Camping Homair - Saint Avit Loisirs — Hotel in Sarlat-la-Canéda

Just returned from a two weeks touring stay on this park. We enjoyed our stay as we were in our own caravan. We're given a nice large pitch, although it was very uneven and out of level, the view, privacy and sunsets were amazing. Overall we have enjoyed our holiday and the 40+ temperatures meant we had to relax. Reasons we would not return to thus campsite. In our opinion this is not a 5 star park. The gardens were over grown and unkempt, terraces appeared unswept at the bar area where people smashed glasses nearly every night. My 2 teenage children enjoyed the pool complex although the cleanliness of the first larger pool on the right had me concerned. When we were swimming we could smell mould, there was a green ring around the tiles and internal wall tiles missing. The night after using this pool became ill. The loose paving was dangerous especially when no shoes are allowed. The changing area under the stairs was disgusting dark, dirty and smelly when expected to enter in bare feet. The walk way from the lower pool to the grassed area, without shoes was an unacceptable and unconformable mud bath. There were nowhere near enough loungers for the size if the site, people were reserving at 7am and many days we walked around and around and there were more towels than people and gave up. Also there were no chairs at the pool, as someone who can suffer with a bad back some chairs around the pool are welcome, although they'd probably all be covered with towels too. In two weeks we only ever managed to get 2 beds between the four of us and had to share. The touring shower block had me feeling sick! There were numerous holes strategically places drilled into the cubicle walls, placed at drying and private areas! They were under the mirrors, in the shower wall, under the basins and it made me sick. I would fill them every day and by the night the fillers had all been taken out. Apart from this the area was full of spider webs, dirt, hair and not very welcoming. The temperature of the showers was very inconsistent sometimes taking your breath away it was do cold and within a second so hot you couldn't touch it. One night the whole site was totally without water for a few hours, although this could happen anywhere. The prices at the bar were average and the drinks from the outside bar usually warm. However one thing that really annoyed us was they served look lemonade from the bottle behind the bar. We bought it in the supermarket 1 litre for 80 cents yet they sold 200ml for 350€ the shop was slightly cheaper for soft drinks yet they were all hot and the shop closed at 8pm. We played crazy golf one day it was cheap at 3€ each but in need of upgrade. There was supposed to be a river that had dried up it was full of dirt and leaves, over grown garden areas. We were also bitten lots in this area so repellant is a must. We ate at the restaurant the set menu was nice and we had an enjoyable night but at 28€ each for the set menu we didn't return. The service was also a little lacking, after ordering drinks twice we went to the bar and bought them ourselves. The entertainment- we only actually watched the entertainment on a Wednesday and Thursday night when they had visiting acts which were really good. As all other nights and games were totally in french, which is fine we were in France and speak quite a bit of French, but the holiday park welcomes all nationalities. We found it strange, maybe an English thing but there were on average 15 or so entertainment staff and the entertainment on a Saturday night was non existent. I assumed this was staffs day off. To me if you have a team of 15 it makes more sense peak season to stagger days off so there is something for everyone. Last Saturday night the bar area was full and the stage had shutters down. All in all we had a good holiday but would not return. We paid the most we've ever paid for a pitch in france to stay here and it was nowhere near as good as some of the sites we've stayed on over the last eight years...

The general facilities here are very good including the water slides, although the pools were not heated and freezing cold even on hot days. However, all the camping pitches are falsely advertised. We booked a 120m² pitch with water and electricity. It was less than 70m² and had no water and electricity was over 50m away. Reception did give us an extension lead for electricity but did not have hose pipe extensions so the pitch did NOT have water although their pointless customer service continues to claim the pitch had water and meets dimension rwgulations! We did not see any pitches that are 90m² let alone 120 so all their advertised pitches are false advertising and they take no responsibility for this. We were moved to an 'emergency' pitch which did have electricity and water but was just compacted soil with hardly any grass and was much smaller than 120 - it was closer to 60m² which meant we didn't have space for our awning. The pitches are not flat and slope in all directions which meant the front of our caravan was raised on 2 blocks per leg.

Every night except one, somebody would disconnect our electricity and/or water around midnight. We reported this to reception but they did nothing and in response to us said the behaviour of their guests is not their responsibility - so beware if booking this site, they do not care for your well being.

