Lakelovers Reviews 

House decor very dated and in need of a revamp. Wall paper peeling off walls and ceilings. Pictures on website much be very old.
Parking was an absolute nightmare...the website stated ample parking but we visited for 7 days and only managed to get parked on Craig Walk once....they do not tell you on the website that this road is used by town visitors for free parking!!
Stayed in numerous self catering properties and always been given a small welcome pack for e.g. logs for fire, dishwasher tablets etc. We received nothing at this property.
Overpriced for what it is.

We booked a holiday with Lakelovers for my dad's 70th birthday, for the start of May but unfortunately due to Coronavirus we were not able to go. We were only given the option of rebooking and this was clearly communicated to us, so a week before we ended up taking the decision to reschedule to the following year rather than lose our money. Subsequently, the government clarified that these companies should be offering refunds but Lakelovers has refused to give us one. While under the eyes of the law we had accepted restitution by accepting the rescheduled date, any decent and reputable company would have refunded as we had not realised this was an option at the time. While I appreciate that these businesses had a tough time during lockdown, the way Lakelovers handled this was incredibly disappointing and I would certainly not recommend booking through this company if you are looking for self-catering accommodation in the Lake District.

I know there have been a lot of negative reports about Lakelovers but we can only say what we found.

We Stayed in the Brunton Lodge from 11th July for a week and had booked about 2 weeks before we went... This house is fantastic, it was spotlessly clean and has everything you could possibly need.
We loved sitting in the conservatory in the morning looking into the lovely garden having a coffee.
The centre of Bowness is about 3 or 4 minutes stroll down the road where there are plenty of restaurants and pubs... Most with beer gardens.

Hopefully we will get the chance to stay at this lovely house again.

I'd like to start by stating that I have never left a negative review, ever. However, the customer service received has been so terrible that I feel no other choice. We stayed at a property in Grasmere 3 weeks before lockdown. An expensive camera was left in the property and we contacted Lakelovers immediately, informing them of the exact cupboard the camera had been left. No communication received from the customer service team. We chased, called and emailed. We were told each time we called that someone would check but received no calls or emails back. We continued to call and email until lockdown happened. We understand and appreciate that during lockdown nothing could be done so we patiently waited until the beginning of July when they were allowed to reopen. Again we called multiple times and were told someone would check. It has taken them a further two weeks to inform us that the camera is not in the property. If this is the case it means the camera has been stolen by someone else that has stayed in the property or a member of staff. We don't actually believe someone has stolen the camera, based on the lack of care during this process we actually believe that the cupboard in question simply hasn't been checked. I have never experience such constantly poor customer service, a company who clearly only cares about the money and not the customers. While planning to return to the Lake District we certainly won't be booking through Lakelover again.

We stayed at Poets Corner, Grasmere a month prior to lockdown. I left an expensive camera in the property and contacted customer services immediately to tell them that the item was still there. Multiple times they failed to inform the cleaners to check (I even sent a detailed drawing of where it was located), also after a couple of guests had stayed at the property after us at this point. Lockdown happened and I fully understood that it was difficult for the team to send someone out and I would wait to contact them when they were back up. After lockdown bookings had re-opened at the start of July. I contacted the customer service team again to see if they could check the property with answer that they would check and get call me back. They never did and I left a couple of days in between. Constantly I was told that someone would contact me back, which never happened and I had to constantly chase with phone calls. Finally now that they have sent someone to check and the item is now missing. I can only assume that my property has been stolen by a cleaner or someone staying in the property in-between this time. The customer service has been appalling! It is an unfortunate end to something which could have been dealt with effectively when I sent the first email about the item.

Last year in August we booked accommodation through Lakelovers to meet a friend who was coming over from New Zealand. When she cancelled her trip earlier this year, I contacted Lakelovers to ask about moving the date given the virus situation and due to my friend no longer coming whether I could move the booking out of the school holidays. I asked if there would be any admin fees for moving the booking.

This request was via their website and was met with radio silence. In early June when I was due to pay the rest of the money towards my booking, I contacted them again via one of their emails and was told that there was no flexibility with my booking. This is despite a global pandemic and Cumbria stating at the time they did not want visitors.

I have since been harassed by their staff to pay for the holiday that I would like to postpone until later in the year. The harassment is now occurring on a daily basis. On the other side of the world my friend has been able to cancel, postpone or receive a credit for over 30 companies she has booked with for her big trip overseas. I have just one company to contact and they plumb new depths in their contempt for prospective customers.

Despite the Lake District being on my wish list for many years, this company has left such a bad taste in my mouth that I no longer wish to visit and certainly won’t be meeting my friend there in 2021 for her rebooked trip.

As per an earlier review, I have reported them on the following website:
coronavirus-business-complaint.service.gov.uk
There is a simple on-line process to follow.

As you will note from The Trust Pilot website, they haven’t responded to any complaints in 2020.

The one star I have given this company reflects the fact that I cannot give them zero or negative stars. Lakelovers is an appalling company with which to deal, unappreciative, ill-mannered, unwelcoming, rude and aggressive. They have zero customer service and are totally inflexible. BOOK AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Stayed at Fernleigh Cottage for last week in Ambleside. Spotlessly clean, all amenities in house and perfect location to get both in and out of Ambleside. Would strongly recommend.

