Haven Holidays

.../> I chose to use Haven and British Holidays for this year's holiday for two reasons. Firstly I wanted somewhere where if the weather was bad we could do things on a complex/site and secondly, I saw their advertising for half price holidays. Our holiday budget was quite low, so it seemed just the thing.

***** Website and Booking *****

The website was mentioned on the advert I saw, but I couldn't remember it. However, ...
...got an email through from Haven confirming the new dates with a letter to print out which was to be handed in on arrival as proof of booking. The letter also contained simple directions to the park.

*****Arrival and Check in*****

The directions on our letter were clear and simple to follow, making the park very easy to find, even though the description of 'next door' to Newquay turned out to be rather misleading. It ... more

***** Introduction *****

I chose to use Haven and British Holidays for this year's holiday for two reasons. Firstly I wanted somewhere where if the weather was bad we could do things on a complex/site and secondly, I saw their advertising for half price holidays. Our holiday budget was quite low, so it seemed just the thing.

***** Website and Booking *****

The website was mentioned on the advert I saw, but I couldn't remember it. However, it was easy enough to find and a search for 'Haven' on Google brought the site (www.havenholidays.com) straight to the top of the page. It is a nice bright site and surprisingly easy to navigate. There are just four tabs at the top of the page: 'Home', 'Book', 'Parks and Locations' and 'Special Offers'. I clicked on 'Parks and Locations' first to find out what was available in Cornwall. It brought up a map and all you had to do was click on the rough area you wanted and it would zoom in, showing what parks are in that area. I had a choice between Perran Sands and Riviere Sands. I wanted to try to get near Newquay and the description for Perran Sands mentioned that it was 'next door' to Newquay. So Perran Sands was my choice.

When you click on the park you get a description of it and down the left hand side you can find out the things you might want to know about it, including directions, special offers, caravan & camping and accommodation. I had a look at the accommodation first as we don't have a caravan or tent ourselves. There are four main types available; Standard, Luxury, Super Luxury and Super Tents. There are caravans and chalets available in the first three and large 3 bedroom tents under the Super Tent category. The cheapest accommodation was of course the tents and then it went up for the standard caravan, standard chalet and so on up the scale. With the special offer my budget stretched to either a Silver, Themed or 4 star caravan under the Luxury section or a Bronze (Standard) chalet. As I was taking two toddlers I thought I would go for the chalet for the extra space and likelihood of a bath.

Booking is a straight forward selection form and I just had to pay in full at the end to get the offer price. You can just pay a deposit, but then you would have to pay the full price later. Linen was automatically included in the price as was an insurance which ensured that if we had to cancel we would get a full refund. Also included in the price were site passes which allowed you access to all parts of the site including the swimming pools.

We originally booked for the first week in June, but then realised that my partner couldn't have that week off. So we had to call customer care to change it. The number was easy to find on the website and the man I spoke to about it was friendly, courteous and very helpful. I just had to pay a few pounds extra as the following week cost a bit more.

I got an email through from Haven confirming the new dates with a letter to print out which was to be handed in on arrival as proof of booking. The letter also contained simple directions to the park.

*****Arrival and Check in*****

The directions on our letter were clear and simple to follow, making the park very easy to find, even though the description of 'next door' to Newquay turned out to be rather misleading. It was in fact quite a drive from Newquay. Finding Check in was a little confusing as it wasn't where you'd expect it to be. Instead of being in or near the reception, it was through an arcade and in the entertainment bar (Showbar). It consisted of a sullen looking teenager working from dirty drinks tables and chairs stacked with paper work. But once we were there everything was done in about a minute flat and we were sent on our way to the chalet with a huge envelope full of leaflets.

Unfortunately this was where things started to go down hill. In the chalet there was linen on all the beds but nothing for the sofa bed. We had booked the chalet for 6 so it should have been included. So after searching all the cupboards my mum and I decided to go to the linen hire shop that I'd spotted on the way to the chalet. We explained our situation to the lady at the shop and she was friendly, helpful and gave us everything we needed. I was, however, surprised to notice that we had the last pillow cases and some of the last duvet covers. The other items they hired out also seemed in short supply. There were no more microwaves of bed guards and if I remember rightly they were also out of cots. I found this worrying as it wasn't yet peak season. So if this is what it is like off peak then it looks like if you book mid-season you would have to pre-book hire things or go without. Even then I wonder if they'll have it on your arrival.