Every evening, very loud entertainment continued until midnight with guests shouting and swearing until after 1 am. The emergency pitches were right next to the entertainment which was relentless and right next to the main road where roudy guests more suited to an 18-30 holiday in Ibiza would pass on the way back to their accommodation

On our last night at the site, the music was so loud until midnight that the caravan was shaking from the bass of the music.  None of us could sleep.  We then had lots of people leaving the entertainment until about 2 am, shouting and swearing as they left and again our electricity was switched off.  Just as things quietened down at around 2am there was a lorry with a very noisy engine that was around for about 10 minutes.  This woke us up just as we had managed to fall asleep.  I recorded this noise.  Then, later in the early hours of the morning, the lorry returned and was around for another few minutes which again woke us up and I have again recorded this. However, customer service took no responsibility for this even though it belonged to the band that had been booked.

WiFi was very poor. It would sometimes connect but most of the time it connected without Internet. When it did connect, it would only last a few minutes. There are no phone signals on site as it is at the top of a large hill in the middle of nowhere. One of the pool slides is quite dangerous as it can flip children upside down and nearly off the slide. There are also loose slabs on the steps for the waterslide - I notice this was reported last year and management said they would take feedback on board, but they clearly haven't done. There would be enough sunbeds if guests observed and staff enforced the 'no reservation policy' but it was like a hotel in Spain having to get there early to have a chance of a sunbed by the pool.

I would have given 3 stars but as customer service had completely ignored our complaint and they do not care how their customers behave and do not deploy security, I'm wavering between 1 and 2 stars.

Update: their reply is just as dismissive as their email replies to my complaint. I should be getting a partial refund for a 50% size pitch. Whilst the receptionist did what she could at the time, there should be financial recognition that we did not get what we paid for. No apology for the noisy lorry or for allocating the incorrect pitch and no apology for not deploying security after we complained about our water and electricity being disconnected. So this is what to expect when booking at Marvilla if...

Currently staying onsite as a family across 4 caravans with Eurocamp and Roan.

Overall this could be a lovely site, recommended by a member of our group from previous stays. We are loyal Eurocamp customers. Snack bar and drink bar is great, as is the entertainment and pools. The evening party is good fun and next to the food area so you can chill and be entertained or be involved which is nice. Pizzas burgers and the Périgord specialities are all tasty. Drinks are good quality cocktails, very impressed for a campsite.

However the site feels overstretched for their capabilities. Our issues so far have been: Caravans not ready until 6pm on arrival day even for those with a baby in the heat wave

Air con in the caravan with the baby left on a setting which meant it kept turning off every 90 minutes, not rectified for a while until an engineer came and opened the closed box and figured this out, and was confused how and why this was set!

3 caravans had air con and electricity not working during the heat wave

3 caravans had no water at all at different points

1 caravans alarm went off non stop at 5am, with no beeping in the days before indicating the battery needed changing, so we worried this was a carbon monoxide issue, so had to bundle kids out, told the roan staff who have been excellent but told us to just take out the battery. Not comfortable doing that with no indication there isnt an issue, and don’t know how with no screwdriver.

No or mis matching cutlery, scissors that don’t work, bbq being dirty on arrival.

Insufficient life guards doubling as bar staff. When a guy hit his head on a slide and was gushing blood everywhere I had to run to the shop as there was no lifeguard to be found, who then went and got them.

On the plus side the food is great, and drinks are excellent quality cocktails. However we were confused and upset to be told “no picnic!” when seated at the snack bar area outside which was almost empty other than us, drinking 12 coffees between our group, and eating croissants from the shop! We have been spending money every day at the restaurant for multiple meals and were eating food from the shop for breakfast, they don’t even serve breakfast at the restaurant only coffee so really either a stupid rule or a disgruntled staff member. Many staff members seem disgruntled to be honest.

The main issue is the site is clearly over stretched putting more caravans in than it can handle as is and needs to ensure there is adequate facilities to support the number of caravans they have at peak times when charging £1600+ per week, we expect electricity and water, these are basics.

Also the pools are not heated, apart from a small indoor pool, so as it’s now overcast and has rained, although it’s August and just had a heat wave a few days ago it’s not possible to take small children to the pool for longer than 20-30 minutes. Our 6 year old had blue lips and was shivering so we had to come out, we were also cold and it wasn’t any fun. This is a real let down, 3 days + in peak summer of no pool use for this cost of holiday is not acceptable.

There are also uneven loose tiles around the pool everywhere.

On top it would be nice not to be told off by staff for eating their own food, and having adequate life guards and...