Retallack Resort — Hotel in Great Britain

AN EXTREMELY POORLY MANAGED SITE.

We booked a stay at Retallack resort from Aug 24th until 31st 2023. Having returned I am making a formal complaint about the park, staff and the immoral conduct of the company, which is in breach of our consumer rights.

We arrived on 24th Aug and were given the keys to 7a which is a semi detached lodge on the western flank of the site. Four weeks before we arrived we were informed, having already paid, that there was some building work going on on site. Work that I gather has been going on for some months and so was already in operation when we first booked our holiday in July. We had not been notified prior to booking that this would affect our enjoyment of the holiday whilst we had the opportunity to make an informed decision. As it happened we were hoodwinked into booking without knowing the facts. Imagine our horror arriving at the lodge to find that not only was there 8ft high hoarding within 10 metres of our lodge terrace but behind it was a very active yard housing the offices, and storage yard with the main access road between the building site and the storage yard running directly behind the back of our lodge with regular trips by a forklift truck carrying materials. We approached the staff to make them aware of our disappointment on three occasions over the following 24 hours, requesting to be relocated and the simple answer was no. Chris, who runs the accommodation itineraries simply shrugged his shoulders and said if we didn’t like it we could leave and get a refund however having booked a week’s leave from work, and having driven five hours to get there with two young children we could not simply turn around and go home nor could we find any other accommodation elsewhere, particularly given that we would require the refund in order to book an alternative.

We therefore had to suffer a very dissatisfying week at Retallack Resort with traffic moving along the supply road behind us, disturbing our holiday throughout, and a view of a decrepit site fence to enjoy while we tried to relax on the terrace. We were only notified that there may be disruption once we had paid, which was noted in the confirmation email however nowhere on the Retallack website does it notify consumers of this prior to booking. Away Resorts have a duty of care to ensure that the consumer is making an informed decision prior to booking and this has been completely neglected. Not only this but there are areas of the park that are not affected at all by the works and therefore customers that are directly affected should be given a full disclosure prior to booking. I feel we have been misled and our consumer rights have been completely compromised by the woeful omission of information that was of material significance to us. When I approached the reception staff they all agreed that it was totally unacceptable but had no power to improve our experience.

The facilities at the park are run down and poorly managed. The tennis courts have not been maintained at all with one of the perimeter fences even dangerous to the public with a tensioner wire on the fence broken and dangling at eye level. The frame holding the fence has been severely damaged with several parts of the frame bent beyond repair and the court surfaces have had nothing done to them since they were built. Standards of the facilities in general are extremely poor.

Then there is the constant smell of dead carcasses drifting across the park from a neighbouring farm......

The list goes on. I am still pursuing the park for compensation. They have offered 30% of our next holiday however I don't feel this is sufficient. I have sent them three emails since the end of OCTOBER and had no response.

Next...

TLDR (based on three visits) Perfect location, we spent little to no time in the resort outside of sleeping. Good accommodation, but with zero privacy should you have a hot tub. Not always clean. Limited, to no parking outside accommodation. Spa, pool and lake facilities are poor. The resort is currently a building site and has been for years. Not worth the price. Not recommended for families who plan to simply stay in the resort at all times. Kids will be bored as there is very little to do in the resort itself.

Location

Honestly, the location is the main reason we return. It is perfectly located for Padstow, Newquay, St Michaels Mount, Lost Gardens of Helegan and the Edan project to name a few.

We tend to book last minute or wait for special offers as the resort itself is not worth the full price and we are rarely in it. The location is it’s redeeming feature.

Accommodation

PROS -The accommodation looks and feels very modern and has everything you to self cater. Beds are comfy and their has always been enough room for everyone to relax. Tables and living room are all comfy and often the balcony’s are a good size.

CONS Parking. The majority of lodges either have 1 or no spaces to park. Whilst there is a car park, this isn’t advertised anywhere. At peak times I imagine it would be a nightmare for families.

I have yet to stay in accommodation that was fully clean and/or functional. On all three occasions kitchen items have been dirty (most recently there was pasta sauce all over the dishes and cutlery).

Whilst not a major problem, the bath in the lodge is comically shallow. When full, even the slimmest person would struggle to be comfortable. You cannot keep adding hot water….as there doesn’t appear to be any. The bath was tepid throughout and the hot water tap was cold for 45 minutes afterwards.

