Lakelovers Reviews 

We recently left some belongings in a cottage rented from Lakelovers (our fault). I rang on Monday 29th July following departure from the cottage on Friday 26th, and was told they would look into the situation.

On Friday 2nd August I rang again. The member of staff looked at the case and said she could see that nothing had been done - the details had not even been passed to the relevant department. She said she would pass the details on and someone would call me.

Over a week later, on 12th August, I rang again. I stayed on hold for 40 minutes before using the 'ringback' facility. They rang back and I explained the situation. They said they would speak to the relevant department, and then put me on hold. 30 minutes later I was still on hold; I had to hang up owing to a meeting. I rang back again following my meeting and was on hold yet again without speaking to anyone. I have again requested a ring back.

It seems I have no choice but to visit the branch in Windermere in order to get some clarity on this. Absolutely appalling customer service.

We stayed in The Nook, Keswick. Booked with Lakelovers for a family holiday.

The house is about a 10 minute walk into Keswick, with parking for 2 cars. The extension part of the house is nice, some poorly cut flooring around this area and the kitchen could have done with a good clean tbh. The garden was nice as well.
The downstairs bedroom smelt badly of damp, we then noticed black mould on the bedding later in the evening which was shocking to say the least when paying these prices. There was also mould on the roman blinds and the en suite smelt worse.
The washing machine was thick of black grime in the seals and it reeked as did the dishwasher, the waste catch basket was fully of other peoples food.
Anyway, we had a good holiday until then whilst driving home I received a text claiming damage to an upstairs room we were not staying in but our adult kids. I called the owner, asked for photos which were sent via text, he claimed it was nail varnish, I looked at the photos and 1 looked like a hand print, where someone had corrosive product on their hand/glove, the other no idea but looked like the same, well enough to strip varnish off wood furniture. I questioned it with the owner, he then changed it to milk and then the last one changed on the quote to water damage. The funniest thing about this whole situation was, I was last at the bedside table before leaving and there was no damage, oddly though on the photo it had been cleaned. It is obvious the owners cleaners did the damage, now trying to get the money back from us.

I logged a complaint to LL about the mould, the owner just apologised. The owner wanted £200 damage with zero proof, no time stamp on the photos and they hand it over. We will never use Lakelovers or their master Sykes cottages again and we have used them for 12 years and never caused damage.

Fabulous house, fabulous location, fabulous facilities……. Everything was just fabulous !

Beautifully furnished, made very homely with thoughtful touches for a really relaxing stay. Such a beautiful home and location. Few lovely treats when we arrived. Fresh milk, tea,coffee biscuits. Easy to find with the directions given. Car parking around the corner. All the Instructions for use of kitchen facilities as well as tv, bathroom, log fire and rubbish disposal, were all easy to follow and much appreciated. Pristinely clean. Near to the center of Penrith so not far to the shops and flat as I struggle with walking far. I can't recommend the Hideaway Cottage enough.

Lakelovers et us a holiday home that had no heating or hot water. - It is illegal to rent out a property that is not fit for purpose! Spent 3 days of our holiday ringing them and asking for this to be fixed but we were met phrases such as 'this is out of our hands' and plenty of excuses. The company won't even compensate us for those 3 days, they have offered a 25% refund for the 'inconvenience caused'. Absolutely awful company to to deal with from start to finish. Unhelpful staff, lack of communication and very hard to actually get hold of. The property itself aside from having no hot water or heating was also dangerous as live wires were sticking out of plugs etc. Things a managements company should not be over looking. I have nothing good to say about this company or the properties they 'manage' and I urge everyone to avoid booking with them.

We went to Biskey Steps in Windermere 2-9 September 2023. I raised serious issues on arrival about dangerous outdoor steps, no lock on the outer door, the lock in the inner door very difficult to lock/unlock, inaccurate/incomplete information on parking, General standard of the property and outside space poor and inadequate customer service/support. We came home early because of the distress. I followed this up with a written complaint on 9 September with photos and received a reply basically saying they ‘note’ my comments and would pass them to the owner.I followed up with an email on 23 September which has Also received zero response. How best to pursue with this wall of silence?

