Parkdean Resorts Newquay Holiday Park, Cornwall — Hotel in Great Britain

One of the worst family breaks we have been on. Where do I even start! We had paid directly through Parkdean whom changed our caravan at last notice without even considering to let us know and happened to sub let a property at a much cheaper rate than what we had initially given them.. the Caravan given to us to stay in for the week was tiny with no room to store your clothes let alone any souvenirs.. although they reassured us it was a upgrade (I think because it had an extra bedroom) lol, it gets worse just wait.. the caravan was filthy with burn marks on the floor and dirt/grime/dust everywhere even the net curtains needed a deep clean! I had to spend the first hour cleaning the place which you shouldn’t have to do upon arrival considering the money paid!! The mattress in the master bedroom was horrendous the only way to describe it would be like sleeping on a bed of nails!! Hope changed the mattress for us without any hesitation upon inspection but it shouldn’t have been in there it was a H&S Hazard👍🏼 Nappies under the caravan from previous holidaymakers with flies covering it was another reason to dislike the Parkdean Newquay site. Tables need a good clean! The entertainment is good but feel staff members like Jay are quite rude and keen to push the blame onto other members of staff for things they are unable to control like the balance bikes being ridden across the dance floor by children.. his words “it isn’t a hazard he’s only a little boy and it’s not his problem it’s the security” which I totally get he cannot take them off the bike but a polite reminder to parents that using bikes indoors isn’t permitted would have solved the problem easily making it enjoyable for every child and not 1 or 2! I think he also needs to bear in mind not every disability is visible and to always take others into consideration no matter the age! The pool is supposed to be heated but something is clearly wrong with the small pool which is freezing for adults let alone toddlers meaning you would have to take your children into the bigger pool which gets very over crowded as it is a lot warmer! The slide is un-manned meaning children have to alert the lifeguard when the water stops running down it and even then he seams very unbothered which is a big concern! The lifeguard on duty was totally unaware of the family (about 16 people) in the “closed” pool behind him who had clearly not understood the closure of the pool at 17:30-18:00 but was oblivious The fish and chip van was closed the whole week apart from Monday due to the “fryer breaking” although this can’t be helped the urgency to get it fixed was not there considering it’s the summer holidays!!! The bar is slow unless 1 blonde girl is doing all the drinks orders she works her bottom off and is a credit to Parkdean Newquay without her you would not be able to cope with the high volume of customers. They have limited options for soft drinks as they run out every single day and often have to go to other nearby resorts to collect stock! I mean I can bypass it once but not every single day of your holiday. The alcoholic drinks menu is pretty poor and I quote “bar staff have not been taught how to make certain drinks advertised yet” (it’s really frustrating) really not sure what’s going on here to be honest it’s dire when it could be good but nobody really has a clue and have the attitude of “can’t be bothered” apart from the odd 1 or 2 (very disappointed)

There were some parts that we did manage to enjoy and credit where credits due the girls work their absolute socks off entertaining our young children and adults morning, noon and night! The family entertainment in the evening is brilliant and gives everybody a chance to get involved. The Starland Shop was a massive hit with something for everyone of all ages at affordable prices. Pizza Box is brilliant and very affordable with deals to feed the whole family *£35.99 2x large pizzas, 2x small pizzas & 4 cans of drink. The arcade is amazing, something for all the family! The kids loved it in here and were happy with...

Because the overall experience at this was was so dreadful, I’ll clearly identify what is a fact and what is my opinion.

Firstly some facts about the park. The park is extremely steep, from the road to the reception is one exceptionally steep hill. Beyond reception, the park is built upon tiers, again separated by very steep hills. The park has limited pedestrian pathways and is predominantly designed for vehicular access, most of which is two-way traffic.

There is NO INDOOR SWIMMING POOL, although an indoor changing block/toilets are located nearby to the outdoor pools. For the pools themselves, there are two pools and a third paddling pool with a little slide. This third pool should be a splash pool for children but the water splash feature doesn’t appear to have worked for a considerable amount of time. All the pools are heating and are relatively warm for an outdoor pool but obviously not ‘hot’.

A limited amount of sun-loungers are available , along with a few plastic tables and chairs. There isn’t enough for the amount of people using the pools. Shade around the pool is very limited.

The pools are staffed by a minimum of one lifeguard per pool.

Opinion: We stayed in and was sold as allegedly two of their higher specification caravans, Watergate caravans 125 and 126. Despite the park representative knowing we were booking for a party including an elderly gentleman and two young children (68, 2 and 21 months old) as we booked by telephone in 2021, the location and the caravan’s outdoor space and access was completely inappropriate.

Facts: both caravans were several tiers higher than the reception, main entertainment area and swimming pools, all accessible via several tiers of downhill none pedestrian friendly roads or an extremely steep hill path to the entertainment area and reception and continuation across a road, though a children’s park, down some steps to the swimming pools (or down another road with a pushchair avoiding steps).

