A family’s £1,700 holiday excitement turned to disappointment at a Center Parcs lodge, as they faced a string of untidy shocks. Mum, Kelly shared her grievances on TikTok about their Sherwood Forest resort stay, starting with a “moth infestation”.
She claimed: “We’ve been coming to Center Parcs at this time of year for around 10 years – the lodges are always a little bit dirty, which I’m okay with – but this time I didn’t even need to look for the dirt.”
Kelly then conveyed her dismay at the level of cleanliness, disclosing how the carpet and skirting boards were in a state of “absolute filth”. Expressing frustration about the holiday, she noted: “For the past two years it has been so grimy, we’ve complained and have been put on the VIP cleaning list.”
Her video continued with an exposé of the kitchen filth, indicating scale build-up and entrenched dirt near the appliances and sink. Despite claims of a “deep clean” from management, she found grubby plates in the cupboards, taking it upon herself to wash them.
Ending her chores to create a cleaner space for her kids, Kelly reflected: “But there’s no point in complaining – all they ever do is chuck a £50 gift card at you and expect you to be happy.”
Kelly also expressed her bewilderment upon finding the oven “full of hairs” and was indignant that there was “no excuse” for such poor cleanliness since all lodges receive cleaning twice weekly. When she inspected the bathroom, meanwhile, the conditions were equally unsatisfactory: “You can see none of this has been wiped,” she slammed. “The bathrooms are so mouldy – all they seem to do is chuck a load of silicone [filler] over the top [of the mould].”
She also highlighted what appeared to be rust on the heated towel rack and relayed her utmost shock – a moth’s nest discovered accidentally when her phone dropped behind a bedside table: “I noticed some things crawling on the carpet, but didn’t really think anything of it,” she continued in follow-up video.
“I decided to give it a vacuum later and noticed half of the carpet ‘coming up’ – and I was a cleaner for seven years – I know this meant it was a moth infestation.” Kelly concluded with her insight that routine vacuuming is essential to manage moths: “I’ve come across many of these over the years and the only way to keep on top of them is by hoovering the carpet often. If the lodge had been deep cleaned as they said, this never would have happened.”
In response, a spokesperson for Center Parcs stated: “We were disappointed to see these videos, as this is absolutely not the standard we expect for our guests. We will address this with the relevant teams and have provided compensation to the guest. With regard to the moths discovered, being located within a forest we do find that nature makes its way into our lodges from time to time. When this happens, we will of course arrange a new lodge for guests to move into, as we did in this situation.”
Kelly’s clip went viral with 1.8 million viewers tuning in, one of whom expressed their outrage: “Shouldn’t be such a thing as a VIP clean… they should all be cleaned to high standard, especially for the ridiculous price!” Another shared their own disappointing experience: “We had a bad experience, which sounds similar. We paid £1500 for four nights we expected better after 20 years loyalty. This year, we spent £2,000 and we are going on a seven day cruise to Europe instead!”
Others, however, defended the cleaning staff, pointing out the time constraints they face. A former employee revealed: “I worked for Center Parcs, sadly the cleaners are given so many lodges/hotels to clean in four hours it’s just not possible sometimes so things get missed especially if you have a really messy lodge.”
Whilst a second sympathised: “I feel sorry for the cleaners because they don’t have enough time allocated to actually clean the lodges. Particularly for the bigger ones. But the price you pay you shouldn’t be walking into a dirty one.”