Having just returned from an 8 day stay at the Ocean View Hotel Shanklin 4th -11th December
Whilst there I found out the Ocean View hotel Shanklin had been closed prior to our holiday of 4-11th December as there were issues relating to hygiene and that a deep clean had to take place before it could be reopened.
On the second day of our stay, hotel guests were saying several other guests had been taken ill since arriving symptoms being stomach upsets and sickness.
The gossip amongst our coach trip was that prior to our stay the hotel had to be closed on the orders of the local environmental health whilst a deep clean was carried out.
This caused me concern, in order to establish if this was true I spoke with the hotels assistant Manager about this who confirmed this to me.
When I asked her had she reported these latest outbreaks to the Isle of Wight Environmental Department, I was informed by her that until there were six cases she did not need to report them.
During the rest of my stay I became aware of others who had been taken ill and in one case a car had been laid on by the Hotel to take a sick lady home to Yorkshire
Guests who arrived on the five day tour on the 7th December, tell me that prior to departure they had been warned of the situation at the Ocean view before travelling and offered a refund, should they not wish to stay at the ocean view.
It was so cold that many guests were provided with heaters for their rooms it’s hard to comprehend the conditions which were more a kin to 1911 than 2011.
Also all the radiators on the corridors, dining room, bar area, ballroom, appeared to be turned off, this resulting in the evening that guests were sat with coats and thick jumpers on to keep warm others said they stayed in their room.
Complaints were made at reception but nothing got done until after 5 days.
It would now appear that this was done to help contain the Norovirus
It is unfair to expect people to put up with the failing and awful conditions that we had to encounter, such as no hot water and for the first 5 days the heating was only on a low setting.
We do not go on holiday to boil water to wash and shave with and being unable to shower
I spoke again to reception about it but nothing seemed to get done.
We stayed at the Ocean view last year when it was extremely cold yet the hotel was very comfortable, unlike this year as it appears that scrooge is running the hotel by trying to cut back on fuel costs.
On the day of departure we were told breakfast at 7-00 and to be on the coach by 8-00 in order to catch the 9-00am ferry. Yet the breakfast was not served till 7-42 leaving no time to eat or use the bathroom before boarding the coach which only added to the discomfort we had coming to us.
For reasons known only to the drivers many people from our coach were transferred to the five day coach for the return journey home the rumour was that these were the sick people.
We then had to change on our coach on the return journey at Warwick were we transferred into an older coach which did not have a working heater it was cold draughty and cramped for the reminder of our journey to Lymn.
I had booked this holiday a year in advance and choose the coach seats that would best suit my disability.
Unfortunately I had to suffer almost three hours of discomfort sat on an old coach not a modern Luxury Coach as the brochure states it would be.
On my return I contacted Isle of Wight Environmental Health department they looked into my concerns they confirmed that the week before our arrival that fifteen people out of a coach party of fifty had gone down with the Norovirus and the hotel had been closed and subjected to a deep clean
Ocean view & Robinsons Holidays should have forewarned us about the outbreak of the Norovirus in order that we had the choice to go or not