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.

It's just really sad and grim people just wanting a break a holiday And they are offered shite!

I’d be terrified to go there. I went to Butlins once and lasted 10 mins. I didn’t feel safe in Butlins.

Although to answer the question why do people still go - £89 for a 4 night stay in the school summer holidays. Per family. I imagine lots just use it as a base to go out & about from.

Wow, is that what Butlins has done?

I suppose it depends on what you are used to.

For some people it must be a cheap break and similar to home. I honestly don’t want to appear disrespectful by saying that, but it obviously appeals to a certain market who aren’t concerned by the condition of the chalets.

We didn't mind Butlins we took DD as a toddler they still had the baby sitting service with the child crying in chalet. 25 bell

You can't compare Butlins to Pontins ,Butlins is so much nicer ,it might not be everybody's cup of tea ,but it's fine also Haven ,I have never had a problem at either of them ,we were supposed to go to Haven in Scotland last week for a week ,we cancelled because of uncertainty about what would be open ,etc but they were great refunded within a couple of weeks no issue.

@Bmidreams Yeah it's really good, the stages were hired from Glastonbury. Sanitser everywhere also etc it looks really well done.

Who knows how it's still going. With Tripadvisor you'd think no one would book. I must have gone about 20 years ago when I was around 12 and even as I child I recognised it as being pretty filthy!

Why on earth would anyone ever call a visit to one of those places a holiday?

I’ve wondered the same op! As an emetophobe the reviews on that Tripadvisor link left me feeling so tense. How can they possibly let people stay in mouldy, filthy, dangerous places? I do remember the Watchdog episodes where they went and it was minging.

To be fair I've just looked at some photos on Tripadvisor and they look ok! Doesn't make up for the thousands of terrible reviews mind

We stayed a Brean Sands a couple of weeks ago, we arrived the day after they reopened. (We've been before and said never again but a friend treated us)
Our cell apartments had apparently been deep cleaned before arrival. There was a seal over the door telling us it had been sanitised and not to enter if the seal was broken.
My son made his bed and found a couple if playing cards and a pen lid under the mattress - not much of a deep clean then!

It was cleaner than last time we went though (Brean in 2011 and Camber a few years later).

We’ve been to the one at Lowesoft a few times.

That one is nice (in an ok for an ASTONISHINGLY cheap holiday kinda way)

The rooms were clean, the food (all inc) plentiful and booze was cheap.

There’s lots to do in the wider area and the beach is great. Plenty for kids to do, and safe enough to let them roam on site.

Im absolutely fucking GUTTED they’ve made that one adult only. The only decent one. Gits.

People go because its so cheap. I have never been and would never go the reveiws are awful I'd rather stay in my nice house.

I found butlins dirty aswell our hotel room had dried bogeys on the curtains and chocolate stains on the cushions. Have always found Haven clean.

Just did a quote for 3 for a Monday - Friday in a week and it's £396. Not expensive by any means but not as cheap as I expected! Saying that I'd have to be paid to go there

I have only been to the Skegness Butlins Mumsy which doesn't have a Hotel so I'm assuming that's not the one you went to ,but I had no complaints with our apartment .

We went to one last year. Cheap weekend away and ds (3yrs) loved it. The accommodation is cheap, but ours was clean. We had an issue with the room, which was fixed whilst we were out. Some bits like the golf course looked abit tired.

I can see the appeal, food included, free entertainment, parks, and activities to keep the young ones and teenagers happy. Cheap drinks for mum and dad and things on all the time. I do think there is a ‘knack’ to it. The one we went to had a revamp about 10 years ago maybe wasn’t as bad as you mentioned, and has now been changed to adult only. I’d probably go back but upgrade to a nicer room (which they had and did look better than what we had)

I did see a couple in what must have been there 70’s and I got the impression they went every year and probs had done since the kids were young.

Do you think they make all their money from people booking and then just leaving?
It’s sad as people are desperate for nice, clean, basic accommodation near nice beaches.

I don't get it either. I remember going to Prestatyn when I was about 10. I went with a friend's family who only went because his brass band were doing some concert there. Even as a 10 year old, I could see that the apartment was grubby as were the other facilities. I was far too polite to say anything but I guess my friend's parents felt the same as we ate off site every day!

My husband has stayed at the one at Weston Super Mare when he was working down there for a week. He said that one isn't the cleanest either and the group ate elsewhere every night and on site during the day. He said the apartment felt/smelt damp and was grubby.

I do feel sorry for people who book and turn up to find dirty apartments etc. Yes it's cheap but if that's all they can afford and they end up having to leave it's unfair to them.

I just did a quote for brean sands next Saturday for 1 week. I just did a standard self catering, 2 adults, 2 children and no extras. It was £539 😮 I wouldn't pay that. You could book a caravan or a hotel and go to the fair at brean for cheaper than that.

Butlins is totally different in my opinion!

It makes me so sad that this is what the poor, working class, or extra frugal in this country are expected to settle for. Not basic, functional and a bit rustic, but actually unspeakably grim. Filthy, ugly, and just miserable. It’s not even that cheap- I had a look on the website and by the time you’ve paid extra (!) for bedlinen you could get a basic self-catering cabin or apartment somewhere nice for not much more.

I think the photos of the children’s entertainers are what depress me more than anything. Can you imagine being on that sad little stage in a polyester uniform singing for 5 or 6 kids and wondering what you’re actually doing with your life. There’s gotta be a surreal depressing indie film to be made out of all this.

Some more pics from this week. Clearly this one hasn't been cleaned in months? They'd closed a whole block down and then re opened it due to demand.

We Iive in East Sussex.
If I'm ever on a holiday that isn't perfect I put it into perspective by reading trip advisor reviews of Pontins at Camber Sands.