While we were there I noticed that they had some unwanted children's buckets, spades and fishing nets that people had left behind and they were selling on cheaply. These were just what I wanted for the girls so I got a pair of buckets and spades and a net to go with the one we had, for just £1. I thought this was a good idea as I know quite a few people prefer to buy things at the seaside and leave them when they go. So it's a bit of extra money for the site and saved us some money too.

***** Accomodation *****

Back at the chalet it didn't take long for us to notice the lack of cleanliness and maintenance of the accommodation. The toilet seat, which I initially thought was just worn, was dirty. The table had food spillages on and the carpets, though new, looked like they hadn't been vacuumed for a long while. Of course apart from the vacuuming we could have done most of the cleaning ourselves, but on principal my mum decided to make a complaint about it and they duly sent a cleaner round to us. She was a friendly enough woman, but when she left the only thing that was actually clean was the toilet seat.

Before I go on I would like to state that I didn't expect luxury accommodation for a bronze chalet. I expected the basics that were needed and the fact that plates didn't match, cupboard handles didn't match and there were only four bowls wasn't a problem and actually kind of expected. The place was also rather damp and musty smelling (nothing dried properly in it), which I can admit probably couldn't have been helped as they weren't exactly brick built, insulated chalets.

Unfortunately I also expected a normal standard of cleanliness and basic maintenance which just wasn't there. I didn't like the fact that one of the bedroom doors was coming of its hinges. The linoleum in the bathroom didn't fit properly and the gaps around the edges were gathering dirt and mould. The bath had been painted and the paint was flaking off (every time you used it you came out with bits of it on you). The mattress in the double room desperately needed changing as the springs had gone and the padding had disintegrated; sleeping was uncomfortable and what was left of the springs creaked loudly every time you moved. The sofa bed that my parents used had holes in and they fished no end of rubbish and food remnants out from it when they opened it out the first night. No cleaning seemed to have been done behind any furniture and we couldn't exactly do it as we had no vacuum cleaner, only a rather disgusting looking broom. I could probably go on, but I don't want to bore any more than necessary.

So why did I expect better? Well my previous experiences of basic self catering accommodation have been in Greece and on the Greek islands. This is a poorer country than ours, yet cleaners would come round a few times during your holiday to clean up and the standard of maintenance was always up to a good standard. I think that in a wealthier country like ours with hygiene laws standards should be higher not lower.

What I did like about the chalet was the fact that there was always hot water on tap no matter how many people had a bath. The electric radiators were easy to use and quite effective. A TV was included which was quite nice when the weather turned bad. Unfortunately this didn't out way the bad bits and if we had paid the full price of up to £600 for the peek season per week we would probably have asked for our money back and left.

***** The Site and Entertainment*****

Besides the various accommodations the site had a couple of shops for gifts, general groceries and necessities. As you'd expect these were a little more expensive than a supermarket, but quite useful for when you just needed one or two things. There were a couple of arcades which seemed to be a big income generator for the site. However, they weren't really ideal entertainment for toddlers and none gamblers like us.

There were both outdoor and an indoor swimming pools. The weather was a bit cold when we were there for using the outdoor pool, but our children enjoyed the indoor pool a couple of times. There was just the one main pool outdoors, but the indoor pool also had a separate toddler pool which was shallow enough for our eldest daughter to be able to walk on the bottom and she loved that. For entertainment there was also a flume indoors which we didn't actually get to try out. I have to add that cleanliness of the pools left a lot to be desired. There was a lot of sand and grit in the pool which wasn't entirely unexpected being near a beach. I was initially under the impression that it would be cleaned out at the end of each day, but when we came again the next day it was worse. My partner was rather disgusted to see them clean down the sides of the pool by dipping the mops into the pool water and swilling the dirt back in. This put us off going swimming again.

During our stay we visited two of the food outlets. The main one was the bar restaurant which was okay, but the prices were rather high for what I would only call acceptable food and there seemed to be a permanent layer of food on the floor. The Chinese take away had shut down and I am not fond of Burger King so the only other place was the chip shop. We thought we couldn't really go wrong there, but how wrong we were. The prices were about £1 more than we would pay here in the Midlands, but about right for the local area. However, the portions were meagre, the cod tasted awful, the gravy tasted like flour and the chips were dry and hard. To top it off, the lad who served us got our order wrong and then over charged us to put it right. This could have been down to communication difficulties though as he was foreign.

