Résidence Pierre & Vacances Premium Les Fermes de Méribel

We booked this place - as a group of five families - with our eyes wide open. We were aware the decor would be dated and the apartments old. We were prepared to overlook this for the ski in ski out position and the pool/gym facilities for the non skiers in the group. Imagine then our disappointment to find the pool/gym is closed between 11.45 and 3pm during the season! I do not understand this at all why on earth do they need to close for 3.75 hours in the Middle of the day? That’s just crazy. The pool doesn’t have a lifeguard and the gym is unmanned so why can’t people be allowed access all day? Meribel Village is very quiet tap the pool/gym was a large part of why we booked. The gym is very poor, there are no resistance machines and free weights limited to a couple of pairs of plastic dumbbells weighing 2 kg. There is no air con and no fans. It is absolutely not a luxury spa situation and the pool is not particularly warm. Oh and if you want a spare towel for the pool or gym you have to pay! You are expected to use your bath towels for showering,swimming and gym. Or pay. Being in a group of families we met up in the reception area one evening for a glass of wine to chat. The next day the extremely officious receptionist told us -as though we were naughty school children, as opposed to grown ups, who had paid a lot of money - that we were ‘forbidden’ from gathering in the reception area and drinking alcohol. To be clear it was not a rowdy event, we left at 7.30 pm when reception was closing. Our children were there with us It was simply a gathering of people on holiday reminiscing about their day. We cleared up after ourselves. The receptionist successfully managed to crush the holiday spirit treating us as though we were kids on a school trip simply because she decided she didn’t like it. I would have thought our business would have been appreciated and we would have been afforded some respect and customer service- apparently not. I sent an email through the P & V website to ask if this was a company policy and received no response. Thank goodness for Clemence who said we could meet up there on the evenings he was working. The apartments are, as mentioned, very dated and about 20 years overdue a renovation. Bedrooms are poky, bathrooms are tiny and grotty. NO mid week towel change. No mid week bed linen change. We were in block D, our bedroom overlooked the fire escape - quite an unwelcome surprise the first morning emeging from the bathroom to see someone about 1 metre away looking in through the window! The shower was at best a dribble and made the most extraordinary noise whilst on. The kitchen is well equipped. The cutlery looked new and the pans all decent, although we didn’t find a toaster. The walls are paper thin. The icing on the cake was a bag being delivered the night before leaving with an expectation for us to strip the beds before our departure at 5.30 am! Whoever owns the building should close each b