Butlin's Reviews

I’ve been coming butlins Bognor Regis for 10years, and this year is my last. It’s awful, my apartment was left with rubbish bags and dirty towels init, litter everywhere. The restaurant is filthy, the food is awful, so many young people working in restaurant, that look like they don’t even want to be there, they hardly do anything. It’s soooo ran down. Signs up for shows that ain’t even on. After queuing, all you get is ‘ooo that was put there by mistake’. What happened to the nice happy helpful staff. I am a gold member paying nearly a £1000, but from now on I will be taking my family to another holiday company.

My first and last visit to Butlins in Bognor Regis - my so called ‘Gold’ chalet is small and uninviting and certainly not suitable for 6 people. The camp is tired, and filthy dirty and the staff it would seem don’t appear to have any training in customer care. I cannot believe that for the price paid they are able to operate in this manner! All I can say, after only a day, is that I am longing to escape this horrific place!! Won’t be recommending and for those that do enjoy the camp I fear you must have awfully low expectations!!

We have just returned from 5 days at Butlins Skegness which was our second trip. The first time we couldn’t fault it but I do feel disappointed with our trip second time round and we probably won’t go again.
This time I booked a gold apartment and I’m sorry to say it was filthy. There were dried bogies stuck to the furniture! And the carpets, although lovely quality, were disgusting.
I decided to go self catering this time as premium dining was unaffordable. The facilities provided were incredibly basic, but I guess that’s normal. On the last night I took my children for dinner at The Beach Comber Inn for a treat. It cost me £60 for 2 adults (me & 16 yr old) and 3 young children to each have 2 courses and a soft drink which I thought was reasonable. I did have to go and ask for my drink at the end of the meal as it had been forgotten but it was very busy to be fair.
On the plus side, the staff were all very friendly and helpful. The shows were fabulous - super professional and the pantomime was hilarious. The swimming pool and fairground were both great with very minimal queuing. Also, once you’re in Butlins you don’t need to go outside the complex so I didn’t use my car the whole time we were there. It’s also lovely and flat, perfect for mobility scooters and prams etc.
I like to see the positive in everything and my children and I made the most of our time but I’m afraid it needs a good clean and some TLC here and there before I’d want to go again.

Gangsters!

They advertise an all singing all dancing experience at an extortionate price, when you get there, very short staffed with following issues...

Half the rides are closed.
Outdoor pool not open.
Ticket shop not open when advertised and with huge 3 hrs long queue.
Adult arcade not open.
Food not forthcoming in buffet.
Room unfinished with toster, hair dryer, towels missing and nails on the floor.

Grabber machines take £100 before paying out a toy. When you look in the booking shop, behind the bar there people in there doing bugger all. They have their strategy all wrong! Everything backed up with photos TAKE TAKE TAKE!!!! Greedy Gangsters.

I have called them. They will NOT care about this review.

Butlins Skegness, terrible accommodation ... Full of mould and damp, stair's has woodworm init, so dose the structure, not Safe too walk on. The place needs a really good paint job and revamp I'd say.There building something in the park, god knows what, but I'd say come on Butlins Skegness get your act together, people pay good money too come too this. You got a Park that needs total attention on it. There's no way I'd be coming hear again, Bognor and Minehead are way better. Skeg-Vegus yeh right ??

