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Thorpe Park Hotel


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Will be interesting to see what they do with the Shark Hotel. I mean, the planning very much specifies that the Shark must be removed upon opening of the hotel or 28th Februrary 2024, whichever happens sooner (and impressively it looks like the real hotel will happen first!)

 

But will they want rid of Shark? I don't know how popular it is, but will it do well alongside a presumably more expensive hotel. Guess it depends on demand because I'm sure the council would much rather Thorpe keep the Shark hotel there than build another coaster or whatever. Thorpe say it is still a location for major ride development but will that still be the case in 2019. Who knows, but Thorpe isn't ready for a hotel yet in my eyes. Maybe it will be by 2019. I look forward to seeing what the next MTDP which we'll see next year will show as that will give a rough idea of where they're heading.

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Will be interesting to see what they do with the Shark Hotel. I mean, the planning very much specifies that the Shark must be removed upon opening of the hotel or 28th Februrary 2024, whichever happens sooner (and impressively it looks like the real hotel will happen first!)

 

Really?  I got the impression that the Shark Hotel was just under temporary approval until 2024, and there was no condition to remove it if the proper hotel was built beforehand.  The council have said they can't have more than 250 hotel rooms on site at any one time, but since the hotel will be built in phases, that won't be a problem until at least 2020.  But other than that, Thorpe will want to keep the Shark as long as possible - one of the reasons for the 2024 date was so that it was financially viable to invest in the Shark hotel in the first place! 

 

I do expect them to keep the Shark Hotel as long as possible, and I don't see it leaving as soon as the hotel opens.  But equally, I do see it going before 2024 in all honesty!

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  • 5 months later...

Surprised this hasn't came up yet. The Thorpe Park Hotel is planned to begin construction within the next few months ready to open by 2018. The building is planned to be finished by Autumn 2017 and decorated until spring/summer 2018. As said, upon entering the hotel guests will see various exotic creatures as well as have different scents in the air, creating a truly immersive atmosphere. Guests will travel to and from the hotel via a large boat that will bring large batches of people into the park, presumably for early ride access. The hotel includes 250 rooms, a bar, a restaurant and various other facilities such as a health club and conference rooms. You can see some more information and plans here - http://www.southparks.co.uk/features/thorpe-park-resort-hotel/#1460729924136-9365385a-6513

Edited by Owen
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Funny this came up today, because a planning document has been submitted! This one seems to be about proving that they have lawfully started development on the site and detailing the service road they have created for the hotel. Anyway, it has some photos of this lovely pegged out field from 8th April to show work has commenced.

Thorpe also paid £40,000 to RBC to help fund the yellow bus scheme upon commencement of construction. Once phase one is complete they also make another payment as part of S106 contributions. 

Fun!

http://planning.runnymede.gov.uk/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/Generic/StdDetails.aspx?PT=Planning%20Applications%20On-Line&TYPE=PL/PlanningPK.xml&PARAM0=208427&XSLT=/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/SiteFiles/Skins/Runnymede_AA/xslt/PL/PLDetails.xslt&FT=Planning%20Application%20Details&PUBLIC=Y&XMLSIDE=&DAURI=PLANNING

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I'm glad to see that in the space of 10 years the design of the hotel has hardly changed at all. 

From an engineering point of view they could save a lot of money making this like most modern hotels where you precast sections off site and then move them on to the site and just slot them into place. Seeing as there is no overall repeating patten it implies that this will be built the conventional way.

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  • 1 year later...

It feels like Thorpe is desperately overdue a hotel now. Alton Towers have just opened their fourth on site accommodation. Legoland has opened a brand new second hotel too. Even Chessington has two hotels and opened a new camp site this year. 

On that top map Mitchada posted, it's interesting to see that the land Where Thorpe Shark is and the island next to the Swarm are definitely areas which have been considered for new development and coasters. Also in the 2006 map the coaster that now became SAW winding around Loggers Leap.

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Stuntman, its worth noting different target markets of the parks, family venues tend to more look for the resort feel in terms of having the expendable income and the experience, thorpe being ultimately a park that attracts teens and young adults alienates allot of the clientele that would ultimately stay at a hotel. I personally would like to see the hotel built,  but demographics are definitely an influence when looking at return on investment 

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It's Merlins only theme park in the UK without any hotel/accommodation investment this year. Every park should have at least one permanent hotel especially if Merlin insists on calling Thorpe Park a "Resort".

It just feels like Thorpe is being left behind with investment this year especially when Towers and Legoland are both being given a new hotel and a new ride.

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  • 2 months later...
1 hour ago, Lewish said:

I think a hostel either on-site or nearby would be a good idea. Their popularity is seeing a huge surge in this country at the moment! I've stayed at YHA's all over the country and they're great, you meet so many interesting characters. I much prefer them to hotels! 

 

 

A hostel is a great idea, but sadly there is little encouragement around Heathrow due to the influence of hotels in the area. Hostels are brilliant, used them all the time whilst in New Zealand and they don't have to be flash, just functional.

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The Thorpe Shark building could work, I'm pretty sure the YHA at The Eden Project is made up of shipping containers. That way when the inevitably overpriced main hotel opens they can have a proper budget option! 

 

Hostels are great. I know male dorms can get a little stanky and you get the occasional chronic masturbator above or below you shaking the bed all night but it's all part of the fun! :lol:

 

 

 

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  • 11 months later...

The Merlin financial reports show a strong interest in developing all of the theme parks into resorts through the addition of hotel accommodation. The latest 2018 one highlights increasing accomodation as a key point of growth to increase profits. So to press on with the hotel expansion makes sense with the direction Varney is taking the company. 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just an opinion... Hotel expansions across the whole Park Portfolio also opens up different customers who may not be going for the Parks.. Suddenly you have business customers who want unique conference facilities and packages, you have passer-by trade (I've used the Thorpe Shark hotel when working down that way in a previous job) etc as well as an expanded park visitor capacity too...

 

Some people criticise the likes of Alton for closing Splash Landings because of expense but still building more rooms / hotels / accommodation when they haven't actually seen that at peak the accommodation offering is not enough to keep up with demand and so the investment in additional rooms brings more money in at peak season than they lose by closing hotels off-peak. It's a really clever business decision as this means that they can diversify the customers they have beyond theme park goers, meaning that theme park expansion investment doesn't have to keep pace with hotel expansions...

 

Some people seem to have the wrong idea that the park should expand at the same rate as the hotels without looking into the business model behind it.. They think that the phrase "build up a resort profile" means adding a tonne of rides and attractions in addition to hotel rooms when in reality it's about balancing the offer.

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2 hours ago, daboywunda said:

Some people seem to have the wrong idea that the park should expand at the same rate as the hotels without looking into the business model behind it.. They think that the phrase "build up a resort profile" means adding a tonne of rides and attractions in addition to hotel rooms when in reality it's about balancing the offer.

It's not so much about attracting business customers but encouraging visitors to spend more per head. If they are staying the night then not only will the park get the room revenue but those guests will be spending more on food as they will be there for at least one meal. It's a good way to increase revenue and a sound business model. 

 

Merlin's approach to balancing the offering within the group is to diversify between different attractions rather than within the attractions themselves. The hotels are just there it increase the revenue of the attractions rather than diversify the portfolios offering. In my opinion to increase revenue more effectively and protect the group from economic conditions they should be adding more indoor attractions to the "resort's" as well as the more traditional big ticket attractions. Doing so would enable the parks to extend the peak season and reduce the influence caused by the weather.

 

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