Center Parcs Woburn Forest — Hotel in Great Britain

Our family of four (plus a friend) are just back from a mid Christmas / New Year break at Center Parcs Woburn Forest. We stayed in one of the (I think) new Pine hot tub lodges, in an executive 3 bedroom lodge. The lodge location was convenient for us, but be warned, Woburn is a surprisingly hilly park! We ate out on all three nights of our break, at Las Iguanas, Amalfi and Hucks. The new (since we last visited) menu at Las Iguanas was superb, as was the actual food and was fairly priced, considering the location. After having been a favourite previously, Amalfi was a little disappointing. The service was a little rushed and the food felt slightly below par based on our previous visits here. Finally, Hucks. The food again was good, as was the service. ||||Our lodge was great. We have recently always stayed in an Exclusive Lodge, to take advantage of the extra facilities, but as these were all sold out, we decided on the Pine hot tub lodges instead. And they were great. The sauna was lovely, the hot tub clean and enjoyable, the lodge clean and tidy (and clearly with upgraded or recently installed showers, as it was the best shower I’ve ever had at a Center Parcs village!). However… please, please PLEASE do something about the bedding. The beds themselves are quite comfortable, but you use the noisiest duvets known to man! One gentle movement in bed sounds like an earthquake. Can you go and chat to Premier Inn or something? Please! A CP break is tiring enough, without 3 night’s lack of sleep to go with it! ||||Unfortunately though, on to the bad stuff. Sadly, where Center Parcs has excelled previously, the cracks are now beginning to show. The service from the staff at the Leisure Bowl bar was a disaster. Firstly, the member of staff that served me was flat out rude. Yes, I ordered a glass of Merlot and a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and two packets of Wotsits. Even if they were all for me, I don’t want to have my order mocked, or laughed at. Even if I wanted the Wotsits and I wanted to give wine to my kids, I still don’t want to be mocked about it (I didn’t, just before you take me too seriously). However, I do object to “would you like to add a gratuity” on their ePOS systems, as I walked up the bar, ordered my drinks, carried my drinks back from the bar to my seat, and when (having been overlooked whilst paying), I rejected the option to add a gratuity to my obscenely priced drinks, I was met with “thanks a lot, pal” as he stormed off. Secondly, having asked for a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and absolutely not received it (not sure what it was, but it certainly wasn’t Cabernet Sauvignon!), I (politely) asked the staff to replace it with what I asked for. The barman then proceeded to sniff the wine, tell me it was a Cabernet. I (politely) disagreed, as asked him to replace it regardless. Many tuts and audible annoyances later, I walked back to my seat with the correct wine. No apology offered. ||||Our host at “Festive Target Archery” was less than engaging. “You want to hear me going through the health and safety stuff about as much as I want to tell you” and “I’ve got to do this bit, as it’s in our DAP” (whatever that is - I’m assuming some form of company manual?). The session felt like an annoyance and an irritation to her. She spent most of the session talking to another family group and pretty much mostly ignored my son (even when he tried to engage), which having done this many times previously and always been a firm favourite and a regular to book on our breaks, resulted in “yeah, think I won’t do that again”. ||||The cashier at Parc Market who had taken lessons from the worst and most abusive check out staff imaginable. She threw the items down the check out so hard I’m surprised we didn’t have to pick them up from the playground outside.||||What I found utterly fascinating, was the staffing in the pool. A small toddler held in arms allowed down the rapids (because the lifeguard at the top being so disinterested she wasn’t even looking). Two children standing up at the beginning of the rapids and running and then diving down the top bit, again, no interest from the lifeguard. Two lifeguards by the lazy river (one by the river, one on the balcony above, having a nice old chat together, sharing a crude joke as I walked past on my way back to the changing rooms, again, not looking at the lazy river at all.||||The pool is not big enough. It’s overcrowded at the best of times, especially the lazy river. I’ve talked about the overcrowding here before and raised it previously to parc management and I’ve always been told that “it’s perfectly safe and numbers are managed” - but when your lifeguards are not interested in enforcing the rules, making it even more dangerous for people, then why should people behave? And it shows, the behaviour of many people in the pool areas was flat out disgusting. I saw spitting, running on the rapids, head first, queue jumping, pushing in, one kid trying to remove boats from the entry pool of the two boat slides and people were putting them down and trying to get in, because he’d pushed in and didn’t like having to wait, whilst the lifeguard sat there and did nothing. People jumping the slide red/green light system in the pirates area causing problems in the landing pools, whilst parents and lifeguards just watched on. A serious accident is literally just waiting to happen - and that’s before you get on to the sheer carnage of what happens when the wave machine siren goes off… ||||Being very fortunate to have been able to come to Center Parcs for many years, one of the great joys is seeing your children grow, develop and try new things in a safe, family environment. This year, it was my youngest’s turn to attempt the rapids for the first time. A big moment for him! And he loved them, but when you’re preparing him, teaching him the rules (be careful, respect the lifeguards, obey the rules, feet first, watch out for others) etc, to see others just being allowed to do whatever they want, often dangerously, it’s just disappointing to have to explain to a child why we’ve asked him to behave and respect the rules when “no-one else does, they don’t get told off”.||||This place always stood tall on the shoulders of its customer service and the quality of its staff. These days, customers seem to be an irritation and an after thought. It also feels like it’s losing its family feel. I hope this was a blip, as we love Center Parcs and have been fortunate to have been able to visit many times previously. We hope to continue attending again. We remember when Woburn first opened. Whoever was running the parc back then, it felt like they had created a really special atmosphere. Simply every single interaction and activity was special. The staff were outstanding in every area. Since then, it feels like it’s been a progressive decline - so much stuff has been stripped back when you stop to consider it. Being able to use wristbands to load-up a credit card so you could charge food / drink in the pool (helpful, so you don’t have to take a phone / card in), all of the shops that used to be on the first floor of the pool, next to Amalfi, now closed. The pool Parc Market, now a buggy park, the “dining inn” and Leon restaurants, now another Starbucks, the photography studio in the Plaza gone, replaced by a “Christmas shop” (what is it the rest of the time, another empty location?). Prices continue to rise, the offering continues to reduce - and when you factor poor staff in to the equation, I suspect people are going to start voting with their feet sooner rather than later.||||I hope the tide can be turned before it becomes terminal. It would be a...

