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.

Without a shadow of a doubt the worst place I have ever stayed.

I just see this one pop up today, about the swimming pool being boiling hot.
I can't stop reading these reviews.

Day 3 We used the swimming pool. Me and my partner both got in the baby pool. Good job we got in first because the water was boiling. It was miles to hot to put our babies in. We called the lifeguard over and he felt the water and said he was closing the baby pool to add more cold water. (Lucky my babies weren’t burnt ). 😡 We come back to the chalet and decided we was going to pack up and come home tonight couldn’t face another night on them mattresses. If u like camping this is what pontins is like really. The only positive thing I have to say is the arcade staff are lovely. They work 14 hour shifts in there uniform in this heat without any fans or air con They are always willing to help and friendly with the kids. This is our last time at pontins.

I stay at a lovely self catering place with a few cottages. They have strict cleaning routines as standard. Now with covid they have had to clean twice. Firstly in the normal way and second with a forger and disinfectant. All crockery has to be boil washed and massive amounts of new rules.

So why is Pontins exempt from following these cleaning rules? Surely PHE coups close them down for not adhering to the covid rules.

@Thecazelets

Good luck user32723 - at least you're forewarned. Pack some bleach and ear plugs! Am both entertained and horrified by this thread. Have never been anywhere like this, thought Butlins/Pontins were broadly the same thing, and assumed they were just clean and basic. Wild horses couldn't drag me there, but am enjoying the stories! (I should say that I was once made to go to a Centerparcs, and loathed it with such a passion that I left after a night - I was incredulous that people thought this was a holiday. I thought the - very expensive - accommodation was tired and grubby there, so I'd probably have some sort of seizure at Pontins!)

I have to agree on the Centre Parcs point!

About three years ago we stayed, I’m not sure what level our lodge was called, but it was one of the more expensive ones that had en-suites and an outdoor hot tub.

It was so dirty, now my standards aren’t particularly high, but it was gross. Nothing in the kitchen had been cleaned, all the cleaner would need to do is stick everything in the dishwasher and turn it on. The oven was thick with grease and burned on food, the microwave was covered in food splatters. The curtains on the patio door had holes in the bottom and were covered in dust. The floor clearly hadn’t been vacuumed or mopped. The bathrooms all had a distinct drains smell.

They did send round a cleaner who did a lightning fast (crap) vaccum, so I had to clean everything else myself. As the lodges weren’t clean I took a bottle of cleaner and a cloth when we went to the pool, good job as the ‘changing village’ was very very grim.

The OP said it - they are cheap and some people want cheap and will put up with low standards.

I thought Pontins was long gone..reading this thread and the trip advisor reviews have been highly amusing this morning..
However I have lovely memories of a holiday my grandparents took me on maybe I was about 10, so 28 years ago now at Pontins in Blackpool.. we had a lovely time, I remember I think it was the Orangina bar a light and airy place, the sun shining all week, lots a laughs and cheesy night time entertainment.. but I've never been back as an adult lol

i should think that Fred Pontin is turning in his grave. we used to go in the 1970s. it was comparable to Butlins there good accomodation, brilliant entertainment and lots to do. I think its very sad that they ended up with Britannia who keep saying they are going to improve the places.
Butlins now are hotels and the price way above a lot of peoples budgets so people are forced to consider alternatives.
it is horrible to think that people have to put up with this.
the receptions are grimy and depressing, ballrooms not like they were and the staff dont give a toss anymore.
i was told they employ a lot of workers from abroad for cleaning etc they pay minimum wage of course and the chalets they offer them and the yellow coats are worse than the ones the public have if that is possible.
very sad indeed. Butlins i have been a few times not really my cup of tea. Haven were good been to quite a few of their camps. Pontins deserves to be on the list of places to go it really does

@thecatsarecrazy

I ended up in one a few years ago, just 2 nights because dh made a cock up with a hotel booking. Where we stayed thankfully was clean that was Brean sands but before we got there I read the reviews and my heart sank. I wouldn't go out of choice. We went to the entertainment area one night and it was my idea of hell. Some drunk guy getting up on stage and proposing, kids running around shouting and swearing. My mother in law and her husband go regularly to some adult only event... don't know if theirs a swingers thing I don't know about

Oh god, I want to see the drunken stage proposal. Since Pontins are owned by the same group as Britannia, they should get married in a Britannia hotel. They have some very colourful online reviews too with titles like 'ruined my wedding day".

Pontins were either taken over or went into administration about 10 years back and remarketed as the New Pontins.

I took my DS and his friend , must have been about 2013 as they were about 12 and yes I agree that the accommodation wasn't up to much and the grounds and communal areas were pretty awful.

Also agree with the contrast with Butlins, we went for about 6 years running and I always thought it made for a brilliant seaside holiday. Having said that we always went to Minehead and went one time to Bognor Regis and it wasn't anywhere near as good. .

