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Pontins Holidays

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221129

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Hello,
Has anyone on here ever had a pontins holiday?

If so where and what was it like ?

I ask this because i went to Brean Sands yesterday for a 3 night stay and the site was a mess and so was the accomodation. To the extent we left after 4 hours there and 2 of them were Queing!!

Thanks
Ollie
 
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221129

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Here are a few pics!!

:-x <( <( :-x
 

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starrymarkb

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Can't say its the type of trip that appeals. I prefer city breaks, though I have stayed in a couple of grotty places (Fleet Street Hotel in Dublin but I didn't have the option of swapping and Astral Inn in Leipzig - finding alternative accommodation during two large festivals wasn't going to happen!)
 

221129

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<(There were 6 of us (Me,My mum and 4 siblings) there wasnt enough sleeping arrangements meaning i would have been sleeping on the DIRTY Floor!! It was the worst 'Holiday' ive ever had <(<(<(:-x:-x
 

Ellieharris04

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I went on one last year in july, went to Camber Sands. It was hot allll weekend, was great. Very cheap but yeah it was grotty but we didnt care as we was has having fun drinking all weekend lol :lol: The holiday is what YOU make it :)
 

221129

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I went on one last year in july, went to Camber Sands. It was hot allll weekend, was great. Very cheap but yeah it was grotty but we didnt care as we was has having fun drinking all weekend lol :lol: The holiday is what YOU make it :)

Fair dos lol but it got to the point that my siblings were fighting and getting irritable about the state of the place we couldnt stay
 
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For a laugh a mate and I went on a Pontin's holiday to Prestatyn in the early seventies. Whilst we were there the film of "On the Buses" was being made. All I remember was that the camp was full of girls from Manchester and Liverpool who were of a somewhat sporting nature!
 

Ivo

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Brean Sands looked OK from the outside at roughly 1345 yesterday! :lol:

I too have been to Camber Sands, and it was quite possibly the best holiday I've ever had (not including NI last year ;)). It should have been my mother, my brother, my sister and I, but my sister messed us around shortly before and my brother suggested letting mum go on her own to her help relax; I thought she should would appreciate the company, and thus it became just mum and me. I have never enjoyed taking a bath so much - big and a very ncie colour too...

Whilst there we also went to Eastbourne, Brighton and Folkestone [by bus :lol:]. By far the best was Eastbourne; by far the worst was Folkestone (which was disappointing for my mother considering we have ancestral links to Folkestone)...

I seem to remember the Marshlink being quieter in DEMU days though! Every 171 we travelled on was heavily loaded!
 

221129

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We arrived at the park at about 15:45 we reached the accomodation at about 17:10 we left about 20:30
 

Minilad

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Brean Sands looked OK from the outside at roughly 1345 yesterday! :lol:

I too have been to Camber Sands, and it was quite possibly the best holiday I've ever had (not including NI last year ;)). It should have been my mother, my brother, my sister and I, but my sister messed us around shortly before and my brother suggested letting mum go on her own to her help relax; I thought she should would appreciate the company, and thus it became just mum and me. I have never enjoyed taking a bath so much - big and a very ncie colour too...

Whilst there we also went to Eastbourne, Brighton and Folkestone [by bus :lol:]. By far the best was Eastbourne; by far the worst was Folkestone (which was disappointing for my mother considering we have ancestral links to Folkestone)...

I seem to remember the Marshlink being quieter in DEMU days though! Every 171 we travelled on was heavily loaded!

:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o :lol:
 

Clip

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Pontins has gone so far downhill its unreal.

Mind you the times Ive been to the one in Southport was only for a music weekender and whilst it was very basic it was at least clean.

Have you complained to them about it whilst you were there?
 

221129

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I hope your family are going to put in some kind of complaint! Maybe the experts here could help you draft one (OK, maybe not :lol:)

Haha Ohh yes complaint is an understatement My mum has Emailed BBC Watchdog as they have been there before!! They dont learn! <(<(
 

221129

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Pontins has gone so far downhill its unreal.

Mind you the times Ive been to the one in Southport was only for a music weekender and whilst it was very basic it was at least clean.

Have you complained to them about it whilst you were there?

Yes three times while we were there!!
 

deltic1989

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Thats disgusting!!!!!!! I was thinking of booking a cheap Pontins break for my family in the summer but after seeing your pictures and reading about your experience I will probably go for haven instead.
 

