For a relaxing break in natural surroundings, many families return to Center Parcs year after year. But a former member of staff has claimed, behind those idyllic scenes, it's a whole different picture.
Reporter Finley Cannon worked at Woburn Forest, just an hour outside of London. He spent two summers with the hospitality team at one of the many restaurants on site.
In a tell-all piece in Bedfordshire Live, he served up some surprising memories from his time at the resort. And the staff challenges most guests are blissfully unaware of.
All staff were aware when stars came to visit
The Woburn Forest Center Parcs' close proximity to London meant that it was a bit of a haven for celebrities to visit. From Premier League footballers and managers to Dragons from Dragons' Den, staff at Center Parcs have served them.
When well known faces were visiting it became a hot topic of discussion, probably helped by most of the staff in the village's multiple restaurants knowing each other outside of work, with many going to school together.
Nobody went looking for the familiar faces, but most of us knew they were somewhere on site, or at least thought they were. It shouldn't be a surprise that famous faces were on holiday, particularly with some of the prices to stay at Center Parcs during peak times, but we always were surprised and generally questioned "Why haven't they gone abroad?".
Staff parking is 'too far away'
Staff at Center Parcs, like guests, are provided with free parking whilst on site. For guests, parking is conveniently close to all the facilities and amenities on site. Staff parking however is not as conveniently close to the facilities and requires more of a walk to get into work, particularly, like me, when you worked at the opposite end of the village, near the boathouse.
Despite being told to park in staff parking, it was common for staff to park in guest parking out of convenience, not that I would ever have done such a thing. It just seemed to make sense for staff to park closer if possible, we were after all working.
Wasps are the burden on all
Working in the Pancake House, surrounded by nature, it should be somewhat unsurprising that wasps will regularly visit. A cocktail of warm summer weather and sticky, sweet syrups and sauces created the perfect environment for an absolute plague of wasps to takeover the outside seating area and any tables near the doors of the Pancake House.
As staff, we seemed to spend more time swatting wasps away from guests than actually serving guests, not to mention the chaos that ensued when the wasps got into the kitchen or around the open hatch area. It wasn't uncommon to walk through the restaurant and see at least 10 to 15 trapped under plastic cups.
They took advantage of freebies as often as possible
Staff at Center Parcs are entitled to 'day passes' as a benefit of their role, or at least they were when I worked there prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. A day pass was an absolute joy to use, free use of all the activities on site, provided there was availability, and discounted prices at restaurants and bars.
Staff using day passes could take in friends with them and as soon as your friends knew you had a day pass there was a queue of messages from people trying to 'shotgun' their place on the day. After all, everyone loves the water slides and high ropes, especially if they're free.
No matter how chaotic changeover days are for guests, they are much worse for staff
Changeover days at Center Parcs are the Mondays and Fridays when all of that week's guests leave and a whole new batch arrive. It sounds like a challenge and it absolutely is.
For housekeepers, every single lodge, cabin and hotel room needs cleaning to look brand new in a short window before the next set of guests arrive, only to completely ruin their hard work, only to be redone again, and again, and again.
For restaurant staff changeover days are the busiest days. All of the people on the last day of their holiday are desperate to get that one final visit to their favourite restaurant in for one final treat for the already-full family.
At the same time, new families are arriving early, too early to get into their lodges, but not too early to walk-in at the already overburdened restaurants, particularly those, like the Pancake House and Sports Café, which when I worked at Center Parcs didn't require reservations.
Everybody working on a changeover day, from lifeguards to cleaners, activities assistants to chefs, knew they were in for a busy day. Especially during the bank holidays and summer holidays, which regularly saw near-100 per cent capacity. Nobody was ever quite prepared for those busiest days, however. And then the wasps decide to visit.
