sales advisor

maintenance assistant

cleaner

housekeeping manager

security officer

Parkdean Resorts

A typical day at work consists of arriving, getting your cleaning supplies that you will need for the day and then setting off to assigned caravans that you have been given to clean sometimes can take you a while to actually found caravans that you are cleaning so you actually loose time. back to the time side of things you have to clean a caravan in a time frame normally 50 minutes. 

sometimes it is do able and then other time it really isn’t. normally you get anywhere between 2-7 caravans to clean in the frame of 50 minutes of each on your own. how people don’t find this difficult is really beyond me. if you worked in teams or for example pairs on each caravan I personally think the time you have to clean would be much more achievable. 

my time here I have not learned much most of it is just common knowledge you already know. 

management really depends some are not to bad but others aren’t much supportive. only time they appear is when they have to check the caravans ready for the guests. despite how hard you try your best to get them cleaned it just is never good enough. never say why it isn’t good enough though. 

it is generally down to colleagues can’t have 50 minutes to clean caravans that are in awful conditions it just isn’t not possible no matter how quick you are. even if you are quick you still miss out vital things you need to do and clean. and if your to slow but achieve a good level of cleanliness they believe you need to be much quicker. 

other colleagues aren’t to bad think you just feel for each other as you both know and feel the same things. although you don’t really seem other colleagues or interact with them much as you are mainly working on your own. The only people you really tend to see are supervisors and management. but that’s only towards the end of your shift. 

The hardest part of the job is not having full training on day one, not having a supportive management team or supervisors, hardly ever get a break, you are constantly working 6 hours a day only break you get is when your actually heading home, rules are different from one person to another some are allowed to drive in their cars to the caravans they need to clean and then others have to use buggys and walk to the caravans with the things they need to clean. 

Bed making is also really difficult especially if you are a new starter and have not got training on how to do it properly as the way you make your bed they have a special way they do it but aren’t willing to show new starters. colleagues who have been there a while struggle with the caravans so I have no clue how new starters cope who are expected to be put on their own cleaning 2-7 caravans on their first week. The wage really isn’t worth what the job involves. 

The most enjoyable part of the job is probably actually enjoying cleaning and other colleagues are nice. you also get discount to on holidays for friends, family and yourself. Other than that the job isn’t worth it. if supervisors and management was more supportive you could probably manage it. I saw reviews on the company before working here however thought it was just a bad experience for one individual but for me personally it’s been the worst and would not recommend it to anyone. 


Caravan cleaner position.
A. You're asked to get in half an hour before you start EVERY Shift. Which you don't get paid for. Doesn't sound much but if you work full time, that's 2.5 hours a week x 48 weeks a year (52 minus 4 holiday) thats 120 hours or 3 weeks 2 days a year you are working for free!! Who in thier right mind?, seriously...
B. You get paid to clean a caravan. Not by the hour. So regardless of whether it's a 2 bed 1 bathroom or 3 bed 2 bathroom you are allocated 1 hour & 15 minutes regardless. Ridiculous.
C. To be cleaned to an acceptable standard it takes  a lot lot longer than the allocated time. And they know this. But don't forewarn you, Also, if there's 2 of you cleaning a van you only get paid half a caravan. You don't get paid for the time you're there either. Just per caravan. So collecting your cleaning supplies, hoover, buckets, mops etc and walking round a big site where your vans are spread over is not classed as work. Nor going into office to do time sheets, drop off refuse in bins around site, collecting & dropping off materials etc. That's not paid for work either. How they get away with this is unbelievable. 
D. You aren't allowed to finish until your caravans are signed off by a supervisor. You have to hang about for hours upon hours until that happens. Which of course you don't get paid for.
 E. Each time you go to work, you don't get told until you're there if you've got 1,2,3,4 or 5 caravans to clean that day. So you can't plan anything for that day, like picking children up from school or having the car back for your partner to use to get to work drs appts etc etc. You need to ask yourself if it's cost effective to run a car to travel for one hour & 15 mins pay. You will do a lot longer than an hour & a quarter. but only get one caravans  pay if you've only got one van that day. And if there's 2 of you down to clean it, that's half of that pay. BTW, a return bus fayre from nearest town, Lowestoft to the the village of Kessingland is £5.40. Deduct that from an hour & 15 mins pay. Who is going to do that? 
F. It's an isolated location off the bus route so you need your own transport, or else a good 20-30 mins walk from village bus stop.