We normally visit Whinfell once or twice a year however due to us already been down south we decided to try a weekend and Woburn centre parcs. ||Upon arrival we were greeted by a lady who gave us a map & instructions to our lodge. These instructions weren’t right and we did end up getting lost. ||Once we finally found our way back around the one way system we arrived at our lodge. |Now I under stand that we are in a forest and so on but can we just talk cobwebs. They were all over and this isn’t a problem there it’s the same at Whinfell too and hovering behind doors. When you shut a door and behind it is crumbs and god knows what it’s not great considering what you pay. Pleases give the lovely cleaners more time & guidance to do a proper job. |I would say that the lodges are all “surface clean” but could do with a little more TLC. ||When we got unpacked we went out side to eat our tea to find one of our lovely neighbours had taken some of our garden furniture. )Don’t be that person….) We didn’t say anything and just used one of the chairs from inside. ||Day 1 |On the Saturday we took part in falcon club. This is was great and the guy taking this activity really did know what he was talking about. He was great with the kids and of course the birds. They got to hold one. Have one fly to them & then stand next to the really big one for photos. You could tell the last one he showed us did bite him but not once did he let the children see this. ||We also visited the pancake house for lunch and this was great as it always is. We never have any complaints about the pancake house. ||Saturday evening we chose hucks as at whinfell this is our absolute favourite. This however wasn’t the case at Woburn. ||We were show to our table and a lovely waitress came to take our order I would just like to say we couldn’t fault her in the slightest and she was really really lovely and for her alone was the only reason we didn’t remove the service charge. ||We ordered nachos to start these arrived very quickly followed 5 mins later by our drinks and two mins after that our main meals. We were still eating our starters but apparently this didn’t matter and it was time for our main food. My mother in law ordered the same burger she always a gets at Whinfell but here was just a small piece of grilled chicken in a bread bun. |We put the nachos to one side as we didn’t want to let our mains go cold but after a few mouth full we were completely full and but felt we had wasted our money on the mains. I personally felt as though we were being rushed. There was lots of big tables around us and it felt like it was a case of get the smaller tables dealt with focus on them. For this reason we wouldn’t return to this hucks again. ||All afternoon & into the evening with could hear this really loud music as the evening went on the music got louder so we decided to phone security to see if they could have a word with who ever it was they was having a ravr at centre parcs and not inviting us 😂 Turns out there was a festival a few fields away. I was told they hadn’t been told about it till last minute and that’s why they hadn’t informed guests but after looking on their instagram page it looks like it’s a yearly thing and has been advertised for a while. The loud music did stop around 11.30 but it wasn’t the peaceful evening sat out side we expected. |Day 2 |Sunday we had booked roller skating this was great the kids loved it. They had all the appropriate safety equipment and the kids could just go around on their own free will. ||After this we went to the sport bar for lunch. The loaded fries are always a go to here. Plenty of places to sit and you can order off the QR code straight to your table. ||After lunch we did the interactive ball wall. This is a much do activities for us at every centre parcs trip. It burns off some energy and it’s great fun for all and your still feeling it two days later 😂||My top tip here would be at the back of the sports hall behind the table tennis is some changing room/ toilets that also have lockers in. The other members of my party went swimming Sunday afternoon so it was great to lock the swimming stuff away and not have to carry everything around with us all the time. ||Day 3 |Monday morning came and it was time to drive down and collect the car fill it back up and return to the car park. This all went without a hitch which was great for us.||We then went to cafe rouge for breakfast. One of the kids in our party was celebrating their birthday on this day and one of the lovely waitress made her a selection of pastries & fruit and popped two candles in it for her. Such a lovely touch. Breakfast was lovely and just what we needed before heading swimming. ||Swimming…… well for me it wasn’t the one. Take me back to Whinfell pool. 2 areas for kids. One under 4 one under 8. Can’t go on the out door rapids if they aren’t 100% confident. Can’t go on the slides unless they are a certain hight. So basically what they could do is stand around wait for a wave machine that may or may not go off we waiting for half a hour and it didn’t or bob around in the lazy river with people bashing into you in rubber rings. And salty water what is that all about 🤮 The whole pool looked a little grubby like it needed a good scrub and we never feel that way about Whinfell. When we tell them we are getting out of the pool there there’s tears. Here they were asking to get out as they were board. ||We then went up to the leisure bowl for a drink it was lovely and pleasant In here. ||Lunch before heading home was at Amalfi we booked for 3 but they managed to fit us in a hour earlier so always worth asking. ||The kids had the meal deal which the same as hucks the starters for them came out and 5 minutes later their mains were there. We had decided after hucks carry on not to have starters and it’s a good job we didn’t. The food was lovely although how wrong can you go with two cheese pizza & two chicken nuggets. |The table next to use was mucky the whole time we sat there. Staff kept walking past it and ignored it. One girl actually cleaned a clean table next to it and they walked past the one with food all over it. ||We stayed in lodge 539 and had lots of guests visiting us including |Monkey the muntjac deer |Gary the grey squirrel |Pheasants |Grouse with their baby’s |Robin & other birds. ||Overall we found woburn not to be up to our usual Whinfell experience and I think we will stick with what we know in future. Even down to the other guests at Whinfell everyone’s so friendly and polite but here they would push past your child to get something quicker. If you open a door for someone people don’t say thank you. It just wasn’t for me. So overall Whinfell will always...

