Johnfowlerholidays Avis 

We stayed in St Ives John Fowler park on 14/04/25. We had to request a refund and check out the next day due to rat infestation in the accommodation!
The place we stayed in was dirty and smelt of damp.
We had to ask for it to be cleaned again.
When we went to bed we heard rodents scratching and scrabbling about in the walls/inside the roof all night.
Manager was informed only to be told it was squirrels and its to be expected because we were near trees. Manager sent a maintenance man down to look in the loft/roof and he told us he saw rats.
We left with a full refund.
Entertainment at the club house was good, food was poor.
Unable to book swimming, water activities or crafts as all fully booked for the whole week on our arrival.

Pending reviewReviewed
Booked gold for an earlier check in and the holiday park was quaint and hilly as advertised on website. Having been to several John Fowler holiday parks as a family I thought this would deliver to expectations. Wrong. I checked in and the stench of smoking hit me throughout the caravan. The bin was also 3/4 full with food items and smoked cigarettes. The cleaners had attempted to mask this with febreeze air fresheners potted around. I then waited around for over an hour for the helpful lady on the desk to swap for another caravan. It was cleaner and newer model, looking at site photos it was a silver caravan so we were downgraded even when I asked and it was confirmed as a gold caravan. The access was good for mobility issues and very clean. When settling down for the evening at 9pm, attempted to pull out sofa bed which did not exist. Back to customer services the next day after sleeping on the sofa cushions. The response was are you sure there is no bed? They said we could transfer again but after the upheaval and unpacking with a disabled child and adult I was exhausted. I requested someone come and look to make sure I had completely missed a whole sofa bed. The lady also stated if I didn’t want to move again maybe use a folded duvet on top of sofa to make it more comfortable. I requested to speak to manager but wasn’t directed to him so I gave up at this point. Maintenance guy came and confirmed no sofa bed. He did suggest a new mattress and put that over the wooden base. He was very helpful and that partially solved the issue, although not very comfortable or the advertised sofa bed in my booking. I emailed John fowler whilst there and was told the email was forwarded to the manager and he would be in contact as they wanted the issues resolved whilst on site. No communication was made. To top it off when stripping the beds I found dried n chewing gum on my sons pillow. He was autism and PICA (eating non food items) he would’ve tried to eat this if he had found it, gross! have logged all of this as a formal complaint and I am awaiting response from the complaints team. Disappointed to say the least and has left a very tarnished impression of John Fowler

The answer is john fowler should be honest, constructive, and helpful. When we booked nightly entertainment wasincluded, but when we arrived there wasn't entertainment for 2 nights, as we had booked a 4 night break, that was a huge impact on our enjoyment as we are not very mobile and has always enjoyed entertainment here.. all staff were brilliant.

we stayed in sandy meadows in a cheap chalet with the dog, over all needs some love but had a great time, the food was very reasonable and delicious! booked again for next month 😊

Booked a platinum van, which was to include an ensuite in Master bedroom, and other things listed included microwave, bench outside etc. Entered the van, no en-suite, so head to office, thinking we have a gold or silver van. No, it's platinum, and the lady seemed surprised that it didn't have an ensuite, said she would move us, but they had nothing available, they were full. No microwave fitted, and no bench either. We contacted head office, they claim we were offered an alternative van and refused it, that was not true. They also claimed that some of these vans that they are charging for ensuite etc, do not in fact have an en-suite, or microwave or bench. I looked back and studied their literature, and alongside en-suite there is a miniscule asterisk, but nowhere could I find an expiation of this, they need to make it abundantly clear that although you'll be paying and expecting an en-suite, you might not get one.
We were invaded by flies, they did put 2 "bombs" inside whilst we were out, but we spent the next 2 days picking up dead flies. Settled down to watch the rugby international, no TV, sitewide problem, off for the rest of our stay.
Compensation offered was an upgrade if/when we book again, which I understand returning customers get anyway. ;-)
This was Cardigan site, and have to say the site is very good, very clean, the staff we met were all very pleasant, and we eat in a few times, food was excellent as well. So if you go and get what you paid for, got no flies, no TV problems, you'll have a great stay. Enjoy!

Update Mail. The lack of microwave was an "oversight", the bench ".there had been a delay in a delivery of new benches" and the mail finishes with
"I am sorry you do not feel the free of charge upgrade that you have been offered to be adequate. Unfortunately we will not be offering anything further than this. We are sorry this stay did not meet your expectations on this occasion but we have ensured this has been raised with all of the relevant teams."

