Camping Sandaya Château des Marais - 5 Star Campsite — Hotel in Blois

NOT the family friendly 5 star site it is supposed to be. We staye here for 8 nights in July 2018 in our touring caravan. Arrival seemed ok, but on pulling up to our pitch, we found it was already occupied. I hopped on a bike and cycled back to reception, where eventually we were allocated another pitch in the same row. The pitches are quite large, and we had our own tap and drain, so we used our "super pitch kit". Good job really, the toilet and shower blocks were not what we expected from a 5 star site. Wobbly sinks, no soap or hand dryers (I know that's fairly standard in lesser sites, but again....5 star??) cleanliness was hit and miss, and everywhere felt in need of updating. The pool had tiles which were slippy in places where they had been replaced with different tiles. Entertainment was extremely poor for the level of site. ...the bar outside seating area is not big enough for the evening entertainment. The staff are poorly trained in delivering the evening entertainment. First night we attended a quiz, which was hit and miss if you got asked to answer a question. We returned in Kareoke night though, and it was total chaos. Guests were allowed to place their names on a list with the song they wanted to sing. A variety of songs were played, but we were extremely offended when two teenage boys were allowed to "sing" a song which contained the word "motherf**r" in nearly every line. What's worse is that the words are projected forward for the whole audience to see. I whisked my family out of the bar area as soon as it was apparent they were not going to pull the plug on the song. I then returned to complain to the staff present as I couldn't believe they would allow such offensive material to be played in front of so many children. They claimed to be unable to do anything about anyone's song choices and refused to stop the music, or move on to another song. We will not be visiting another Sandaya site. The two stars are for the area, lovely cycling, good access within a mile to the Loire, and close to chambord Château, which is...

We stayed here for a week in August 2023. We were allocated a caravan pitch which although the ground around us seemed very dry our pitch was very soft and not any grass to be seen. When I moved the caravan onto it we sunk down quite a bit. Two days later it rained very hard and the pitch turned into a swamp. The dirty water came up through the matting. When we reported this initially no one came out so we went back and then the maintenance team came out. Their solution was to lie down some Lino on the pitch. It looked really bad but did the job. The new private toilets and shower on our pitch were new this year but I feel they won’t be there very long. The whole cabin was not set so the water could drain and we spent 30 minutes of each day mopping this unit out. The floors will rot in no time.

Unfortunately when we left the site after the week my son forgot to pick up his wash bag from the locked private cabin. We realised after two hours and then tried to ring the site. No reply diverted straight to the main booking switchboard. So we emailed again no reply. We tried the phone every hour for the next few days and eventually got through. They said no one had been allocated the pitch since so it must be still there as the cleaners had not been to it yet. One week later after trying to ring again and ask. It was gone. I do accept that they are not responsible for items left by the customer however it was a locked unit and they even said no one had been to this. Well who ever the staff are on site one of them now has an expensive wash bag and two bottles of aftershave and an electric toothbrush worth over €180 so in my mind as it was locked and no one had been allocated this one of the staff must be a thief and untrustworthy as no one else had access. So sad firstly it was taken and how hard it is to communicate with the site. After three weeks one of our emails was answered asking what did we leave behind. Well, after numerous calls and emails this is a joke. I would not...

The site itself is beautiful — clean, well-maintained, and in a great location. But unfortunately, the experience at the pool was extremely frustrating and disappointing.||You are not allowed to leave your sunbed unattended — even briefly — to go get a bottle of water or use the toilet (and the one near the pool isn’t great). If you do, the lifeguards — who are constantly armed with Google Translate — will immediately confront you to say it’s forbidden. This rule appears to be enforced exclusively on British guests, which feels discriminatory and deeply unfair.||Children/Teenagers are also not allowed to use sunbeds — apparently that’s considered “greedy”? Again, this rule only seems to target British families. When you’re paying for a holiday, it’s completely reasonable to expect that everyone in your group can relax and enjoy the facilities.||I fully agree that sunbeds shouldn’t be reserved for hours without being used, but short breaks to use the toilet or grab lunch (especially when no food or drink is allowed by the pool) must be allowed. The pool area is spotless — and that’s appreciated — but the rules need to be clearly displayed, fairly explained, and enforced consistently for all guests, not just certain nationalities.||Sadly, the lifeguards’ aggressive and intimidating behaviour made us feel unwelcome and unfairly singled out. It’s such a shame, because everything else about the site was lovely.||Tips for future guests:| • Be aware that you cannot leave your sunbed even for a quick toilet break or to grab water — you may lose it or be stopped from re-entering the pool.| • Teenagers are not allowed on sunbeds, so plan accordingly if you’re travelling with older children.||If the pool policy changes, or more sun beds/umbrellas added or the staff receive better training on communication and fairness, this could be a truly fantastic place to stay. But as it stands, the pool experience really...