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Thread: Southport chalet refurbishment - how was yours?

  1. #21
    Registered User Lost Leader's Avatar
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    Re: Southport chalet refurbishment - how was yours?

    Quote Originally Posted by Twirly View Post
    You get used to it honest!

    All you have to do is check it over once you get there, before unpacking the car. Do the following work: lights, fridge, shower, hot water, plumbing. Kettles and things can be replaced. If there's a problem with any of this stuff, or leaks/cleanliness, then go and complain, and it'll get sorted or you'll get moved. And make sure you take things with you to make yourself comfortable if that's what you need - do a search for "packing list" under Lory's name for starters. Helps if you're driving though!

    Just remember that you'll hopefully be spending most of your time on the dancefloor, minimal time in the chalet, so as long as the basics work, it doesn't really matter. Everyone loves complaining about them afterwards too
    Very good advice. Due to the poor weather forecast we packed a small fan heater this time and how useful was that. The heaters in our budget chalet did work but don't exactly blast out the heat. Of course it does help if you have free electricity, although it is only really heaters that cost much to run and normally they are not needed in May. Different matter in February or November of course.

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    Forum Bombshell - Our Queen! Lory's Avatar
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    Re: Southport chalet refurbishment - how was yours?

    Quote Originally Posted by Twirly View Post
    You
    "packing list" under Lory's name for starters. Helps if you're driving though!
    http://forum.cerocscotland.com/blog.php?b=59 Here you go
    MODERATOR AT YOUR SERVICE
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    Re: Southport chalet refurbishment - how was yours?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lory View Post
    Wow, that's fairly epic. As someone who doesn't drive it probably would be easier for me to transport stuff for a weekend's camping than to transport that lot! I think I took less stuff on both of my two-week-long train jaunts across Europe, too...

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    Re: Southport chalet refurbishment - how was yours?

    I think the thing about the refurbishment is that it is being done very badly, the challets are CRAP, trying to make them a bit less crap is madness, anyone who has stayed at butlins can see how it should be done, they should be gutted and redone, it shows the difference between strong competent management as opposed to week and ineffectual, they will run out of money and will run into trouble, if it wern't for the dancing donee of us would stay in such terrible conditions.

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    Re: Southport chalet refurbishment - how was yours?

    Quote Originally Posted by NickC View Post
    I think the thing about the refurbishment is that it is being done very badly, the challets are CRAP, trying to make them a bit less crap is madness, anyone who has stayed at butlins can see how it should be done, they should be gutted and redone, it shows the difference between strong competent management as opposed to week and ineffectual, they will run out of money and will run into trouble, if it wern't for the dancing donee of us would stay in such terrible conditions.
    You might have a point if the current owners had been in charge for a year or more. However I think they only took over at the beginning of this year so they only had a few months before the holiday season started at Easter. Completely gutting chalets would mean having them out of action for quite a while and can only really therefore be done during the winter without having a serious impact on cash flow. Considering how little time they have had I think it is pretty surprising that any improvements have been done. Major refurbishment or building new accommodation is going to take a lot more time (and money).

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    Re: Southport chalet refurbishment - how was yours?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lost Leader View Post
    You might have a point if the current owners had been in charge for a year or more. However I think they only took over at the beginning of this year so they only had a few months before the holiday season started at Easter. Completely gutting chalets would mean having them out of action for quite a while and can only really therefore be done during the winter without having a serious impact on cash flow. Considering how little time they have had I think it is pretty surprising that any improvements have been done. Major refurbishment or building new accommodation is going to take a lot more time (and money).
    My point was refurbishment should not be carried out a bit at a time as it wont work, a single block at on a site would really hit them out of peak season as it would mean 2 or 3 % of thier accomondation out of action, outside school holidays not even noticeable, would you stay in one of thier challets not on a dance weekend?

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    Re: Southport chalet refurbishment - how was yours?

    Probably a silly question, but I can't tell from this thread - was the overall accommodation level better, or worse, than a year ago?

    Because, frankly, it sounds like it was worse...

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    Re: Southport chalet refurbishment - how was yours?

    There haven't really been enough detailed replies to get a very clear picture. All I think one can conclude at this stage is;

    1. There have been improvements to some chalets but by no means all. However previously nothing seemed to be ever improved so there is at least a step forward.
    2. Quite a few chalets seem to have had new, more comfortable beds and mattresses and presumably more will have this done in the coming months. One of the biggest moans previously about the chalets was about the beds.
    3. The improvements that have been done thus far are patchy and uneven. Some chalets seems to have had nothing done and some obvious problems left untouched. Others have had improvements but it seems to vary in terms of what exactly has been done.
    4. There will presumably be some sort of plan in terms of what will be done to each chalet and when this will happen. Time will tell but it surely cannot just happen on a random basis.
    5. I was one of the luckier ones (see my initial post) in that my budget chalet had quite a few improvements, though strangely no new beds. Perhaps eventually all chalets will get this treatment and hopefully we will also see the replacement of the old plastic chairs and sofa beds in due course.

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    Re: Southport chalet refurbishment - how was yours?

