Ticket prices up again.

[AstroDan]

They have broken the £40 mark.

£40.80.

Today there is a special offer.

£39.60.

Discuss.

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[John]

Not a surprise after seeing the Legoland prices break the £40 barrier earlier this year, but still unwelcome.

Paying over £20 with BOGOF isn't exactly an appealing prospect.

[Mike]

Oh dear Towers

Sounds like they're basically making the BOGOFs no longer quite BOGOF by the back door really - wouldnt be surprised if the price creeped up further in future, with the 'special offer' remaining more-or-less static...

Not impressed Merlin - yet another way of getting even more money out of visitors, whilst trying (and failing) to make it seem like people are still getting a good deal... I mean c'mon, a 'special offer' price with just over a pound off, WTF?!

Just adds to my theory that someone in senior management doesnt really understand what they're doing with regards to running Britain's 'premier' theme park.

[Rob L]

Apparently the £40.80 price is only for people using promotional vouchers and if anyone does arrive to pay on the day then they will still pay £39.60.

This can be seen at the bottom of this page on the Alton Towers website.

[Sam]

[quote=""Rob""]Apparently the £40.80 price is only for people using promotional vouchers and if anyone does arrive to pay on the day then they will still pay £39.60.[/quote]
How on earth are they allowed to do that?!

Hey Rob, I just opened a lemonade shop and each glass is £2. But you can get a BOGOF for it! But for customers with BOGOFs, the lemonade actually costs £3, so you have to pay £1.50 per glass.

Isn't that the fudamental of what's happening here? Isn't that false advertising, or fraud or something...?

[Mi-Nigle]

So basically, if the price has been put up by £1.20 and this only affects guests with vouchers, they are gaining 60p per voucher using guest. Is that really a worthwhile exercise?

This will affect the gate figures I think. Now they've broken the £20 barrier, the figure suddenly looks a lot larger to people. Before, people would think "Oh we can get into Alton Towers for under £20, not bad that" but now I don't think as many people will justify going.

[John]

I can see the offers now:

Buy one get 0.941176471 free!

[Islander]

Ugh. That's actually properly misleading - worse than showing prices ex. VAT. Not at all impressed...

Edit: Also, what exactly do they achieve from this? A mere extra 60p for each BOGOF customer. Is it really worth the negative effect on their image for friggin' 60p?

[Don't_Look_Down]

Note the ticket price query on the Facebook fan page and the shocked response when told it's over £39.00. Says it all.

You see - customers will vote with their feet.

[captain]

Honestly, once again they're shooting themselves in the feet. £20 is such an obvious barrier not to break, especially in a disappointing season with obviously nothing new. Not to mention the ludicrous bogof ticket that costs more than a normal ticket. Farcical.

If I was a family, and I was to choose a theme park to go to, I'd take a serious look at LWV, who are publicly directing people to their offers page on their website and any affiliates that offer vouchers, to come up with an adult ticket and a full meal deal for less than £20. You then have no upselling when you get inside.

There is no benefit to AT by doing this - any profit they might get from each additional 60p (!) will be nullified by those who see that they'll have to pay over £20 (for a supposedly half price ticket) and simply look elsewhere for the multitude of better value days out.

[Tom G]

Disgraceful, but not surprising.

Can anyone verify if this is being rolled out at other attractions? It seems like another Merlin brainwave that will be at all attractions as per the minus-VAT joke.

[Mi-Nigle]

Maybe it will encourage more people to buy annual passes because it feels more worthwhile with a higher gate price?

Most people who buy annual passes think it's a good idea at the time, then don't bother coming again. I remember the first year we got our APs and we were with 3 other families. We all decided to get them and none of the others ever went again back meant more money for AT.

Their thinking might be "Well for most people, coming to Alton Towers is a once a year treat. We'll put the prices up, advertise APs everywhere, install an AP shop and offer the day's ticket to be refunded. More APs will be sold and only a small percentage of those will be abused (TTF and the likes...).

