To ask how Pontins is still able to trade?

[pinkpetal2]

So I used to go as a child/teen to the Camber Sands Pontins resort last went in 2009. From 2005 now it has become so bad across each resort.

The reviews on trip advisor are terrible absolute shambles. Yet people still go? I understand it's very very cheap for a week. However the place isn't safe, management have told people to go away when you make complaints and they don't seem to ever be in trouble anywhere?

Watchdog have done reports, environmental health have carried out reports yet it still stands

Last year a ceiling collapsed on to people and injured 18 people at Brean sands and they are still thriving with bookings.

The whole place is really run down the accommodation is infested with bed bugs and mice it's really sad. They still have the green baths and sinks etc from the 70s.

I just don't understand how they are still operating? Every post I see from their Facebook groups are full of complaints and people walking away. I find it bizarrely fascinating to read.

When we last went in 2009 a manager we spoke to said they was being left to be run in to the ground so they could say it doesn't work anymore, knock them down and place hotels there.

I know people take the mick out of Butlins but I feel they really do provide a nice British seaside holiday experience and have fantastic entertainment, with Covid they have made a festival type outdoor entertainment thing at the moment it looks great.

Pontins have rooms that haven't been cleaned in months full of mice droppings? And you still have to pay for electric and bedding. I just wondered if any one has ever worked for them or knows how they get away with treating customers like this? It's been years now and hasn't changed.

My H managed 2 nights at camber in 2005 before deciding he desperately needed to get back to work — it was a total shithole , the worst thing was not just the crappy accommodation but the scrapping families, aggressive feral kids and pissed up parents. The few families that were a bit more ‘together’ and has higher standards stuck out like sore thumbs . I would never ever be that desparate for a holiday- would rather stay home and pay to take kids out. Butlins on the other hand these days isn’t cheap, but if you pay for the better accommodation is a good holiday with kids, Haven fairly good too as are ParkDean. Centre parcs I thought was looking a bit tatty and seriously overpriced-

omg dying @BadLad . Hilarious.

They really trade off the Sun 950 hols where, even if you have a priority code or are at the end of the queue booking last minute, Pontins will be the last guy standing after everything else is booked up. We were regulars at a haven site just up the road from one for many years and the local resident taxi drivers always said don't ever book there.

I remember paying for electric at a hoeseasons ,holiday bungalow in Anglesey ,but the site was lovely and clean and very quiet so I didn't mind so much .

There is a big difference between a cheap and cheerful and being fithly and having human poop on the floor of your restaurant.

The sun are now refunding all holidays if people ask, no questions asked for any Pontins site!

From the youtube videos I've been enjoying, the chalets look as if they'd still be depressing and dystopian even if they were clean. I almost expected Daleks to emerge from them

@BadLad 😂😂😂

My son played in a Rugby Tournament at Butlins and all the parents and teams etc stayed in the Butlins Chalets.

Think it was a way to generate business.

I wasn't keen on the place really but it was clean enough. Nothing like these Pontins vids. But what shocked me was how much it all cost. It was crazily expensive and bad value for money.

£500 odd to stay for the weekend !
Horrendously overpriced food and drink
£3.50 for a bottle of lemonade in the onsite shop
Charged to get money from the cash point

It was rip off central.

Ooh Environmental health have closed their case and gave it a 5 star hygiene rating. Now what I expected to happen

What a 5 star rating? How did that happen!

Five star rating?? Something weird is definitely going on... The manager must have friends in high places.

Maybe it's out of a hundred

It's very cheap and has a bit of a 'tradition' behind it. Holidaying in the UK otherwise is pretty expensive and you only have to look at the Butlins prices to see what the cost of modernising a holiday camp is.

If they had a chance to clean up for the inspection then it would be pretty meaningless?!

I’ve just come back as I was really over invested in this thread at the time!

I have many friends who went to the one in camber sands regularly because it hosts ballroom dancing holidays. The stories they told about the state of the chalets were grim and i can see from this thread there is no exaggeration! They returned year after year, took it all light heartedly and took their own deep cleaning kits, complete with DIY stuff to eg fix wardrobes and plug gaps in doors and windows 😱 they'd all do a reccy and arrange a rota for the shower (or half size bath) that was the least minging of all of them and actually had working hot and cold taps. Most would come home with a cough or cold or digestive illness. Absolute madness, I never felt tempted to join them!

Why don't environmental health shut them down??

I have no idea and I'm still in shock to be honest they got 5 stars has to be dodgy somewhere.

Price would be a clue surely, reviews available to read online. Should stop any nasty surprises. It’s cheap for a reason.

@ShivRoy 🤣🤣

Easy to get a 5 star rating, if paperwork is in order.

i noticed on an offer site the other day a break i assume 3 days was on offer for £49 desperation perhaps

The types who go won't care. I mean, let's face it, anyone with an ounce of intelligence would read the reviews and sack it off.