Butlins Bognor Regis Ocean Hotel launch: Bloggers' round-up

 

Is this really Butlins? Yes it is, it's a snow cave in the Ocean Hotel's spa and the assembled parent bloggers couldn't believe it either...

THE disco lift was a winner, a snow cave in the spa was a mind-boggling curiosity and big red balloons are a marvellous addition to any party. 

These were some of the points reported by parent bloggers invited to the launch of the £20 million Ocean Hotel at Butlins, Bognor Regis. And if you had to sum up the sentiments expressed most strongly in the variety of posts, I think it would be fair to say:

Cor, I didn't know Butlins was like that.

I think me and my family may have been the only ones to have travelled to Butlins recently before joining the hosted trip. We sort of knew we were in for a good time as we had been to Skegness just a few years ago. That time, we stayed in a cheap and cheerful yet immaculate chalet and one night saw Bananas in Pyjamas on stage. We were beyond excited.

Beingamummy, Maternal Tales, Frog in the Field And1moremeans4, OMG We're pregnant and daddacool all confided preconceptions they'd had or heard expressed about Butlins, only to conclude they were off the mark. Part Mummy Part Me also reported she had a lovely time and had her perceptions changed. 

Frog in the Field remembered a trip from her childhood and feared the worst. In the end, she said it was awesome and that she would be booking to return. You can read about her adventures here. There are also some cracking photos and comments, illustrating yet again how the ripples from a blog post can crank up what must be a pretty warm glow for the PR team behind the trip.

Beingamummy feared that the resort may be full of fat people eating candy floss and wanting to meet Shane Richie. This made me laugh, what with being partial to the odd sugary fairground snack, missing Alfie Moon and seeing my trousers strain at the zip. But the lovely Claire who writes beingamummy was in the room next to me and her post also observed that "Butlins really comes into its own" where entertainment is concerned and "Toddler boy loved it." 

She adds:

Seriously though, I didn't realise that Butlins did all of that stuff for kids and I can see why people go. You really do have the time of your life, if you are little.

Emily at Maternal Tales had friends who feared she would be "lynched for being middle class." Ouch. 

But all credit to everyone for being so frank. Emily, for example explains that she had a blast despite any reservations and would go again for the hotel alone.

 

Another impressive view from the spa.

Lynne Parker, the unflappable PR team member assigned to look after the bloggers observed in her Funny Women blog:

Butlins are smart to be targeting the staycation market. The new hotels, the latest Ocean and the established Shoreline, clearly cater for those families who want to mix the activity and entertainment with the comfort and convenience of a hotel environment to make their stay even more special.

Nixdminx blogged with an inimitable savvy and sense of fun:

Andy Warhol would have loved the Ocean Hotel.

Ode to the red balloons for Miniminx and Renee.

My mate Ian at Singleparentdad enjoyed his time at the hotel, and remarked how different it was to see a spa hotel that also welcomed children. But he said a week would be too long.

Like me, Ian was impressed with the bedrooms, especially the fact that kids got a 'den' of their own. That really made a difference to us, giving our girls more independence just at an age they are starting to explore it. For Ian, it was a different scenario as he ended up sharing with Max.

Read his full post here.

My friend Joanne Mallon over at Parentdish also gave the launch a massive thumbs up.You can read Joanne's excellent and comprehensive post here. She was impressed with the finer details, her children were delighted by the disco lift and she says she had to drag them away by the ankles when it was time to go.

It was a joy to meet Keris on our trip. She was thrilled by her "gorgeous room" (check out some fabulous pictures of Joe on a bed here) and Harry loved the fishy-light-projection thing on the floor, but Keris found the rest of the resort a little disappointing.

Elsie Button wrote a compelling post, in it asking herself "is this what my holidays have come to?" as she remembered sipping a lone glass of wine looking out over an empty fairground. I know what she means. I felt exactly the same as we danced away to a George Michael tribute act and was the oldest on the dancefloor. Elsie also picked up on another point I nodded in agreement to - that she got a brilliant night's sleep. We did too, those mattresses seemed to be made of pretty luxurious stuff.

Jo Wildman, from Keeping Kids Happy, offered the following conclusion:

We had a lovely time, the staff were all fun and friendly and the hotel was much better than our expectations. What more could we ask for :)

Too right Jo...Especially as I reckon I saw her merrily bobbing up and down on the carousel with her boys at least three times.

