Lakelovers Reviews 

Lakelovers has devolved from a lovely Lake District holiday cottage company. Only recently did I realise they had been acquired by Sykes, possibly the worst holiday company going! Used Lakelovers for years, recommended to family and friends, not anymore. Had to cancel a holiday due to my niece getting covid, contacted LL and they couldn’t wait to cancel it, the cottage was back on the market within 20 minutes, once cancelled they didn’t want to help at all, useless! I requested my insurance policy, to which was told LL didn’t have, even though bought through them, the insurance company (through Sykes) informed me LL could only provide. Unless you don’t have any standards whatsoever, steer clear of these cowboys.

My son booked Muirhead at Applethwaite hall 10th September for myself and my wife as we were celebrating his wedding on the Monday of our stay.
Arrived Saturday evening and were very disappointed on arrival due to the poor standard of cleaning & temperature in the rooms.
When unpacking our food we found that the fridge needed cleaning as the door seals and shelves were dirty, and every cupboard door had a thick layer of dust on the ledges. The toaster also required cleaning before use, as there were remains of the previous occupant's food inside.
The dish-drainer was in a disgusting state so we did not attempt to clean, and placed it in the dishwasher out of the way.
The washing machine detergent draw and door seal had not been cleaned (possible dog hairs).
There was broken glass (faced away from view) in the cupboard (no shards so knowingly placed) - had a child found this they could have been seriously injured; There was also several chipped & cracked cups in the cupboard which should have been replaced.
All the doors had dust on the ledges which can be seen in the photos.
The bedroom door handle screws were hanging out and could have cut your hand - this indicates no cleaning has taken place on the handles.
The shower door seal was also filthy, and metal shower shelf for toiletries was covered in rust which transferred to anything placed on it - we had brought special items for the wedding which would have been covered in rust |(completely unusable).
My wife has severe osteo arthritis so cannot do without the shower shelf so placed an expensive cloth over to protect the products, the cloth is now ruined.
The bathroom storage holders were also dirty,
The heating is pre-set at 19 degrees in the rooms and 16 degrees in the hall, the kitchen radiator is broken. Lake lovers supplied a stand-alone heater for the kitchen. When trying to override the heating (which Steve Rainer at lake lovers suggested) it immediately drops back to the pre-set temperature. This heating is controlled by the owners via a Hive system from their home, and also contains motion sensors next to each radiator which drops the temperature if it does not detect movement. I don't come on holiday for someone else to control my heating!
We were both uncomfortably cold, and with a disability such as Arthritis we found this unacceptable.
We are both 67 years old suffering with osteo arthritis (Age UK stipulate that the temperature in a living room for over 65s should be a minimum of 21 degrees.
We spent most of Sunday cleaning before attending my son's wedding on Monday.
We visited the Lake lovers office on Tuesday and Steve Rainer took our complaint, we showed him the photos of the issues and in his words this was totally unacceptable.
Steve asked if we wanted a cleaning team sending out, I said we had already cleaned the property as much as we could.
Steve organised for maintenance to attend the property to repair the heater in the kitchen and to try and override the heating.
Maintenance arrived the same day, they could not repair the heating in the kitchen and left a free standing heater for us to use.
Maintenance said they would contact the owners to override the heating as he was unable to do so.
At 9.30pm the same evening my wife was so cold she was sitting in the living room with her Scarf and coat on.
In our opinion the heating was never changed.
There is a 9am leaving policy for a Covid deep-clean, with occupancy unavailable until 4pm (leaving a 7 hour cleaning window).
Before leaving we were expected to strip the beds, remove towels, remove rubbish, load the dishwasher, all before 9am - I am unable to see what the cleaning team have done on top of this given our experience.
We attempted to vacuum the hallway, but the smell of dog from the vacuum would have engulfed the house - This obviously requires new filters.
We came on holiday needing a break, and went home needing a holiday, very cold & tired.
When I returned home I sent the photos to lake lovers to investigate our complaint, several days later I received this communication from Gemma at Sykes cottages.
The information she gave was totally untrue.
Contacted Lakelovers on Wednesday 22nd regarding this communication and Sue said I would receive a call back from Steve.
This did not happen.
Contacted Lakelovers again on Wednesday 22nd and Judie said Steve would have an answer for me on Friday 24th as the case was being investigated.
This did not happen.
Contacted Lakelovers again on Tuesday 28th and Dee said Steve was on the other line and he would return my call.
This did not happen.
Contacted Lakelovers again on Tuesday 28th and Geo said that Steve was the maintenance person and he would not be dealing with this,
No replies or apologies from Lakelovers or the owner.
Totally shocking company.

