Colin Newton and his wife, Paula, left Butlin’s in Skegness, Lincolnshire, after just one night after they claimed to have found their room in a revolting state
A couple have vowed never to return to a Butlin’s resort after furiously leaving hours after their arrival because of the state of their room.
Colin Newton and his wife, Paula, booked a three-night stay at Butlin’s in Skegness, Lincolnshire, for £249. When they arrived at the resort, however, the couple claim they could “smell sick” as soon as they walked through the door of their room after checking in at 4pm.
That alarmed couple claim they then found suspected “blood and faeces stains” on their bedding. After a number of failed cleaning attempts from staff, the husband and wife, both 63, were left with no option but to leave the resort just 16 hours into their holiday.
The Newtons, from Heanor in Derbyshire, said they noticed dried vomit “on the carpet, up the skirting board and up the wall”. Nobody answered when they called a number found on their key cards but a member of staff they found on site offered to clean the room while the couple grabbed food on June 26.
Once they returned, they quickly noticed the sick hadn’t been cleaned and Mr Newton went to reception, where he was told someone would come to clean it. He told Lincolnshire Live: “This young lad comes in and he cleans up the vomit the best he could with it being dried on.
“He cleaned that up and then Paula shut the curtains in the lounge and said ‘you best come look at this’.
“There was all thick lumps of chocolate on the curtains. He said he can’t do anything about this tonight but someone can come and change your curtains tomorrow.”
As it was already past 10pm at this point, the couple started getting ready for bed, not knowing they had more horrific sights in store in their twin room and double room. Mr Newton said: “I went in to see her sobbing in the twin room, crying her eyes out, with something brown on the beds.
“I would say suspected faeces. I have no idea if it was faeces or chocolate as I wasn’t getting down to examine that.”
The other twin bed was reasonably clean except the quilt cover was ripped, while the double bed was covered in sand and biscuit crumbs, Mr Newton said. “It’s obviously been used as it had stuff on there, but I could live with that.
“I lifted the pillow up and that’s when I saw the blood on the bed and I spent 32 years as a police officer. I’ve seen my fair share of blood and I know what blood looks like,” he added.
After reporting the issue and being told someone would come with fresh bedding, the couple still hadn’t been attended to by 11.30pm and so they gave up. Sleeping on the sofa wasn’t an option either as the couple said they found “sticky Haribos” and crumbs between the cushions.
They stripped the double bed hoping to sleep on top of the quilt without the stained cover but the quilt had a yellow stain, they claimed. The Newtons ended up sleeping on top of the bare mattress and decided they “couldn’t bare to stay” at the resort any longer when they woke up the next morning.
They checked out shortly after 8am – just 16 hours into their stay. The pair were offered a refund of £41.50 after contacting customer services.
They were told the sum represented 50 per cent of the accommodation portion of their holiday. This was later increased by Butlin’s to £83 as a gesture of goodwill.
A Butlin’s spokesperson said: “We’re very sorry to hear about this guest’s experience during their stay at our Skegness resort. This falls well below the standards we expect and is not the experience we want any guest to have. As an apology, the guest was offered a gesture of goodwill.”
Mr Newton said he rejected the offers due to the unhygienic state of the accommodation, which left him and his wife unable to enjoy any part of their holiday, including the resort facilities and entertainment. Butlin’s then offered to refund the holiday in full on Wednesday (July 22).
The couple said they will never return to Butlin’s in the future and made a complaint to East Lindsey District Council about the condition of the accommodation. A spokesperson for the council said: “The Council has received a complaint and is investigating accordingly.
“The Council has a statutory duty to investigate complaints.”
