Pine Lake Resort by Diamond Resorts

Based on my previous experience with Diamond resorts, I decided to stay at Pine Lake Resort. But the standards of their Lodges are poor here.

Especially the cleanliness. Stayed at their lodge (No. 252). The floors in bathroom and kitchen were filthy. Seemed they have never been cleaned. Had marks on the carpet. Totally outdated interiors that were in contrast to their resort in Devon.

Further to my review in April I need to add this post script.

On checking out we were offered a voucher to book a return holiday The original holiday was my family in one lodge and my friend and her family in another lodge. The cost of the voucher was £99 which we paid there and then.

My friend and I both bought a voucher.

We had to meet certain eligibility criteria and we understood it was a promotional rate and we would be required to attend a presentation.

We asked about bringing children and was assured we would be able to for a small extra charge.

We tried to redeem this voucher this week.

The accommodation was a one bedroom studio and the upgrade was £87 to bring children…..There was a further restriction being my friend and I could not use our vouchers at the same time.

Suffice it to say have a lovely holiday at Pine Lake but don’t buy this voucher on the way out.

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Totally disgusted. We bought a three day break on Wowcher for the family, six of us. I had heard so much about Pine Lake and the photographs looked awesome, so when I was called by the sales team the day before we left and invited along to find out more about club membership I jumped at the chance. They had no need to bribe me with the free breakfast and restaurant voucher, but that was an added bonus.

Let’s start with the good. The good things about the resort are the linen is clean, the beds are comfortable and kitchen equipped with most of what you would need.
When we went along to the presentation on Tuesday, 8th September 2015. Just qualifying that because I want to be sure that the staff I mention are the correct ones. Our representative introduced us to a man who said he was the Sales Manager. He asked what we thought of the cabin so I told him:

It was grubby. There were signs of disrepair all over the cabin. Work surfaces broken, the bathroom looked as if the mop had never been introduced to any corner of the floor. The blind was filthy and there was even a pubic hair on the wall. This was not my biggest issue though, the one and only bathroom that our family of six were to share for three days did not have a working lock. I would have been mortified if my 18 year old grandson walked in on me in the toilet or shower.

One of the handles on the toaster was broken off and the “breakfast bar” was loose from the wall. There were broken pieces of Formica on work surfaces and cupboards.
When I leaned over behind the tv to plug in my laptop I noticed a huge cobweb and the corners were filthy.

“Oh, that’s because you’re here on a promotion,” said the sales manager. “We only offer the best to full paying guests.

I think it was about that point when my mind was made up that no matter how good their offer was, I probably wasn’t going to buy in without full assurance that not all Diamond Resorts are like this.

He then promised to show us a “refurbished” apartment after the presentation. He left us with this poor saleswoman who had to sit with the family while we ate breakfast. The so-called sales manager brought a key for the “refurbished” apartment and left again. Another sales rep (this one had come in from one of the Spanish resorts we were told) came along to chat for a while we ate. Then the sales manager came back and took away the key to the “refurbished” apartment saying he had to show someone else it.

Eventually, I was told that I had to sign up for the deal that day and was not allowed to go away and think about it. I said I wouldn’t because I would never make a decision like this on the spur of the moment. By this time my husband had gone back to our cabin as he was filling ill. The “saleswoman from Spain” came over and tried to insist that I sign that day. She tried everything, even making us feel bad about the sales lady who would not get her commission if I didn’t sign.

Finally, she told me to go and get my husband, implying that I was clearly not able to make such a decision being just the little woman. My heckles got up and I said, “I am not signing, I was thinking about signing up, but now I will not” Their pressure, their lack of customer care and lack of decency, telling someone to get out of their sick bed to come and buy a product that they could not be bothered in the first place to impress me with had just turned my blood cold.

On the upside, all of the other staff in the resort were really lovely, the receptionists, restaurant staff and the leisure centre staff were all very friendly and faultless.
I had mentioned at our meeting that the equipment in the gym had not seen a duster in possibly months and was told that “it probably doesn’t get used a lot”. Good excuse for lack of hygiene.

Moving on to the public areas, the public toilets in the games area were equally as dirty as ours in our cabin. The showers in the leisure centre were filthy around the taps and again there were areas where the formica was broken.

I can’t help but think that if you are making an effort to refurbish your resort you may want to start with the areas that people will see even if they are not staying there?
I have photos to back up my experience. They will be put on trip advisor, facebook and Youtube in an effort to save others from thinking they may get a good deal from their Wowcher deals with Pine Lake.

Incidentally, we got a similar deal with Moness last year and I could not fault it. The standards were high overall and they did not discriminate on the basis that you had bought a promotional deal. Pine Lake may want to take a leaf from their book.

My stay at Pine Lakes was very disappointing due to the fact that on the advertisement when clicking on accommodation pictures for a studio room it should exterior shots of what turned out to be 2 bedroom apartments. As you can imagine arriving at the Resort to find that you are staying in what can only be described as terrace shed instead of the lovely detached log cabins you see when clicking on studio apartment accommodation.

I portrayed my dissatisfaction to Diamond Resorts directly only to be told initially I was wrong all pictures clearly illustrate the accommodation provided as you can see below a small part of the response to my original email

“I have viewed the information on the booking.com site and they do in fact specify different photo’s for each type of accommodation – clicking on studio unit shows a photo of the studio apartments.”

It was only when I provided screenshots of the website did in fact Diamond Resort accept that what was shown was not a studio apartment however did not accept this was their fault. The customer service for a company within the hospitality industry was the worse I have even encountered and hope will ever encounter, I would urge anybody considering this Resort to choose and alternative that does provide what is advertised and stay clear of Diamond Resorts as a whole.