We followed the Watchdog team members as they went undercover to scope out a tiny hotel room at the Britannia Hotel near Newcastle Airport, and on a trip to Pontins Camber Sands holiday park, to investigate viewers reports of dirty and run down chalets.
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Company responses:
Brittania:
Britannia Hotels told us .our rooms are sold according to room type. Given the nature of our venues in a variety of traditional buildings the room sizes of necessity vary. However this does not reduce the standard of service offered.
Pontins:
Pontin's has been providing family and activity holidays for over 60 years, offering great value for money and happy memories for the majority of its guests.
Pontin's is very concerned if any guest is disappointed and takes any complaint seriously. Pontin's people are well trained and dedicated to the Pontin's maxim of delivering customer satisfaction, whatever the holiday or event. Nothing should be too much trouble and all customer concerns should be efficiently and politely dealt with, whatever the circumstances. Anything short of this standard is not acceptable to Pontin's.
The current owners acquired the business in 2008. At that time the business had not had any major investment for some years. The current owners have developed an investment and refurbishment programme which was recently announced, much of which involves investment and planning applications before programmes can commence.
In the meantime, over 700,000 guests visit and stay at the holiday parks each year, the vast majority having a great time and very satisfied, this however results in wear and tear on accommodation and facilities and we have a programme of ongoing maintenance and a system for identifying and removing accommodation from sale if we do not believe it is fit for purpose until maintenance or refurbishment works have been carried out. This is an ongoing process until we can start the major investment programme. In response to the report we have undertaken an internal investigation to ascertain if accommodation which should not have been let was during recent months.
Whilst some accommodation and facilities may be tired, this does not excuse accommodation that has not been cleaned properly. We have experienced problems in providing the number of cleaners needed for the apartments which are cleaned as each guest departs and before the next guests arrive. With short breaks and events this can often be two or three times every week with changeover days on Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays in peak season. Earlier this year we started a trial at Camber Sands, using a contract cleaning company.
The resulting standard of work is not at an acceptable level and the trial is currently under review.
With reference to the new facilities originally planned for Camber Sands, unfortunately there were technical issues with drainage for the planned ice rink which meant that we were not able to install it. A trial of fun fairs also took place early in the year but did not prove as popular at the Southern Holiday Parks and was subsequently withdrawn. We did, however, advise everyone when booking and actively contacted guests who had already booked once we knew that the ice rink would not be available. There are fun fairs at Prestatyn Sands and Southport Holiday Parks, an ice rink at Prestatyn Sands and a roller rink at Brean Sands Holiday Park.
These facilities are at an extra charge but Pontin's holiday price does include a wide range of entertainment with top line cabaret from the likes of X Factor's Same Difference, live bluecoat shows and the Scooby-Doo and the Funland Phantom show, leisure facilities, children's clubs and other activities as per the attached lists for Prestatyn Sands and Camber Sands.
Our aim is to provide good value for money holidays and events at Pontin's and we are both sorry and concerned if any of our guests, however small a number are not happy. As we have said we accommodate and entertain over 700,000 guests each year and believe that we offer value for money holiday packages. However we are constantly seeking to improve and we will redouble our efforts to ensure that acceptable standards of cleanliness and comfort are provided to every one of our guests, every time they stay at Pontin's.
Should we stay or should we go?
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
Company responses:
Brittania:
Britannia Hotels told us .our rooms are sold according to room type. Given the nature of our venues in a variety of traditional buildings the room sizes of necessity vary. However this does not reduce the standard of service offered.
Pontins:
Pontin's has been providing family and activity holidays for over 60 years, offering great value for money and happy memories for the majority of its guests.
Pontin's is very concerned if any guest is disappointed and takes any complaint seriously. Pontin's people are well trained and dedicated to the Pontin's maxim of delivering customer satisfaction, whatever the holiday or event. Nothing should be too much trouble and all customer concerns should be efficiently and politely dealt with, whatever the circumstances. Anything short of this standard is not acceptable to Pontin's.
The current owners acquired the business in 2008. At that time the business had not had any major investment for some years. The current owners have developed an investment and refurbishment programme which was recently announced, much of which involves investment and planning applications before programmes can commence.
In the meantime, over 700,000 guests visit and stay at the holiday parks each year, the vast majority having a great time and very satisfied, this however results in wear and tear on accommodation and facilities and we have a programme of ongoing maintenance and a system for identifying and removing accommodation from sale if we do not believe it is fit for purpose until maintenance or refurbishment works have been carried out. This is an ongoing process until we can start the major investment programme. In response to the report we have undertaken an internal investigation to ascertain if accommodation which should not have been let was during recent months.
Whilst some accommodation and facilities may be tired, this does not excuse accommodation that has not been cleaned properly. We have experienced problems in providing the number of cleaners needed for the apartments which are cleaned as each guest departs and before the next guests arrive. With short breaks and events this can often be two or three times every week with changeover days on Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays in peak season. Earlier this year we started a trial at Camber Sands, using a contract cleaning company.
The resulting standard of work is not at an acceptable level and the trial is currently under review.
With reference to the new facilities originally planned for Camber Sands, unfortunately there were technical issues with drainage for the planned ice rink which meant that we were not able to install it. A trial of fun fairs also took place early in the year but did not prove as popular at the Southern Holiday Parks and was subsequently withdrawn. We did, however, advise everyone when booking and actively contacted guests who had already booked once we knew that the ice rink would not be available. There are fun fairs at Prestatyn Sands and Southport Holiday Parks, an ice rink at Prestatyn Sands and a roller rink at Brean Sands Holiday Park.
These facilities are at an extra charge but Pontin's holiday price does include a wide range of entertainment with top line cabaret from the likes of X Factor's Same Difference, live bluecoat shows and the Scooby-Doo and the Funland Phantom show, leisure facilities, children's clubs and other activities as per the attached lists for Prestatyn Sands and Camber Sands.
Our aim is to provide good value for money holidays and events at Pontin's and we are both sorry and concerned if any of our guests, however small a number are not happy. As we have said we accommodate and entertain over 700,000 guests each year and believe that we offer value for money holiday packages. However we are constantly seeking to improve and we will redouble our efforts to ensure that acceptable standards of cleanliness and comfort are provided to every one of our guests, every time they stay at Pontin's.
Should we stay or should we go?