Just returned from a 7 day stay at Minehead and I think it has probably killed ever returning to Butlins for me and the family.
We have been many times over the years (mostly to Skegness) but after seeing the chalets at Minehead we wanted to experience it.
The Chalet we stayed in was amazing, lake side view, very clean and just a lovely area to be staying and we were very happy with what we had chosen but that is were the positives ended unfortantly.
Our biggest issue was the food, we paid for premium dinning and spent most of our time in the Deck (just 1 breakfast in the Yacht Club) and was pretty disappointed at the quality of food (being used to great quality at the Deck at Skegness from a few years ago) but that didn't get us down.
A few days in however, a girl was sick in the resturant and the staff cleaned this up (this was near the icecream machine in the deck) but the family were allowed to stay, I don't wish to ruin anyones holiday but I thought Butlins was rather strict on this but it didn't seem so....
Although a little off putting, we continued with the holiday and dinning until Saturday when I witnessed the Chef working the roast section wiping his hand on his head and nose and then proceeding to handle the meat he was passing to guests... he did this multiple times and multiple people (including team members) saw this but said and did nothing, I reported this to Butlins but they didn't seem interested.
Sunday night however, I woke to one of my kids projectile vommiting so after cleaning them up we decided to leave as I was worried we wouldn't be able to get home if I began to be sick.
Monday night (after returning) my Daugther was sick and then Tuesday my partner began to be sick.
Initially, I wasn't sure if this was food poisioning or something else but after reading reviews it sounds like a sickness bug has been going around Minehead Butlins for a few weeks so I wish anyone on-site the best and hope you don't come down with this and advise you avoid the dinning halls and request a refund to eat elsewhere.
The only other thing worth mentinoing was that the place was clearly over booked as even if you managed to book a show it involved a long wait just to be placed so far at the back you still had to stand and couldn't see bugger all.
Not sure if this is a Minehead thing or Butlins going down hill but this is massive fall from grace compared to the experiences we had just a few years ago. 1.5K for a holiday were everyone got sick, ate mediocore food and could barely see a show... atleast the chalet was nice.
I will give credit however to most of the staff on site, they are all extremely friendly and helpful.

Enjoyed coming to butlins this is a review pre covid
Great food options nice apartment nice entertainment and rides come again
Gave 4 stars as too expensive and misleading advertising for celebrities that were fake

Currently at butlins minehead. Our first and last time. We will be leaving early tomorrow. Not any entertainment for kids in the day. Staff don't no there bleep from there elbow ( we queued 45 minutes in the wrong que yesterday as that's where a staff member told us to stand) . Food isn't great, turkey everyday. Breakfast was OK today yesterday sausages were pink. Rooms dirty n dusty, smell of ciggies coming from the neighbours although they non smoking apartments. Alot of ppl walking around resort smoking cannabis. Won't b returning with my children.

Can’t get in any food places there staff tell you there no we’re to eat on site every were busy even though there loads of tables free the place gone down hill staff are very rude just push you from place to place with starving kids they say the empty table are for the dining plan people incase they decide to come in and dine basically loosing money not filling tables up with paying customers strange business move specially when self catering people are trying to get in spoke to loads of people who will never come back it’s a real shame

This is our second time at Butlins? If you can get a place to park your car, you dare not move, otherwise its pot luck, being disabled its very bad, all the dropped kerbs are blocked, with cars? If you have luggage its a trek, small bottles of coca cola £2.75 in machines or stores, if you have a motability scooter, it has to be parked outside your accommodation, you need to bring extension cable, the ones from camp shop don't work and are a fire risk, dining gets busy but the food is great, lastly customer service is now closed, you have to phone for help, if you can get through! Long queues for entertainment, in Silver very noisy upstairs and through a wooden door in bedroom parents shouting at kids? Last time at Rip Off Butlins

Reading the various reviews it's clear Butlins is a mixed bag and is struggling at the moment. We've just had a few days at Minehead in one of the newer "Park View" apartments which was fine. Clean, spacious and modern inside. But it's clear the smaller apartments (the old chalets) are suffering.

First of all, many thanks to the call centre staff who rebooked our missed stay at Easter, (due to Covid), with no fuss and they were very helpful in getting it all sorted.

Minhead has a fairly serious staffing problem at the moment. Talking to one member of the dining staff he said they were short staffed everywhere. There's about 60-odd jobs available on Indeed and other recruitment sites and the lack of staff is not helping the problems, especially with chalet cleaning and repairs. Perhaps they ought to pay a bit better to recruit more staff...

The "Premium Dining Plan" was fairly abysmal, staff struggling to keep up with demand (not helped by people taking enough food for four people and wasting half of it). Empty stations were quite common. Quality was pretty basic - it was hot and filling but lacking in quality. The curry one night was bland and tasteless.

