HolidaycottagesReviews 32

On arrival, doormat was thick with muck, in kitchen, dishwasher was broken light fitting was hanging down showing live wires, all windows when opened revealed black all round the fittings, never been cleaned,,, oven had grease everywhere,, never cleaned,, tumble dryer had fluff infesting the door area,, cooker hood was so thick with dust we wrote "clean me" on it. Toothbrushholder beaker was full of gunge,, I had to clean it myself we contacted holiday cottages plus the cleaning company and the actual housekeeper,,... all promises but NOTHING DONE THE WHOLE WEEK WE WILL not BE BOOKING THROUGH. HOLIDAY COTTS. AGAIN

2 weeks before staying in The OldCoach house, Aberdovey, we were told it was withdrawn for health and safety reasons. We went to Llwyn Onn. Dirty.limited access to garden for those with mobility issues. One tea towel. Dirty oven, washing macine, dryer. Unsafe socket and insafe electric fire. I have vontactedthe owner, the cleaning company and Holiday Cottages. No replies yet. £350 deposit added for accidental breakages. Will I receive it?

All my booking notifications from holiday cottages.com, stated the name and number of the lodge booked. The final email a few days before the the holiday, gave the phone number of the reception to arrange bed configuration. Only when I called the property did I find out that I didn't have a booking at any in any of their properties and the lodge in question was, after the date of my booking, let to somebody else. I contacted holiday cottages and a number of excuses were given including 'We don't make bookings for particular cabins', even though I had a choice on the website and the one I had chosen had parking suitable for my disabled parent. The lady said that the interior of the lodge was the one photographed in their website… it would be as all lodges are identical inside. After chatting with the property managers I was able to find which lodges were also suitable for disabled access. I was offered another lodge by Holiday cottages, which i refused due to access, and suggested the one I had been recommended by the property. It was all very stressful the few days before our holiday. Only for the property managers being so helpful it could easily have been a disaster. I asked holiday cottages for some compensation for this, which they did agree to at a rate of less than 7%. I gave up and accepted it. But I did think it an insult for all the inconvenience and me having to do all the leg work to ensure suitable accommodation. To add further insult it would have cost less than my final amount if I'd have booked direct with the property. Finally if booking with this company I would recommend contacting the owners of any property direct to ensure they have your booking. If I had had no need to contact them before we may have travelled many miles for our holiday and had nowhere to stay.

Good location and easy to find, it suited us as we have friends in the area. Unfortunately we got off to a bad start. We went shopping and when we returned we could not open the entrance door, the lock is faulty and when we eventually managed to contact Dan we told him we weren't happy with the faulty lock. He refused to accept that there was a problem with the lock. The fire door in the bedroom was broken and not able to open in case of an emergency.
The kitchen is poorly equipped with 5 forks and six knifes not many utensils and no Pyrex mixing dishes and limited saucepan's.
Great showers with plenty of hot water, pity they only had rain shower.
The pictures on the website clearly shows sun beds on the decking but when challenged about this the reasons given were that the pictures were 5 years old (no excuse), Dan did supply us with 2 but only for a limited time and they were removed the day before our departure.
All in all these Cottages could be a great asset but they are lacking good management, I would suggest they go to a self catering cottage elsewhere and see how it's done.

Wondered why a cottage was advertised at £650 for one week. But when I tried to book they wanted £670. Then I re read booking form- £20 none refundable breakages. What if I don't break anything who gets the £20? No reply on their poor online chat.
Thought it was very cheeky and scammy to screw another £20.
Anyhow didn't go ahead, so the owner of the cottage could well have lost a weeks booking fee. Not for me these scummy companies.

This company will grab your monies so fast and give no value in return.
As a customer if you complain about a property they do not help nor answer you. As a Lanlord, they will slap on so many hidden fees, you are guaranteed to make a loss.

Very unprofessional and poor company!
Please be warned that this company will take your money. No correspondence whatsoever up until I emailed them asking what do we do as regards the keys. Then two days before the holiday was due I receive a phone call saying I cannot go because it's been double booked. I own two companies and had to put a huge amount of planning in place to make this holiday happen. To make matters worse they say I will have to wait nearly a week to get a refund leaving me having to pay out once more to book somewhere else with another company. Before they claim this is a bogus review my booking reference is *******. The gentleman that telephoned me to break the bad news was both unprofessional and very uncaring and not at all concerned that I was going to warn others about this companies lack of care and poor performance. Holidaycottages.co.uk will never get another booking from myself again and everyone I come into contact with I will advise them also to stay clear also.

Booked with this company to stay in a cottage called "Heatherbrae cottage" in lochinver, on the company website it has 5 star reviews, we had to leave at 2.30am on our first night, the cottage was filthy, towels were stained, bedding stained, floors filthy, terrible smell throughout but the worst thing was inside the cottage was infested with ticks, it was horrific, they were in every room, on the walls, floors and furnishings, I had to pull 9 of them out of my skin within 2 hours, they were crawling on us and our belongings, do not book this cottage and do not use this company, the reviews are complete lies

Won't allow you to cancel, won't accept transfer of holiday dates and will hide this information in T&Cs so they are not made explicit before they take your money. Will use all sorts of excuses not to issue a refund. Horribl company, very dubious and completely unfair. You get better flexibility and value for money elsewhere.

