To consider cancelling Center Parcs break?

[Jazzybeats]

Payment is due on Monday and they haven’t sent information on postponing or cancelling due to Covid. Not paying means I’ll probably loose my deposit of around £400, equally the balance due around £800. Can’t get through on phone to discuss with anyone so mumsnet hive mind, help!

Has anyone been since they’ve re-opened? What was it like? As far as I can see most things are running but with restrictions apart from soft play which is out. My main reason for considering cancelling is that it’s expensive at the best of times but that £800 could pay for a lot of days out and takeaways at home.... equally I’m sure the kids would have a blast if we went even tho swimming is restricted to max 2 2 hour sessions.

So, what would you do?
Aibu- no don’t cancel, you’ll have a great time, go
Yanbu- yes, cancel, spend the money on dominos and trips to the zoo

We’ve booked last week of August so who knows what will happen between now and then.

My friend said you also can't check in early or check out late and stay on site so I wouldn't bother for that reason. A four day break is now a two for a fortune. Complete rip off. If Centers part want to operate like that then they need to reduce the prices.

We’re due to go in late August and despite the restrictions we probably will still go. Months of working full time and homeschooling mean we’re completely exhausted and we need a break. We’ve been to Center Parcs loads of times and at this point, the idea of sitting somewhere peaceful is hugely appealing.

I would be inclined to move the date of your booking to next year rather than loose £400.

Just persevere trying to contact them. Are you able to amend bookings online? If not try messenger as suggested by other posters.

I think a family holiday would be better than days out and pizza.

I’d move it to next year too so that I could do everything as usual whilst on holiday there.

I got a response via Fb - they haven’t communicated terribly well that they will email within two weeks with a rundown of what is and isn’t available.

We just like being there and now the dc are older have no need for soft play, and although we like the pool very much, don’t usually spend more than two hours at a time in any case.

We cancelled. For us 2 sessions in the pool (and let's face it, some people are going to end up with unpopular session times and not be happy about it) is not enough for the money it costs to go.

My June break was cancelled and moved to Feb. Got the email etc and all was done in 10 days. They hadn’t upgraded me like I requested so I messaged them on Facebook and within the hour I got the upgrade.

Their phone line is out of action so yiu won’t speak to them. They have made that obvious on their website.

Contact them on Facebook messenger. We weren’t due to go for another few months but knew that we won’t feel comfortable by then. They replied within a few hours and let us move our break to next year, we just had to pay £35 fee (added to the balance which now isn’t due until next year. All done via messenger within a day.

We’ve kept our booking, the cancellation policy is good and we don’t tend to use the pools that much anyway. With a couple of teens we’ll book an evening swim as rapids fun in the dark and no toddlers.

We cancelled our August 2020 break and had our deposit refunded

Most people don't go for a full week, it's either long weekend or midweek, so most people will only have 2 swimming sessions. When we go DS pretty much spends all his time in the pool, so don't think he would be too impressed with 2 x 2 hour sessions. Would suit me, especially if the pool is quiet as gets too busy for me now.

If they don't reply politely tweet them - usually gets companies to respond quite quickly.

We were intending to book and go in September but their limiting the swimming sessions down to two 2 hour sessions isn't good enough if they are still expecting people to pay full price. They are expensive as it is without limiting one of the only free activities!

We have instead booked for Butlins, almost half the cost and that's with the premium dining packaging. You have to book the pool but they are not limiting how many times you can use it.

If you pay the money owed, they will send you a form two weeks before you go with the option for a full refund or moving the break. (I have done this) Definitely don't cancel and lose the deposit!

Those of you who have said “cancel” - does Covid worries play any part? Or is it just not much of a break with all the social distancing malarkey in place?

@ineedaholidaynow

Most people don't go for a full week, it's either long weekend or midweek, so most people will only have 2 swimming sessions. When we go DS pretty much spends all his time in the pool, so don't think he would be too impressed with 2 x 2 hour sessions. Would suit me, especially if the pool is quiet as gets too busy for me now.

We're glad we cancelled, we like the relaxed time without having to book things; my DC will go off on their bikes for hours and end up in the pool 2 or 3 times a day so they'd hate it if they couldn't do that. DD in particular has a demanding job which is very regimented so likes to have an unstructured day and do what she wants when she wants.

Ultimately, we sat our dc down and explained that things were different and did they still want to go. They said yes. So we’re going.

I'm there now. It's lush. 28% occupancy, people keeping socially distanced pretty well. It's SO QUIET!! More staff than people, relaxed and restaurants all doing deliveries.

Pool doesn't open until tomorrow, but we don't use it anyway.

We've had a fab time.

We got an email from them saying that 2 weeks before the holiday we would be entitled to a cancellation with full refund if we didn't like the facilities available.

We will be cancelling as for us the pool was the entire point of going. Our oldest is 5 and so our kids are hardly going to be doing table tennis and archery, and we can cycle in the forest for free near our house - what she was excited about was the chance to swim all day and having timed sessions would spoil the point of the break for us.

They will happily change it to another date for you, probably for free