221129

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Thats disgusting!!!!!!! I was thinking of booking a cheap Pontins break for my family in the summer but after seeing your pictures and reading about your experience I will probably go for haven instead.

It was our first Pontins one too and never again and we werent the only people that left upwards of 25 groups left last night !!!

Haven on the other hand i cant fault them :)
 

Ellieharris04

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We used Bognor Regis as a base for touring West Sussex at the end of last month (stayed at the Royal George Hotel) and it was very noticeable that Butlins are currently buildlng two or three new hotel blocks on their site at that resort.

Yeah went there in march, for a soul and motown weekend, was brilliant but we stayed in the apartments and they was doing them all up and yeah they were building a new hotel, its getting very popular :D
 

142094

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Just been to Europe for a few days and stayed in some cheap hostels over there (one was around €10/night inc. continental breakfast). Initially I thought most of these places were going to be dives, but all of them were pretty good, nice and clean. So quite sad to see that places over here can't keep the same standard.
 

table38

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Remember when Pontins was featured on Watchdog and they weren't even sorry...

[youtube]ZpNxEa3l210[/youtube] [youtube]ivOxiS7dB9A[/youtube]
 

Ivo

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Brean Sands looked OK from the outside at roughly 1345 yesterday! :lol:

Obviously you can't judge a book by its cover...

Credit to the ...can I say "bitch"?... for playing Anne at her own game, but she did herself and the company no favours.

Two criticisms in particular:

"99.9% experienced good value"

Wrong. It means that this number had an experience that was not sufficiently bad enough to justify complaining to Watchdog. And Watchdog is usually a last-resort measure, not a first try!

"Rome wasn't built in a day"

The cliché to end all clichés. It is supposed to show progress - but almost every time it is used the idea is to cover up very slow progress. The BBC should introduce a QI-style buzz when people say this!

They will be on it again soon i should think

You're not the only one.
 

WestCoast

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I went to the old Pontins site in Blackpool (now closed) a few times for a conference/meeting and it looked pretty dire to me (the conference suite was OK though)...
 

WestCoast

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Five of the Pontins camps were bought by the Britannia Hotels group late in 2011 and were subject to a programme of retraining of staff and a refurbishment project is to be effected.

Britannia? Oh dear. I'd much rather stay at a Travelodge! They have some wonderful historic properties, but most of them are stuck in the 1970s in terms of fixtures and fittings. I couldn't believe the state of the famous Adelphi in Liverpool under Britannia's management. A few years ago, four out of ten of "Britain's dirtiest hotels" on the Tripadvisor Survey were owned by Britannia and their hotel in Stockport was fined for breaching Environmental Health laws.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Brean was Disgusting the staff didnt seem to care either

It sounds like Britannia Hotels to me. I don't know how this chain gets away with it, although they do often undercut Premier Inn on price and people are drawn to historic hotels like the Adelphi or trusted brands like Pontins. They've offered shoddy service for years, look at the reviews of their hotels...
 
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richw

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There's a reason why pontins entered administration last year and was subject to a management buy out as I understand it . As a result lots of cost cutting.
We have stayed at various parkdean sites and can't fault them, trecco bay being my favourite.

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Xenophon PCDGS

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Britannia? Oh dear. I'd much rather stay at a Travelodge! They have some wonderful historic properties, but most of them are stuck in the 1970s in terms of fixtures and fittings. I couldn't believe the state of the famous Adelphi in Liverpool under Britannia's management.

Whilst I note your comments here, surely that company know more about the way to run an establishment than the managerial staff did at Pontins, from what the postings regarding Pontins have said upon this thread so far. There has been a neutral view expressed with regard to Pontins at Ainsdale, which is now one of those taken over by Britannia Hotels.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
There's a reason why pontins entered administration last year and was subject to a management buy out as I understand it .

May I kindly correct your view on this matter. The Pontins group did enter into administration in November 2010 and this was administered by KPMG. In January 2011, KPMG announced that all the five remaining sites had been sold to an investment company based in Jersey that has links to the Britannia Hotel group.

The figure quoted for the coming refurbishment programme by Britannia Hotel group is over £25 million.
 

richw

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Thanks paul, I based my comment on a bbc web news report that stated that administrators were in talks over a management buy out and found no further info regarding take over, so assumed the buy out went through.

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