Do not touch this company with a barge pole. We had a holiday booked with Lakelovers in April, despite the UK government putting the country in lock down in late March Lakelovers refused to refund instead insisting that we rebook in the same property for another date to protect the owner. This is totally illegal ! It’s totally immoral and absolutely appalling customer service. Through no fault of our own, in fact through government restrictions we could not travel and yet they refuse refund. We had another holiday abroad booked with Jet2 holidays and this was refunded no questions in 14 days. Suffice to say I shall never, ever use this company again. Avoid at all costs.

Sorry to say this, but be very careful with this company until they change their policies. Hidden amongst 6,000 words of Ts & Cs are the 18 words "If you cancel the Holiday Let, You are still liable to pay the balance of the Holiday Cost" i.e. even if you have to cancel weeks and weeks in advance, they insist on you paying the FULL balance (if they can't re-let the property). This is not right in my opinion.

We got stranded abroad due to Covid, cancelled our holiday with great sadness before the balance was due (8 weeks before the holiday), and then got told we still had to pay in full. Many, many emails later and the property owner agreed to waive the charge and even refund the deposit in full, which was very good of him indeed, and it did indeed look a beautiful cottage. But any company that treats customers in a crisis that way is not for me. Be careful.

You can't speak with them on the phone and they only send evasive blanket email responses.
They have no consideration towards the COVID19 pandemic and hold customers to account on all aspects of their T&C's.
Refunds are purely reliant on their re-letting of your chosen property whether you give one months' or one years' notice.
They also readily apply hidden costs, security deposits, housekeeping waivers etc.
I would avoid at all costs. Never, ever have I encountered such a devious, profiteering, scam of a company within this industry.

Lakelovers, owned now by Skye Cottages Group have really lost their way for their customers. All those affected by COVID-19 both in their T&C's as well as government guidance should have refunded your money in full. First contact they said we need to ask the owner and recover the money (they could not have sent the money to the owner as the booking hadn't happened yet) then finally they state the owner has agreed to release the funds so we can have a deposit but not of the proportion that equates to their commission!!! The behaviour contracts all protocols as was misleading at best. Not a company i would ever want to trust with a holiday again - so disappointing - let's hope the place we were going to stay starts using someone else...
you can complain at coronavirus-business-complaint.service gov. uk if you were mistreated too.

Lakelovers are refusing to refund all the monies regarding a holiday they cancelled as a result of Covid-19. The T&Cs on their own website clearly states a refund of all monies paid will be made however they appear to be
keeping the commission element (payable by the owner) as a credit. This both contravenes their own T&C and the CMA statement regarding refunds. The battle for a full refund now moves onto the next stage ;

The T&Cs clearly state a full refund will be made.

16. Cancellation

16.1 Lakelovers and the Owner do not expect to have to make any changes to your Holiday Let. Sometimes problems do occur however and Lakelovers (as agents for the Owner) reserve the right to cancel the Holiday Let where
circumstances cause the Holiday Property to become unavailable or
uninhabitable during the Holiday Period, ........ a refund will be made to you of all monies you have paid to Lakelovers in relation to the Holiday Let.

Lakelovers are refusing to refund my deposit on a holiday let, cancelled due to the Coronavirus. Both the agency and the landlord will be compensated by government schemes, so I don't see why I should be a charity, giving them my money for no return. I will be seeking legal advice

Lake Lovers are rogues, like the rest of the companies in the Sykes Cottages group. They are acting immorally and almost certainly unlawfully in not giving full refunds to those whose holidays are thwarted by virus restrictions. For guidance look on Facebook for the Sykes Customers Refunds group. There are other groups too. I have succeeded in obtaining a full refund - it is possible.

I am having some real issues at the moment with getting my deposit returned to me for a holiday this May term. It seems that my only option is to re book for next year. Firstly is anyone else having this issue with Lakelovers? I feel that I am entitled to a full refund as they are unable to offer anything this year as its all fully booked. They are telling me that this is the owners decision, I think that they have a responsibility to their customers and should be refunding this money to me.

Stayed in Bow Peak in Bowness on Windermere
Feb 20. Fantastic property, with some really nice touches (tea, coffee, shower gel, hand soap, washing up liquid, bin bags, hotel quality towels, board games, smart tv, good wifi etc). Great kitchen with everything you could want (except maybe a sieve). Electric heating a bit fiddly but each radiator fully programmable (not dreaded storage heaters either) and so very cosy property. Minor problem with shower which we reported Sat night and was fixed by sunday afternoon which was impressive (especially as there was a major storm happening at the time). Double bedroom was small (no room for chair) which wasn't an issue for us (family with 2 teenagers) but did mean we spread out into the living room. No hard floors in hallway/stairs so coming in with muddy boots/wet gear meant getting everything into bathroom before it dripped etc but that wasn't a problem and gear dried fairly well there overnight (it was v wet even for the lakes when we were there). 5 min walk to shops and some nice walks straight onto hills. 1st (top) floor maisonette and no noise from neighbours. Neighbours below who live there did 'welcome' us to the place with a request to be considerate neighbours (which was fair enough), so maybe not the place if you (or the kids) make lots of noise. Got deposit back from Lakelovers quickly. Overall really great place in a great location. Would go back (and book again through lake lovers) which is always the benchmark

