One holiday park chain has found itself at the bottom of the holiday park league, being crowned Britain’s worst following a survey of thousands of people.
Visitors rated the chain poorly across various aspects such as customer service, accommodation, cleanliness, facilities, activities, and value for money.
Some resorts of the once popular UK holiday park, Pontins, barely scraped a two-star rating, with guests slamming their stays as dirty, dated, and run-down.
Despite its current reputation, Pontins holds a place in British holiday history, having been founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. The brand is also known for its famous former Bluecoats, including celebrities Shane Richie and Bobby Davro.
However, these holiday resorts have encountered numerous difficulties in recent years. Britannia, the UK’s worst-rated firm according to Which?’s annual hotel chains survey, took ownership of Pontins in 2011, and multiple sites have since been shuttered.
Last year alone, the sudden closure of Prestatyn camp in North Wales resulted in 200 redundancies.
The Southport resort, located in Merseyside, shut its doors in January due to destructive floods. Now, only two Pontins sites remain open – Weston-super-Mare in Somerset and Lowestoft in Suffolk, reported The Mirror.
Britannia is under the ownership of prominent hotel magnate Alex Langsam. Both Pontins and Butlins have not yet provided any comments on the matter.
Arguably doing marginally better than Pontins (which had a customer satisfaction score of 56 percent), Butlins scored 67 percent in the Which? survey.
Meanwhile, Haven Holiday Parks and Center Parcs both secured a tie at 69 percent. Center Parcs said: “We welcome over two million guests annually and are 97 percent full all through the year.
“We are proud of our consistently high guest satisfaction scores. Each year we invest tens of millions of pounds.”
However, it was the smaller, independent brands that truly shone in the survey. Potters Resorts took the top spot with an impressive 87 percent satisfaction rate, boasting two all-inclusive resorts in Essex and Norfolk.
Following closely behind was Forest Holidays, scoring 80 percent with its 13 scenic locations nationwide. Naomi Leach, Which? travel’s deputy editor, said: “With so many holiday park options to choose from it isn’t always easy to know which will be the right fit for your family.
“Our latest survey shows it’s worth looking beyond the best-known names, with smaller and independent resorts offering excellent value for money, great customer service and plenty of entertainment.”