Rye Harbour Holiday Park — Local services in Rother

We booked a week away at Rye Harbour on the basis of the previous excellent reviews. On the positive side, the club house is newly refurbished and a pleasant place for a drink. The pool was also quiet and newly refurbished, however the hand rail down into the main pool was already loose.

However, when we arrived, it was immediately apparent that the caravan had not been cleaned. The main bathroom counters had large patches of soap residue next to the sink and behind the sink toothpaste splatters, presumably from previous guests brushing their teeth. The shower was filthy with dirty marks in the shower tray and black mould across the tiles. The floor was covered in bits and pieces of debris, including toilet roll fragments so had clearly been neither hoovered nor washed.

The kitchen was a similar story - lots of crumbs which had not been wiped down and the doors of every kitchen cupboard displayed oily finger marks – not occasional marks, but all across the doors. The sink was brown with previous use and required bleaching. The fridge and microwave were both unclean and the floors also had not been hoovered or washed. In the kitchen the radiator was broken and in the ensuite bathroom part of the window sill was unattached.

The dust in the caravan was like nothing we have experienced on previous caravan holidays. We were also horrified to find that the beds had no mattress or pillow protection and had to remake the beds using the spare duvets to add some level of protection. When we stripped the beds on leaving, as directed, the bedding was horribly stained.

We complained at the time and a member of staff was sent over to wipe over a couple of the surfaces with a cloth and spray bottle, which was not appropriate to the level of cleaning required. We purchased our own cleaning products and spent the first two hours of the stay cleaning the caravan.

The outside of the caravan was in a very poor state of repair. The decking was covered in algae, there was grass growing out of the guttering on the roof and – especially unpleasant for our young child – stinging nettles growing through the decking.

We complained and asked to speak to the manager on checkout and were told they were unavailable. We asked for email contact details to raise a complaint which reception provided, but subsequently bounced. Raised with the main Park team who referred the email to the site manager and promised a response in 14 days. No response - terrible customer...

I wouldn’t even give this place a 1 star it was absolute filth!! We arrived and the caravans was disgusting. There were feces in the toilet. The cutlery, fridge, kettle, toaster and cooker were all dirty. The utility door locked us out from accessing our belongings. The caravan had a strong odor of wet dog. The Wi-Fi was non-functional on the first night, and it took until midday the following day to resolve the issue. The fridge was extremely noisy due to making ice, and the motor appeared to be malfunctioning. In response to these issues, we informed the reception the next day about the state of the caravan. Although a cleaner was sent to address the cleanliness, it is entirely unacceptable that we arrived at such a filthy accommodation, especially considering that we paid £438 and were led to believe that appropriate checks were conducted prior to our stay. Clearly, these checks were either not performed or were insufficient, this resulted in us sleeping in the state and having to cleaning the toilet ourself before use.

We were required to remain in the caravan while it was being cleaned, as we could not leave our belongings unattended, which wasted our morning—an outcome that I find wholly unsatisfactory.

We also reported the issue with the utility door, which had locked us out from accessing our belongings. An on-site handyman was required to resolve this problem, further wasting our time—again, an unacceptable situation.

Additionally, we notified reception about the Wi-Fi not working throughout the first night, despite having paid for this service. Although the receptionist attempted to resolve the issue, it was not until midday the next day that it was rectified, adding to our frustration.

The issue with the noisy fridge was reported as well. Despite the handyman's assurance that the problem was fixed, the noise persisted, severely disrupting our sleep. When we raised this concern again on Saturday morning, the handyman acknowledged that the fridge’s motor was also failing and needed to be replaced. This should have been identified and addressed during the first visit.

Overall, the numerous inconveniences we faced during our stay, compounded by the inadequate handling of these issues, are entirely unacceptable, especially considering the amount we paid. I find the entire situation and the way it has been managed deeply unsatisfactory.

Never ever would I waste my money and go to this horrible...

I booked for 4 nights and paid for a caravan with a balcony so we could enjoy the summer evenings. We were also hoping to use the bar and restaurant as there is hardly anywhere to eat out in Rye Harbour itself except a really expensive pub. Unfortunately our plans were spoilt by poor accommodation and lack of facilities. ||Firstly, the balcony was directly overlooking the car park and the maintenance man insisted on parking his car directly against the balcony every day and then having a good look in our caravan every morning! So it was a terrible outlook with people coming and going. Also the caravan is for 4 people but for some reason the park only supplies two chairs outside and a tiny table. So we couldn’t all sit outside together. The beds are awful, just seem to be the cheapest available and you can feel the springs in your back all night. None of us got a decent nights sleep and I ended up with a sore back. Not really ideal for a relaxing break! ||The bar/restaurant was either shut or not serving food. So, the first day food was not being served, the second night it was shut all together. We didn’t even bother looking on the third night, but chanced it again on the fourth night and surprise surprise it was shutting at 7 just as we got there! It was infuriating as the website advertised a bar and restaurant serving dinners! So one of us had to do the drive into Rye town and find a restaurant, pay for parking and one of us then obviously couldn’t enjoy a drink with our meal. So it completely spoilt our plans.||It’s such a shame as Rye and Rye Harbour is a lovely area, I’m just very angry our break was ruined by all of these issues....