Appalling customer service. Will never use this company again. After an issue with a booking, the customer service team were hostile and unpleasant. When I asked for contact of a supervisor/management I was not allowed this information and told my only option was to write an actual letter to head office. Having critical illness in the family this was difficult to find the time, but I did it, and wrote a 2 page letter indicating my grievances as well as the poor customer service, and sent it recorded delivery. I have never received a response to this letter, and on top of the endless emails and disinterested people on the phone means I will never use this company again. The shame of it all is it started as a family business, and I used to be a loyal customer but have never known such indifference to both these facts.

Really poor customer service.

They advertise prices on their website and provide you with discount codes for returning customers, I applied this discount online and it was accepted.
When the invoice came through the day after booking the discount was wiped and was charged the full price.
Called customer service who lay the blame with me; they told me the terms and conditions state the discount code could not be accepted with any other offer. The website did not state that the price of the holiday was an offer!
They would not honour the price I agreed to and paid online, and said you can cancel if you're not happy. I questioned why the website allowed me to do this and apparently it's under investigation, but as of today you can still enter the codes and get discounted prices.
Stay well clear of this company as it casts a poor impression of the British leisure industry as their prices are not as transparent as you'd expect, and their loyalty vouchers are not worth the paper they're printed on.

John Fowler has a loyalty ladder, which entitles you to a discount on future holidays. As it is coming to an end you have to cash it in, and I have been told I am on level 2. I checked with their office, and I should be on level 5. I was told there is no appeals procedure, even though it is their mistake. So much for customer loyalty!

I booked and paid for a platinum caravan thinking I was going to get one of their nicer caravans. I was shocked and upset when I arrived at the park to find out the only thing guarantee to this is that you get a newer model. The unit was basic,uncomfortable and didn't have the promised, WiFi, dishwasher,Dvd or even TV in bedroom... I went to reception to try and resolve this but unfortunately there was nothing they could do. I also emailed John fowler directly but they failed to respond.

We arrived with our family in two separate caravans. Both my daughter and I had to clean our vans on arrival. Dirty plates, pots, cutlery, pans and flooring. Discussed with the hygiene. From previous reviews we knew it was pointless complaining, staff were dismissive and offered no explanation nor help.
Overpriced for what they were offering.
Used to come years ago when the kids were little and it was personal but unfortunately no longer.
When you work all gods hours and want a break you don’t except to clean from the moment you enter the door. Only gave it two cos we brought our own bedding in anticipation. Even had to buy a bath mat because we actually thought there would be s as wooden on supplied for the bathroom, fuc—— aweful , NEVER AGAIN.

Worst holiday ever. A disaster of a holiday at john fowler holidays Widemouth bay. went from bad to worse. We were left stressed and shaken. A warning should be given to all guest to check accommodation has been cleaned and that all dangerous and hazardous items left by previous guest have been removed. First we were allocated the wrong caravan and after settling in 2 members of staff came and told us we would have to move and for the inconvenience of being moved to another caravan we were being upgraded. We were moved to the other caravan and the next day we found out the caravan we had been moved to was not an upgrade but a downgraded caravan so not even the standard of caravan we had paid for. When we spoke to them about this no one apologized or even seemed to care . Then a serious incident occurred. The caravan had not been checked and cleaned properly and we had been put in a dangerous position that could have had life long/changing and very serious consequences for us. This company has no compassion and don't seem to care about the welfare of their guests. No one seemed to care or even apologize for the dangerous situation we had been put in. I would seriously recommend any one who has booked to stay in their accommodation should carefully check the accommodation has been checked and cleaned especially before you let your little ones go exploring. There were also a few other minor problems with the caravan but no point in complaining about them when the serious incident was not taken seriously.

Stayed at Trelawne manor in Cornwall.site itself is beautiful and the location lovely. The problems began when I decided to use the launderette, £7.00 is a lot of money to use the washing machine but when it didn’t start I went to a the admin office for help. I was informed by the worker there that this is a frequent problem but as it was run by a 3rd party she would have to contact head office for a refund. I asked if she could give me a token or a code so I could get my washing done but was told no so was left with no option but to pay again. The next day I had not received my refund so headed for the admin office again, the receptionist on duty that day told me that my problem should have been resolved the day before but that the worker on duty was new, rest assured she said she would resolve it and if necessary reimburse me manually. Two days passed and I heard nothing nor had my payment been returned, it was nearing the end of my holiday so returned to the office once again to request my refund. Nothing was forthcoming and it appeared that on the previous visit I had been lied to about them manually reimbursing me, I was simply told the guy that deals with refunds was on holiday and nothing could be done. I had to contact my bank and request that they request my refund from John Fowlers. It was a small problem that escalated due to the lies, disinformation and blaming of colleagues from the admin worker.

Weve just come home from a week at John fowlers st ives . I'd like to say there where no issues but unfortunately we had a big issue with our accommodation. I raised my concerns to shirley on Reception who was incredibly. She sorted out my issues the same day. I always think you should never judge a company on how they treat you when things go well,but when things go wrong. John fowler and Shirley really did exceed our expectations. We will definitely be booking again.

