Combe Haven Holiday Park, Hastings

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Well maintained site
Disadvantages:	Land fill site nearby, lot's of hidden extras, poor accommodation

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

When you think of a holiday park you instantly think of Pontins, Butlins and of course Hi De Hi...... We stayed for ten days at the Haven Holiday Park at Combe Haven, Hastings at the end of June.
Firstly it has to be said that a week before we went we received a letter through the post inviting us to take up an extra nights stay for £15. This was for the day before we were to start our stay. We were happy with this and accepted the offer, this was good value and we thought it was a great idea.

Our entry to park

The park itself is situated not far from the coastline, although 3/4's of the park couldn't see it.... but you could see the local landfill site, not something you really wanted to see though. It was easy to find and was easily accessible. As we were classed as 'Gold' guests this gave us priority check in and this was extremely good. The service from the member of staff was fast efficient and confident, they explained exactly where we were staying and brought our attention to some of the features of the park in case we didn't know about it.
We drove down to our Bungalow which we had booked. There was space right outside our Bungalow to park the car so carrying luggage was not a problem.

The Bungalow.

The Bungalow had a lounge kitchenette complete with a Microwave, toaster, oven and hob and separate Fridge and Freezer. A combination TV / DVD portable TV and a two seater settee and two chairs with a coffee table and a kitchen table and four chairs.
There was a single bedroom with double bunk bed, small table and a desk lamp. The main bedroom came with a wardrobe, double bed and a mirror and hairdryer, two small bedside tables and lamps. The second single room had two single beds and a bedside table, lamp and a wardrobe. The bathroom was a pleasant white suite, with toilet and bath / shower.
I have to say that we were a little disappointed with the Bungalow as I found that the TV had no remote, the room smelt fusty and the fridge seal had gone leaving a pool of water daily. The hob was more than useless as it took 25 minutes to warm a can of baked beans for the kids (was not hot at all) making us use the microwave instead. The single bedroom has a bunk bed in it which conveniently covered the light switch..... there was water marks on the wall under the window indicating either a leaky window or damp. The main bedroom had double patio doors, which were hard to open and had mould on the windows. The bed was pretty uncomfortable as well.
The second single room had two single beds, again the layout of the room meant that you could not close the door because the bed over shot the door frame into the path of the door. You couldn't move anything as everything was screwed down.
We did report the TV remote (needed this for the kids) and to be fair to them they immediately sent Security down to sort this issue out. The man that arrived was untidy with more earrings than I thought possible in one ear, and looked very unhappy with being told to come out, but he did arrive within 30 minutes of us calling reception.
As for the other items we thought that if we reported this, they would probably move us and we just couldn't face moving the kids again, so we managed.

The site and facilities

The site itself appeared to be clean and well maintained. With the exception of the security vans, one was 'M' reg and was a complete shed of a van. It came with a swimming pool a leisure centre including slot machines, two bars and a stage area for the cabaret. A site shop and an outside pool area. Lots of sporting activities available including Golf, Archery, Tennis and Rolling Skating (all had extra charges) as for swimming the changing room was tiny and to use the locker you had to use 20p which you didn't get back. The pool was not exactly huge either, probably half the size of a normal standard Council run swimming pool. There was also a soft play centre and restaurant. The soft play centre was tiny and pretty poor compared to some sites we have stayed at. The Restaurant seemed a little pricey as well so we did not use it.
There was a child's play area as well and this was good, maintained and kept the children happy.

We paid £339 (this was a half price offer would have been double) therefore we were not impressed at all for the quality of the accommodation. We stayed last year at their Welsh site, this was excellent quality and well worth the money. Unfortunately not here....I would not recommend this site for the reasons above. Sorry Haven pretty poor show.