A father has slammed a "filthy" holiday park after his family abandoned it without staying a single night when they saw the state of their room. Ross Murphy said the Pontins Camber Sands resort in East Sussex was his family's "worst ever" holiday.
Ross, who had visited the holiday park last month with his wife and two young children, travelled from Portsmouth for their trip, but they were left disgusted by the room they were offered and refused to stay. The family had forked out £336 for the weekend break.
The accommodation they had paid for, which was an upgraded room with food and drinks, reportedly had a broken bed, stains on the pillow and fingernails on the sofa. The family went to reception to complain, with staff reportedly helping them to find somewhere else to stay, SussexLive reports.
The father-of-two contacted Pontins for a refund, but was rejected because he had "refused" to allow Pontins to find him another room at the holiday park. After outlining all the health and safety concerns he found in their room, Pontins offered them money back, which was £3 less than the full amount they had paid in the first place.
The disgruntled father said "no-one should stay" at the "minging" resort. He ended up spending around £700 that weekend as he scrambled to find somewhere else for the family to stay instead of the holiday park.
Ross said: "We got in the room. The bed was broken, there were fingernails on the sofa that I was meant to be sleeping on with my wife. Just dirt and dust everywhere. There were stains on the pillow, red stains. The bed was minging, it looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years let alone weeks."
He added that the state of the room upset his two children, aged nine and 11. He said: "I don't know how people can stay in that, let alone holiday in it. You go on holiday for comfort, not to be grossed out by the whole thing. My son said to me 'how much would someone have to pay you to stay there?'. I said it would need to be 50 grand.
"My son went 'this is horrible'. My daughter was almost in tears. She asked if we could still go in the pool and I said she can go swimming in the sea instead."
After they had made the decision not to stay at the resort, Ross took his wife and kids back to reception to complain. Ross claimed the lady on reception sent him to speak to customer solutions. The dad, who recalled the experience, said: "They must get it all day long. It was so rehearsed in the way that she did it. Before I even opened my mouth she said 'you'll have to go to customer solutions'."
After asking about alternative rooms available, Ross claimed that staff said all the rooms were the same, as Pontins were pressuring staff to turn rooms around quickly, meaning that cleaning standards were not up to scratch. The father, who called the resort "beyond disgusting", said he had to sign paperwork that said how he "refused" Pontins the chance to resolve the issue.
After refusing to stay at the resort, Ross and his wife looked up alternative accommodation, with some Pontins staff members helping them. He recalled: "They were all phoning around to find me somewhere to stay with my kids. Every single staff member was helping out and firing off names of Airbnbs. Their support was appreciated to say the least."
The family man, who plays in a band and has stayed in various types of accommodation, eventually found a place to stay at the Lookout in Rye, left Pontins with his family and enjoyed their evening in the Camber area. With only one night available at the Lookout, Ross and his wife were looking at places to stay for their second night, and eventually managed to find last minute accommodation in Brighton.
After arriving home from what turned out to be an expensive weekend away, Ross contacted Pontins for a refund and said he was told that because he "refused" to allow Pontins to give him another room, he could not be refunded. The father then wrote back with all his health and safety concerns and said he was then given a refund, which was £3 less than the full amount he paid in the first place.
Following his experience, which ended up costing him over £700 as he was forced to find last minute accommodation and pay for meals out, Ross said: "No one should stay there."
The Camber Sands Pontins resort have been approached for comment but have not replied.
