Parkdean Resorts Romney Sands Holiday Park, Kent — Local services in Folkestone and Hythe District

Lovely clean caravan.|Great location.|Fairly good entertainment .|I booked the ‘pool party’ for my 3 grandsons that promised competitions, music etc at a cost of £7.50 each.||On arrival, I looked through the window and wondered whether it had been cancelled as nothing was set up and the pool was empty. I had been told to arrive 15 minutes early yet the door was locked. Two young men arrived and I asked if the party was going ahead. One rudely answered “you’re too early” Both young men then stood and vaped. 5 minutes before the party was due to start, we were let in. The children changed and waited for it to begin. Some more children arrived. There were a few floats in the pool, not enough for everyone and nothing else. Some music was playing (2 club type-songs in total were played).The children jumped in and waited. One of the young men was sitting looking at his phone, one sat in the lifeguard seat and a young girl just stood by. I asked her if my grandson could have some arm bands and was told I needed to buy them.||The party was to last half an hour. After ten minutes, I asked the young girl when the activities would begin. She looked confused and said ‘this is it’ I said there were supposed to be games, competitions etc and she shrugged and brought over the man that was on his phone. I reiterated that it was supposed to be a pool party with activities and he said ‘well this is what you get’ I told him I wanted a refund and he said this would not be possible. I asked to speak to the manager. He said ‘he’s not here, you will need to speak to him’ and pointed at the lifeguard. My husband asked if he could come and speak to us and the man said he cannot leave his lifeguard post. My husband said he would go over to him but the man said it’s not permitted. The young man went over to the lifeguard and they had a discussion. The lifeguard then left his post, ignored us and talked to the other man. He then weirdly walked over to a float and pushed it with his foot. Almost showing us he was engaging! The other man phoned the manager and told us there would be no refund because the children had entered the water. I said had I known what it would be, I would have simply booked a free session as there had been no activities as advertised.||At the end of the ‘party’ the rude lifeguard approached us and asked what the problem was. He was frantically spinning his keys and whistle around and was arrogant and belligerent. We explained our issues again. He repeated no refund because the children had entered the water. He then said the usual entertainment team were on annual leave. I asked why it went ahead if they couldn’t provide the service as advertised. He rudely answered ‘well this is all you would have got anyway.’ At this point we said we needed to speak to the manager. Rather bizarrely at the end of the ‘party’, the young men began inflating a huge obstacle course type float. I asked the lifeguard why he didn’t use it for the party as they could have had competitions etc on it. He replied ‘I should have done. I forgot’ ||A meeting was arranged for the next morning with the manager. My husband spoke to him and he agreed a refund. The young men were present at the meeting and lied when they said they did do some activities but when challenged, obviously didn’t come up with any! The lifeguard continued his belligerence and was even told by the manager to take his hood down from his hoodie which he didn’t. ||This caused a lot of disappointment but more importantly I was, and still am, taken aback at how we were spoken to.||I have contacted Parkdean and their response was a half hearted apology with a hope we return. Definitely not.||Parkdean employ young students which is great but they are not adequately trained in how to treat their customers. I cannot recommend this place to any families that are likely to be disappointed by their false advertising. Please go...

MOULD INFESTATION

CIGARETTE BUTTS LITTERED AROUND CARAVAN

Complaint (1)

When we arrived to our caravan and began unpacking, my wife advised there was a nasty musky smell in the main bedroom. Carrying on from this she pulled the bed and bedside cabinets away from the wall and discovered a large amount of mould. I took a look myself for confirmation it was mould, in which it was.

I made my way over to the main reception building and politely advised the staff there is a large amount of mould in the bedroom of our caravan. The reply I received was that there has never been a mould issue in the history of the caravan park and they'll have to send someone to look. That I should head back and wait for them to arrive. The tone in which this was said felt belittling and made me feel as though I'm just another complainer. (This is the first time I've ever had to complain to a Parkdean resort!)

I made my way back to the caravan and waited for staff to arrive. Two Parkdean employees arrived to which I offered to show them to the bedroom in question. Once inside the room I asked if they could smell the mould and showed them the mould infestation. They very quickly confirmed the mould infestation and apologized profusely. Both Parkdean staff then gathered bleach cleaning products and began cleaning the mould infestation.

Once they finished cleaning they requested I check the cleanliness of the room, to which I did.

It saddens me to know the first experience our children had on our Easter break at Parkdean Romney Sands is that of two team members on their hands and knees cleaning mould spores from a wall and skirting in the bedroom. The children even asked myself if their rooms are okay or if they needed to be bleached. This should never have been the case and is a stain on their memory of the resort.

