To be worried about Butlins?!

[Burlee]

I’ve booked a few nights at Butlins in May - I used to go as a kid.

Last night I saw on their website that part of the pool in closed which was the main thing we were going for so I checked the trip advisor reviews to see if anyone mentioned it - OMG the reviews!! They were so bad they were actually funny! One person saying that the people who go there are tough as toast and it’s not unusual for parents to be calling their kids “little cunt” etc - kids running around absolutely feral, people queuing for 6pm entertainment from 2pm - everywhere smells of urine - half the rides don’t work - the accommodation is like a run down council flat - WTF have I done!

Anyone been recently and can tell me it’s not this bad?

The hotels are really nice!
my kids always much preferred Butlins to centre parcs, they found it much more fun and we never had a problem with cleanliness etc

I had my hen weekend at Centre Parks many moons ago and we weren't the hen party there either! 😂 We weren't badly behaved, though!

My family took us children to Bognor mid sixties I thought the swimming pool magical and had my first Knickerbocker glory.

This was at Longleat. Just because some people behave perfectly out and about it doesn't mean they are the same behind closed doors. The reason your accommodation was perfectly clean is because either it was used properly by the previous guests or the one you were meant to have was offline and you were moved to another. There was always a handful of units not sold (even if the place is "sold out" there will still be a few empty), purely due to the fact that some cannot be made suitable for new guests to occupy without having a deep clean and/or big stuff replaced.

Indeed on all caravan lodge parks a couple are kept empty for emergencies. If you appear to of gotten an upgrade it’s because the one for you was buggered.

We stayed in Yarmouth once and we got though three caravans before we ended up with a brand new one just unsealed and filled because the previous where dirty or too much broken in them to fix to the standard they should be.

We took our DN to Bognor in September (term time) and stayed in a seaside appt. I’d heard mixed reviews about the place and was absolutely dreading it, but it was actually fine. The accommodation was basic but it was clean (although a bugger to find when we first got there). No nasty smells anywhere, no one shouting or calling their DC names. There were a couple of outdoor smoking areas (sort of like large band stands) and I don’t remember seeing anyone smoking outside of those. We went to a couple of shows and I had to use the lift because I needed my wheelchair. Everyone was queuing nicely & no one was barging in anywhere.

What did stand out to me was just how friendly everyone was. The staff were brilliant with all the children and the guests all seemed to be perfectly pleasant people just trying to enjoy their holiday without causing problems for anyone else. Maybe it’s different in the school holidays but we’ve booked to take him back in September this year (same style accommodation but with a patio) to see Justin. If you’re hoping for lots of parents dressed in Boden and discussing the merits of the opera over the ballet and how their three year old is coming along in conversational Japanese, then you’ll be disappointed. But it was perfectly nice.

Of course it was Longleat!

So hang on, when you book a lodge and can specify the number are you saying those people are assigned a different lodge and there are no comments about that on Trip adviser, it's funny how I have been frequently over 16 years and never been moved to a different lodge, if it happens with such regularity, why is that! Equally, as you state, you are referencing the actions of people privately not publicly as is the case with the behaviour the OP is commenting on at Butlins. Condoms strewn all over family lodges at CP, vodka bottles with vomit next to them, shit stained beds, lodges do badly ruined that they are ',offline' whatever that means! It is bizarre to book CP with that level of debauchery in mind.

We went a few years ago and the reviews at the time were also awful, but it really wasn’t that bad. We went for a specific group who were in the show at the time - and they were great, and there was enough else to do to make it a good holiday. The one we went to was right on the beach, which is also a bonus.

Most people won’t complain about being moved if it’s seen as an upgrade. We didn’t complain online when our 1pm check in became 4pm before we actually could get into accommodation that was good enough.

One because the caravan in the end was an upgrade brand spanking new and two because basically we were paid off with vouchers for use on site. Then when they checked in with us on day two to make sure we where happy we had a minor niggle over the restaurant we got even more free stuff.

So we didn’t leave a bad review but we also didn’t leave a positive one.

