Campsites
Do you own or run a campsite? You must comply with the Planning Code and with the rules on operation, rating and mandatory notices. Pitches let by the year require mandatory information for guests, who confirm they have read it before signing any contract. A campsite can host every type of accommodation, although the number of light leisure dwellings is limited.
Residential holiday parks
Run under a hotel-type regime, residential holiday parks (PRL) host light leisure dwellings, mobile homes and caravans. They consist of bare or equipped pitches, let for periods that may exceed a month, plus shared facilities. Guests do not make them their home.
Such a park can only be run under a hotel-type regime if a single person or company owns or holds the land and a single person or company runs it.
Natural camping areas
- Exclusively for tents, caravans and motorhomes.
- No light leisure dwellings or mobile homes.
- Pitches have no individual water supply or sewage connection.
- One area per land unit.
- No more than 30 pitches, on one hectare at most.
- Open six months a year at most.
What changed on 1 July 2019
Reference texts: decree no. 2019-300 of 10 April 2019 on rating procedures and decisions, and the order of 10 April 2019 setting the standards and procedure for rating campsites and residential holiday parks.
- Campsite and PRL grids merged into 195 criteria.
- New mandatory non-compensable criteria on condition and cleanliness: a single sanitary block in poor condition prevents rating.
- Inspection now covers the campsite’s rental accommodation.
- Wi-Fi mandatory from 2 stars.
- A website describing and listing the accommodation mandatory from 2 stars.
- Squat toilets are no longer counted in the sanitary inventory.
- Minimum reception staffing required in every category.
The procedure is fully online on classement.atout-france.fr.