Mr Holcroft

Hello i was staying in ambleside and had booked a trip on a bus with mounting goat . I was told they stop at water head so as I was not sure if it was near the booking office for boat trips i ask a member of the boat crew and he said i don't know I don't work for them. as he is there 52 weeks a year i am sure he must have seen there bus if it stopped near the booking office . he was just a job.s. worth and yes thebus did stop near the booking office. (sum people want to grow up)

I hadn’t been to the Lake District for almost 50 years. Honey Cottage must have last been decorated around that time. When we arrived, the front door was in an appalling state and needed a re-paint. Sadly, the same was true of the rest of the cottage. Ancient furniture and 1960s decor. The building had obviously once been part of a large house, then broken up into bed-sits, then stitched together as a cottage. It reeked of a landlord who couldn’t care less, especially in the current staycation COVID boom. We are experienced holiday let owners ourselves, in both the UK and Spain, but Honey Cottage is by some distance the worst holiday let that we have ever seen. Even the small courtyard garden hadn’t been touched for months. Utterly awful.

We had a late booking for a property in Ambleside but unfortunately had to cancel because of my wife's mother's deteriating health. Took out the insurance upon booking (£40) but did not receive any policy or policy number upon booking confirmation (which apparently I should have). It turns out the insurance is with a 3rd party company and not with Lakelovers/Sykes.
The insurance company sent out a claims form which is ridiculously long winded and quite intrusive as to my mother in laws health history. Unfortunately my mother in law died and I am awaiting a death certificate to prove that to the insurance people. As I knew the property had been re-let on our dates (for more than we had originally paid) I asked Lakelovers where my money had gone and they said to the owner of the property. So I asked if the owner had been paid twice for that week and they confirmed this and did not even try to get me a refund as "it is in the smallprint".
They said that is why I paid insurance????
Do not be conned by this company as we have been.
BOOK ELSEWHERE.

We stayed at a lovely property in a fantastic location. Great views from the garden and lovely walks from the door. So far so good.
Inside was acceptable in the main and many small details were addressed like spare bulbs, batteries etc. We only realised on the Wednesday that there was no smoke alarm upstairs (and no evidence of one ever being there), and also no carbon monoxide alarm in the house which is disgusting as they are a legal requirement and we unwittingly spent 4 nights without. Downstairs there was one smoke alarm in the dinning room and a place in the hallway where another had been removed. So one smoke alarm in a big house. Minimum requirement is one on each floor. We reported this and it was rectified by Lakelovers very quickly which was good. However we wonder how long this issue has been going on for and how many people have stayed at the house without adequate protection. We asked why this legal requirement was not checked properly before we started our week and didn't get a satisfactory reply. All we got was a comment from maintenance department saying they were 'surprised we didn't spot it sooner'. Well, I obviously did a better job spotting it than whoever is responsible for safety. We didn't get an answer to who was responsible nor an adequate apology for the issue.
Many of the double glazed units were misted making the view out misty and there was only one small meat roasting tray for the oven and no other oven trays or tins for the lovely large oven. We had to buy some ourselves. Some previous guests had also commented on these points in the visitor book along with a comment that the house was a bit 'tired', and we would have to agree.
On stripping the beds to leave we found some badly stained pillow protectors and a stained mattress, something also commented on in previous feedback.
We did have a nice week at despite what I have written but the unfortunate but avoidable issues are present and disappointing to find. It is a place we would have loved to stay at again but now won't be doing so.
The conclusion is that Lake lovers will take your money without fully vetting the properties on a regular basis.
This company used to be a lot better but seem to be putting profit first and customers second.

Stayed with Lakelovers lots of times but the quality has dropped since they were taken over by Sykes Cottages. Twice arrived at cottages in the winter to no heating. One with tepid water which the heating engineer said must have been so for weeks.
Now a summer visit, WIFI down and called in twice, and being completely ignored.
If you book with Lakelovers you'd better hope that everything runs perfectly because their customer care is abysmal. The worst thing you can do in the field of customer care is ignore your customers when they ask for help.
Rubbish service!!!