Previous visits (for Spring Harvest) we've always self-catered and if we ever come back again, we'll do the same. The plans aren't worth it. There's plenty of cafes, pubs, fish & chip shops, etc in Minehead or a short drive away.

If you can afford it, go for one of the newer apartments and self-cater. You'll have a better experience. And very little is free on site these days, so if you've got kids, be prepared to pay for extra stuff. We didn't use any of the facilities so I can't comment on them.

If Butlins can recruit the missing staff and sort out the issues mentioned elsewhere, things might start to improve for the visitors.

Skegness- we was given 1 room that fit two single beds and NOTHING ELSE. We had slight space to walk round the bed that is all. We had no fridge or proper storage for bags and pram. No proper room or facility for a baby even though we paid for 3 people. They expect 2 adults and a toddler to stay in 1 room with a toilet in what I can only describe as a cupboard. Our toddler suffered great distress as he could not sleep due to the lack of space. My partner resorted to sleeping in his car so me and the baby could share a bed. One night to give him a break I slept cramped up on the floor with no blanket as our baby needed the sheet. On top of this we was given 1 towel between 3 people. The room itself felt very grubby and unclean. There was never room service to change the sheets.
No exaggeration on the room size. If I could leave a picture I would to warn people of the size of room. For the price of this holiday we could have got a cheep holiday abroad. Rooms are terrible.

Filthy room and beds
Flooded shower so unable to wash
Disgraceful lack of care from customer service
No sleep due to loud family and no relocation provided
Outrageous prices
Over capacity dangerously in pool
NO spaces to watch any shows !
Adult fair rides shut

Refused a part refund. Customer service sounded fed up and bored when we asked to have a clean room we can wash in. Mine heads basically shut mon and Fri so our 5 day break became 3. Food was disgusting and over priced. Room filthy and flooded, told to go for a walk around minehead when we said we couldn’t boom any seats for shows,

They pack the customers in like sardines with cheap beds and cannot accommodate them in the food halls or entertain,ent venues. Pool was SO DANGEROUS it was impossible to see if a child was under water it was so busy. Lots of areas shut / closed.

All we asked for was the kindness of a room change, the TOTAL disinterest in helping made us feel worthless and ripped off. We had no choice but to leave after 1 miserable night.

Me and my partner recently visited the Skegness resort after 8 years of not going and we were in heaven. As soon as we stepped foot in the skyline we both inhaled the fumes and all the memories came rushing back to us both, like we were 10 years old again. Straight to the bar to be greeted by welcoming bar staff and a great atmosphere.

We spent 4 days there in a silver apartment with premium dining and I couldn't of had a better experience for the money we paid. The food was amazing every single night and morning, fresh foods and way to many variations to chose from. The staff working in the premium dining are some of the nicest people I have ever met.

All of the things to do there we didn’t have enough time. We did go bowling, swimming and of course a lot of amusements and entertainment. Might I just add if you’re looking for a more bouncy night studio 36 is the place to be. There was a guy working at the bowling called Keiran C who helped us both out massively with a issue we had and made us feel so welcome in the resort. What a guy he was!! Give that man a raise!

The room was average just a small room with a small dressing area and bathroom but what we paid for it, Butlins made up in food and entertainment. There wasn’t a single night that we had there that we didn’t enjoy and there was always something for us todo or something for us to drink!

Don’t get me wrong. It isn’t perfect but I think a holiday is what you make it. Don’t look at the flaws and focus on the good times?

Highly recommend going, we have just booked for same time next year and we’ve decided to go for the Butlins big weekender to end the week off with a blast. Cannot wait to come back and thank you all the Skegness team!

Stayed at minehead for a week, room was a dump and smelt the lights were hanging out the ceiling, I must admit though all the fun was included……so long as you were willing to pay through the nose for it, they keep you hanging around for hours on end to book in conveniently by the arcade machines so by the time you’ve checked in your about £50 down, the whole place is just a huge spending pool where your constantly being parted with your money, this is not how Butlins started out. You pay £2000 on average for a mediocre room and drab food then have to pay through the nose for the privilege of staying there, I will going abroad next time