In contrast, the shower was one temperature, dangerously hot. No matter which way I turned the tap, the temperature remained akin to the inside of the sun. Bathing in the earths core would have been cooler.

My biggest issue with the lodges, was the balconies. I understand that the layout of the resort means that a private garden isn’t possible, and balconies are a good solution. Why then, are the side panels clear glass? Every balcony can be seen, even those with hot tubs, so surely it makes sense to put solid glass/panelling to ensure privacy? Our neighbours were so uncomfortable with this that they asked to be moved. This seems like such an obvious solution.

Facilities

There aren’t really that many and they all look a little shabby compared to the modern astatic of the accommodation.

In the 6 years I have been coming I cannot see that they have expanded the already quite small spa and pool area. Having been with friends who used the spa, they confirmed that it was small and the treatments seemed expensive and limited. I have no first hand knowledge of this and would suggest researching it first.

The large lake was busy when we came a few summers ago, but I couldn’t really see what activities there were on offer. In the end, the group in front of us simply put their wet suits in and got in. It all seemed a bit chaotic. It is closed in the off season but again, no improvements have been made.

We have never used the restaurant as the resort is perfectly located to ensure we never have to. Padstow is 5 miles away and Newquay is also close. We have never even see it advertised, I couldn’t tell you where it is located.

it’s a maze and the one way system is poor. Everyone ignores it as it’s not always clearly signposted. Heavy machinery on the road also adds a level of excitement I...

At the start of April, my family and I stayed in the Meadows 29 four-bedroom cabin with a hot tub.

From the moment we arrived, things were off. Upon arrival, we were directed to our accommodation by the receptionist, who’d kindly drawn the route out on a map for us. Unfortunately, what she had actually drawn led us to a completely different building, sleeping 2 people instead of the 7 she saw us arrive with. A small mishap, but the start of a steady decline.

When we finally reached the right cabin, it was clearly unclean: stale crisps in the bedroom, used tissues between sofa cushions, toilet skid marks, overgrown cobwebs etc. I've stayed in Premier Inns in better shape — definitely not what you expect from a so-called 5-star resort. It was clear the cleaning team barely looked over the place.

The next evening we ate at The Lookout, the resort’s restaurant. We were already a bit wary as the majority of the reviews mentioned uninterested staff and store-bought, undercooked dishes. When ordering our drinks, it became obvious that service was not paramount to them, as it took 30 minutes for a Diet Pepsi to arrive after we politely reminded our waitress. The restaurant was nearly empty by the way — just a few tables and several staff gossiping in the corner.

When a different waiter brought us our food, he appeared to forget the dish of the person he was standing right in front of; he said "enjoy" and walked off. I quickly reminded another waiter of this obvious error, and the last dish was eventually given to us 10 minutes later. Traditionally, groups of people like to eat together, not one after another. Once all our food arrived, it was once again less than desirable. The cod was suspiciously wet and without flavour, chips egregiously undercooked, bread smelling like fish despite being nowhere near it, etc. We paid and left as soon as we could.

It also became obvious how completely unbothered and inattentive the staff were. Every time I saw a staff member using the karts to traverse the grounds, they decided to ignore any one-way system and the 5-mile-an-hour speed limit. Going anything over 15mph in a resort designed with young children and animals in mind is completely unacceptable. I witnessed several near misses with people, and one full-on collision into some bins. All he could say for himself was, "Mornin."

The hot tub was the highlight — If you've never had the joys of sitting out in a lovely jacuzzi under the stars, then you are severely missing out. The only thing that worried me was it was auto-set at 40°C, which was too hot for our liking.

However, on the afternoon of our last full day, we came back after a day out to find the upper deck soaking wet and the hot tub freezing cold — 10°C. After calling the help desk and waiting ten minutes, I was told the hot tub had been drained and refilled... a day early. Despite all our belongings still being there, the maintenance team assumed we’d left and never came back. By the next morning (check-out day), it had only reached 30°C. It completely baffles me how this could have happened. A kind receptionist said we'd be refunded for that day. However again, once we had left we only received 20% of the day. It took weeks of calling around, speaking to unbothered managers, and we eventually received what we were owed.

Overall, this felt like a 2-star nightmare of an experience with 5-star pricing. If I had any advice for potential customers: eat elsewhere, steer clear of the karts, and don't bother getting a hot tub — because they'll just end up draining it a day...