A mum has warned fellow travellers that online “bargain” holiday deals are not always what they seem and advised people to read the small print before booking. Jade Rathbone reserved what she thought was a luxury cabin for her family of four when she visited a holiday park in Nottinghamshire over the weekend.
She had seen the high-end cabin going for £116 online and snapped up the offer for the two-night stay. However, she was stunned to discover that what she had signed up to was literally an unfurnished “shed”. Jade of Lichfield, Staffordshire, acknowledged she had not paid close enough attention to the details of the offer.
The mum of two admitted she had “jumped to conclusions” after having seen just one photo. She said she was shocked at first and thought the cabin had been ransacked, but quickly realised her mistake.
“We originally looked at camping, but I saw there was an upgrade option for the pods,” she explained. “I spotted a bargain and thought I found a good deal, so I didn’t research it anymore.
“There was one main picture of the outside of the pod, so in my head I jumped to conclusions of what would be inside. I didn’t read the full description or go through the rest of the pictures, and it wasn’t until we got there that I realised it didn’t actually have anything in it.”
Jade – who works as a marketing manager – took a video of her cabin and posted it to TikTok where it soon racked up over 1.3 million views.
Her three-year-old daughter Pria Shakespeare can be heard asking: “Where are we going to sleep, Mummy?”
A chastened Jade forked out £32 to buy two air mattresses, as the family resolved to make the best of things.
“He [my partner] was just laughing about it, which was lucky for me,” she continued. “We made the best out of the situation. It wasn’t ideal when you’re all coming back drenched after having a water day and cramming into the smallest pod in the world but it was all part of the adventure.
“It ended up more expensive than if we’d stayed in a hotel but we had the best time. In the future I’ll spend a bit more time reading the description. I didn’t realise pods like that existed with nothing in them so I’ll be sure to check. If it seems too good to be true it is.”
