Forest Holidays Reviews 

Our third stay with Forest Holidays. We made a 6 & 1/2 hour journey to the Keldy Forest site in December when we were turned away on our arrival & told the site was shut due to a power failure, which they had known about 3 days before. No telephone call to say the site was closed. No offer of help or alternative accommodation was offered. We were offered a 15% discount on rebooking which would not cover petrol, tunnel costs, Cattery costs but more importantly our time. Complained & received a very generic response. Queried why calls were not made only to be told that they didn’t have enough staff for that & had sent out an email during the day. Who checks their emails whilst driving? There were quite a few of us being turned away which shows the email didn’t work. Overall really poor customer service & sadly, won’t return again.

Thank you for responding but I doubt contacting your customer service team will help much as we have already done this & received an unsatisfactory response. We have also contacted Which? (as we have a membership) and given that you are one of their recommended providers, felt they should know how we were treated. A 12 hour round road trip with a dog in the car and a lost holiday left us feeling very unhappy.

We liked the Silver Birch cabin, the hot tub was brilliant.
Once it was dark and the workmen had left the next cabin (I appreciate they were mending storm damage but at the same time it did affect the quality of our stay) it was quite pleasant to sit in the hot tub looking up at the trees.
We wanted to get out during the day to escape the ongoing work, but didn't want to get everything covered in mud from the absolutely disgraceful surface that has been applied to the Forrest tracks...we've been going to Glentress for years before fh were there and the tracks weren't like this before the cabins were built.
We've stayed at other sites and Glentress felt very rushed, not very well thought out and not complete.
The staff seemed lovely and we felt awkward complaining. It can't be easy for them having to deal with complaints about things they know can't be resolved.
Glentress was ok. For the prices it should be a lot more than ok.

We stayed at Forest Holidays Sherwood Pines over New Year in a 4 bedroomed lodge with family. The accommodation was in a poor state of repair and filthy. We did not complain at the time as a dialogue backwards and forwards to reception would have been disruptive to our family event and it is not as though the issues surrounding lack of maintenance and cleaning (All issues which would have been evident for months!) could have been resolved whilst we were all there in a sensible time frame.
I engaged with the manager at Sherwood Pines upon our return, supplying written and photographic evidence of the issues, she was unable to offer appropriate compensation and gave me the customer services email address. Their automated reply said they would get back within 21 working days. With booking references, email address and mobile phone number, six weeks later, I’m still waiting.
Do not waste your money.

We stayed at glentress this weekend, we had a couple of niggles (delayed check in and some bits missing) but the lodges and setting is beautiful. Bring wellies, it's more rugged than center parcs and it's definitely having teething troubles but it's got potential to be fab. I spoke to central customer services and Beckie was amazing, super easy to talk to and dealt with all our niggles. We will come back because they're very customer focussed.

My husband and I are currently staying at Garwnant for my 60th birthday. I can't fault the place from the moment we arrived. Beautiful cabin in a beautiful location. Spotlessly clean and inviting with two bones for our dogs which was a lovely touch. We have loved exploring the beautiful surroundings with our dogs, they've never been so chilled and neither have we. Staff are incredibly friendly and helpful from the moment we arrived. We went for a prosecco afternoon tea at the cafe which was very enjoyable and they catered for me being a vegetarian no problem at short notice as I had forgotten to ask when we checked in. The hot tub is checked daily, the staff look like scientists with their checks which we found very comforting. We have enjoyed the very hot hot tub on these chilly nights watching the night sky with a glass of prosecco. The management deserves a mention as it's run so amazingly well. We can't wait to return here to these gorgeously perfect luxury cabins which I might add was a very reasonable price for this week. The only minor downfall is the cost of the WiFi upgrade package which if included within the price of the cabin would make the stay even more perfect. The free basic WiFi is a very limited service with hardly anything to watch on TV so you need to make your own entertainment.

Live site so they choose as and when to change the prices. It can change within a day, I booked the wrong weekend trying to rush when I saw the prices were lower and had to wait weeks for a refund or pay £1,450. Checked the day after cancelling and it the price had gone back down. How can you have the exact same cabin cost £670 one day and over £1,450 the next, not dependant on the weekend. If I’d have paid full price knowing they change daily I’d be fuming. They could have just moved my weekend to the right date so I’ve not had to wait weeks to book again, somewhere else now as it’s been handled so badly.

Nice accommodation comfy beds great location

I went to the new site at Glentress Forest near Peebles. This site claims to be 'environmentally sensitive'. However they are running it with large diesel generators which are very noisy and polluting and have trashed the area with unfinished roads for all the cars on the site, and felled trees. A real shame, this used to be a beautiful forest, I can't believe they claim to be B-Corp certified.

Poor response rate from Forest Holidays!
Trying to cancel a holiday as one person is critically ill and no reply in 2 days, unable to phone due to disability. Previous time I had booked a holiday and it took 13 days to respond. This is really poor customer service. Come on Forest Holidays you can do better than this.
Their reply to poor service is
"To clarify, emails received correctly into our monitored boxes will always provide you with an automated response, the Customer service one advising that replies can take up to 21 days"
Clearly this is not acceptable for anyone but when your only access is by email, its really discriminating for disabled people when urgent attention is needed.