No facilities for holiday rental
It's cold miserable stuck in middle of 2 main roads very noisy
Access to back through a broken gate
Access to place up steps and steep
Drive
Do.not book

We stayed at an expensive property in Instow, Devon which fell well below expectations and needed frequent maintenance call-outs. A critical but fair review was provided to holidaycottages.co.uk which included both positives and negatives.

As the owner did not agree with our feedback, holidaycottages.co.uk have only published the positive parts of the review. They confirmed that this was the case via email.

Feedback does not have to be agreed with. It is a matter of fairness and transparency that reviews are published in full.

Milan cottage is more of an Annexe to a main cottage than a cottage on it's own merits. Neglected and not clean. Property is not dog friendly. The gate to the courtyard is not suitable for small dogs. They could easily escape. No garden for dogs. No views as advertised. Stairs inside properly are extremely steep and unsafe. I fell down them on the first night's stay. Did not fell safe and left on the 2nd day. Complained to holidaycottages.co.uk and they were of little help. Offered me £150 out of their commission. Owner would not even consider a partial refund of the £1300 I paid for the week. In fact the owner did not even respond to my email. Very rude and arrogant. Will never use holidaycottages.co.uk to book future accommodation.

Darrach cottage totally misrepresented
We rented a property Darrach cottage Lochinver week beginning 17th June through holidaycottages.co.uk. When we got to the property it was totally misrepresented, neglected and not clean. We complained and were relocated over 100 miles away to Thurso.
We have asked for compensation, the West Coast was after all our destination of choice, rocky coastline and mountains not moorland and livestock farming in Thurso. The company have refused point blank. The cottage continues to be marketed with the the erroneous information, for example loch views when there are none, play equipment that is broken and dangerous, several acres of garden, quite possibly but totally overgrown and inaccessible.
We will not be using this company again and would recommend no one rents Darrach cottage until improvements have been made.
Tracee Rout

We booked a holiday on the 22 June paid in full had to cancel 2 days later due to a death in the family,to be told we would only receive £88 back from the 956 it cost us,no sympathy offerd just told should have read terms an conditions from customer service,we can't afford another family holiday and can't afford to loose that money they really don't care@!

Went home after only 3days of a 7day holiday cottage was poorly described it was on a busy road with no pavement you couldn't open the front windows due to the noise no view whatsoever out in the garden the beach was a 10 minute car journey away not within a short walk as stated I complained but have been ignored so far the review I left for the property has not been published I wonder why we are very disappointed with this company
Date of stay 27/5/2023

If I could give no stars, I would! Booked a holiday for Christmas, took out cancellation insurance from their site, as they don't give refunds on deposits...Cancelled with 7 months notice! No refund, insurance is pointless as it the customer service attitude of holidaycottages. Not their problem, apparently...£276 down, thanks! I will never book with them again. They've 'looked into it'...changed nothing! Wanted medical evidence that my Dad is likely to be dead by then or at the very least it would be his last Christmas and so I 'd rather stay with the family, not go on holiday. No empathy at all.

Holiday Cottages might just as well tell you from the outset that customer service means absolutely nothing once you've paid up.
Complain the shower does not work, I mean not a drop of water, at the start of your holiday and you are really up against some serious problems. I have been told, by them, they are not responsible for any fault in the property you pay to rent through them, it is another company who you know nothing of thus relinquishing Holiday Cottages of any responsibility leaving you completely helpless. My expensive week away has been a bitter disappointment and I have been left feeling, as far as Holiday Cottages is
Concerned, a customer they would prefer to just shut up and disappear.

Called to ask if two cottages could have the same changeover day (6months ahead and no bookings made yet). Wouldn't even ask owners or housekeeping team. Weird as all the other cottages have the same day. I emailed too, still wouldn't ask, then I get an email a couple of days later offering me the cottage with that changeover day from another rep? 8 wasn't asking for anything unreasonable and I have booked a number of cottages before. I am very suspicious of companies with staff who have no customer service and seem to enjoy speaking as if they are above you. It's no effort to just say they'll ask then say I'm so sorry but we can't [with valid reason]. I won't be using them again.

:( Finally found an affordable holiday place & they don't want my good boy rottie. After I booked I got an email saying there had been a mistake and they only take medium size dogs up to the size of a Lab (of course they're so much smaller than a rottie...) The details don't say that at all, just says one dog. They ask for breed when booking, so it's about him being a rottie but they chose to lie rather than be honest. *******@holcottagesuk if you have a #rottie #rottweiler

I have been trying to get my deposit back since Jan due to husband I'll health the insurance company are not answering the phone get cut off after reaching No 1 in the queue sent emails auto replies saying we are busy owed 654 for deposit disgusting customer service never will book with them again

Anita Hemel Hempstead