Excellent caravan on a lovely clean site. We played bingo and done a quiz both were good fun. The room was clean and the bar area with big sofas and chairs were very inviting.Love the extras in the caravan with towels and toiletries.

We had a four day break in a silver bungalow in Tolroy Manor. We have not received a feedback form despite contacting them and being told it was being resent.
We had little contact with staff, but found them friendly, welcoming and helpful. The park is clean and tidy.
We chose a bungalow as we are 69 and 71, and have mobility issues. Sadly we were not informed until just before our holiday that while bedding was provided that the beds would not be made up. Bed making is always a bit of a trial for us so had we known when booking we would not have gone ahead. We used the double bed and a single bed which was against a wall and made it particularly troublesome to make. There was no option to pay for beds to be made up. The beds were not comfortable and we both ended up with bad backs.
The description of the bathroom was only that there was a shower. No mention of a bath so we assumed it was a walk in shower. Our mistake. The shower was over a bath which made it extremely difficult for me to access it.
Unusually in this day and age towels were not provided. Cooking utensils were very basic.
There was no option to buy a WiFi package and the 4G was very patchy. We did not wish to go to the clubhouse every time we wanted to use our smart phones. Most of the information re opening times etc were on their app or accessed by a QR code. As we had no access to WiFi the app and QR code were useless.
We usually holiday in a park in another part of Cornwall but came to Tolroy as we wanted to be near St Ives. Inevitably we compared to our usual park. While the cost was slightly lower at Tolroy the accomodation was much smaller and had nowhere near the fixtures and fittings. We found Tolroy to be very poor value for money. We decided to cut our losses and came home a full day early and will not be returning.

The company advertiser's swimming pools at it's sites....but beware availability maybe for only one or two hours in the morning or evening ..sometimes no available times at all a m or pm. Depending on their staffing numbers ..I recently stayed at Tolroy where times were limited . You can book from 7pm the night before for the following day but once an entire afternoon was fully booked when we opened app at 7.01. these times are not fully booked but blocked so staff can do other jobs at the park..I once had a three o'clock booking only to be asked if I could move an hour later so the pool attendant could do some housekeeping...
I reported this to John Fowler who apologised but basically staff are worked out by a matrix and they find this works well..
Well it doesn't...shame on them...
We've booked gwel on mor next year...same distance from the glorious beaches ....and we can go swimming whenever we want !!

I have just returned from JF in Somerset and l would never go there again.
They class themselves as dog friendly and dogs are allowed in some of their vans although they can't be left in vans on their own which is fair enough, we decided to go to the bar on site and l asked a member of staff where the dog friendly bar was, the reply was" we don't have one". It was pouring of rain and rather cold and our only option was to sit outside.
We sat outside on a covered patio and were provided with plastic glasses and we were asked to return them, we did.
The following day we went back for another (outside) drink but we were informed that we had to pay £1 each for the glasses which we could keep,as my son had already brought 3 drinks, l took these glasses back and told the barstaff that they could refill these, after quite a long conversation the barperson eventually took our glasses and gave us different ones,needless to say we didn't use the bar again.
The on site shop was very poorly stocked and mega expensive.
We used the on site restaurant/takeaway on the first night, 2 stars would be a generous rating.
NEVER again.

Absolutely awful place Trelawne Manor is the absolute pits staff are very rude and not very helpful at all and the attitude of the general manager was disgusting never again shall we holiday with John fowler holidays 👎🏻

Do not ever go to South Bay in Devon as it is the worst holiday park you can find. We had caravan neighbours and yesterday arrived at the park at 4pm and 6 hours later we were on our way back as we had neighbours who were continually on wacky backy and teenagers who were screaming and just being total pests.The smell was disgusting. Reported to security,waste of time. The security said they told them the day before to stop it but still continued. Noise and wacky backy don’t go. Was a 280 mile trip and we only had 4 hours on site. PLEASE do not go there again. Rang a lady from head office and she was a joke. Totally useless. Worst holiday company going

Booked two chalets side by side to facilitate a short break for my disabled brother. Paid in full over £747.00.

Two weeks before departure, my husband called them to ask if we could push the date back a couple of weeks as I had been bluelighted to hospital after collapsing at work and being diagnosed with encephalitis. R. “Can’t help sorry” was their response. We need 28 days notice. I did apologise but my collapse was not planned. Long story short, they resold the chalets for £174.00 each and have deducted a £50.00 deposit and a further £30.00 admin fee for each chalet. And refunded me only £94 for each chalet meaning I have lost a total of £559.00. Score zero for compassion. They have recouped all there money plus the additional £348.00 resale value. I don’t see why they couldn’t just offer a later date.

Best to wait for last minute deals……do not book in advance.