Needless to say, you'll end up working WELL BELOW the minimum wage.
They have a very high turnover of staff in the housekeeping dept. Is it any wonder why?!
Thier practises are deplorable. Its unethical. Slave labour. Avoid it like the plague. 
Also you'll be asked to come in for a "trial day" which is cleaning at least 3 caravans. You do not get paid for this either!! Not a penny. No fuel costs, bus fayre nothing. Its a way to get you to work for them for free for a day. Disgusting.

Interesting. A business where many of the permanent resort staff are idle. Full of unqualified swimming pool experts who know how to do your job better than you and your trained lifeguards and who try to adopt bullying behaviour to try and get you to do it their way while they sit around on their thumbs and go home early. "Oh we've never done it that way"...they cry and "so and so always did it..." they proclaim..Follow their 'advice' and you run the risk of policy breaches and health and safety infringements, which could get you into a whole lot of trouble, needless to say these experts then run for the hills and leave you high and dry. Service comes before safety for non pool staff - they just dont get it and wont listen...you have to be prepared to stick to your guns or their mentality ( and it is mental at times) will drop you in it. A business that at resort level is run in the main by the seasonal staff ( with one or two exceptions). Narcissitic unhinged local management who are terrified of customer complaints and act as judge, jury and executioner and who bounce off the walls and exhibit disgraceful standards of conduct towards their staff due to their incapacity and low level leadership and social skillsets. They proclaim "team' but would be unable to find the word in a dictionary 
( if they knew what a dictionary was).  
Standards of staff support and feedback are notable by their abscence. This is a business which conducts 'ANONYMOUS ' staff engagement surveys (for the chief exec) copies of which are then found on local manager's desks with identifiers pointing to the individuals completing said survey. Poor investment in seasonal staff lots of finger pointing no real option for job progression or security unless you exhibit classic 'brown nose'  behaviour.
Bear in mind also that you are not working in the Maldives. ...many of the clientele are, let's say, of lower social standing, and their behavIour and standards are reflective of this, many would test the patience of Job. You'll need to stand up for yourself if you work here, stick to your professional expertise, ignore the unqualified experts, protect your team if in such a role, and treat the customers as a source of entertainment.
Could be a good employer but needs management strip out and replacements.
Invisible senior management.

I started working for Park Dean resorts in the summer of 2020 during peak season which was not too bad. The interview took around an hour and the manager showed me around the site, helped me fill in paperwork and answered my questions. Within several days, I started work. 
On my first shift, they gave me a checklist for cleaning a unit and I followed it completely… and it took me six hours to clean one apartment. I was crying and felt like giving up but a management assured me it would get easier. Which it did. By the summer of 2021, I could complete six maisonettes in the correct time. I made friends there and I also took up gardening on site which was so much fun. I felt like I fit in and I felt a part of the team… but not for long. 

It all started when I had a uni exam and couldn’t come into work yet management never told me about booking days off (it was my first proper job). The assistant manager said that I was very unprofessional and put on our group chat about how everyone needed to book holidays or they wouldn’t be given them. I couldn’t even work out how many days holiday I had because they never gave me my payslips!!! 

After that, one day I had a very slow day and couldn’t keep up with my units because of the state they were in. Everybody went home and nobody helped me which took even longer. We were never allowed breaks at all for 8 hours or even smoking breaks although we had to put on our time sheets that we had taken one!!! Management said that I was slow and threatened to pay me by the unit instead of by the hour (FYI, that would be different to everyone else and I have a disability)!!! 

Finally, one day I couldn’t come into work because I was stuck in another part of the country. I informed management hours in advance but later got an abusive message about how I was not committed to the job and they wanted a meeting with me!! 

