To think that this was an appalling response from holiday park owner/managert?

[PyongyangKipperbang]

Not sure what the position was of the woman we spoke to but her manner suggested she had authority so I am erring on the side of owner/manager.

Stayed in a naice lodge Mon/Fri this week with eldest DD, her DP (SonIL for ease) and youngest DD. DD1 and SonIL paid a lot for this and invited DD4 and I along. It was very expensive and billed as "luxury" with price point to match.

Flies. So many flies. We kept everything closed when we went out and there would still be so many when we got back, they were getting in somewhere that we couldnt identify. So we asked one of the maintenance people about it and he bought some spray. Except it wasnt suitable for open plan areas which this was. The whole downstairs was open plan including kitchen. Basically you need to spray the whole area, shut it off and wait as you shouldnt breathe it in or have it near food. Its a massive living space. So it didnt work.

Checked out this morning and SIL and DD mentioned it to the Manager and she got very defensive and said "Well there are a lot of flies! Thats what its like around here! We have had people leave because of it" (not quite sure how she thinks that makes it ok!). DD said "We have been several times and its not been like this before".....again "Its just what its like!!" SonIL said "So you know its an issue and you have done nothing to address it? No fly papers, no electronic devices?" "Its just how it is!" SonIL again points out that they know there is an issue so why have they dont nothing about it?

She was having none of it.

AIBU to think that it was a fucking disgusting reaction to people paying A LOT of money for a self catering lodge? Not least because all the "luxury" extras they paid for clearly hadnt been maintained. DD loves a hot tub but one of the jets wasnt working, one was working....ish. All a bit shoddy.

Its not their fault if its a bad year for flies, but anti fly door and window covers and fly papers would help. Not ideal but better than what we had to deal with and at least it would show that they are trying.

ETA sorry should mention that this was in the UK.

Its not about wanting a refund, I dont think DD wants that. It was more about the way the manager/owner reacted to the complaint.

Just straight away defensive and angry that we were complaining at all.

Fair enough, but I actually think your DD would be entitled to a partial refund to reflect the loss of use of the hot tub due to the broken jets. The inclusion of a private hot tub will have bumped up the cost of this accommodation- it’s a luxury extra as you said yourself - so I would be inclined to write a letter/email of complaint.

By all means mention the flies and the dismissive response from the manager, but focus on the fact that the hot tub was clearly not properly maintained, nor was it checked between bookings as the issue would then have been known by them and you’d reasonably expect it to have been flagged to you upon check in if they were unable to resolve before you arrived. This resulted in some of the amenities that were part of your booking not being available for you to enjoy, which they should acknowledge, apologise for and, if they have any level of interest in customer service and satisfaction, offer some gesture as recompense.

I would also be inclined to leave a review for the benefit of other potential customers.

And I’m sorry the break was a disappointment. It’s a real shame, especially when you’ve paid a significant amount for a holiday, and given holidays in the UK seem to already have a premium attached to them. No wonder most opt for a week AI in Spain or Turkey instead!

Not sure where in the UK you are, but if you’re in or around the North West and considering a similar break next year, I’d recommend Ribby Hall not far from Preston.

Your post has been hijacked by a load of sillies
I have no idea why they think you are in the wrong . wtf !
clearly there is a reason why there are so many flies - you say there are scores of them . Is there a refuse centre or farm nearby ? How are they storing their bins ? Dead animal nearby/ under the floorboards ?
she should have acknowledged the problem “ I’m really sorry , we are having some problems with flies this year - we have had others complain “
they could buy an electric fly racket or one of those blue light devices which zaps them / fly screen / for the worst affected lodges
what a nightmare

Ahhhh city dwellers, now imagine if you’d been there in harvest and all the thrips were out. We get flies as we are semi rural and it’s just a fact of life out in countryside. If you don’t like it stay in the city 🤷🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤣

You can't completely seal these prefab units. They have ventilation and gaps for the utilities to enter etc. So there's really no way of stopping flies/ladybirds/spiders/ants coming in. If there's a glut of them outside then they will be getting inside too.

Yes they could've supplied fly papers but it sounds like a local outbreak so probably needed ordering in.

I can guarantee that worker had been fielding complaints all day from people expecting her to control nature and was getting frustrated about it. We all have bad days.

I remember guests saying they had an ant infestation. All very concerning so the team went to look. 6 ants. We had a good laugh over that.

Sorry to disappoint but I have never lived in a city in my life. Lived in a rural village all my life sandwiched between several farms and have never had it that bad.

YANBU. It's really disappointing when a business owner seems to forget that without customers there is no business. Word of mouth is powerful , and I can't imagine you will ever recommend the place, and anyone who asks you how your holiday was will hear an extra negative review from you.
A satisfied customer spreading the word is much cheaper than spending money on promotion.
All she had to do was apologise and say she was looking into it 🤦‍♀️

I had an otherwise lovely alfresco lunch spoiled by wasps the other day, but it didn't occur to me to blame the management.

We werent blaming them, DD mentioned it and the manager went straight off on the defensive and basically implied it was tough.

Was it a bit Center Parc-ish, woodland, lakes, lots of lovely moist ground under trees, lodges/barns all set about prettily...

Fab location for all sorts of fly species which boom and bust from season to season - cluster flies and stable flies are bastards for this.

