Posted August 3, 201510 yr comment_213777 TowersStreet have posted that the plans for a 'hotel extension / third hotel' have been posted online today. Based on the plans, it will - Be located behind ATH, at the other side of the garden - Include a new garden development - Feature its own reception, toilets, bar and new 204-seat buffet restaurant Great to see!
August 3, 201510 yr comment_213779 More money grabbing hotel space. They have a go at paramount park for vast amounts of hotel rooms and ever since they have just been ramming in more and more places to stay every year. Nice to see some investment I guess.
August 3, 201510 yr Author comment_213782 Surely it's positive that they want to grow the resort? They are only going to add capacity if they feel it is in the interests of the resort to do so. For years people moaned that AT was not a resort. Now, with the ancillary attractions and choice of accommodation - it certainly is. Extra bars and restaurants in the evening, with entertainment space - can only be seen as a good thing in my eyes.
August 3, 201510 yr comment_213783 Hotel space is fine. Just not when they knock upcoming projects on lager amounts of hotel space when they themselves add more and more. The fact it costs a fortune and I would prefer the money be spent on the park so it actually has some flat rides.
August 3, 201510 yr comment_213784 Where have Alton / Merlin criticised Paramount over their hotel space, just out of interest?
August 3, 201510 yr comment_213786 Nick Varney said in a q&a that paramount park had design issues such as too many hotel rooms. I'll try and find it for you. I think it was nemesis @20
August 3, 201510 yr Author comment_213788 I don't really think Nick Varney's comments about Paramount Park, a brand new, yet to break ground park, in any way impact on what happens at Alton Towers, itself established over 35 years. I agree it would be nice to see some more rides in the park, but ultimately they will do what they feel necessary to satisfy market forces.
August 3, 201510 yr comment_213792 It's not like they can build rides in that area. If the hotels are popular enough to be full and make lots of money then expand on it. Do you actually know that investing in the hotels takes money from park developments? Because I don't think it does, I think they have different budgets, just hotels get more investment because they make more money. As for Paramount, maybe Varney was saying that because they're not going to be established from the word go so could have lots and lots of empty rooms instead of sensibly starting with a good amount then quickly expanding where popular.
August 3, 201510 yr comment_213794 As long as the park continue adding/improving the 'in park' line up I don't have a problem with the park building a fourth hotel at the park, after all it's on land that couldn't be used for new rides/themepark expansion (unlike Chessington cough cough) plus there's not a lot of accommodation close to towers anyway aside from two BNB's & tower's three existing accommodation options. The hotel expansion seem a bit more of a nod towards further encouragement of weekend breaks & keeping up with big theme parks in Europe (even though theyre probably not quite up there), after all, Port Aventura has 5 hotels, as does Europa (with at least one more on the way soon).
August 3, 201510 yr comment_213795 Nick Varney said in a q&a that paramount park had design issues such as too many hotel rooms. I'll try and find it for you. I think it was nemesis @20 Well it's perhaps the biggest area for potential screw up for a new resort. Just look at DLP.
August 3, 201510 yr comment_213798 ^ Very true. Hopefully it'll provide something new and unique but I can't see it being anything too special at the moment!
August 3, 201510 yr Author comment_213804 Full details: https://towersstreet.com/news/2015/new-plans-to-extend-the-resort/ Open for 2017.
August 3, 201510 yr comment_213809 I personally never understand why people get so annoyed over resort developments. Overnight stays do, in my experience, really improve the theme park experience, so more variety and availability can only be a good thing surely.
August 3, 201510 yr comment_213815 ^ I agree, but what we're saying is that they seem to have more than enough accommodation already and we don't want another DLP situation!
August 3, 201510 yr Author comment_213817 Alton Towers aren't just adding room stock for the sake of it!Like Europa-Park, Alton Towers have steadily increased room stock over the past 20 years - in stages! 1996: 216 rooms, ATH 2003: 230 rooms SL 2015: 120 rooms, EV 2017: 74 rooms, ATH extension 2018+: 50 rooms, EV phase 2 (permission not yet granted) This isn't a PortAventura or Disneyland Paris situation where they're adding far too much room stock, with no idea id there's demand.