Not nice for the cleaning staff and no one should ever leave accommodation any different to how they find it ☹️ I wont leave one dish in the sink when we leave CP and still do a tidy round to make sure it looks as we found it.

I’m surprised if that does go on at CP as just like you, been so many times over the years and couldn’t ever say ive even seen a Hen group (not that i’d have anything against a well behaved Hen party there). You can see from the adverts CP is very much marketed towards outdoor loving families needing abit of time away. We spend half the day in the pool and the most ive ever heard is a few parents feeling abit stressed in the changing rooms and having to calm down a tired toddler.

Ofcourse there will always be a tiny minority of families with disgusting levels of cleanliness, but I see it as a positive that in 10 years, ive never seen anyone im unhappy to be in the vicinity of with my children.

Yes very similar but he facilities are better at Butllins and its more expensive in Butlin,s ime.

Hmmmm, maybe that should've told you something....

Apart from the majority of posts here from people who've been and aren't.**

So you haven't been then?
OP the majority of people telling you not to go are frightful snobs who have never been within a mile of butlins yet love center parcs!
I've been to both & Butlins is better by miles.
As one of the above posters has said, you need to book Gold accommodation or above and a premium dining plan but then you're grand.
I've taken my DC numerous times to Skegness and Minehead with no issues & I'm as MC as they come. Don't cancel!

No haven’t been and would never go (even more so after reading the comments in this thread about sweary, drunk parents). You can comment on something without having experienced it yourself. Its clear from my original comment that I was surprised the OP hadn’t heard bad reviews about Butlins as I would say thats pretty much the majority view of the population. I didn’t lie and say i’d been myself.

If I was to go into work (no one is posh there, complete cross section of society) and say im going to Butlins, I have no doubt there would be comments and giggles at the idea as there is a general opinion out there about it.

Great if people have had good holidays there - i’d rather read that than read its just parents swearing at kids and people pooing in pans! But if the OP wants a guarantee she definately wont experience that, it might not be the place to go.

Yet you and other posters are pouring scorn on the person who worked at Center Parcs and encountered accommodation that was trashed by clients, as that wasn't your experience? 🤔

I'm saying that some of these comments bear no relation to my (many) experiences of Butlins.

Friend has Airbnb two lots of guests this week. First family Monday to Friday morning. You'd hardly know they'd stayed.

Second group Friday afternoon to this morning. It was in a disgusting state, the kitchen and bathrooms . Took two to clean up the god awful stomach churning mess.

There's some slobs wherever you go.

I’ll stick with CP to add to our 10+ years of lovely holidays there, never encountering a single issue. Great if Butlins is your choice 👍🏻 Perhaps if the OP goes, she cant report back and let us all know her opinion.

I'm not telling the OP to go, I have never been to Butlins so wouldn't be able to comment but I don't know why it is always compared to CP, they are two different types of holiday, Center Parcs is an primarily an outdoor activities holiday with an emphasis on sports, it doesn't include any activities in the price. Butlins does include many things in the price that are nothing to do with sports, a big feature of the holiday is night time entertainment, something that is not available at CP. Being a slob is not unique to any particular group of people but the OP wasn't asking about that, they were asking about the swearing and character of the average visitor. Many people who have been have confirmed her concerns. Stating your husband usually likes skiing but prefers Butlins over CP as if somehow that proves the merit of Butlins is laughable and actually pretty snobby as you are implying rich people like it so it must be good. There are plenty of uncouth people who ski!!

Goodness. Is this peak snobbery or is there even worse to come?

If you've paid for a holiday are you not entitled to enjoy it in peace?

My comment was supposed to be in response to the poster who claimed a correlation between having a twee sign in the kitchen and enjoying Butlins. Response function on MN? Not great.

I think this thread says more about some of the posters than it does about the people who frequent butlins really.

They're welcome to waste their cash in the dull, sanitised overpriced forest that is center parcs, breathing the same purified air as other aspirational MC folk whilst we peasants live it up at Butlins 😂

Disclaimer - I've been to both numerous times.

Hi, did you end up going to Butlins ? if so can you let us have an update as im thinking of booking Skegness for the summer.