Reviews of Butlins Skegness, Lincolnshire

I've visited 'Skeggie' 5 times in my many Butlins' holidays.



The last time was in 1983, when Butlins was really Butlins. Now it's Bourne Leisure - but they seem ashamed to put their names on anything but the towels.



The last time I visited was with my wife and kids.



Sadly, my wife is now no longer with us, and the kids are married. So, I took my 84 year old mother.



I remember the 'camp' as being friendly and welcoming. Not now, though. We were sent to the wrong check-in by the gate staff and had to wait 70 min before we found out!! When we found out where we should have been told to book in, we were told that 'owing to a booking problem' we would have to be placed at opposite ends of the camp. As I was acting as my mother's carer, this meant a 20 minute walk either way each time she needed something.



I worked out pretty quickly, that Bourne Leisure's system is 'we just bed and feed you. You have to pay for everything else.' Sir Billy must be spinning in his grave at about 5000rpm.



The accommodation wasn't too bad as we were lucky enough to have been put in a new 'adapted' chalet - for my mother, and a new 'silver room' for me. However, I did look at an older 'adapted' chalet and it was abysmal. How anyone is supposed to self-propel a wheelchair over a 4 inch step beats me. My chalet was reasonably clean, but the 'we don't do Wednesdays' system of chalet cleaning is a bit of a pain.



The food was OK there, but don't ask anyone for anything.



My mother gave the impression she was happy with the holiday, but I sensed it was just for my benefit.



All in all, a week to a much lower standard than Sir Billy intended. Since Skegness was his first camp - in 1937 - it’s shameful the mess that Bourne Leisure have made of it. They should have to do what is soon to become law for estate agents. Describe everything - warts and all, and give a fair indication of haw much extra it's going to cost over the initial fees.

It cost us £660+ for the bookings and over £350 to turn it into a decent time. £1000 for 2 people in the UK?



Call it Bourne Leisure, and then people won't expect a proper Butlins Holiday.

We saved all year for holiday to Butlins skegness. Arriving at our accommodation we were shocked at condition of rooms.



Everything was filthy, walls , bedding, kitchen area was filthy. Walls were splattered with food and sofa in room was covered in food . The toilet was disgusting, toilet brush filthy and smelt and pubic hair in shower cubicle and sink. We complained and they sent house keeping to see to it and along comes a lady with a bucket and uses the same cloth to clean toilet that she used to clean kitchen surfaces . Never used hot water or rinsed the cloth once. She left and then I went to the camp shop got cleaning products and cleaned everywhere myself - great holiday came here to relax not to have to start cleaning .



Third day into holiday we found that our accommodation was riddled with ants. By the time they moved us to other accommodation it was ten o'clock at night and we had to move our own cases, we got no help what so ever. Nobody came to apologise or see if we were ok and the next day when i went to complain nobody seemed to care just fobbed me off.



I will never go back there again or recommend it to any one. Dirty site unfriendly staff - waste of money.

Butlins is a great place for families to go because there is at least an activity for everyone of the family and I love going and we enjoyed it so much last year we are going again this year.

We have just returned from our Butlins holiday and had a great time.



We stayed in silver half board; the apartment was nice and clean, small but ok for what we needed.



Food - AWFUL, so basic and not really very nice, all frozen stuff and very basic. Not really a great choice for the children either.



Activities- For children are fab, the bob the builder yard, tots village, and soft play all really good. Regular day time shows were good too esp. if the weather wasn't up too much. Saw a fab free panto too.



I was a bit disappointed about all the stuff you had to pay for like trampolines and bouncy castle etc. We paid £800 for 1 week; surely these things should be within the price.



Night entertainment was ok, but a lot of the game shows were dragged out a bit, with a lot of waiting between shows. We did see Milkshake live which was fab and the Billy bear show. Have to say as Reds is mainly for toddlers the small tiny lift to get upstairs is ridiculous, hence a big queue of buggies waiting to use a miniscule lift.



Fairground, not up to much. Lots of arcade games about, money making machines!



Pool is really good and lots of different pools to go in.



Staff overall helpful and pleasant.



Overall pleased with our holiday. Not sure if we will go back £800 plus seems an awful lot to pay for one week, could go abroad for the same.

I, my partner, and 3 children aged 8 7 and 5 visited Skegness Butlins for our 1st family holiday. I used to visit year in year out as a child many years ago and it was excellent back then.



After this visit I returned home upset, angry and very disappointed.



Accommodation - Stayed in standard self catering which was definitely standard. It was fairly clean apart from dirty dishes upon arrival. Floorboards were very squeaky (felt sorry for those beneath us)! It was central to most things.



Food - self catering mostly but when we did eat out it was pretty expensive and drinks definitely bump the price right up. Also felt as though we were being forced to buy drinks the moment the glasses were empty with staff approaching the tables asking if you like to order again! They were quite pushy!