Honestly, it is slave Labour. Unless your face fits, you can clean a maisonette in an hour and 15 minutes with it spotless and never have any breaks, they will threaten to pay you less, and talk about you behind your back. STAY AWAY!!!

I started working for this company as an 18 year old with no work experience whatsoever. I began on a temporary 1 year contract (as you would expect) and was given a full time permanent contract within 3 months. This is because this company is eager to spot and reward hard work and skill.
As a holiday sales advisor there is a diverse range of customer service queries you will receive, so this keeps the job interesting. Customers are nearly always happy and kind as they are excited to discuss their upcoming holidays with you. 
As this is a seasonal business, the workload changes. I won’t lie, the first few months of the year are very busy and this can sometimes be stressful. The managers are very aware of this though and are always on hand to ensure that you are relaxed, they do this by launching fun incentives and games throughout the day. Additionally, this is reflected in the commission; the busier you are, the more sales opportunities arise and the more money you will make. Later in the year, the work load decreases. This gives you a chance to receive training and focus on your progression within the business.
This company really looks after its own and always encourages progression. You will be given opportunities to advance from this position to many others in the business if you show initiative and a good work ethic. I personally moved from the customer service phone line, onto the sales line within 3 months and was able to deal with more sales immediately. I once made over £1,000.00 in commission in January alone last year! I have now progressed again into a group sales department. All of this was within a year and a half. This should show you that the company really does look for dedicated team players.
Overall, this I would highly recommend this job and the company as a whole. The atmosphere is always really positive and you will be amazing opportunities to start a rewarding career.

To start, working for the company is pretty good if you enjoy engaging with customers although sometimes it can become stressful. On a busy day working there you can expect to interact with at least 300-400 customers, this has helped me with my confidence in speaking to people and learning how to deal with busy/stressful situations. The one thing that always bothered me while working there was the lack of communication between venues and the lack of communication from managers to regular staff, there was absolutely no organization during the period that I worked there and a lot of the issues raised by staff to improve the working environment were ignored. The venues were also disgusting, on the main venue I worked at there was a big ant problem in which the ants could be seen crawling around on the back bar making their way into the spirits which would mean we would need to throw the whole bottle away, again nothing was done about this other than being told to clean after every shift which we did to no avail. The staff were amazing although overworked and I have made many friends during my time working there. The hardest part of the job was keeping up with the demand for drinks as the majority of the time we were understaffed and had to borrow staff from other venues, which never seemed to have any urgency about it as we would be left until there was about an hour until closing time. The most enjoyable part of my experience there was getting to know the staff and the decent hourly pay rate. Expect to work 4-5 times a week with a mixture of day and evening shifts, to add, 90% of the time I worked a night shift, there was always an issue with drunken/aggressive customers getting into altercations with staff or with other customers.

The complex manager of Highfield Grange is amazing, he is fair and understanding. My request for as many hours as they could possibly supply was matched with an offer of 74  hours in a week on one occasion which was gratefully accepted. The manager will always be there on a level which conveys past the management role because he goes above and beyond in order to ensure the fullest welfare and comfort of his staff both at work, at home or during their commute. My role was bar staff and first aid. During peak season, the bars can become hectic at busy periods such as lunch and dinner times. This was overturned by the manager arranging support from the quietest bar to the busiest bar and, working on the bar himself. The hardest part of the job is the occasional customer who has had one too many or may be completely sober and are so rude. However, The most enjoyable part of the job for me personally was the first aid because of the rewarding feeling and the gratefulness of the customer and their compliance with the paperwork or, being able to come into work regardless of how bad your day has been and the manager will completely erase it and you will feel happy again like it never happened. My pay rate was £7.50 per hour (18 years old) and the pay rate for the younger workers, the food runners was £5.65 per hour (16-17). In addition to this, the arcade staff and the sales and maintenance are lovely people, they will go the extra mile to help or, will call someone who can and in general they are lovely people to talk to and to work alongside.

