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.

@hotchoco Blackpool Pontins is now a new housing estate

The link above to the trip advisor review doesn’t work for me. Which one is it?

I’ve looked at the website and the photos of the accommodation looks wrist in their official website, but there’s a disclaimer underneath which states your accommodation might not look like the website photo!!!!!!

That’s a clue.

I went to Camber Sands in 2003 and we came home early - never again it was revolting and I was really upset as I had a baby!

I remember asking on here a few years ago if Butlins was awful, and uniformly everyone told me it was dreadful and we'd have an awful time.

We went anyway. It wasn't a grown ups holiday but the kids adored it and we've been back several times since. Accommodation (gold apartments) has always been fine. The Premium dining is genuinely excellent.

I thought Mumsnet hated Butlins - but I guess they hate Pontins more! (I'm not willing to take one for the team and visit Pontins to compare!)

There's a lot of snobbery on here about Butlins @summerfish, I think either posters have,nt been and mix it up with Pontins ,or last went in around 1975 and assume it's still the same! We have been a couple of times ,yes it's not everyone,s cup of tea but kids love it and there ,s loads to do and it's very clean IME ,Butlins I'm talking about .

Butlins is lovely but now really expensive unfortunately

To be fair we did a day at butlins two years ago (skegness) and the pool area was very very dirty, it didn’t help that people were eating in the pool area so there were mashed up crisps etc on the floor and bits of food floating in the pool.

We went to Butlins in the early eighties and then to Pontin's a couple of years later. Even then the difference was noticeable and I was aware that we had gone to Pontin's because we had less cash to spare than the Butlins year. The accommodation was OK but there was less investment in entertainment for the guests and it really showed.

It's worth remembering that Britannia Hotels are the ones who, on the lockdown announcements, told their live-in cleaning staff (mostly migrant workers) that they no longer had jobs and needed to vacate the premises ASAP.

We usually stay in Southport for the annual musical fireworks competition and had previously stayed in the Prince of Wales sometimes. Not any more, we're not. Shameful! We're not going to forget that sort of shabby behaviour any time soon...

@QueenBarb I think you'd be more likely to find that Pontins CS is where the Govt are hosting their Herd Immunity trials.

@Snowpatrolling
It's local to me too. I worked there 20 years ago. Last summer they changed the rules so you could walk in so I went for a mooch. It was like it hasn't been cleaned or maintained for those 20 years. I'd had such fun there but it just felt really sad and neglected.

@x2boys

It's very ,very cheap ,yes it's a bit shit and not the cleanest ,but if you don't have a lot of money it's a cheap if somewhat grim getaway

I'd rather go camping than go to Pontins from what has been said on this thread. Camping is probably cleaner and being outdoors is lovely.

@Goinghometocallie

They go because it’s very , very cheap. It’s cheaper than camping! It’s filthy but the kids don’t realise. So if you haven’t got much money you put on a brave face, take some bleach and smile through it. I’d say it’s a bit neurotic to call it a health hazard. A holiday is what you make it. I could never obide those people who acted miserable because things weren’t how they expected. Just get stuck in and stop ruining everyone else’s fun.

You wouldn't call bloodstains down the curtains, fresh vomit between the sheets, or mouse droppings a health hazard? You get what you pay for but there are limits!

It's not cheaper than camping. We camp for £10/£20 a night for 3 of us, Pontins is £45 a night for the cheapest chalet sleeping 4 people according to their website. Camping is a fixed price at the sites we use, if the tent fits on the pitch you can have as many people in it as fit. We could have 5 people for £10 or £20 depending which site we choose to use.

Yes but you would also need to have all the camping equipment and transport to take it to the campsite ,I'm not defending Pontins ,it's a shit hole but buying camping equipment takes time and money .

Camping is expensive to start up And I'm one of those who would rather not go on holiday than sleep in a tent !

We went when I was younger as it's all my parents could afford, it was pretty grim then, dread to think now! As it's substantially cheaper than a lot of places, many probably see it as better than nothing.

I'm gutted reading all of this. We're due to go in 2 weeks time and it's all we can afford.

@Manolin

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!

Kids love these sorts of places though! My DS would be perfectly fine with spending every holiday at a seaside town eating chips and playing in the amusements all day. Despite taking him on some naice holidays, our weekend in Yarmouth was apparently the best holiday ever.

To the person who suggested camping, it's not so easy when you don't have the equipment or a car. Pontins tend to be in big seaside towns, so fairly easy to reach on coach or train.

@SisterNight

I'm gutted reading all of this. We're due to go in 2 weeks time and it's all we can afford.

If you have room to pack some cleaning supplies to give the place a bit of a spruce when you get there I’m sure you’ll be okay.

I'm gutted reading all of this. We're due to go in 2 weeks time and it's all we can afford.

I'm sure you'll have a great time, it's not the Ritz but I have fond memories, and don't remember the state of the chalets. Take a few cleaning bits and bobs if you like, but enjoy.

My brothers friend used to be a cleaner at Ainsdale Pontins and found a turd in the kettle, someone had actually shit in the kettle 🤮

I wouldn’t be cleaning up blood or vomit on holiday. If it’s that dirty then it’s a health hazard.

SisterNight have you read the trip advisor reviews?which one are you going to?

@x2boys

Yes but you would also need to have all the camping equipment and transport to take it to the campsite ,I'm not defending Pontins ,it's a shit hole but buying camping equipment takes time and money .

We spent £200 on setting up for camping, a 2nd hand tent for £50. Obviously that is unattainable for people on a very fixed budget but £200 once spent provides years of holidays or weekends away. Obviously camping is not for everybody but that's a choice to make, nobody forces you to go camping and, thank God, nobody forces me to go to Pontins.

Ahhh, its sad. We used to go a couple of times a year as an extended family in the 1970s and 80s. In fact my parents met at Pontins in the sixties. As a PP has said, it was posher than Butlins although when you arrived you were given a "house" Embassy or Castella! Free cigarette advertising!

A few of the sites have been taken over by PGL now. The DSs stayed at the old Osmington Bay site (now PGL) a couple of years ago.

Oh that makes sense. DC went to osmington bay and when I asked about the accommodation I was told it was “like a pontins”. Having never been to pontins I didn’t understand the reference.