Opinion: the caravans were of poor quality compared to what was expected and experienced at other caravan parks. I stayed a Park Dene caravan in Great Yarmouth, two weeks prior to this stay, for £100 (4 days) vs £700+ each caravan here (7 days) and the overall caravan was of a far higher quality than this caravan. Although this Newquay caravan had almost a fully equipped kitchen, there was no can opener.

Facts: the outdoor plastic decking area on both caravans was relatively small and was unsafe for young children, with no gate (on request a piece of plywood was tied to the decking with cable ties and string). The steps on caravan 125 were very uneven (broken?) and potentially dangerous.

The ovens in both caravans did not work very well but in caravan 125, the hob was dangerous. The switch for one gas burner did not fit correctly. If fitted to enable the to burner to work, the off position did not match, meaning the burner could be mistakenly left on, either lit or unlit.

Fact: the fire doors in the entertainment area are so easily openable, a 21 month old baby can push them open without using the handle. Great if there is a fire, not so good in a family friendly venue with lots of young children. The security guards had the audacity to reprimand myself and subsequently our party for exiting through the fire doors. I only exited to retrieve my 21 month old son who had escaped what I had assumed was a secure door. I was watching him from about 10ft away, more concerned with other potential dangers than a ‘secured door’.

Fact: despite both the 2 year old and my 21 month old son being tall for their ages at 90cm, and more than experienced on children’s play equipment. None of the outdoor children’s playgrounds were designed for younger toddlers and those which were accessible were not appropriately safe enough to be used by young toddlers.

Opinion: the indoor play area had two sections, a boring under 5’s area or a more exiting area for older children but a largely inaccessible by younger children.

Overall a vet poor experience with limited...

We have just come back from a week glamping in the Safari Tents at Parkdean Newquay. Our experience was mixed to say the least! The tents are brilliant quality, spacious and have everything you need to make you feel like you really are glamping for the week! We often go camping in our own tent so to have our own bathroom and facilities was a bonus! Beds super comfy, great kitchen facilities and really enjoyed the outside decking area. Our little ones loved playing outside the tents as the road for the tents had a barrier meaning they could run around and play safely with little to no cars driving down.

As for the negatives, the tents are INCREDIBLY cold! Even with the heaters provided they barely helped it warm up as the tents are so big. We often found ourselves getting into bed and it feeling damp and cold which was super unpleasant. We had to ask for a second heater which the team kindly provided and we were really grateful for. The tents are also positioned really close together which means you can hear absolutely everything. TVs, talking, snoring, you name it you can hear it. The main road to drive into the park is on one side and the pool is on the other, so during the day if it’s not vans, bin men or stupidly noisy motorbikes it’s the pool music blaring that you can hear. The layout of the tents really needs to be reconsidered to make peoples stay more enjoyable.

We had an awful experience where another tent argued and kicked off every single night for 5 nights. The arguing, banging and fighting was so bad security was called every night but they didn’t get asked to leave the park until the night before they were due to leave. This was completely unacceptable in our eyes as it ruined the majority of our holiday and we went to sleep anxious every night wondering what would kick off that evening and what time we would have to call security again. I understand you can’t vet people who come and stay on the park but after ourselves and all of the other tents making complaints every single day about that family the fact it still took 5 days to ask them to leave with how awful their behaviour was unacceptable.

We must say the reception staff, Michelle and Steve the reception manager were absolutely fantastic and couldn’t do enough for us! From checking in early to trying to help resolve the tent issues their customer service was wonderful everytime.

The food in the showbar area was lovely, we had to send a pasta dish back as it wasn’t super warm but they made another one fresh and hot and couldn’t apologise enough. The pizza box hut was okay, very understaffed so waiting for ages and the team were very stressed but still did their best to get you served quickly. Fish and chip van was good too and reasonably priced.

We didn’t do any activities as we had things planned every day but when looking at the prices they seemed incredibly pricey for what they were. Also half the pool with the slide and play part was closed during our stay which made us not want to try it out. Disappointing this was the case especially as it was the Easter holidays so you would expect it to be fully open. Kids loved the arcade but we found this stupidly expensive for what it was so they spent most of their time on the 2p machines to maximise their money.

Location wise was good, 10 mins drive into central Newquay and not far off the A30 so ideal for days out. If you didn’t drive though I can imagine it would be awkward to get into Newquay and the beach etc.

Overall, the stay was okay, wouldn’t glamp again unfortunately as we had so many issues and reading the other reviews we probably wouldn’t come back to this park as it seems the caravans are often unclean which we also overheard people at reception complaining about too. Really gutted about this as the tents were wonderful but all the other factors have put us...