21 September 2023 , 06:38
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A family claim their rooms at Butlin's "stank with filthy water coming up through the floor" while "rats were swimming outside".
Haylee Shave says the accommodation at Minehead was "completely flooded with filthy contaminated water". The resort was flooded in two inches of water this week and some guests did praise the resort for its efforts considering the conditions. Following torrential downpours, the resort had to shut down its pool, restaurant and Centre Stage entertainment venue on Sunday. Then on Monday, Butlin's announced it would close down completely until Thursday.
Haylee said: "We were stuck there with our rooms completely flooded. Worse still, the water in the apartments wasn't rain water from outside, it was filthy contaminated water that came up from under the floors - and it it stank. Rats were swimming about outside trying to find high ground.
Holidaymakers wading through the flooding at the site (SomersetLive/BPM)
Rats were said to be swimming around in the water (Media Wales)"The response from Butlin's was shocking. No provisions in place and no updates, just a text saying the pool will be closed. On my third call to in-house services to get an update about moving us, they advised I should try to drive home - even though the main road out of Minehead was shut at the time with police turning everyone back.
"They opened one studio room outside the Skyline, directing people there for 1.30pm and leaving everyone outside in the rain while doing sound checks until 2.30pm. Everyone was cold and wet, standing ankle deep in water for hours, it was ridiculous. We had no contact and no apology. They should be at least be apologising for a lack of communication, with no emergency plan in place. They should be offering compensation."
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Some guests had a more positive experience, with holidaymakers taking to social media to praise the resort. Tracey Kernan said staff "really pulled it out of the bag" despite the flooding, while Sarah Bateman said she thought staff went "above and beyond".
A person dangles their feet in the flood waters (Media Wales)
Butlin's said it experienced "exceptional" rainfall (SomersetLive/BPM)A Butlin's spokesperson told The Mirror: “We're sorry Haylee and her group feel there was a lack of communication. We can confirm we provided updates via digital screens on resort, sent an SMS to everyone we had a contact number for and had team members out in accommodation villages to support guests. We had an overwhelmingly positive response from guests on resort given the exceptional weather and everyone that needed a new unit of accommodation due to the flooding was moved. We will be contacting Helen directly to discuss further.”
And a spokesman for Butlin's also told Somerset Live that staff took "significant steps to help guests on the resort" and additional teams were brought in to help relocate guests whose accommodation was flooded. He said: "We experienced exceptional rainfall across our Minehead resort on Sunday. We brought in extra teams to help guests, who worked quickly to reaccommodate every unit that had been flooded and we had an overwhelmingly positive response on resort."
"We communicated with guests via digital screens and SMS to keep them updated. We managed to continue with a full entertainment schedule. Due to several important venues being impacted by the weather, we took the difficult decision to close for this week's family break. The safety of our guests and team is our top priority and we are very sorry to anyone whose holiday has been affected."
* This article was crafted with the help of an AI tool, which speeds up The Mirror's editorial research. An editor reviewed this content before it was published. You can report any errors to [email protected]