Bognor: Butlins apologises after customer complains

Marcus Gaines treated his two children and his wife, an A&E nurse, to a bank holiday break at Butlins in Bognor - but he is now asking for an apology from the seaside resort.

He has told The Argus how his "grim" holiday was far from the relaxing getaway he had planned.

Marcus (Image: Marcus Gaines)

He arrived at the holiday park on Friday evening with high hopes - and an empty stomach.

The dad-of-two said: "My partner Susie and I had not had a day off together in three weeks, so we haven't done anything as a family for a while.

"She is a matron at Southampton A&E and we just wanted a nice, decent holiday without any stress or hassle."

The state of the ice cream machine at Butlins (Image: Marcus Gaines)

He was shocked when he took pictures of the food stations at the restaurants, with ice cream spilling from the machine and grubby marks around the plugs.

He said: "It felt like there was an utter lack of interest in the guest experience. 

"The restaurants were a mess. There was a rusty hole in the countertop, ice cream all over the floor and sauce all over the walls.

"In the evenings, there were no plates to be found - People were hunting around for them and I even saw people putting food straight on their trays.

"On our first morning, they ran out of croissants at 9am."

The hole in the countertop (Image: Marcus Gaines)

Butlins promotes a range of entertainment at its resorts, including shows at its many stages. Marcus and his family opted to watch a performance on their first night.

But when Marcus sat down to watch the show, he realised he had a "warm, soaking wet bum".

He immediately stood up to discover the chair was "completely soaked." Marcus said: "I put my hand in it to sniff it and see what it was.

"It was 100 per cent urine. I was like: 'Great, my first night and I was soaked in someone else's p**s."

Butlins said it wants to reassure guests it has "strict cleaning and hygiene policies in place."

The dead pigeon next to the queue (Image: Marcus Gaines)

Marcus said he when he was queuing for Stephen Mulhern's "disappointing" show Spellbound, there was a dead bird on the ground.

He said: "We went to the late performance and there was a queue outside the venue.

"Initially, this went through the smoking area - where people were smoking and families had to queue in this.

"But then security came over and said we need to be moved, and put us next to a dead bird."

Marcus said he noticed the dead bird at around 9am on the same day - and said it was still there at 8pm when he was queuing for the show.

"It has been baking in the sun for the entire day and now we had to queue next to it. Everyone was looking at each other and commenting on how grim it was, yet nobody came to clear it up.

"Especially with bird flu going around it was a bit worrying. What's not to say a kid will run over and poke it? Then they will have dead bird guts on their hands."

The dead pigeon (Image: Marcus Gaines)

Once the crowds filtered into the auditorium to watch Stephen Mulhern, Marcus was still not pleased with the experience.

He said: "Considering the show was called spellbound, he only did four magic tricks."

All of Marcus's concerns were raised using the live chat service on the Butlins mobile app, as he said there was no guest relations office to be found at the resort.

He said: "I would definitely like an apology from them for their failures, as I could not get one at Butlins.

"I don't think I will be coming back any time soon."

A spokesman for Butlins said: "We’re sorry to hear about the issues the Gaines’ family had on their recent break including the difficulties faced when trying to contact our team on resort.

"We’ve been in contact with Mr Gaines to apologise, discuss the issues raised in more detail and have offered a gesture of goodwill which has been accepted.

"We are working closely with our team on resort to address these issues and want to reassure guests that we have strict cleaning and hygiene policies in place."