We have just come back from a fabulous long weekend in The Lake District staying at High Dow Crag in Coniston. I’ve just read some very bad reviews for Lakelovers, but this property and the way it was managed was just absolutely perfect. From the moment we arrived at the property with a bottle of Prosecco waiting for us, along with coffee pods for the Lavazzo machine it was just perfect…absolutely perfectly clean & tidy and everything had been thought about. This is a first floor apartment that we knew about beforehand, we also knew that it was a mile or so out of Coniston, but the setting was perfect…so quiet & rural. Everything about the cottage was finished to an extremely high standard and there were so many aspects that made it feel like a home from home. We cannot rate High Dow Crag or Lakelovers highly enough…exactly what we were hoping for, and exactly what we got!

Staying at wainwright - please avoid if you are next in after us!
When we arrived the boiler was leaking and it had overflowed all over the kitchen.
The front door frame was rotten and covered in cobwebs.
The hob ignition was broken and a cigarette lighter was left as a fix - needless to say super dangerous!
The garden is tiny, damp, dark and full
Of weeds.
The upstairs ‘terrace’ has old sodden Astro turf, which stays soggy and damp even in good weather - again needs some serious tlc.
The upstairs en-suit is suitable for children or adults under 5 foot!
The main bath room has no shower and so all 4 adults have to share the upstairs shower which is fine if you are less than 12 stone. But don’t leave the shower running as the tray floods and overflows.
The shaving light is broken.
The rug by the fire smells of feet.
The washing machine is so loud you can barely hear!
The furniture needs replacing, old and grubby.
All in all the house is a disappointment. Nothing some investment by the owners couldn’t rectify, but judging by the non existent customer service offered by Lake Lovers, complaints are futile!

The cottage was fine but Lakelovers customer service was dreadful. They were being extremely difficult for no apparent reason. It defied all logic. The simplest interaction for a routine procedure turned into a saga. Really odd behaviour. Inexperience and a stroppy disposition from a younger member of staff made a simple situation difficult. I will try to avoid in the future. I have notified the owner of the cottage.

Lakelovers were both professional and efficient in handling our holiday at Home Farm Cottage at Hutton John. The location was fabulous and the cottage lovely and warm with sumptuous beds and luxury baths and showers. Our German Shepherd and French Bulldog adored the beautiful bird garden.The resident red squirrel visited everyday for his nuts ( kindly supplied by the owners,the nuts I mean! ) which topped of a special holiday for us all. All in all the service by Lakelovers was excellent. Andy.

Stayed with Lakelovers last year with my partner and we had the worst experience ever!!! I phoned to make sure everything was booked and we were all good to go back in 2020. We got the all clear that it was booked and they “looked forward to having us” I then traveled 4hours to the Lake District in 2021 at the correct time and correct place I was supposed to be staying only to find someone else staying in the cottage I booked… I phoned lake lovers help line and it took them 4 hours to figure out the problem!!!! At this point it was dark and cold and we were stuck in the middle of Ambleside with no where to stay! By the end I was told that we would have to stay somewhere else that they would pick!!! After all this I accepted this property because it was cold and I was tired from driving. After our holiday I drove to the Lakelovers office and was promised compensation… obviously I did not get this after numerous phone calls and emails trying to fit my right! DO NOT STAY WITH LAKELOVERS! Absolutely shocking company and appalling customer service!

The property itself was nice and as advertised even if there were a few maintenance things that were highlighted in previous reviews that were still not addressed. Unfortunately my 82 year old father broke a stool whilst sitting on it and it was also claimed we damaged a plastic draining board rack. This is not the issue, the issue is the customer service around this. Initially it was called a drawing rack, when we questioned what this was the response just called it a drawing rack again and said pictures would be sent as proof. To cut a long story short the information we were given about what it was and when it was reported by whom changed every time we asked a question. They do not respond to your question, they should be in politics with the way the ignore the bits they want to and answer what they want. I have never been treated with such disdain by a customer service team. In the end they took £16.99 for the rack which did not actually need replacing at all, we never even noticed any damage. They did this before the proof they promised and only after more calls and messages did I get anything. It seems that poor service is a common feature if things don’t go perfectly for your stay.