Hours were across the whole entire day and night with couple of hours break somewhere, throughout the day.
Pay is good, but then they take off some for accommodation etc, so they pay similar to other companies. But for how committed you are, and how much you do in a day, you don’t really have enough time to do something you want to do. Only manage to cook something back at the caravan and do laundry, even on day off. Unless you plan in advance and can drive, you can possibly have days out on your days off. But even when you do get a chance to sit down, you’d only want to relax and watch a movie or something, or nap/sleep as much as you can. There’s not really any social life outside of work. Staff wise, everyone was themselves, but I couldn’t trust anyone, people think of themselves and them only in the spotlight. But you will get that atmosphere and personalities in this type of industry, I wasn’t comfortable, I felt out of place, couldn’t fit in. The job itself was very hard at times, especially during the special occasions and high season e.g. Halloween. It’s very busy, even on a small park. But it was fun! The daytime activities were fun to organise and host, seeing the children’s smiles and the adults appreciation is what kept me going, and being to have conversations with them and they tell stories etc. Meeting different customers everyday, building that rapport with them throughout their time on holiday. You do get customers that nobody wants, but you can get that in any job. Behind the scenes wise, I didn’t get treated how I wished and hoped. Even with my disability, I wished to get more support and care, especially emotionally. I got injured once, on-site staff didn’t care, until I went to hospital and then they suddenly took action. It’s not all sparkles. Shame I left through covid and mental health. 

Ive worked for two Parkdean Parks. The first one I worked for in 2021 and 2023/24. I had an okish experience and really enjoyed my second stint in 2023 and was gutted when i had to leave that job suddenly as it was really fun and great pay.

Unfortunately I Got a job at a different park in early 2024 was not so good. initial training was great. Was really fun but it felt like the more outgoing people and loud people were focused on leaving quieter people like myself feeling left out and ignored. Unfortunately this feeling continued as I had an issue with my online accounts that was never solved.

On More in-depth training yet again I was left out when I tried to engage with my managers in favour for my more outgoing and extraverted colleagues. Days off which were agreed upon were ignored and training overran by 3hrs.

This lead to my first day with customers feeling very unprepared. My manager, although a nice person, was not supporting much and kept wandering off. On one of these occasions Two very rude owners Started causing trouble and made me remake a simple order 5+ times while telling everyone who was waiting in a growing queue I was unprepared and not fit for the job and said they'd get the complex manager on me.

This lead to a panic attack where I was not supported at all. I had nowhere to calm down as was not told where the team room was. Everytime afterwards when I tried to serve the manager would remind me of any mistakes. Causing more panic attacks and I had to leave early.

My job was advertised by the time I got home.

It really is such a shame because up until that point I really did like parkdean.

So I am going to leave a honest review here with good and bad points. I’ll get the good points out the way with first.  So I currently work at parkdean resorts as a holiday sales advisor and it’s a really nice place to work it’s quite relaxed and the managers are all decent . Work is quite flexible can work around your shifts if needs be and quite abit available for overtime (in peak season) .

Now to the bad points, so this job titl is misleading , when I applied for this job it was advertised as a holiday SALES advisor not a customer service agent. I take bill query’s and send out emails for 90% of the day as I’m on existing sales lines. Anytime after 6pm I would receive a few sales calls but before that all customer service. I understand that I will take customer service calls now and then part of the job but not for my full shift. So if your doing a shift that finishes before 6pm your screwed.

 The reason for such a low rating of the job is mainly for this. I applied for a sales role to make money and progress my sales career not take bill query’s. I am targeted as well with a unrealistic revenue target which I will never get unless I’m on a sales line. Also you get a load of newbies stealing your sales . So when you do get sales calls you get them stolen of you anyways. Also I don’t tyink ive had one training session, had about 5 training sessions which have all been cancelled, overheard someone say they haven’t had a training session in over 1 year.

Apart from that a really nice company to work for and would recommend to anyone wanting to progress into a CUSTOMER SERVICE career.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Sales advisor 4 salaries reported	£34,593 per year
Maintenance assistant 2 salaries reported	£24,469 per year
Cleaner 33 salaries reported	£12.83 per hour
Housekeeping manager 26 salaries reported	£28,743 per year
Security officer 9 salaries reported	£13.68 per hour

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