Pool - Excellent apart from slides being for older/taller children and smaller pool closed. (mine children were 8, 7, and 5)



Fairground - Awful, children could not get on the rides, as they were not tall enough. Also there are only a handful of rides which was very disappointing.



Staff - were not helpful at all, especially at the supermarket and the fairground. They were quite rude at time. The Redcoats were not really into what they were doing and were quite "childish" but not in a good or funny way other than redcoat Chris, who was fantastic with the kids.



Atmosphere - lots of teenagers roaming around day and night unsupervised and also drunk! Abusive to younger children. Stole footballs and money off other children.



Nightime entertainment - average! Also drunk teenagers being served with alcohol on the resort, trampling on young children and staggering round knocking tables over ruined it!



Play area - older children who were above the age/height restrictions were allowed in the play area and my children were physically abused resulting in them being bruised and cut. I ended up leaving, as my boys were scared/upset after being threatened again.



General - not so much "free" stuff included in the holiday, you now have to pay for most things, and this is for short periods. It’s nothing like it used to be years ago, definitely gone downhill and we will not be returning.

When I was younger I always used to go here and stay on the other side of the road (which is now a private owner’s caravan site) and we can use all the facilities on site.



To which last year we bought a van and I have to say it does really something for everything from the adult theme weekends to the kid’s weekends.



The market down the road well worth the visit loads of bargains to be had. If you are looking for pubs of site which do good food, the Cheery Tree next door is good priced and friendly staff.

We have just got back from a great holiday at Butlins, 2 adults and 4 children, after deliberating we decided to book with a private caravan owner, who own at Butlins Skegness.

When we arrived we found that the caravans were situated across the road from the main site of Butlins, accessed by a subway, the caravan site was spotless and the accommodation could only be classed as excellent, there were 3 bedrooms, 2 TV’s DVD, video, games consoles, etc for the kids which was a godsend when it rained.



The caravan had everything in it you could wish for, including outdoor seating and a barbeque, and as it was over the opposite side of the road, having small children it was ideal, as the noise was non existent.



Also the best bit was that booking with a private owner we saved on cost, the caravan cost us £220 for the week, had we booked with Butlins in a chalet it would have cost us almost double that.



Anyway if you are thinking of going to Butlins stay in a caravan, not only is it cheaper, its better.

Well in our party was myself (24) my partner (33) and our daughter (5)



We stayed in silver accommodation. The rooms were big and roomy but we did have an infestation of ants in the kitchen, and even when I told Butlins nothing was done whilst we were there.



We went on a Monday to Friday, 4 night break, found it easy to find our chalet, The staff were very friendly and the red coats were brilliant.



There were lots to do for our child, free fun fair, swimming, crazy golf, trampolines, bob the builder show, huge soft play area. The food was fantastic quality and you can have as much as you like. If you were eating out of the meal times the food places on resort were expensive and so were the drinks in the bars, but we expected that



I didn’t think much of Bognor. There wasn’t much to do and the beach was disappointing, full of pebbles with no sand (Which they didn’t point out in the brochure)



One day we drove into Portsmouth (about 45min drive away) and got a ferry to Isle of Wight. All so our daughter could play on a sandy beach! Isle of Wight was beautiful, very hot and lovely and clean. But the tide was in so we still didn’t get to see the beach!



Anyway we are going to Butlins again, but to the Skegness resort this time, as its a bit closer to home

Well I am so disappointed that I wasted so much money on going to Butlins.



We took our 4 year old abroad last year so decided to do a family holiday this year. I had my sister and 7 year old nephew in tow and my 50 year old mum & dada and my 75 year old Nan.



We stayed in a standard apartment, and it was standard - I had to send my sons bedding back 3 times the 1st lot had a mysterious brown stain on the turnover - how the cleaner didn’t see it I don’t know.



The second a yellow stain & the 3rd lot was wet! So we put that behind us and headed for the food - Being late due to check in etc I didn’t expect much but it was great food lots of choice.



I should also mention that I felt so sorry for whoever was beneath our apartment because the floorboards squeaked - every single one!



Ok - second day off we went to explore - well I say explore there were queues everywhere for god knows what it’s a bit like a people pit in the pavilion people just queuing for the sake of it.



Well I’ve decided to summarise because I’m running out of space - here goes ...



Food - Hit & miss some days brilliant some days no choice at all for my 4 year old



Staff - Richard on the food court door - the nicest man I met while at Butlins - there’s also a nice older guy serving food apart from that ignorant staff who woke up our whole row at 11.30pm every evening while heading out for drinks!



Pool - excellent



Kids clubs - didn’t even bother my son being 4 he had to pair up with 0-4 year olds and that was only once a day at 5pm, which due to paying for food in advance we would have had to feed him at 4pm when no-one else was hungry



Rides - both the kids were too small for all the fairground rides & the outdoor adventure play - if your child is smaller than 1.1m don’t bother taking them



Everything the kids wanted to do I had to pay for - £1.50 for 10 mins on the bouncy castle, £1.50 for the mini golf, £1.50 for the trampolines & the bike hire was extortionate - £6 for half an hour on a chopper



I personally would not go again - it you’ve got kids about age 10 then go - most parents liked to leave them to do what they liked while they sat in the pub all day.