I booked a week at Craftman's Cottage in Hawkshead (30th July to 6th August 2021). On arrival the property was filthy despite Lakelovers reassurances that properties would be deep cleaned in line with guidance related to Covid19. Cleaners had been as there were clean sheets on the bed and bleach in the toilet but that was about it. The whole property was thick with dust, hair (per and human), food splatters and crumbs all over the kitchen. Spent 3 hours trying to clean up, the vacuum cleaner barely worked and had been left full of hair and dust. The cupboards were also full of hair and dust as well as random muddy boots and clothes. Bathroom smelled strongly of damp and washing machine was full of pet hair. Multiple light bulbs did not work, taps were loose and there was no warning that the hot tap in the kitchen was actually an instant boiling water tap (and no safety mechanism to prevent scalding). Notice to advise of bin collection date was wrong and small outside seating area was also filthy (covered in pet hair, mud and cobwebs) to the point of being unusable. The only saving grace was the location and the weather, if the weather had been bad we'd have left early as could not bare to be in the property longer than necessary.

Serious safety concerns about the fumes from a leaking oil boiler (Gunpowder Cottage, Elterwater) were reported to Lakelovers upon arrival on Saturday 3 July (took 30 mins for someone to pick up the phone). I asked Lakelovers to send someone to come and check the boiler but the boiler was left unchecked until the Monday afternoon. So we had to have all doors and windows open as the fumes were so strong it smelt like a petrol station and you could taste it in your mouth. On Monday afternoon the leak was fixed albeit the smell of diesel/oil lingered the rest of the week and the drying room was out of action as it vented from the boiler room. Despite numerous emails to Lakelovers they have failed to engage with me. I am seriously thinking about contacting the Health and Safety Executive as I find it difficult to understand how Lakelovers can be so dismissive over such a serious safety issue. A shame as the cottage is otherwise lovely but the response (or lack of one) from Lakelovers is worrying.

so, we booked a weeks holiday in The Craftmans Cottage for 1 week 12th - 19th June and once i’d unpacked at home i realised 3 pairs of new men’s shoes had been left under the bed inside a black sports bag …. as the cleaners now have to do a deep covid clean and have about 7hrs to do this i was confident they would have been found - i first spoke to Ewan after ringing Lakelovers to report this, then i spoke to Dawn, Beth and Lisa all of them promised to get back in touch with me and that they would chase the cleaner up asap — each time no one did get back to me and each time i was waiting up to 20 minutes to get through to someone — finally 30 days later after me getting back in touch with them, i was told the shoes haven’t been found !!!! This level of service is appalling, i feel completely let down by Lakelovers and will never be booking with this company again.

We recently stayed at Thyme out cottage in Troutbeck. This is the second time we have stayed at this cottage. Unfortunately this time our stay wasn't what we expected. Firstly, there are building works being carried out in a large garden across the road from the cottage. Diggers starting work at 8.15am which could be heard inside the cottage. Our week was then cut short, as on Wednesday we received a phone call from lakelovers to say the owner wanted to have roof repairs carried out on the Friday and they needed scaffolding to be erected in the garden to the back of the property on the Wednesday afternoon. When we arrived back to the property the scaffolding was in place. The scaffolding was right outside our bedroom window and lounge windows. We wouldn't of been able to enjoy the use of the garden in peace and our privacy inside the cottage would of been non existent because of the works right outside the main windows. We informed lakelovers that we would vacate the cottage two nights earlier, therefore cutting our holiday short. We were offered one nights accommodation refund. We've emailed lakelovers several times and not one of our emails has been responded to. We've always used lakelovers but the lack of customer service this time will deter us from booking through them again.

Unfortunately lakelovers are now owned by the sykes group. We arrived at our accommodation to find it had not been cleaned with piles of dirty washing and bedding. These things sometimes happen but what angered us most was waiting 20 minutes on hold...getting cut off....and so resorting to drive to their nearest office before they closed. There seemed to be some confusion followed by a half hearted apology. Someone arrived to clean later but we had to 'quarantine' her to the bathroom and bedroom only. They need to sort out their telephone and customer service as there are lots of new letting companies appearing....which we intend to make use of.

Very disappointed that the cottage we booked(langdale view) was full of misinformation on the website. Says there's a garden there isn't, also isn't a games room which they said it did, also on the photos make it look like you have a private grassy area on the edge of lake windermere with a jetty but upon arrival you find that it is all fenced off with padlocked gates and that it is actually private land you can not access. It also states that the lake is a few minutes walk away via a garden gate but this has now been changed on the website after we paid and there is no short way down to the lake. We also brough our boat expecting to be able to use the jetty so this was hugely disappointing. Over all i do regret booking this cottage with lakelover i highly recommend using a different company for your get away.