We didn't actually go to a lot of the entertainment, even though there seemed to be plenty of it. Having very young children with us meant we couldn't stay out too late and most of the daytime children's entertainment was really aimed at older children. We went to a kid's club morning and the only thing they had for very young toddlers and babies was some building bricks and a few cars on a mat. My older daughter got to do a bit of painting, but fell off one of the tall bar chairs they put them on. Then they went on to play games like wink murder which completely confused all the younger children.

The one piece of entertainment my children really enjoyed was the Polly Popkins show. This was in the Showbar, but it started quite late and went on well past 9pm when the adult shows were meant to start. The cleanliness of the entertainment area as you've probably already guessed was not brilliant and best seen at night, assuming you could ignore the fact that you stuck to the carpet when you stood still.

Besides the main Showbar there was also a smaller Surfrider Showbar which opens 10th July - 3rd September so was shut for the time we were there. Stars and Strikes was an American entertainment centre with karaoke bar and pool tables. According to our map there was a multi-sports court, but I have to admit I didn't notice it. It is a seasonal thing though so maybe it was the wrong time for it. Off to one side there was also a children's crazy golf course and little track with coin slot 'Orbiters'. Further up from that and almost hidden was what looked like it used to be a children's activities area (Playland I believe it was called) which I believe had gone into disuse. I did make an enquiry one day about the crazy golf, but you had to pay per child plus a deposit for the golf clubs. Seeing as my children were too young to doing anything more than hit a ball around a bit I didn't see much point in paying for them to do that. I had rather thought that it might be included on the all access passes and just the club deposit would be needed.

There seemed to be a general children's theme throughout the park of Rory the tiger and his animal friends. It seemed only to be there as an attempt at income generation though. Whenever I came across it, it was just used as an attempt to get more money out of parents and had very little connection to anything else; if that makes any sense. There were Rory branded toys and gifts being sold or offered up for raffle. There was also an area of themed caravans that had pictures of Rory on and I think they were called Rory's village. Maybe I just didn't get it because we missed the Rory shows.

***** The Beaches *****

Perran Sands beach was very close the site although it was quite a steep walk. I don't know if the park was named after the beach or the beach owned by the park, although I suspect the former as it was very well kept. There were bins out all along the beach so litter was minimal and basically this beach and the Perranporth beach, which you could walk to at low tide, were the highlights of our holiday. The children were happiest with a bucket, spade and rock pools. This of course meant the adults were also happy and relaxed.

The Perran Sands beach had a shack which sold food and beach items, while the Perranporth beach had a beach items shop and a bar restaurant run by Australians. At first we thought that it was a bit on the expensive side, but the portions were huge and the food was excellent.

Perranporth town was itself was a typical seaside town, but I really wish we'd gone there sooner for the cafes. Our trip to an Indian restaurant there was a disappointment, but we got to visit a lovely café, where I got my all important Cornish cream tea and a great ice cream parlour before we left.

***** The Staff *****

Throughout my booking and stay at the park I found the staff generally helpful. My only complaint would be about the children's entertainers. Personally I didn't think they were too bad, but my partner dubbed them 'little Hitlers'. The reason for this was that they were very strict about not letting the children stand up when they were watching the shows or go too near the stage. They also didn't let the children on the stage when it was empty. This was likely to do with safety, but it strikes me as contradictory when they then perch little children on tall and unstable bar chairs.

***** Conclusions *****

I did write a letter of complaint when asked for feedback on my holiday. I got a polite and timely reply with apologies for the cleanliness on the chalet and thanks for my feedback. However, I was disappointed that the other areas of my complaint were not acknowledged, most of which I have listed above. I actually laughed when the letter that she hoped I would visit again and that she would "be pleased to take personal interest to ensure that your holiday is made that extra bit special."

So would I visit again? Not if it was free! I'll go back to small caravan parks and bed and breakfasts. It seems that as soon as places get big they forget about customer service and only think about the best way to squeeze every penny out of their victims.

Of course this is only my personal experience of one park. It is possible that other parks are better.

 

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