Was advised that the property next door had some work being done but majority would be done before the stay - wrong it was like a building site
The cleanliness was not satisfactory - egg and shell on wall next to bin - mould in the shower - floors filthy - the trays to cook in were disgusting and god knows what bacteria they contained
On complaining the decision by owners was that it was not an issue - even though photo's sent
Recommendation is to not use the property - Lakelovers (or Sykes Cottages) looked into but are only guided by the response from the owners so about as useful as a chocolate teapot

We have been staying in No.20 Eskin Street/Keswick now for 9 years, ever year and Lakelovers/Sykes are getting worse. We have just left the property and paid the deposit £600 for next year 2023. Amongst the group members, we found the week before the one initially booked, is £500 cheaper so we called within 48hrs, of the Internet booking to try and alter the booking and dates.

We were informed that the deposit would be forfeited and would they would have to cancel the booking and we would have to rebook. No "admin" fee or the like. For regular customers of nine years, I felt I had to add to their shocking Negative feedback and look forward to a response from them. I always dealt with the groups booking, but after four years of Lack of Customer service I handed it over to another one of our group of 10. Maybe that's why they changed their name, but the invoices and contact details are still Lakelovers..

Thought I was booking a cottage the day before arriving through Lakelovers. It turned out that it was actually Sykes. In the 24 hours we first looked at the cottage to booking the price went up. Apparently this was linked to the number of views we had made before booking.

On arriving at the cottage(which was lovely) we found construction work taking place 4 feet from the door. It was so loud the workers wore headphones. The work started at 8.30 and went on unto 4.30 every week day. It was impossible to stay in. It was clear from complaints in the guest book that the work had been going on for over 4 months but at no time were we informed.
On trying to rectify the situation Sykes made the whole process difficult. Ten days later we did get agreement to a small refund(still tore made 14 days later) however the amount of correspondence it took to get that far made us realise we were fighting a losing battle. Awful customer service.

Phoned Lakelovers Windermere office to ask if they could arrange for Champagne to be placed in a holiday cottage (as a surprise) in advance of one of my colleagues staying there. I was told that was a nice gesture and that they would transfer me to the right department to arrange it. I was transferred to their head office who told me that they did not offer this service due to the cost and effort of someone having to arrange it. I'm sure one of the housekeeping team could have arranged this and it would have made for an excellent guest check-in experience. Clearly Lakelovers aren't interested in going that extra mile for customers.

Avoid,avoid,avoid. I will never book another holiday through Lake Lovers (Syke Cottages). We visited Old Rigg Farm, in error we left some belongings behind. We contacted customer service 2hrs after we left and where advised that they had located the good and they required £15.00 to return them to us. 12 weeks later, 25 calls, 25 failed callbacks I was advised that they had sent our belongings to another guest in error. 2 weeks later they decided they had enough of our case and where closing it. At no point was I offered a refund or goodwill, to say they lack customer service is an understatement. I cannot stress enough that you should avoid booking with this company.

Went to appartment in Ambleside in September. On arrival the placed looked clean but soon realized how filthy it was. Cobwebs everywhere and dead spiders ! The dust was thick. We paid an extra £35 for cleaning fee. When we returned home we complained to Lakelovers and attached photos. They just informed us there is nothing they can do as we did not inform them when we were on holiday. The only reason we didnt inform them is we didnt want to spoil holiday and have to stay in for them to inspect. We were disgusted with their reply. We have stayed at this appartment many times and never had any problems. All i can put it down to is this new company Sykes that has taken over. We will never be booking with Lakelovers/Sykes again ! So stay clear.

Had to complain about our rental property, Langdale View at Windermere..
Lake Lovers took the details and said they would contact the property owner with a view to compensation( paid over £1300 for one week early October 2021).. I have chased Lake Lovers a numerous times and they just say the same thing, they will contact owners again.
They take no responsibility for any problems and do not do anything if the owners do not bother replying. Total waste of time. I will not use them again!

My partner and I were due to stay at a Lake Lovers property from October 29th to 01 November. We were due to attend The OMM at Langdale, it was cancelled due to severe weather. On the advice of the local council and many tourist organisations in the area we decided not to travel due to severe weather in Cumbria and around Keswick in particular. However on contacting Lake Lovers they refused to move the booking or refund the booking, they insisted that there was no issue with flooding and that we should still travel to the cottage. This advice was in direct conflict with official travel advice and therefore we didn’t travel to the accommodation. The customer service and lack of empathy with the situation were very poor and I wouldn’t recommend dealing with this company. I will not be booking with them again having lost £540.