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The Hotels: A Journey

Has anyone stayed recently got any anecdotal advice over what may have improved/deteriated at the hotels? Staying in Splash in a couple of weeks after getting a discount for disastrous trip in the Lodges back in April. Wanted to know what to avoid or to try and seek out?
 
Just avoid the food and you should be ok! And if you want a late night, make sure you get all your drinks in early as the bars close early now even in Splash.
 
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dave___ said:
Is there that much demand for coffee to have 3 urns of the stuff on the go at once?
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Not sure yet this I think will actually help ques as the machines often cause delays and like I said the taste was awful

**edit** apparently thorpe and cwoa have followed this too a while ago
 
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If AT and Merlin aren’t careful Aramark will spoil their brand beyond repair.

Food is a key part of the day out - and even more so when you stay over.

It’s odd though as this seems very Merlin specific. Aramark at Warner Bros Harry Potter tour wasn’t bad at all.
 
Jb85 said:
If AT and Merlin aren’t careful Aramark will spoil their brand beyond repair.

Food is a key part of the day out - and even more so when you stay over.

It’s odd though as this seems very Merlin specific. Aramark at Warner Bros Harry Potter tour wasn’t bad at all.
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I wouldn't even say it's Merlin specific, it appears to be Towers specific. The Aramark options at Thorpe and Chessington are surprisingly passable, if not a little on the expensive end.

Legoland Windsor, a park which is regularly busier than Alton Towers can safely and happily cater for allergens, dietary requirements and @Alix's vegan coffee and cake, but Towers can't. It is possible that the operations at Thorpe are a little better because of the internal competition with the existing franchises (KFC. Burger King and some of the vans). On the other hand Towers has Eastern Express, which is fine.

Honestly, it's head scratching and I just don't get it. There's clearly some pretty bad local management on the Aramark side for Towers generally.
 
Jb85 said:
If AT and Merlin aren’t careful Aramark will spoil their brand beyond repair.

Food is a key part of the day out - and even more so when you stay over.

It’s odd though as this seems very Merlin specific. Aramark at Warner Bros Harry Potter tour wasn’t bad at all.
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Aramark tailor their offering to a given price point, they offer all the way up to essentially white linen napkin gourmet levels if their customer is willing to pay for that level of service.

Deduce from that what you will..
 
dave___ said:
Aramark tailor their offering to a given price point, they offer all the way up to essentially white linen napkin gourmet levels if their customer is willing to pay for that level of service.

Deduce from that what you will..
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Merlin/Alton Towers don't pay Aramark to operate out of their locations, it's the other way around. Aramark pay Merlin for "exclusive access" and rent the units, as per the terms of their service level agreement.

You are Aramark's customer, not Merlin or Towers.
 
ATH dire yesterday evening. Terrible service, bar a mess with dirty glassware and rubbish on EVERY table in the atrium and higher end drinks like double rum and coke (£10.50) served in budweiser glasses - no ice and no slice.

Management are incompetent across all levels.
 
This does not fill me with excitement for my first stay on site in 8 years, next week.

I'd be happy if the management would just visit the park and see how dire things are.
(And I don't mean on duty, I mean as a punter, paying out of their own pocket, eating only what's on sale.)
 
Hmm, how I'd love to be a fly on the wall go see how the management run the park and seeing them running round like headless chickens.
 
One can always spot a duty manager by the token litter picker they carry, which has always baffled me as they don't carry a bag with them. They can pick up one singular item, but then what? I suppose one could argue it's a great metaphor for resort management at the moment.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
One can always spot a duty manager by the token litter picker they carry, which has always baffled me as they don't carry a bag with them. They can pick up one singular item, but then what? I suppose one could argue it's a great metaphor for resort management at the moment.
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Of all the things to blame AT management for (or any Merlin management), this is a bit unfair. Very easy to carry a litter picker and pick up litter as you walk through park - no need at all to carry a bag when you've got plenty of bins that you can put litter in as you go.
 
Islander said:
Of all the things to blame AT management for (or any Merlin management), this is a bit unfair. Very easy to carry a litter picker and pick up litter as you walk through park - no need at all to carry a bag when you've got plenty of bins that you can put litter in as you go.
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Because picking up a singular item of rubbish, and not the others around it, walking to a nearby bin (if there is one), and repeating the process is incredibly efficient.

My comment was in jest. The metaphor would be that they have every intention of doing the right thing, but the execution is often just a little off or baffling.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
Because picking up a singular item of rubbish, and not the others around it, walking to a nearby bin (if there is one), and repeating the process is incredibly efficient.

My comment was in jest. The metaphor would be that they have every intention of doing the right thing, but the execution is often just a little off or baffling.
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I get the feeling that this is definitely spoken by someone who hasn't litter picked in a theme park before... :tonguewink:. Really not as inefficient as you suggest, it's possible to pick up multiple items at once, bins are usually fairly frequent, and rubbish isn't normally so appalling that you have tens or hundreds of items ever other step hah.

What you're trying to imply is generally very true sadly of Merlin, but this metaphor really doesn't work at all lol.
 
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