It's already been mentioned but Marketing is such a thing, for both the park AND Vekoma/Intamin. They know this ride will/has captured enthusiasts minds across the world. While enthusiast pull in final decisions is so small it's not even able to be registered, their(our) ability to sell to the populous in mass is something worth taking into account when trying to sell to other parks.
See using my experience a company would not advertise that they had lost a competitive Tender against a rival company. Try find me another example of a roller coaster company advertising that they lost a project. Vekoma lost the project so other parks will be aware that Energylandia (who have worked with Vekoma on their SLC and their prototype next gen launcher F1) chose Intamin over Vekoma despite their good working relationship. I know that there will be other factors but from a business perspective thats how it will be seen and Vekoma would not open themselves up to that reputation.
And I think your MASSIVELY underestimating the decision making it takes to decide on a project like this. If you REALLY think a park is going to let a small group of people who are a very small segment of their annual attendance, you have no idea how a business actually works to be honest.
Im not saying this? Energylandia have already decided they are getting a hyper with x budget, x capacity, x length and x height. When the park invited Intamin / Vekoma to tender they would have been given all of these constraints that would have satisfied the parks needs. If all the parks needs are satisfied and they are happy with both companies proposals but the only differences were slight layout tweaks why not but it to the parks customers on social media to decide? They are giving the two options they are both happy with or they just wouldn't post the videos? Therefore its not this actually a huge decision to make, all the significant decisions required would have been done in the brief given to the manufacturers.
I'm with you Chris, I understand how you can see the correlation between events as I see them too.. but this isn't a conspiracy theory about the earth being flat or who shot JFK.. this is a $25 million Euro investment. I've been part of major companies with insight into their thought processes for making large monetary decisions. There is no way on earth they 1. did not decide this at least a year before they announced it and 2. Let polls on the internet decide for them.
A 25million euro investment that they has satisfied all of the parks needs in the brief so they have no obligation to give with one manufacturer over another. These things happen in business. The poll was posted in October 2016 with Intamin announced as the winner of the poll in November 2016. A huge project like this may require a year or so in the planning but Energylandia had the ride planned, all they needed to do was decide between the 2 proposals and instruct the chosen company? I know you are being logical when it comes to the internet poll but something I've tried to hammer home is that this park is not something you can apply logic too, they announced like 5 roller coasters 2 years ago, announced the RMC for 2020 earlier this year along with the multilaunch Vekoma, these things are not logical and would not be predicted.
It's a nice thought to think they care about enthusiasts and their feelings, but they don't. They went to two companies, said design me a ride, went with Intamin due to their history (as Vekoma doesn't really have any in this ride type), and played marketing as such to allow it to spread. And boy has their marketing worked well. Not only that, Vekoma (the loser) have benefited as more parks have seen their designs who may not have before or have been able to afford an Intamin but will be willing to spend a smidge extra to get a Vekoma instead of a mid-range coaster they were thinking about.
I dont think they care about enthusiasts and havent said that? They care about the visitors to their park and their target audience hence the social media poll. Im not gonna say they didnt go with Intamin because of their track record as i know as much as you do on that (nothing). Vekoma will not benefit from other parks knowing that they lost a competitive tender as i said earlier. If they wanted to release the ride design and market it they would do that anyway as they do with their other launch coaster designs.
All in all, I get what you mean, but from a business standpoint, youre not going to allow the minority to decide for you. You're going to see what works elsewhere, go with someone you trust, and market as such. If they happened to throw out Vekoma.. that may have been something Vekoma requested due to the visibility it's gardnered and they happily obliged due to the stir it would cause with two designs as this thread has indicated.
The thing is the business side of the decision was made, all of the parks constraints were satisfied, hence if Energylandia put it to a poll they could do so knowing that either ride is what the park wanted but with the added bonus that their target audience and customers have chosen what they prefer. Again not buying that Vekoma would have wanted it released due to perception from other potential clients.
I'm sorry ladies and gents, but as someone with a business background and knowledge on the ins and outs of the industry, I'm not agreeing to disagree. You really are just grasping at straws to be honest. I'm all for discussion if both sides make sense or are fun opinions but ya'll are holding on for dear life at this conspiracy for the sake of either blind ignorance or trolling at this point and I'll call you out on both if that is the case.
I wasn't gonna bother writing a long winded response but I found this quite funny. I understand that you have this 'business background and knowledge on the ins and outs of the industry' but do you actually know anything about Energylandia? Do you know that the management run their company the exact way you think? Because although im barking up a pretty weird tree it in plausible knowing how insane this park is. We dont have anything to prove either way but I actually think that the park have gone with the poll decision. What would happen if there was a landslide victory for the Vekoma and they'd already signed the deal with Intamin? Would that still be good marketing?