I have booked a holiday at Thorpe Forest, Norfolk and needed to change dates. In the modern world, phoning call centres often seems overly complicated and frustrating. However, when I got through to Forest Holidays, Leah took my call and sorted everything out quickly and efficiently. Leah was very professional and answered my questions fully. Thank you!

My second visit with forest holidays. My first was 2 years ago to forest of Dean and on arrival our cabin was not clean, the basics were but it was grubby. We complained which we find so difficult to do as we hate confrontation and the head cleaner came to visit to see our concerns and agreed the cleanliness wasn't up to standard. She gave us the film package for free as a sorry but we never wanted anything for free we was just upset we had paid alot of money for our trip and the cabin wasn't clean. Fast forward 2 years we decided to try forest holidays again as they are dog friendly and went to thorpe forest this time. Our first holiday in 2 years which we had saved hard for and couldn't wait to relax in the forest. On arrival once again the cabin was dirty! There was a cup with lipstick smeared all over it it in the cupboard, lots of crumbs in the cutlery draw, rusted parts on the fridge and dishwasher, gritty dirt all over the sofa, my dog dropped his ball that rolled under the sofa and wow the crumbs and grime! In the bathroom all up the shower screen was months worth of toothpaste and spit from other people who had stayed it made me feel sick. This time we didn't go down and complain because I didn't want it again ruining our holiday and to be given free stuff as an apology. We paid nearly £600 to stay so why can't the cabins just be cleaned properly? Once a month go and do a deep clean? I had sent an email of complaint a week ago but heard nothing back. It's such a shame because the location is so relaxing and stunning and just what you need when you lead a busy stressful life but twice now dirty cabins its upsetting and a shame they don't give the cleaners more time or sort the issue. We was planning on re booking in April with other family members but we will go elsewhere now because of the cleanliness. Please listen to your customers and get the cabins cleaned up to the standard that's acceptable especially for the price to stay!

Always great places to stay, cabins are very nice, clean and well maintained, the staff are also very friendly, would highly recommend.

This is the fifth visit here for me and the wife this time spending Christmas here. Stayed in our usual Golden Oak and once again it was a perfect vacation. You want for nothing and with the log fire and hot tub it's the most relaxing Christmas we ever had. A tear was shed when we had to say goodbye but needless to say we booked up again for New Year.

Have been 3times now and booked again, lodges are spotless, hot tub always hot and maintained daily, lovely walks, always a relaxing holiday

Stayed at Strathyre over Christmas. It was perfect, the staff were amazing, everyone was friendly and extra helpful, checking we had everything we needed. We had the best time and can't thank, or praise the staff enough. The accommodation was great and the location is perfect too.

Excellent setup. Lodge was perfect with everything we needed. The surroundings of Garwant were beautiful and peaceful. 100% reccomend.

Lovely location, very relaxing. What an amazing location at Strathyre staff were very friendly and we did pop into the hub on a number of occasions. On the whole we loved the holiday and the hot tub. We did a number of excursions while we here including Bracklinn Falls, Doune Castle, Deanston Distillery and the Wallace Monument all close by.

The lodge was reasonably well appointed with just enough kitchen equipment to cook a decent meal. The only issue was the bathroom, which suffered from loose tiles, cracked lens on the mirror light and needed a better way of drying swimwear than the existing towel rail. Some of these items are an easy fix, but it looked like they had been overlooked for a long time.

We have stayed at a few Forest holiday sites, and we've loved each one. But got to say Sherwood is our favourite. The staff are so lovely, friendly and helpful.
Everything was just so brilliant

Our stay was cancelled, and customer service since then has been terrible.

Due to a storm across most of the UK, Deerpark in Cornwall had been damaged. Therefore, they needed to cancel our stay. I don't have an issue with this; however, the manner in which this was cancelled and the follow-up customer service has been and still is appalling.

They were aware of the issues on Saturday evening and closed the site on Sunday, the day before our stay. What I would have expected was an email or call on Sunday to advise there was an issue, offering a full refund or transfer to another park. However, what actually happened was we received an email about 4 hours before we were due to arrive, which we didn't see as we were already on the road. Then, we received a voicemail a 1 hour and a half before we were due to arrive to advise the park was closed and to check our emails.

To cut a long story short, tried to call back but could not get through, so ended up calling the main customer service number. The only parks we could transfer to were in Scotland; we were already in Cornwall. Advised we should get a refund within 14 days and would receive a discount voucher for future stays. Therefore, in Cornwall, 4 hours from home with a choice of returning home or trying to find an alternative and paying for this with additional funds, as Forest Holidays can not arrange an immediate refund.

On our return we received the refund with 7 working days, but no voucher. The voucher arrived almost a month later and is only valid for a month!

In the meantime, I have contacted customer services via email and advised I would receive a reply within 21 working days. Now, well over 21 days, and still no reply.

I am sure people have wonderful holidays with them, but if it goes wrong, be ready for terrible customer service.

Our experience was unfortunately let down by some key issues during our stay at the Forest of Dean site January 2025. On the first night, we had no heating or hot water, which is far from ideal when you’re looking for a cozy escape. Although this was eventually resolved, it did impact our initial enjoyment.

To make matters worse, on Sunday evening, we lost WiFi after purchasing the premium package. For a paid service, we expected reliability, but we were left without connection for the remainder of our stay.

While the location itself was beautiful and the idea of a forest retreat is appealing, these inconveniences made our holiday less relaxing than we had hoped. We sincerely hope the management addresses these issues to improve the experience for future guests.