Strictly without prejudice

Dear Centre Parcs

I’ve recently been to your Woburn site and one thing stood out to me the newly built rapids

Feedback

There’s a lock of security life guard staff actually on each section of the rapids yes there are towers they are often not manned or weren’t when I went down the rapids and yes you have mirrors but mirrors are only good if someone is watching each mirror and no cctv cameras I think I saw 1 if people have to rush out they may not get there in time and yes parents have there part to play but people also pay a lot of money going to centre parcs The rapids water is very high and deep and saw no over 18 signs or strong swimmer signs They throw you around very fast I’ve seen several videos many might not find on YouTube about them and you might not find them I got back with the family last year from Elveden and those rapids should have some form of timing system as I saw one kid getting dragged under by 10 idiots all going down the last bit all at once Rapids all be it not in the wild at centre parcs are v dangerous they need constant I’ve been on real rapids in a boat and they need huge security and speed boats and v strong safety swimmers in boat with you to just and try to keep people safe yours are in an environment you can keep people safe Few online laugh about drinking on Woburn rapids I think personally you need a big re-think on the Woburn ones When getting into rapids there’s a lack of staff often if you have to rush out your already to late Everything else was great so I don’t give feedback lightly There’s a lot of reviews online saying the same things I am that seem to not been adhered to Small print on a website I notice is not an active safety feature I may add The rapids should not be in operation if you can’t fund the staff to keep people safe and that’s not just for the rapids but the pools as well I notice people complain about whirl pools rapids create and earlier this year this hadn’t been sorted I’d suggest to stop PR stunts and use some profit and hire staff needed on the pay needed to keep people safe and this is very lacking on few of rapid based sites 8 years old online it says for Woburn rapids I think you are mad the water in areas is very high and deep in others specially at end where if people are being stupid all racing down at once could drag someone under even if good swimming could cause an issue You could actually pay staff members to ride rapids at any time for peace of mind wouldn’t cost much I doubt as people do love the rapids You have few reviews of late saying same thing as myself and one 2024 review that will be causing concern to others that might have booked but aren’t now doing so and wether you had staff monitoring or not at that time of review at Woburn you should say sorry give a incentive they might then take it off trip adviser You make huge profits use some of it or close rapids on days you don’t have the staff to be able to monitor it robustly 1 on entry 1 on every section of rapids and people actually in the towers as even on YouTube videos in some of videos there isn’t any staff around

P.S.

Lower your ask if you want a business sale it’s clear a lot of current homes I’ll call them for now re-builds if not them all at each site a lot look worse very old but you won’t get 5bn when 1000,s homes need rebuilds and that’s likely why you getting people moan about flies because homes aren’t new now and has a lot of wear and sadly needs a lot of work to bring centre parcs back to good old days I remember at young age

I’ll be going back at end of year at both sites and I’ll be watching if you’ve taken my email seriously before I decide if press need to know or and a gov committee set up ( life isn’t profit making you get enough just for 1 cabin stay to hire the right amount of staff needed and you made 100 million on profit just last year alone...