Having booked solely with Lakelovers when holidaying in the Lakes since 2006, and having rented close to 14 properties, you'd think that a small local company would be glad of customers returning again and again? But as far as Lakeslovers is concerned this doesn't appear to be the case. We rented Rose Cottage supposedly close to Ambleside for an after Christmas break since was our first Christmas without my wife's mother and our 9 year olds Gran! In the pictures cottage looked really nice, and for the whopping £1350 Lakelovers charged for this week we were expecting a rather top end cottage, bearing in mind is only sleeps 4 it is a lot of money for a week. Now firstly you're not allowed to enter any Lakelovers property before four, it meant that we arrived after dark. Roads to Coniston were fine, however upon leaving the village roads at some points were single track and completely dark, not a road I'd like to negotiate in snowy conditions, something Lakelovers omit to tell you in the description. Last mile to cottage was down a single track farm lane, making it near impossible to find said cottage. My nine year old is scared of the dark and wasn't too keep on staying here, however we persevered. On finally finding the cottage I was dismayed to see the allocated car parking, it states two cars in description, but clearly they meant two original Minis! Parking area due to wet weather was a quagmire! Property on entering seemed fine, we dumped our gear then went in search of a supermarket. Got lost again heading back! Anyway the bed in the master bedroom, it's matress has seen better days, it offered no support at all and indeed was possibly the most uncomfortable bed I've slept in! My wife has an old shoulder injury and sleeping in this substandard bed aggravated it to the point she couldn't move her arm and was in intense pain. We ended up cutting short our holiday by 4 days to drive home for an emergency appointment at her doctors where she received medical treatment to first of all alleviate the pain and eventually gain movement in the arm. Now prior to leaving I had a good look round this apparent luxury cottage! and there's no way it deserves to be labelled 'Luxury'! There was a kitchen door hanging off, stained carpets, rugs and chairs, scratches all over the wooden flooring, badly fitted bathroom tiles! This property has been done up on the extreme cheap with no budget at all for any future maintenance, and that's before we get to the cleanliness! Someone had picked their nose and wiped it on a wall, there were red wine stains on the ceilings and chairs! Shower door had mould all over it! Carpets looked as if they needed a good clean, no where what I'd expect for a luxury cottage, granted items wear out, floors get scratched, but when a property is sold as being luxurious these items get repaired or replaced! This property is so not worth the money we were charged for it. We contacted Lakelovers while still there and I can only say that the attitude of the staff we spoke to was one of couldn't care less!! They claimed out contract wasn't with them! when it is Lakelovers who take our money! We were assured they'd do something about it, however I've been home over a week and emailed Lakelovers three or four times and no reply!!! Lakelovers make an absolute fortune from renting properties and take close to 30% off people who rent out their properties! and now no longer care about customer satisfaction, just how much money they can fleece out of us! Be wise people, go elsewhere! Find a company who treats its customers with respect, something Lakelovers used to do, but not any more!! When you rent from them, remember that a good percentage of the money they take from you goes into their pockets and not the property owners, plus if you have a problem as we did, Lakelovers couldn't care less!!!

Disappointing ; in the kitchen there was only a bread knife and a blunt carving knife, we had to buy a set of sharp knives to be able to prepare meals. Quite a few of the cooking utensils need to be replaced as the handles had dropped off. The table mats were grotty! Would have been helpful to have a clothes airer.
We have been coming to Ambleside for 30 years, renting holiday accommodation and this was by far one of the most disappointing. What a shame a bit of TLC and a spruce up and the property would have been a much more pleasant place to stay, it’s so dated and tired and quite depressing . Sadly the property did not live up to its billing.
On the up side the location was great.

We rented Lakelodge studio bowness our view from the conservatory was a mass of bramble 20 feet tall. The whole wood and decking was in need of fixing the rails to the steps in the garden had signs saying not to use. The owner advertises a pretty garden my photos are proof if you want a nice garden do not book this property

BEWARE, YOU WILL BE LOOTED AFTER YOUR STAY.
We stayed there for a week and had a nice holiday but after the vacation they have billed us like almost equal to rent though we took insurance.
Here is a summary of what we received, all the figures are mismatching and not true.
Extra cleaning for 2 people for 3 hours – Cost £159

· Extra cleaning of soft furnishing/carpets/showers of 8 hours cleaned by the owner – cost £212

· Maintenance call out for the repair to the shower and the light in the bedroom – Cost £54
maintenance of 1 new rail repair cost £45
· Light replacement from J Lewis Cost £38.50

· Damage to rocker chairs x 2 – Cost £299 each = £598

· Damage to chest and drawers – Cost £132 + VAT

· Extra laundry bill received by housekeeping £21.00

· 5 glasses and silver candle holder missing – Cost £26

· Total cost £1285.50(£300 SD)- amount now sought from the guest £985.50