“Premium price, less than premium experience.”
It was a good location, and on the surface, looked good. There were maintenance issues including - flashing kitchen lights; flashing /not working rt hand light over bathroom sink; hot tap on bath had to be held to turn on and off - not good when it was hot; button on bathroom sink hot tap detached; grey settee in front lounge - spring gone? - down at one side; general rubbish bin outside - totally full on arrival.
Cleanliness - downstairs loo very offputting, even after several flushes with what looked like faecal stains; plenty of cobwebs and dust etc along skirting by bed/back of bedside cabinets, suggesting inadequate cleaning; on arrival - black bits in bath - may be blown in if window had been opened, but as you would have to stand in bath to operate the window, obviously the muck was just left - also on shelf between cistern and toilet bowl. Bad staining on mattress protector on queen bed.
Minor points - the kettle is very heavy for anyone who is not super fit in upper body. Kitchen blind over the sink hopeless for anyone under 5'5 to reach and pull up/down. Shower lethal - bath mat would be helpful to be obvious.
Those issues are about the cottage. In what was not even a full week with a clear message early booking in was out of the question, it felt like being short changed to receive a message when it was too late to react to say the cottage was available earlier. Never had any of theses issues with Sykes before. Very disappointed.
I’m very sorry to hear that you had a few maintenance issues during your stay. We were unaware of these until after you had left. We do encourage guests to let the main office know as soon as a maintenance issue arises so that the staff can pop out to fix it asap and enable you to continue enjoying your stay.
We try to provide a few spare lightbulbs (under the kitchen sink) to be helpful but again, the main office can assist if guests need help with this.
The bath tap is just a cottage quirk I’m afraid! It turns the opposite way to normal. However, I shall put a note nearby to alert future guests and prevent it from loosening further. Thank you.
The downstairs toilet and main bathroom were newly installed in the last year or so and the kitchen partially refurbished. All are still spotless. (The shower mat is provided in the vanity cupboard under the basin).
I see that early check in wasn’t available in advance on this occasion although Sykes will accommodate a request whenever possible and it was offered on the day itself when available in case helpful to you. This is not something we have control over and is down to the order in which properties are cleaned and prepared and whether guests are vacating the cottage on the same day, to ensure the cottage is fully ready.
Property Owner