I could be reading too much into this, but that £40 mark might just tip the balance towards buying an annual pass.

[Sam]

[quote=""Tom G""]Can anyone verify if this is being rolled out at other attractions? It seems like another Merlin brainwave that will be at all attractions as per the minus-VAT joke.[/quote]
LegoLand already upped prices and broke the £40 barrier earlier this season. Their 'walk up price' is now £41.40 for an adult.

[dont look down 2005]

How pathetic is this. I am so disappointed in Alton Towers, I didn't think they would break the £40 barrier for a while, but they've gone and done it and added absolutely nothing this season to justify it. It's gone from one of the best value days out to an utterly disgraceful shambles in a matter of a few years.

I know some will say, they're a business, they need to make money, but was this really worth it for 60 pence. 60 pence per paying customer! they'll lose out more than that with the amount of people who will now choose to visit less - including myself (I already find it too expensive a day out). And those that do visit are bound to complain as they were expecting half the advertised 39.60 price. So well done Towers, you're causing more trouble and aggro for your customers and staff.

The fact that it's such a little increase makes it even worse, it shows how obviously money-grabbing the company have become. I thought when we got Merlin, Towers had a company in charge that cared again, but clearly not.

This is a dark day for Towers as far as I'm concerned and I really hope they do experience lower gate figures. Right now they deserve it, because however deluded you are it's clear AT is no longer number one in this country.

I'm starting to wonder if PBB and AT are having a battle to be the most hated park (what with PBBs recent sandwich police as well!)

[siralgenon]

They're taking the mick now,

Im starting to give up on that place! (Can't believe iv'e just said that! )

They might as well have a compulsary wallet dissposal as you get out of your car, what's next? £5.oo for a ride on the Monorail or you have to walk?

I have an Annual Pass and im not happy so I feel sorry for everyone else.

Not Good! [-X

[Magrathea]

What's possibly also worth pointing out is that surely this doesn't apply exclusively to 2 for 1s, there's also the matter of £5 off (on the back of the tickets) and Kids Go Free vouchers, as well as any other ones floating around.

This is a much bigger blow when applied to £5 off vouchers than the inconsequential 60p lost with a 2 for 1.

[Islander]

[quote=""Sam""][quote=""Tom G""]Can anyone verify if this is being rolled out at other attractions? It seems like another Merlin brainwave that will be at all attractions as per the minus-VAT joke.[/quote]
LegoLand already upped prices and broke the £40 barrier earlier this season. Their 'walk up price' is now £41.40 for an adult. [/quote]
True, but (although it's a terrible price increase) it's not as bad as AT, as at least a BOGOF is still a BOGOF...

Another Merlin-wide stealth-price increase that I found out about on Friday, that no-one seems to have picked up on: it now costs £35, as opposed to £30, to upgrade a standard MAP to a Premium one... ugh...

[Tom G]

[quote=""Sam""][quote=""Tom G""]Can anyone verify if this is being rolled out at other attractions? It seems like another Merlin brainwave that will be at all attractions as per the minus-VAT joke.[/quote]
LegoLand already upped prices and broke the £40 barrier earlier this season. Their 'walk up price' is now £41.40 for an adult. [/quote]

Cheers Sam, but I meant this 'special on the day offer' being at other places while the price that affects two-for-ones and 50% offs is being pushed up?

[Nightfall]

Someone’s brain has fallen out. A half Price voucher that isn't half price! That’s bad enough for a supermarket but a business relying on customer satisfaction. Mental. What are they smoking?

[oldgitBEN]

this is stupid, absolutely one of the lowest things Alton have ever done. Allowing so many bogof promotions but then changing the fundamental rule of it by saying well "it is bogof, but only on a more expensive ticket".

Im sorry, but what the hell?

Are they really trying to get as much bad publicity at the minute?



http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/gotastory/ :whistle: