Lakelovers Reviews 

If I could not give a ‘No’ star award to Lakelovers I would. After using this company on numerous occasions, sadly neither myself or my family will use them again. On the last two occasions, both cottages we rented had serious cleanliness issues. Lakelovers are just not interested in following up any complaints and fob you off with a,‘ cleaned to our satisfaction’ email. I would be intrigued to see how this level of cleanliness is measured. Well, we have been disappointed twice now and it won’t happen a third time, there are plenty of other cottage rental companies out there so definitely time for a change. Lakelovers won’t take any more business from us.

We booked Rowanberry Cottage through Lakelovers website, which was easy to navigate & received an immediate reply. We have used Lakelovers a number of times & cannot fault them, receiving information of our bookings at all times through email & SMS. The situation of the cottage is perfect, private, peaceful, wonderful views, with fantastic walks within minutes from the cottage, as is the village & bus stops. The cottage was spotlessly clean, light & airy, with every amenity catered for. The rooms are all spacious & there are views of the beautiful garden & fells from the lounge & bedroom. The only criticism we have is that the PIR's in the bedrooms illuminated the rooms whenever there was a movement & disturbed our sleep. On saying that though, we will definitely stay there again, it was lovely.

Clearbarrow Manor - Bowness
I have recently stayed at Clearbarrow in August 2019 with family and friends. First of all the images of the property on the site are very misleading. They were clearly taken some time ago as the kitchen facilities are very different to what they are now as well as the level of cleanliness we arrived to, in no way reflects what you see on the site.
The other major misleading factor is the busy road running past the front of the house which you have to cross to access the parking as well as the garden area. This is made even more dangerous by the fact that the Iron Gate to access the garden is broken and in order to open it you have to physically lift the heavy gate and force it open to negotiate the weeds and overgrown steps into the garden.
The whole property is in a complete state of disrepair. I feel it is completely unacceptable for anyone to be charging for guests to stay here when there has clearly been no investment back into the house for many years. There is paint peeling off the walls in every room. Mould covering all walls in the kitchen, pantry and bathrooms. The fridge freezer is faulty as well as having broken handles on the doors. The shower drains are blocked causing flooding whenever in use. All furniture is very tired, carpets are old, worn and stained. Bath taps broken, remote controls held together with plasters to name just a few. Outside area around the property is overgrown with old dirty garden furniture. Dog muck had been left around the paths from previous guests I presume?
On arrival we had to thoroughly clean the home before we could consider being able to start the holiday. All cutlery, glassware, crockery had to be washed before use, the cooker was black with dirt. There were cob webs throughout the house on all furniture, cupboards, skirting boards etc. Faeces left on toilet seats. I do not believe there had been an attempt to clean this property other than the fresh bedding and tidying up. I hoovered the carpets and they looked marginally better which makes me think that they had not been hoovered before we arrived??? I would consider this very basic.
To top it off the one afternoon we did stay at the property we spent in the garden and discovered the septic tank was overflowing and had been for some time. Disgusting, health hazard.
After having to look very hard to find some reviews on this property I did find a small handful all complaining about similar things so it appears the feedback is not taken on board and whilst people continue to book accommodation here I imagine nothing will change. Disgusting for any price to expect people to stay here for a holiday.
I would not have this on my site as it is very bad for business. It is carless if agents are not checking the standard of the property’s they are advertising or that basic cleaning standards are being met. We have used lakelovers before however will not be using them again.

Very disappointed with lakelovers customer service or lack of it. Our daughters booked a 3 night stay as a surprise in July. Unfortunately due to health reasons it had to be cancelled. We missed the 4 week deadline for cancelling by 2 working days therefore had to pay full price as stated in the T & C's (or if it had been rebooked 80 GBP admin fees). This was a big issue but the way the staff dealt with it was unprofessional and incompetent with a negative attitude. The booking was cancelled by email on 18th June after a phone call to the accounts department. The email went into 'spam' folder which I was told by Vanessa was checked daily by her team but not by other teams! This delayed the re-advertising of the property until 24th June. I got penalized for missing a deadline of 2 days by 100 % and they missed the email by 6 days with no apology or consequence. The team said the booking would be 'boosted' which in fact meant re-advertised along with the other 327 'discounted' properties at the time.
I went onto the live chat on Friday 21st June requesting to see if the property had actually been cancelled with a response from a member of staff of 'we are closing for the weekend, someone will get back you you on Monday' (not an automated response but from a member of staff) and NO-ONE DID! I spoke to Vanessa who said if 'I got off the phone she would be able to follow up my query", very unprofessional and instead of pacifying an upset customer she exacerbated the situation. I repeatedly asked Vanessa to CC my daughters into emails which she didn't. I constantly had to contact them for follow up, no-one contacted me without me initiating contact first. I got an email 4 days before the booking date requesting permission for the property price to be reduced to 750 GBP when the original cost was 729GBP, (this was after a follow up call from me). Vanessa did mention this was a typo but why wait until 4 days prior to reduce the price with so many properties available? My daughter wrote an email stating how unhappy we were to the owner of lakelovers without any response. Lakelovers state they 'pride themselves on providing great customer service' which was unfortunately not the case for us. We didn't have travel insurance to cover the booking as it was a surprise from our daughters and I hadn't know about the trip prior to my diagnosis. Overall a very stressful situation made worse with exceptionally bad customer service and no follow up but thats okay as they received the full payment!

We stayed at smithy cottage, Bowland Bridge 3/8/19 for a week. Good location with a nice garden. When we arrived at the cottage it smelled strongly of dogs in the lounge area and the carpet was full or dog hairs. The place itself was rather grubby, cobwebs, dirty windows inside etc. Wife spent 2 days cleaning it but still smelled.Didn’t look as good as it was in the pictures. No locks on thebathroom door, sofa that sags when you sit on it. Lakelovers and owners apologised for this when I complained and said it wasn’t right, I was offered £50 voucher of my next booking valid for 12 months . When I said I wasn’t happy with this (I paid £700)and I might not be retuning in the next year I was sent a cheque for £50 instead. I give up,

Just had a wonderful week at Garth Cottage. It is beautifully decorated and very comfortable. We were lucky with weather and enjoyed the garden.
Lakelovers, as always, were very professional and helpful to us.

The location of the cottage is perfect. Very clean, well-equipped, decent wifi. A shame that Lakelovers doesn't supply even a bar of soap, initial washing up liquid or initial wood for the wood burner which would set up a more ambient environment especially for the first night of arrival. It does say this in the T&C but arriving after 4PM as one must, it leaves little time to get equipped for the first night. The fridge was very small (under-counter) and there were no ice trays. However, the worst thing about booking with Lakelovers - unlike many other agents - is that whenever you book - even 6 months in advance - you must pay a £200 security deposit upfront which they can keep until 21 days after you have vacated the property. These little 'touches' get one's back up, whereas if they took the deposit from your credit card, say, the day before your booking, together with supplying basic amenities, it might attract you more to the company. Having said that, the criticism is of the company, not the cottage.

Lakelovers are like the curates egg good in parts. The description of the apartment was accurate and using the website was easy. However a couple of weeks before our holiday we were told that there was a Visit England inspection due on the Wednesday between 10am and 4pm we didn't need to be present. I wasn't very happy about this and telephoned the office to discuss my concerns. The person I spoke to wasn't particularly empathetic and said she would discuss my concerns with the owner and ring me back. This didn't happen and it took two follow up calls to speak to someone who did seem to understand my concerns. The compromise reached was acceptable, the Visit England inspector would be accompanied by someone from Lakelovers and I received a cheque for £30 in compensation for the inconvenience. We had to call out maintenance during our stay and this was very efficient. I am pleased that I opted to pay the £28 housekeepers fee rather than have to wait for the deposit to be returned, waiting 21 days is truly unacceptable. My overall impression is that customer service is low on the list of priorities and that you have to persevere to get issues sorted. I will not be booking through Lakelovers again as there are many similar organisations who value their customers and don't charge deposits against possible damage.

The holiday letting agency staff were very professional and helpful. However, despite them advertising refunds of deposits in 21 days (which is of itself far too long in an electronic age) we had not received the deposit back some 4 and a half weeks later.... and we're still waiting.

Reply to Lakelovers response.
I did speak to your customer services staff. I finally received a refund on 26 May for a holiday that ended on 22nd April. No apology. No explanation. No goodwill gesture.

Very efficient & helpfull staff.
My only problem is why it takes 21 days to refund the deposit.

Just returned from a lovely weekend break staying at Above Town in Ambleside. We would totally recommend a stay at this property for its location, facilities including a large homely kitchen & modern bathroom & very comfortable living room & bedrooms. The views of Ambleside from the property are priceless. Thank you to Lakelovers for a professional, thorough service, we will be back.

Just come back from a wonderful stay at Jessica’s Cottage, Bowness-on-Windermere.
What a gem of a place - tucked away up a steep lane rising out of the town, within walking distance from the great shops and pubs of Bowness-on-Windermere.
The cottage itself is fabulous, very neat and well equipped.
The Lakelovers staff were very helpful and attentive when I needed them.
It’s out third time booking through them and will definitely go through them again!

We’ve stayed with Lakelovers twice this year, both times at ‘Infinity at Browhead’. The property was lovely, we’ve always found Lakelovers to be really helpful and this time was no exception. When we visited in January this year, we had to get their maintenance man for an issue (Keith) and he was very helpful.

We stayed at Columbine cottage in picture perfect Hawkeshead . The cottage was well equipped and clean, and in a central position .We booked on the internet for the first time, and had no problems all the emails came in due course .We have been staying in the lakes for 40 years and this is the first time we have used Lakelovers it will not be the last

My family and I stayed at Thrang View in Chapel Stile and had a wonderful holiday. The accommodation was well equipped and in a stunning location with fabulous views from all aspects. There were lots a walks from the doorstep and a pub and small shop both within a two minute walk from the bungalow. The booking process was simple and Lakelovers sent helpful texts with information before and during our stay. We didn't have any problems so had no need to contact Lakelovers during our stay. Would highly recommend both Lakelovers and Thrang View.

Would highly recommend lake lovers have used their services seven times each time the cottage were of good quality clean well equipped and in great locations wouldn’t look anywhere else. Oak cottage is an outstanding little cottage in the centre of Bowness perfect location

As a family with age range from 9 to 65year olds we would recommend Miyanli as a base for a fantastic time irrespective of the weather.The house is roomy & very comfortable,a real home from home. It's in a superb location for town centre, promenade & The Dales Way. Fantastic views from Biskey Howe ( literally just across the road within wooded area , & Brantfell a steady 30 mins walk with climb. Stunning garden over several levels., which is not overlooked by nearby house.
The only downside to the property was our having to leave. Many thanks to both Lakelovers & owner of Miyanli for a property which won our hearts. Ann & family

Online booking system with Lakelovers was easy and straight forward, Lakelovers kept in regular contact via emails and text messages leading up too, during and after our stay to ensure we had all of the information we needed including informing us of some travel disruptions on the m6 before our holiday that may have effected our journey which was very kind of them. Thirlmere cottage where we stayed was clean and well presented, we definitely will use Lakelovers again and will definitely be back to Thirlemere cottage it was a beautiful place to stay with stunning 360 degree views, you really felt you were in the middle of no where, yet in reality you were no more than 15 minute drive from either Ambleside or Keswick

Shocking customer service, the worst I have ever experienced. Lazy staff that can’t be bothered to help you over the phone. They ask you if you have checked your emails in a patronising manner rather than trying to deal with the query itself. When pulled up about coming across as patronising they accuse you of being rude and tell you they are going to hang up. When calling back and finally speaking to a supervisor about the incident the conversation included the comments “The person you spoke to isn’t like that”, “I don’t want to be piggy in the middle”, “Well the heat is getting to people”, “I’ll listen to the call recording if I can find my headphones” and finally “I’ll call you back”. Still had no call back. Not impressed 😡 Also double checked and I had never received the email they said was sent.

Brunton Lodge, bowness
What a home this is, very well equiped and the ammount of toys/ games for the little ones is amazing.
We spent most of our time either in the garden or conservatory but the lounge & dining room were just as nice.
Booking with Lakelovers was very easy as was the communication from them.
I will definitely be booking through them next time we come up to the Lake district