it?

 

[Dave]

Closing that spa is the worst decision they've made in a while, it just needed a bit of tlc. If Phantasialand could upgrade their spa at Hotel Ling Bao, then Alton Towers have no excuse. The temptation to snub Alton Towers for a year and visit Phantasialand instead is strong. Honestly it seems that even Thorpe values their guest experience a great deal more than Alton Towers currently do.

I mean I would rather they kept it but it’s not as dramatic as that.

It’s a facility that even at its peak would see a couple of thousand people a year. There is no way they would close it unless they had evaluated it and decided it wasn’t a product that interested their guests. Fact is if it was profitable a refurb wouldn’t be that expensive in the grand scheme of things.

We also have to remember that they have not confirmed a permanent closure, for all we know right now they are closing it for a year as part of a refurbishment. All TS or the rumours have said is it’s not reopening this year (though I suspect it is closing permanently that’s a hunch not known).

When Thorpe build a hotel rather than some sheds attached to a leisure centre we can talk about guest experience comparisons in relation to hotel offering.

 

[BooMT]

Not sure if any of the parents in here have managed to experience the play room at the Legoland Hotel? It would be nice to see something similar at Alton Towers, either Cbeebies themed (to fit with existing hotel) or something more generic like an enchanted forest.

It's a small upcharge at Legoland (I had it included in my hotel package for one of the days but had to pay the second night). There's a little bar/coffee corner with snacks, lots of play spaces, interactive experiences, photo opportunities, a sensory room, lego build spaces & play hosts... they also used very nice smell pods akin to Sky Lion! It was a great alternative to swimming, which we avoid, helped us fill the evening dead time/decompress from the park without being confined to the room/engaging in the loud stage style entertainment that takes place near the restaurant (Son has additional needs and struggles with this type of activity) the playroom was actually quite relaxing! Rocket kept asking when we could go back, even whilst in the park!

Anyway, the spa space (if being scrapped) would be a great location for a facility like this, of course adapted to fit in with AT.

 

[jon81uk]

its a shame because I actually found it to be one of the better thermal spa experiences, it had pretty good sauna and steam rooms plus the wonderful room with the heated couches. But I haven’t visited since before CBeebies opened and it was in need of refurbishment for a while.

If they were to use the space for a bar it would still need to close early enough so people returning to their rooms aren’t a nuisance, but as said they could exit through the garden, but the spa building is slightly separated from the main hotel building.
I don’t think soft play would be right when a majority of under 5s are probably at CBeebies hotel, but some kind of entertainment club for age 7-13 would be good to get them away from the bars. Although that Lego space in the above post looks good, it does feel more suited to the CBeebies hotel.

But the resort really does need restaurant capacity so that would be a good addition and has the external access from the stargazing sheds.

 

[Ian]

It’s certainly a shame if the spa is going, but as others have said, it’s a shadow of its former self. The last time I went I found it all to be quite gloomy and depressing. It was in a real sorry state versus its heyday. Myself, @Sammy and @Ben had a good laugh at the new “log cabin sauna” which was little more than a B&Q shed with a heater in the corner (complete with running sap and glue from the wood ).

You could do a major refurbishment programme but I don’t think you’d see a quick ROI. There simply isn’t the capacity to get the volume of guests through that it would need.

Whilst I can get fully behind the playroom idea I wish it would go into ATH and not CBeebies. If you created a big play space for kids coupled with a little stage for entertainment like they currently offer in Margs and perhaps a simple bar like the Captain’s Bar it might ease some pressure on Dragon Bar and the Atrium, allowing that to return to being a more mellow atmosphere (not adults only, just a more grown up vibe) without completely alienating the families. You’re just giving people a choice. Somewhere bright, loud and rowdy for the kids to run around in, or a more laid back and relaxing space to unwind after a day in the park.

It’s the biggest problem with both Splash and ATH; unless you’re in the bar there’s nowhere else to go or let the kids blow off some steam. CBeebies is a hotel designed all around families in all spaces, but ATH would hugely benefit from a space like this.

 

[GaryH]

I disagree with those saying the spa wasn’t used much. Whenever I went it was always busy, many times you couldn’t get a time slot to visit and times when my partner wanted a treatment they were always fully booked. Given the number of rooms in the hotel and the number of people who would want a relaxing stay rather than thrills (ie some mums) then I can’t fathom out why they would close the spa unless there has been some fault found within the structure of the spa.

Could there be a structural problem which has been caused by the building of CBeebies perhaps. Could we even see the spa demolished? Who knows but along with the closure of tree top adventure and the early closing of the bars the place feels less like a resort these days.