First time to Butlins Skegness Resort normally go to Minehead - found the check in's much easier.



Stayed in Silver Self Catering Apartment which was really quite big - I could only fault the tiny TV - come butlins upgrade the TV's and add free view and you would have some happy mom's and dad’s!



The Skegness site is huge all the usual friendly red coats around - great swimming pool.



The clubs we tried was Centre Stage and Reds - the entertainment was a bit poor for half term week yes we watched the 'Milkshake' show but it was standing room only in Reds that night - great show but as it was the only good thing on all week, it really could of done with another top line artist I felt that this was missing.



Around Skegness we visited the Seal Sanctuary in Skegness town which was really nice if you pick up a visitor guide from butlins there was some vouchers inside for kids go free (worth it as car parking in the town is £5 all day unless you are lucky enough to find a space on a side street).



Would I go back to Butlins Skegness again - Yes as its great value and keeps the kids amused especially when the weather is bad.

I enjoyed a 5 day break in Butlins Skegness with 8yr old daughter and my mother.



We stayed in the silver self catering apartments. The apartment was lovely and clean and had plenty of room in it. My only moan about the apartment was if it was any further out we would have been in the sea and it was a long walk to the skyline pavilion.



But on booking we were asked if we had any special requests and we said no, this time we booked we told them we needed it nearer to the facilities and there was no problem.



The swimming pool was lovely, they even done swimming lessons for free and taught my daughter to swim a lot better. When we were there it was may so there was lots of people but not huge queues everywhere, the slides in the pool were great fun.



Food did get abit expensive if you didn’t cook in the chalet but they did have a good variety to choose from, pizza restaurants, burger king, fish and chip shop, pub food, hot dog vans, and a nice posh restaurant too.



Entertainment could have been abit better we saw a girl who was a kylie minogue impersonator; personally I don’t think kylie would have been too impressed by her but she made the evening go quicker when you had a drink.



We also saw a 70s tribute band and a band singing queen and Elvis songs I do have to say they were the worst. The redcoats, skyline gang and Billy the bear were really good and kept my daughter amused.



Also the amount of sports on offer to her all day was really good she came home worn out.Trampolining, archery, fencing, football all for free.



On the whole I think butlins is a great place for kids, keeps them amused while we had a drink and enjoyed ourselves too. Definitely going again booked up to go at xmas and April next year.

We stayed for 5 days at Butlins Skegness in the Gold Apartments. We had an absolutely wonderful time.



Plenty to see and do and all the staff we very helpful and friendly. The onsite entertainment was excellent and enjoyable for the children.



The onsite Spa was a wonderful relaxing experience and well worth the money. We saw a show at the embassy theatre in Skegness which was again truly outstanding and value for money.



Only a bus ride away from Fantasy Island and Ingoldmells Largest Market in Lincolnshire.



I do recommend Butlins for any family. They also do themed weekends such as 80's weekend breaks, Spa Breaks and Dancing. 10 out of 10.

After last year’s holiday I said I would not go back to Butlins at Skegness, but I got a cheap holiday so thought I would give it another go.



Got to say 100% improvement on 2006, staff were friendlier, accommodation was brilliant (I went silver this time) there was a lot more to do in the daytime for my 5 year old.



The food was good, my son couldn’t get enough. The only concern I noted was that the bob the builder shows are the same as 3 years ago and could do with updating.



But overall we both had a really enjoyable holiday, my son didn’t want to come back home!!! Got to say well done to Butlins for the improvements.

I went to Butlins with my mum and my 19 month old son. We had a fab time.



We stayed in budget accommodation and it was very clean and very spacious. The food was great, there was lots to choose from, we tried everything.



There was loads to do in the daytime and night time. Fantasy Island was great if you like markets, I do!



The only problem we had, they done the fancy dress on the Friday we were coming home.



We had such a great time I booked when I was there for next year and it was a lot cheaper and I picked where I wanted to be.



And my son still talks about it now. He can’t wait to go back!

I have 2 kids with a 5 year age gap, youngest nearly 3. Butlins used to be designed for families on low incomes, with super friendly staff, etc, now everything is so expensive, overpriced and appears to be a refuge for foreign work experience students - particularly bad after having to pay for the luxury of staying there.



Main problems:



Unfriendly Red coats.

Sickness and stomach cramps - not just me, but the our neighbours too.

Over priced food in between mealtimes.

Not enough FREE leisure activities - can't stay in the swimming pool or ball pool all day and every day.

Leisure activities only cater for certain age groups.

Staff with very little English ability.



Come on Butlins! I'm sorry but although you've lost us as a customer and a reference, don't fall into the trap of your "big now so don't care" approach.