    Quote Originally Posted by NickC View Post
    My point was refurbishment should not be carried out a bit at a time as it wont work, a single block at on a site would really hit them out of peak season as it would mean 2 or 3 % of thier accomondation out of action, outside school holidays not even noticeable, would you stay in one of thier challets not on a dance weekend?
    I have probably been lucky in that none of the dozen or so chalets I have stayed in at SP has been really bad. The one I had this year was probably the best of the lot - clean, nothing missing (except a plug for the kitchen sink), everything working properly and quite a few improvements evident.

    I have no idea how the new owners are going about their programme of chalet improvements. It may be that they have initially concentrated on the very worst chalets simply to get them up to a more acceptable standard for the current season. Alternatively perhaps I just happened to hit lucky and had a chalet within a whole block that had been done up. There are something like 750 chalets on the site as a whole. I don't know how many of these might have had some improvements and there simply aren't enough posts here to tell whether 5% or 50% have had some improvements thus far.


    Some improvements can be done quite quickly and cheaply, others are more expensive and likely to take longer due to the need to negotiate contracts, get quotes etc. Replacing all the sofa-beds for example, whilst it needs doing, would be an expensive undertaking whereas adding a hook on the back of the bathroom door can be done in 5 minutes and costs very little (it had been done in our chalet).

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    Re: Southport chalet refurbishment - how was yours?

    So far this thread contains information about a mere 10 of the chalets. Not really much to go on at all and hardly a representative sample.

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    Re: Southport chalet refurbishment - how was yours?

    Quote Originally Posted by David Bailey View Post
    Probably a silly question, but I can't tell from this thread - was the overall accommodation level better, or worse, than a year ago?

    Because, frankly, it sounds like it was worse...
    My club experience: On reflection I would say that other than the new beds the standard was worse.

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    Re: Southport chalet refurbishment - how was yours?

    Quote Originally Posted by Maxine View Post
    My club experience: On reflection I would say that other than the new beds the standard was worse.

    Maxine I agree with you....in our club chalet there were no obvious improvements other than some cheap new plastic coathangers!! The paintwork and furnishings looked more tired than ever....and no welcome pack or handwash Whilst the close location was appreciated, we will be booking a Classic next time as it wasn't worth the extra money.

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    Re: Southport chalet refurbishment - how was yours?

    Quote Originally Posted by SparklySarah View Post
    Maxine I agree with you....in our club chalet there were no obvious improvements other than some cheap new plastic coathangers!! The paintwork and furnishings looked more tired than ever....and no welcome pack or handwash Whilst the close location was appreciated, we will be booking a Classic next time as it wasn't worth the extra money.
    From the very small sample, it sounds like the Club chalets were no better (or worse), but that there were improvements in the lower-end chalets.

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    Re: Southport chalet refurbishment - how was yours?

    My girlfriend and I were in chalet 10 (club), directly overlooking the main building. Quite reasonable, to be honest, given our expectations. Having not been before I can't give you a comparison, but:

    - The beds weren't especially comfortable (didn't really look closely as to whether they were new, but they felt very 'cheap')
    - The beds were also unmade, but the linen was clean at least
    - The bathroom looked as though it was recently done up - a lot of it looked very clean and new - especially the shower curtain!
    - Other curtains were clean and looked fairly new
    - The carpet was old, worn and filthy
    - The TV was functional and fair enough - we're there to dance, after all - but it seemed good enough despite being an old CRT
    - Fridge in the kitchen looked new-ish but the door wouldn't close properly
    - Lack of any substantial crockery - we followed the advice about bringing mugs but failed to bring any big bowls, meaning morning cereal was a multi-bowl affair (for me, at least)
    - Lack of washing-up liquid or cloths/scouring pads in kitchen, and a more surprising lack of soap in the bathroom (plus the single shower gel dispenser was empty)
    - Wardrobe and other fittings were functional and clean and suited their purpose
    - The lack of plug sockets anywhere in the bedroom meant an amusing 10-metre extension reel being run all the way from the kitchen to the bedroom just so we could watch DVDs on my laptop.

    The most amusing thing of all was the lock on the chalet door - incredibly stiff and would not lock no matter how much we tried. So I stood guard while my other half went off to fetch assistance. Two guys showed up and between them carried WD40, a wrench, and a hacksaw. Not entirely sure what they planned to do with the hacksaw but the WD40 seemed to do the trick.

    So all in all I'd describe the accommodation as 'functional', nothing special, but nothing particularly bad either.
    Last edited by DJ Mike; 25th-May-2011 at 04:09 PM.

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    Re: Southport chalet refurbishment - how was yours?

    Sometimes you hear of serious issues - broken things, filth, leaks - but largely it seems to make a lot of difference how you perceive basic accommodation.

    People accustomed to 4 star hotel rooms react with horror. People that lived in student digs in Coventry think it's relative luxury.

    I did the Cov thing; a chalet with built-in heaters genuinely _is_ luxury

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    Re: Southport chalet refurbishment - how was yours?

    Quote Originally Posted by cederic View Post
    People that lived in student digs in Coventry think it's relative luxury.
    "This town, is coming like a ghost town."

    Sorry just reminded me of the song which I believe was about Coventry.

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    Re: Southport chalet refurbishment - how was yours?

    Lynn

    You did tell me about mugs, i just forgot to bring one, just thought id mention it anyway to bring it to the fore

    Mal

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