Anyway - you run a venue, you need pest control, for the day to day keeping down rats, stopping things like bed bugs and fleas happening.. and for the weird 'SUMMER OF THE FLIES' events too.

You have a contingency plan - 'oh, there are more flies than usual, they're upsetting the guests - lets put up magnetic fly screens and give people free standing electric fly zappers, and citronella candles for their patio tables.'

You don't just huff and puff and say 'it is what it is, other people fucked off so there'... that is shitty attitude and shitty business practice!

Couldn’t you have sprayed the place and then gone out?
No doubt if they’d put up fly sticky paper, people would moan about how gross it was to see.
As for a jet not working in the hot tub, I couldn’t get worked up about that.

As presumably it didn’t stop you using it.

What a lot of drama over a few flies.

At what price point would you start to get worked up about it?

Because I refuse to believe that you would pay to stay in a "luxury" place that costs ££££ but didnt get everything that was promised when you booked. That things were not maintained and actively broken. Add in a fly infestation and you would be happy to deal with it yourself?

REally?

I dont believe you. I dont.

The fishing lake low on water and high on geese and other prolifically shitting birds is a likely cause of the fly issue.

Some people fishing will dump their maggots when they are done for the day. Maggots become flies once out of their maggoty containers.

Even if people don’t dump their maggots, they may still be using ground and other bait which is basically animal matter for flies to feed off.

Throw in unseasonal heat and bingo, a fly invasion.

Ok, were you still able to use the hot-tub?
When I hire one, I don’t even put the jets on.
So I can assure that one not working wouldn’t have bothered me.

Did you enjoy any of the break?

At least they were not wasps..its been a terrible year so far for wasps, thousands of them in some places

Im guessing you were expecting a discount?

But they did address the issue and sent someone around with fly spray.

I dont think manager was particularly defensive in this part of convo

"Well there are a lot of flies! Thats what its like around here! We have had people leave because of it" (not quite sure how she thinks that makes it ok!). DD said "We have been several times and its not been like this before".....again "Its just what its like!!"

Then your son il goes on.

They can't address it. Fly paper and zappers wont work.

I live rurally and it’s an awful year for flies and bugs. Can’t really be outside unless you fancy being chewed on by horseflies. Every time I open the door half a dozen sneak in, electric tennis rackets are your friends. I get that other people are saying that flies must be feeding on stuff but if your in the countryside it’s a smorgasbord for flies. The weather normally keeps them down but it’s been great breeding weather.

According to OP’s post, one of the jets wasn’t working at all and another was only partially functioning.

Personally, if I’m using a hot tub, I’m putting the jets on. And if I’d paid a considerable sum of money for a ‘luxury’ lodge that had advertised a private hot tub as one of its ‘value added’ amenities, I’d be expecting it to be fully functional when I arrived and for the duration of my stay.

If this was a known issue with the equipment (as with any other fixture or fitting in the lodge), this should have been flagged by staff at check in to OP/family, with either an assurance it would be fixed (and associated timescale for the repairs to be done) or an apology and some sort of gesture in recognition of the issue; whether that be a partial refund/reduction in the price paid for the lodge or some compensatory gesture/service, e.g. a free meal at the onsite restaurant or a complimentary treatment at their spa.

The malfunctioning jets and the lack of warning at check in (presumably because they were unaware of the issue), indicates to me a maintenance regime that’s lacking and likely a rushed changeover between guest bookings.

Over and above the disappointing experience/service element, there’s also the more serious matter of the legionella risk which increases considerably in a poorly maintained hot tub. Malfunctioning jets can mean all the chemicals used to clean and prevent the bacteria from forming do not get evenly distributed through the water and or stagnant areas of water can form where bacteria builds up. Hence why, in each of my previous posts, I’ve been advising OP to not concentrate on the fly issue, but to instead focus the basis of any complaint on the problem with the hot tub.

I believe that you get what you pay for, or at least you should! If the OP paid luxury prices, it’s perfectly reasonable to expect a luxury experience. As an absolute bare minimum, that means all fixtures and appliances to be in good working order.

YANBU. I've never stayed anywhere in the world and been plagued by flies indoors. I'd be wondering if something had died.

Language like 'appalling' and 'fucking disgusting' seems like a significant over-reaction to flies in a UK holiday destination in summer, so YABU.

I stayed at a resort once that had a flyer on the coffee table of the normal bugs that might might be seen in the room… this resort was in the middle of the woods on a lake and I’m assuming their city folk clientele were not used to seeing the local bugs.

Made me laugh as they were in fact normal bugs that you would see in the area even at a ‘luxury’ resort in the woods.

Yes OP flys will drive me batshit crazy, but they are flys. I’m sure dead ones stuck to fly strips wouldn’t have fit your luxury ideal either. Your daughter was probably the umpteenth person to bitch about it that day and the manager or front desk person had zero control over it!

FWIW, every few years my own house is invaded by flies… it took awhile for us to figure out the cause, but it’s when the local hawks and owls turn our yard into the killing fields with all the dead bird and furry critter carcasses.

I’ve had a stern word with them but alas they take no notice.

They are flies no i would not get hysterical over flies and i mean they could have had a stern word with the flies as long as they all spoke the same language