Just as the two staff was outside leaving I asked them aside and quietly asked how do I log a formal complaint. Their advice was to go back and speak to reception as that's not something they could assist me with. Due to the way I feel I was belittled in my original discussion with the reception staff I did not feel speaking to them again would be productive or something I would feel comfortable doing.

Complaint (2)

At the entrance to our caravan was a large amount of cigarette butts. I imagine this was left by the previous occupiers. As a non smoker and a parent I found this to be not just a lack of cleanliness but also poor quality control.

Below is an email reply from Customer Relations at Parkdean Resorts:

**Dear Mr Harris

Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding your stay with us at Romney Sands.

We are sorry that you experienced an issue with some mould in your unit, as you are aware as soon as the problem was reported housekeeping did attend and rectify this.  I was made aware that you were offered retail vouchers for a meal by our accommodation manager as way of an apology for this oversight, however these were never collected from reception.

With this in mind, I will not be offering any other form of goodwill gesture, as we cleaned the unit and offered vouchers at the time.

Your comments are extremely important to us and help us to improve, and we appreciate you taking the time to share these with us.

Finally, I would like to add that our on park teams are always here to help you during your stay. Please don‘t hesitate to visit our Reception Team who will endeavour to help you in any way we can.

Yours sincerely

Emma Mannering

Guest Experience Manager

Parkdean Resorts**

There was never any offer of  'vouchers' at any point during our stay.

In my email to Parkdean Resorts I clearly advise that I did not report back to the reception due to the belittling tone when I...

Holiday Review – Parkdean Resorts: Romney Sands Check-in: 25/08/2025 Check-out: 29/08/2025

We booked Romney Sands after a difficult year, looking forward to a much-needed family break which also doubled as our honeymoon, having just got married on 23rd August 2025. Sadly, the experience left us disappointed and we won’t be returning.

Accommodation

The caravan was not as advertised. The shower shelf had a crack, curtains weren’t fitted properly, and there was no pull-out bed we could find. It didn’t feel properly cleaned either, which was disheartening as we had saved hard for this holiday.

Swimming Pool

On our first night we went swimming, and visited two more times afterwards. Each time, the lifeguards seemed more interested in changing songs on their speaker than watching the pool. Music was constantly skipped or paused mid-song, and it felt unprofessional. Hosepipes were left running into the pool, which children were using to spray each other — catching other swimmers, including my 4-year-old, with freezing cold water.

Entertainment Venue & Food

Our first evening, we went to the entertainment venue for food. The kids’ entertainment was paused for late bingo at 8:30pm — a strange choice when children are still full of energy. Other holiday parks we’ve visited run bingo earlier, which works far better.

Food ordering through the app was a frustrating experience. Our order arrived missing items, and staff were rushed, inattentive, and visibly unhappy. After chasing multiple times, a kind female server eventually brought us the missing food, but it shouldn’t have been so difficult. Desserts for the children were also delayed until we chased again.

While vaping outside, I witnessed a female owner shouting at security staff, loudly saying, “I don’t care about guests, I’m an owner, I should come first.” It was incredibly unprofessional and off-putting.

The food itself was tasty, but overpriced for what it was. Service was consistently poor, with staff moody or openly complaining about colleagues within earshot of guests.

The only entertainment highlight was Alonso De Luca, whose show on Wednesday was fantastic and had the whole family laughing. He really made the evening.

Facilities & Cleanliness

Toilets in the venue were in a poor state. My wife found cubicles with missing doors, sealed-off toilets, and no toilet paper. The men’s toilets were no better — broken locks, cubicles out of line, and nearly empty paper supplies.

While walking the dogs around the site, I also noticed exposed electrics sticking out of the ground on some empty pitches. Whether live or not, it was concerning to see no safety measures or warnings in place.

Overall

The site looked neglected and run-down, with little value for the money spent. While we made the best of our holiday thanks to family time and excursions outside the park, the experience within the resort itself was poor.

Positives:

Alonso De Luca’s entertainment show

Food (when it eventually arrived) was enjoyable

Negatives:

Caravan not as advertised or properly cleaned

Lifeguards distracted and unprofessional at the pool

Poor food service and overpriced menu

Staff moody and openly complaining

Toilets in unacceptable condition

Safety concerns around exposed electrics

Overall site feels neglected and uncared for

We left feeling very disappointed. This was meant to be a special family break and honeymoon, but instead it felt stressful and underwhelming. Sadly, we won’t be returning to...