Croft cottage in Windermere is a very well equipped house. My only criticisms are it’s quite noisy at night due to being on a main road. There wasn’t any sun loungers there were 2 small sized deck chairs and 2 wooden picnic tables which were not that comfortable, there was 8 of us including a 4 year old and an 18 month old. So we had to lie on the grass. The house didn’t have a Hoover, a brush, or a mop so was difficult for us to clean up after ourselves. The only other thing I will say is I was very disappointed that we were told we had to strip the beds completely on our last day, after paying nearly £2000 for 6 and a half days, we were supposed to be on holiday! I don’t think we will be staying there again. We did find dirty tissues down beside the single beds in the front room and some sweet papers under the sofa in the lounge, so not as spotless as we thought.

Mill Cottage Ings - This cottage is not as advertised. The photos are nothing like the inside. It is as tho someone prepped the cottage for photos, removed the furniture and replaced with some old stuff. The fridge was dirty, mug marks in the bedroom. Crockery left in the dishwasher. The bed has a dip and a tear in it with metal poking out. The bedroom is white covers with no cushions or bedspread, or side cabinets, light as per the photo. The living room has a purple sofa, no coffee table as per the photo. Bulbs were blown and or didnt work. The the description informs of luxury furnishing. It hasn't any. Outside there is a static caravan to the side and cars around. I contacted Lake lovers on the 19th the day after arrival. no response. Chased up on 20th - they forwarded my complaint to somewhere - yet to hear back. We stayed just 2 night and left. It cottage isn't what was expected and the owners need to up their game.

I have to say, Lake Lovers were very reasonable when, last year, we had to move our booking to this year. We have just returned from our stay in Grasmere. The cottage itself is lovely, in a quiet location and in easy reach of the centre of the village with its own parking. Just to note: We couldn’t really eat out much due to restrictions and mostly cooked in the kitchen. The cottage had 2 bedrooms but there was just the two of us.
When we opened the door I could smell bleach but also a musty smell. I had high hopes of a clean cottage due to ‘extra’ cleaning re Covid. I soon realised that this wasn’t the case. The lounge had dog hair over the coffee table lamps, fruit bowl and skirting, there were stains down the doors and stains down the back of the radiator in the bathroom. The upstairs bedroom had mould which got worse as the week progressed (I assume this was why we could smell bleach on arrival). Due to my asthma issues we had to move to the downstairs bedroom. There was flaking paint (due to damp I think as no room above) on the dining room ceiling that fell onto the table every day. The lounge furniture was old and one of the chairs had a broken leg. The mattresses and pillows were very basic and not very comfortable.
The kitchen was overall okay but the extractor didn’t work, the oven fan screeched on occasion and the frying pans were in a poor state.
We met the owners when we were leaving and they told us that they are removing the cottage from Lake Lovers, to manage it themselves particularly because of the issues with cleaning. They said the cleaning staff were given such a limited time that they couldn’t possibly clean it. I also think that the cottage had got damp and musty during lockdown which hadn’t helped.
I just hope the cottage we have booked for September is in a better state when we arrive otherwise I will be avoiding Lake Lovers (Sykes) in future.

We absolutely loved cobblestone cottage it was clean and cosy as well as being excellently situation within the town centre of Ambleside. Although parking was remote it wasn’t a problem as a permit was provided and waiting for us within the property.
A really enjoyable experience that we would recommend to anyone despite Covid restrictions there were plenty of great dining outdoor experiences (we did book ahead for some), and a great selection of takeaway food within walking distance.

AVOID. We used them a long time back and it's not improved. Before I start I will state I have tried to find reasonable and acceptable resolution and they won't even send the requested conditions to me for raising a complaint (which we did immediately on arrival). If Lakelovers reply with any message about trying to resolve this or contacting me then it is utter rubbish. For clarity this is a review both of lakelovers and 'The Loft' in Windermere which for avoidance of doubt is '12A'.

On arrival we saw the cleaners cleaning the front door, they had NO PPE (which is to protect guests as well as the cleaners) despite all emails saying they have gone the extra mile to ensure safety - what utter lies. We notified Lakelovers of issues at least 4 times whilst at the property, possibly more and when I tried to call I was on hold for 30m with no answer and the first reply I got from anyone was a week later. I also tried to call several times after this including when arriving back home and again, on hold 30m, no answer. They even had the cheek to say all issues should be raised immediately and that I had not done so - they have not explained how emailing and calling them numerous times with no reply whilst at the property wasn't considered contacting them. We are very frequent visitors to the Lakes and plan to move there some day, but this is not how you treat customers or run a business, so here goes...

