Words cannot describe the misery... (Butlins (Bognor Regis))

Member Name: pixie1902

Product:	Butlins (Bognor Regis)
Date:	17/04/02 (5805 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: if you find any - let me know!

Disadvantages: where do I begin? Bad food, over-priced, rowdy louts, shabby, tacky

Having been to Butlins Bognor Regis many years ago with my parents and brothers and sisters, I thought I would take a trip down Memory Lane and booked a weekend break there with my husband. When I looked through the brochure I wasn't surprised to see that a lot had changed since our family holidays there but I was looking forward to the old favourites (the swimming pool, the fun fair rides and the shows, for example) and also hoping to experience that little bit more now that Butlins have re-vamped their parks.

The weekend that we had booked was an adults-only weekend and the brochure encouraged us to 'get away from it all' and to 'relax and enjoy the weekend'. This sounded just perfect for my husband and me so we booked on-line and decided to really push the boat out and opted for the deluxe accommodation and the half-board supplements. We were really looking forward to not having to worry about cooking and clearing up on holiday and enjoying the best accommodation the park can offer.

As we had booked deluxe accommodation we were advised that we could check in 90 minutes before the other guests which we thought was a superb idea - first into the pool, or first onto the fun fair and it gave us that little bit of extra time there and that the queue at check-in wouldn't be as long. However, when we arrived we were handed a note at the front gate saying that we could check-in at 2.30 but the accommodation wouldn't be ready until 4.00 pm. Hmmm - we needed to fill some time. It appeared that although you could arrive and check-in before 4.00 pm, all that you could do until that time was spend money: the bars were open, the restaurants and cafes open, the shops and amusement arcades open. So obviously the idea behind is that the deluxe accommodation guests can come in earlier and spend even more money. Fortunately, by the time they had found our keys it was almost 4.00 pm and we headed off to our room.

Deluxe
accommodation can mean different things to different people. However, I cannot think that anyone would associate deluxe accommodation with used tea bags on the floor, missing light bulbs, peeling wallpaper, torn sheets, chipped furniture, dirty carpets, used wine glasses in the bedroom, the balcony door not closed properly, no toilet paper, broken heater in the bedroom (during a very chilly winter weekend) and hot water that ran out after one 5-minute shower! But that is what we had. To say we were disappointed is perhaps an understatement. But it was to get even worse.

The brochure stated that the half-board guests would be allocated to a restaurant depending on the accommodation booked. Seemed reasonable enough to me. Checking the prices we found that the half-board supplement (i.e. the difference between the self-catering and the half-board price for each accommodation type) varied. In fact, guests staying in deluxe accommodation had paid more than 20% more than guests in the studio (standard) accommodation for the food. This led us to believe that the quality of the food and restaurant would be higher than that of the cheaper option. We were looking forward to a relaxing break and were happy to pay a higher price for a higher standard. However, when we went to the restaurant for the first evening meal we found that regardless of the price paid the food and service was the same. It was a self-service style 'grab what you can and then search for a free table' affair. This was disappointing as from the brochure we had been led to believe that we were paying more for something better than this. The vegetables were tinned, the meat swimming in grease and everything was lukewarm as it had been out on counters for some time. The only soft drinks available were carbonated drinks - no water or fruit juice to be seen. The staff were totally disinterested and were even rude. The bread rolls were not fresh, tables had been left uncleared and
there was a general apathetic attitude to the place. The food was bland and tasteless and nothing short of chaos reigned in the restaurant with people pushing and shoving with their trays. It was worse than those school dinner days we all hated.

Throughout the park the staff maintained an air of indifference about everything. Not once did we see anyone smile. When I smiled at the young woman working in the shop I felt as though I should have apologised for offending her - never have I seen such a look of contempt! When we reported the faults with our accommodation we were told that we could not be moved as the park was full. But we didn't want to be moved - to pack our bags and trail everything across the park - we just wanted everything to be rectified where possible for us to enjoy. Obviously the peeling wallpaper and chipped furniture would remain but it would have been nice to have heating that worked and the rubbish removed from the bedroom. And this should have been done before we arrived so we were not asking them to go out of their way and do anything more than was expected.

Unfortunately, adults-only weekends at Butlins are basically 18-30 holidays without the sun. Hordes of loud, drunken brash, ignorant louts intimidated us throughout our stay. Not one night did we sleep peacefully - instead we were woken at all hours of the early morning by their singing, shouting, swearing and general nuisance behaviour. At times the noise was so bad that we felt we couldn't leave the accommodation for fear of being caught up in a brawl. There were broken windows, broken bottles, drinks spilt everywhere, fast food wrappers discarded randomly, even items of clothing abandoned in the car park. The couple in the room next to ours left early and had it been possible I am sure we would have done the same. Alcohol was even being served at breakfast on the Sunday.

The free ativities all closed at 6.00 pm - which we considered
to be very early considering it was an adults-only weekend and there were no children who needed to be in bed by a certain time and that we were all on holiday and there was no reason to be awake early the following day. But the only activities open after 6.00 pm involved an additional cost and/or alcohol. It soon became apparent that this was the whole idea - we weren't supposed to enjoy the free activities, we were supposed to drink copious anounts of over-priced alcohol and spend even more money on tacky amusements and side shows. On the subject of over-pricing, even Burger King have raised their prices by about 20% compared to London high street prices (which are higher still than the rest of the UK).

All in all we felt cheated and insulted. We certainly did not feel like guests 'relaxing and getting away from it all'. A formal letter of complaint has been sent to Butlins but judging by the lack of professionalism and enthusiasm of the staff at the park I doubt we will receive a satisfactory response.

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