August 3, 201510 yr comment_213820 I'm sure there's demand at Alton Towers but soon thousands of guests will be staying at high prices to visit a rope course and a neglected theme park where the decoration is a naked shop mannequin and a falling apart fibreglass alien. Alton Towers is huge and has a head start on quality of experience because of its past. But all the other parks are already very tight for capacity, especially Chess which already had a new hotel open just last year on a sought-after brown field site. The Towers hotel will probably be formulaic underneath so that it can be cheaply/quickly built and then cloned under various themes for the other parks (like the Enchanted village)
August 3, 201510 yr comment_213821 ^ I agree, but what we're saying is that they seem to have more than enough accommodation already and we don't want another DLP situation! My point earlier was that DLP built a stupid amount before the park even opened.
August 3, 201510 yr Author comment_213822 Even if you add up the total room stock of the Enchanted Village + this development, it is still less room stock than the whole of Splash Landings. They are taking it steady.
August 3, 201510 yr comment_213826 My point earlier was that DLP built a stupid amount before the park even opened. I know the DLP story well. My point is that with that many empty rooms most of the season, it can't do profits any good as they still have to employ staff etc.
August 3, 201510 yr Author comment_213827 They may well be "desperate", to use your words - but there were rumours going back 10 years that they were looking to add a third hotel. The original ATH extension plan went in several years ago! Also, the DLP/PA situation is entirely different. I don't know how it has any connection with AT's resort growth.
August 3, 201510 yr comment_213832 Sounds about right. Those 10ish years ago being when there was a very similar climate of money and stats first, quality... shelved indefinitely. Can't just go for a third hotel and take the risk though, got to test the waters first with more readily promotional Enchanted Village. I hope whoever this project has been delegated to turns it into somewhere genuinely nice to stay in. A new hotel should offer more than just a different set of colours and price tier. To be fair to the park Alton Towers are usually try to do their best with this.
August 3, 201510 yr comment_213833 One must also remember PA & DLP are also (now) in build up areas where there's many third company hotels within close proximity (at least seven for DLP in under 20 minutes distance alone). Whilst at Towers (which is in the middle of nowhere pretty much) and the only third companies within close proximity are Chained Oak Bnb & another place I can't remember. Any other accommodation outside of towers is a 30-45 minute drive away in nearby towns such as Newcastle, Soke, Derby etc. so it makes sense for towers to steadily increase hotel numbers (as long as they continue to invest heavily in the park and other secondary onsite attractions).
August 3, 201510 yr comment_213837 Why would there be more accommodation other than the hundreds of good B&Bs and self-caterings in the surrounding area? The only reason large amounts of people would want to stay there in the area is for Alton Towers. Towers aren't building a third hotel to fill a gap in hotel supply, they're doing it to increase demand in their brand.
August 3, 201510 yr Author comment_213839 They will be doing it for both reasons. Firstly, a thorough analysis of hotel stays and take-up will have been done around 2010, before the project development of the original ATH extension and Enchanted Village got underway. At that point, they will have worked out what the average occupancy levels are/were, how many nights a season the hotels were full and thus they were having to refuse guests and what the projections were for the future. They will not build more accommodation if they do not believe there is any demand at all. It's too much of a risk. Saying that, they clearly want to grow the business - especially in winter.
August 3, 201510 yr comment_213841 There's high demand for the theme park and thereby the hotels, as many frills they attach people will still come for the theme park. Yet the theme park is (more slowly than the others in UK) falling into a dire state yet prices to stay over will be getting higher and higher. I wish people would take a fresh look at the whole visitor package and see what guests see, rather than just do what stats, economical models and surveys tell them to and even then always taking the easiest option.
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