Firstly the bathrooms are NOT luxury. They might be modern in look only but NOT luxury as the descriptions states - you expect to pay this price for a well done and well maintained property, which this is not. They are very cheaply done, the bathroom has major ceiling water damage (from the shower above no doubt), the window has NO LOCK or CATCH. I had to make one from a spoon and peeler - this in it's own right invalidates our insurance for holiday theft. The shower over the bath is more over the taps - make sure you've stretched first. The en-suit soaks the floor given when the door is open the shower is on the outside of the door. No heated mirrors (bulbs didn't work either), no heated floor, cheap flimsy loo seats, flimsy shower door - as I said, not 'luxury'. Where next.. the beds ...

Mattresses are knackered, topped with toppers to make them feel comfy but very very very bad for your back. The sides are heavily compressed meaning, they are knackered and the 2nd room even had them upside down meaning the springs were in the kids back until on the 2nd night they complained and I took a look. The duvets, except one, are very very VERY cheap £9.99 ones, almost of that nasty disposable material - very nasty, the pillows the same, I wouldn't give these to a homeless shelter quite honestly. The windows, single glazed, metal frames - the rooms are very noisy with road traffic. The blinds in the spare room - there is one covering one side of a 3 sided window - what use is that ! The blind has been fitted so the 'breezy' Louvre glass slats can't be opened either when you do need airflow. There is little storage especially in the main room for clothes, the one small brown chest of draws (more a side table) is totally broken and falling apart. We lived mostly out of suitcases, the spare room did at least have a chest of draws in it, there is hanging space but some items need draws. Look up to the ceiling and the roof light (no blind) is thick with mould too. So, what next.. on to cleanliness...

Well, one wipe of a loo saw the cloth thick brown - utterly disgusting. The cups and glasses in the kitchen, utterly gross with finger prints and lip marks all over 7 of the glasses in the cupboard. We ended up spending the first evening cleaning (and having to buy the products to do so). There is NO hoover or broom, something else we asked for If you did happen to break a glass (we did not) how are you supposed to clean it up ? By the end of the 6 nights (at £200 per night - I have rented better houses for this price ), the floors are not pleasant as you can not sweep or hoover them. If you are planning to work using wifi, don't bother. We could not stream a SD Netflix film for the children without constant buffering, no doubt the cheapest possible broadband package has been subscribed to. I ended up buying more data and tethering my Apple TV (I brought with me) to my mobile phone.

I could go on, but really I think this says it all both about the property ('the Loft' @ 12A) and Lakelovers who once they took the money didn't reach out to help for a week after our first contacting them. The owners, appalling from all accounts. This is not how you treat clients and not how you build a business. I have since asked to be removed from their database as I won't be trying a 3rd time for luck. My advice given the lakes is sought after and sometimes hard to book, shop around, really do, and avoid lakelovers which appears to now be under Sykes - good luck.

Do not stay at Greengarth, Ashtree Avenue in Keswick!

You are surrounded by hideous bitter locals who hate anybody who dares to stay in “their” road. They make your stay as unpleasant as possible. It started with building noise until 9pm each night until I confronted them, twice, to get them to stop.

They then made sure they started drilling and hammering at exactly 8am the next day. This continued until we were obviously up and awake when it mysteriously stopped.

Vile hideous pathetic place and people. Lakelovers response was non existent. Will never come here again (which is exactly what the locals want) and will never use Lakelovers again.

Like other recent reviews I have been appalled by their complete lack of flexibility. We have a holiday booked from Fri 9th April for 7 nights. Obviously, we can only go from Mon 12th April.
They have a policy of no partial refunds which in normal circumstances I would completely understand; however, in the current climate you would think that asking for a refund for the three nights we aren't legally allowed to go would be acceptable.
My favourite response from the Lake lovers call I had was that '4 days over Easter is the same price as 7 days usually'. As someone who regularly stays for 4/7 nights in the Lakes in high season I politely pointed out that was rubbish and maybe he should have prepared a better backup excuse to explain their unwillingness to be flexible i.e they simply can't be bothered. All I was asking for, was for them to contact the owner on our behalf to ask if that when we arrived they would be willing to refund us for the three nights.