As with any holiday home or abroad you pay for what you get - if you opt for a standard package holiday then of course you get standard which in my opinion is very basic but if you have any problems then the resort are usually good at resolving your problems, however if you choose half board the meal times from what I've witnessed walking through the standard restaurant is a bit of a feeding frenzy which is a shame as the food is replenished and you can go back and forth as many times as you want so don't need to pile your plate to the ceiling! Silver - the accommodation is a bit better but meal times can still be a little hectic and sometimes have to end up sharing your table with strangers! Gold - testing all on offer over the last 11 years and being Gold premier members (like Tesco you get loyalty points hence saving you on future booking) we always stay in Gold apartments half board as not only the standard of the accommodation is what we want but also meal times actually feel like you have gone out for a meal rather than eating as fast as you can to get out of the restaurant! But all in all the room/apartment is a base and regardless to if you pay that bit more or not you use all the same resort facilities - queuing is sometimes required but you make your holiday what you want it to be for us having travelled with children from 12wks old to now three children aged 11, 6 and 2 we have always had a good time, yes we may have grumbled about things or something may have been wrong but the resort have sorted it for us and the proof is in the pudding the fact that we keep going back and have our next 3 night break booked for after Christmas. If you are still awake and have any further questions re Butlins Skegness please ask.

A couple of years ago we went to Hard Rock Hell at Prestatyn Pontins. This year we went to the Rock & Blues weekend at Butlins. The comparison was extreme. Pontins' chalet seem to date from the 1950's, with not enough heat to heat them in January, had not been cleaned with a 14" portable TV that didn't work. Butlins' chalet was reasonably clean, modern, looked nice, very very warm with a modern decent sized freeview TV.

Our package included breakfast and evening meal. Both were of a decent enough quality considering how many they were catering for.

The bands weren't too loud (at Pontins the volume caused problems with my balance it was so loud) and it was well organized (as it was at Pontins). All the staff were friendly and helpful (apart from a guy on the go-karts).

A downside was the piledriver for the new windfarm operating like a slow heartbeat during the early hours of Sunday morning.

i cant beleive that i just read the previous comment. i have been going to butlins for the past 8 years with my hubby we cannot say a bad thing about butlins skegness. we have been more than pleased with everything, there is plenty of good food with a varied choice we always go half board and never had a bad meal yet, we used to have a silver room , but now we always pay a bit extra and have an apartment and we go in standard, the only difference is the decoration. the entertainement is excellent and we can see kids always have a great time. butlins have excellent customer service. it has never been dirty and the bedding is always clean and crisp dont believe what the previous comment states

me and my partner both 25 took r daughter of 2 years to butlins for a week and WOW what can i say, blood stained sheets, and walls, dirty kitchen and bathroom,dirty carpets,tele didnt work, felt like a prison camp!!!!!!!!!! first day there we wanted to come home didnt feel like a holiday at all and my daughter didnt enjoy it the entertainment was shcking even the daughter wasnt impressed toy shops defo over priced so was the food cost us 22 pound just for bfast and it was awfull,,,, we ended up spending r time in skegness the rest of the holiday and well that wasnt much better either what a dive the whole money we spent we cud of gone abroad i wudnt go back there again was dirty and full of chavs! we defo preferd the smaller camps was a more personall touch and the little one loved been able to run around freely wot out getting lost please please stay away from butlins!