OMG We're Pregnant awarded the spa five out of five, saying she loved it and describing the treatment she had. She certainly deserves to put her feet up. Also check out her Wordless Wednesday post with a cracking picture, except for the dozy looking mare in the black top in the background. Yes that's me in case you are wondering.

Amy at And1moremeans4, as featured in said picture, picked up on redcoats' ability to keep kids amused in what can be tricky circumstances.  In Butlins' own blog that redcoat is revealed as Shane Cuthbert. Good on him.

An on-going theme through the Butlins blog posts and their  comments was disappointment that some of us hadn't had chance to meet. Some did manage to meet up and have a drink and others toured or tried out the spa together. It would have been lovely to say hello to everyone, but the small matter of having children of various ages, with varying sleeping and eating routines was never going to let that happen. So some of the time, we contented ourselves with an awkward smile as our eyes met, wondering 'are you a blogger too?'

I launched myself at a couple of people, one of whom was Peggy from Perfectly Happy Mum, tapping her on the shoulder as she attempted to tuck in to her buffet. Peggy wrote that she found the hotel beautiful, loved the hospitality laid on but worried about the noise from the resort itself, not to mention hen and stag parties spewing up in the disco lift. She was also dismayed by the restaurants' opening times.

As well as Peggy's comments about the various eateries, there were other niggles about the food on offer throughout the resort, with OMG We're Pregnant not being overenamoured with microwaved fish and chips. Who could blame her?

To their credit, Butlins PR team had stressed they were interested in hearing any negative observations we had as this was useful feedback from target customers.

Antonia Chitty's reservations about accessibility were really interesting and it will be equally if not more interesting to see if they are taken on board.

After recording lots of positives about her stay, and reporting how much her children loved it, she writes:

The two places that let the rest of the site down were the mini golf and Splash Waterworld. The mini golf is beautifully designed on a seaside theme, but is totaly inaccessible to the many wheelchair users visiting the site. The designer has randomly sprinkled large rope-bound bollards over the course, narrowing access. The course goes through a ‘lighthouse’ which was too narrow for the buggy. Splash Waterworld only appeared to have two changing rooms that were wheelchair accessible, which was totaly inadequate for the number of people using it... Aside from access, Splash Waterworld was the one part of the site that I felt let the whole experience down.

See Antonia's full post here.

Antonia wasn't alone in identifying a lack of cleanliness at the pool complex. Our stay was at the height of the summer season, so perhaps that has to be taken into consideration to some extent. Still, there's some negative feedback as requested for Butlins to mull over.

As for me, my posts so far are:

Enertainment review: Chico, Eoghan and more

In video: Our room at The Ocean Hotel.

Pulling together these blog posts has reminded me of another great aspect of our Butlins experience - to meet some blogging friends I already knew and discover new ones, online if not in the flesh. Thank you to all the bloggers who went along for making it such a memorable event and thank you to Butlins for their hospitality.

Feel free to grab this blog badge for your blog sidebar if you fancy it and haven't yet by the way! Laura's husband Andy made it for us especially after I asked him to come up with something to mark the auspicious occasion:

 

And please shout if I have missed anyone. I can add any other posts which I have yet to discover.

Comments

[OMG We're Pregnant]

Hello! Thanks for including us! :) We did have a lovely time!

[elsie button]

Brilliant round-up, thank you!

[Antonia]

Thanks for including my comments. I think overall that the site was great for anyone with limited mobility. There were lots of people using mobility scooters and wheelchairs , which is perhaps why we were disappointed by the lack of changing facilities in the pool. But, despite that it is a very good place for a family holiday, and we're going back in February.

[Linda]

Hi all - thank you.
Antonia - yes I think what you wrote was very fair and anyone reading your post could see how great it was overall.

[SingleParentDad]

Coolio mate.

Quality round-up by a pro.

[Linda]

A pro wrestler? Easy!

[Susanna via British Mummy Bloggers]

What a great round-up. We're going this weekend and after reading these I'm very excited ! Will send you a link to my post

[We are Butlins via Twitter]

Thanks, excellent summary.

[Jo Wildman via Twitter]

great round-up, thanks for the link :)

[Maternal Tales]

Well done you for putting that all together - must have taken hours. Glad we got to meet. Must do again soon! x

[amy]

thanks for including me! x