Earlier this year a friend of mine and my sister invited us to pontins. We had never been before but I used to work for haven and we went to butlins as kids. My sister and I shared with out kids. £80 for 3 nights for 5 of us in Ainsdale. Pulled up and said to the security guard that we were booked in.... he burst out laughing and replied "honestly? You are booked in here? People like you don't come to places like this. Good luck, you will need it ". We just looked at each other like WTF have we let ourselves in for?!

To be fair, the apartment was basic clean, had a full kitchen inventory and was pretty ok. We emptied our food into the fridge and units and all was good.

Went the bar and my feet stuck to the carpet every few steps. The air tasted like bad feet and vinegar. I bought a bottled beer (so I could wipe the neck ) went to sit down and as I put my beer on the table the whole table to just fell off the spindle centre post and rolled away. The toilets were absolutely drowning in paper and shit filled bowls and people were just changing nappies in the bar and leaving them in the floor.

The pool complex was really dilapidated, the integrity of the pool must be breached as they have fitted a rubber swimming pool liner inside the pool covering the tile work. The changing rooms were an inch deep in piss and misery.

The first night the fire alarm started beeping every 22 seconds. Just regular enough to REALLY wind you up. I got up for a wee and because the heating was so poor and we were close to the sea, a sheen of water was costing everything. The floors, work tops, toilet seat. It was creeping bone cold and damp that almost made your teeth ache. I started my period and choose to drive half an hour home to get my tampons so I could also have a shower and get the unloved decay smell off me.

But if you ask my kids, they loved it. They WANT to go back. It was as good as Tunisia and Corfu and Eurocamp .I think they loved the fact it was 4-5 families all piled into an apartment playing board games and cards. Every room of our tiny 2 bed apartment had a different activity going on and a lovely sense of friendship and making the best of it. I think THAT is what they loved.... or else they didn't notice that it was totally grim!

I've never been to these places, but I'm intrigued. It sounds like the most problem is the lack of cleanliness. Maybe this is a naiive question, but is there a reason why they can't just hire some more cleaners? I know it costs money and all, but is there some other reason? Do cleaners refuse to work there or something?

I always wanted to go to Butlins as a kid. It looked so fun.

When I was a kid, Pontins was considered slightly more upmarket than Butlins. I wonder where it all went wrong.

How come nobody ever thinks to call Environmental Health after one of these nightmare holidays?

Brean is local to me. I went years ago and ended up coming back early! Never went back.
All the people that go now end up coming back early. I don’t know why people still go when people complaining to the local paper every bloody week! 😂

dont forget On The Buses recorded Holiday On The Buses was filmed at Pontins. Stan's Mother on seeing the chalet said ' oh its all so clean!'
bet she wouldnt say that now

Not been to the ones you've mentioned but the Pontins Prestatyn's one we've been to several times and it's always been great.
We don't get the basic, so can't say what they're like but the classic chalets I think they're called have always been fine.
You (general you) go in with an an open mind, I mean come on, it's not bloody fine dining and 5 star accommodation lol but there;s loads for the children to do - entertainment on an evening, on site playground, can go to the beach etc
It's what you make it in my opinion! Always had fun when we've been

[quote Arthersleep]This is one of my favourite reviews:

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g666384-d664583-Reviews-Pontins_Brean_Sands_Holiday_Park-Burnham_On_Sea_Somerset_England.html#REVIEWS[/quote]
Ffs I was eating dinner when I started reading that - I didn't finish eating.

!!!DO NOT READ WHILE EATING!!!!

I agree, environmental health has got to be the way forward. Mind you, some of the ‘guests’ sound absolutely vile, if they are swearing, vomiting, fighting then I can kind of see why the owners refuse to invest in it while those type of people continue to pay. I really feel so sorry for families just looking for a no frills break away and finding the state of the place described in the trip advisor reviews though.

I’m pretty sure I remember Britannia have been dubbed the ‘worst hotel chain in the U.K.’ for a number of years. Both the hotels and holiday parks really do represent the absolute pit of the U.K.

The holiday cottage we stayed at this year had extra precautions due to Covid - extra cleaning, no soft furnishings, the owner had installed contact-less soap dispensers, we had gel and stuff left for us. There was a laminated printout of government advice for what to do if anyone felt ill. Don’t they have to do anything like that?

Sorry, reading this in bed and I’ve only got as far as page 5 and I’m laughing so hard I’m crying and shaking. DH just told me off for waking him up.

@Tellmetruth4 Well if you thought this thread so far was bad. Someone proudly posted a photo of their child holding a dead snake to the Camber sands FB group today that they'd found, behind the chalet 😭😂.

I was so excited to see fb groups but they are all private.

The titles certainly tell a story tho.

Add them they will accept you straight away @nevermorelenore

These sound great places to take kids. If ever there is an incentive to work hard at school, strive for excellence and never accept failure as an option - this is it!