Sykes Holiday Cottages Reviews 

Terrible company! Avoid like the plague! We booked a holiday cottage on the 2nd of June, they took our money and cancelled the holiday. There was no communication about the cancellation and we were all packed and ready to leave when we searched for the cottage and found out about the cancellation.
They have still not given us a refund!
We tried to get the money back via my bank and the scammers have managed to get it back. I have lost £320.00. They do it so you have no way to contact them as they keep saying that my reference is not valid.
Please be warned about this company.

We've booked with Sykes 6 or 7 times over the last 5 years and generally had very positive experience. The app is great and having reviews of each property is helpful. 99% of the stays have been wonderful. One was not so good and we had to complain about various issues with a cottage in Windermere, it proved difficult to contact the company over the weekend and took a few days of us ringing and messaging to get a proper response. The complaint was eventually dealt with but as with many companies they seem to need more customer service staff and a bigger team, not just rely on useless pointless AI to respond to customers.
We've just had another brilliant holiday in Cornwall and would highly recommend on the basis of ease of booking, price options and range of properties available.

The house that we rented was amazing! There was plenty of space for our party of fourteen, with a variety of bedroom configurations that accommodated us very well
The facilities were of a very good standard, with something for everyone- especially the children.

The Sykes website was clear and easy to navigate and the property listing was detailed and accurate. Only 30% deposit required to book with good communication on booking and before our holiday.

Easy to book and cottage just as described.

Stayed in holiday accommodation that was damp, dirty and filled with flies. We used a dehumidifier to ease the damp, and daily emptied smelly water from full down the sink. I emailed Sykes 3 times after the stay, and they have not replied at all. Booking.com responded slowly, and eventually offered me booking credits. They both now are not answering emails when I ask for proper compensation. Both companies failed to challenge the owner of the property, and then told me that the owner had attempted to take money from the £400 bond I had to hand over when booking! Appalling. Avoid!!

Avoid avoid avoid. Let me make a booking took my money then cancelled 2 days later. Said they issued a refund and would take upto 30days to receive. It’s been 30 days still no money so got in touch with booking.com and Sykes at not cabcelled the booking and processed a refund to booking.com try to scam you out your money then tell you lies, please try another provider unless you want problems

Incredibly easy booking experience, we had a lovely holiday. The house in the Wye valley was perfect.

simple process booking and the property lived up to its description

Ages from 76 down to 18 months old. 14 of us had a very enjoyable time and would definitely stay there again

Myself and my family stayed at 4 DORETHY AVENUE in Skegness for a week in July. I saw that the property had some bad reviews 2 weeks before we were due to arrive so I contacted Sykes and also the number that was given by the maintenance person. I was reassured that all the issues had been dealt with and the property was fit for purpose bearing in mind it was a disability friendly property and my mother is disabled and I have 2 autistic sons that needed certain requirements for the stay which looking at the pictures of the property it all seemed fine. Until we arrived! At first glance everything seemed ok, until we checked out the beds and the mattress myself and my husband had was nothing but bare springs so I reported that straight away! Then the next morning my parents bed unbeknownst to us collapsed due to the wooden slats underneath the mattress being broken so my parents both fell through the mattress! So I took pictures and reported that so they sent a maintenance man out to repair the broken bits. Then the chairs round the dining table were all falling to peices so they had to bring all different chairs. The groundfloor shower didnt work so they had to send an electrician to look at it to find it needed a whole new shower unit so my disabled mum had to wait nearly 2 days before she could shower. The seal on the upstairs bathroom shower fell off the minute we opened the door, my sons bedroom window handle fell off when he opened the window. The dishwasher had the most stomach churning smell of rotten eggs so we couodnt use that. There was a great big whole in the floorboards near the tv in the living room thats covered by carpet which you could break your ankle in. And besides all that it shows in the advertised pics that the house has a lovely garden to sit in which would've been lovely for my parents as they couldnt get out much be of my mums disability and it was an extremely hot week so they didnt want to be indoors, but the garden is not there anymore they have cut it off and all you have now is a concrete strip and the fence! And the bedrooms are pictured to have televisions in them which my boys needed as they need that stimulation while they were in the house, but no tvs were there when we arrived!
All these issues were the issues that id been assured had been fixed and put right and they HAD NOT!
So the things that I insisted that they came out to put right got sorted but only through me having to constantly message when it should have been done from the start! Im absolutely disgusted by the whole thing! And I also contacted them to tell them that the pictures advertised are not what you get when you arrive to which I got told that its not up to them to change the pictures its down to Sykes! Well they still havent been changed! Ive since contacted Sykes and the maintenance person to say thay I want 50% of my money back die to the upset and discomfort it all caused plus the fact that they are simply not in the slightest bit bothered about their customers or even updating the advertisement for the property and ive been ignored for ages then told the owner of the property isnt giving me anything back because they corrected what was wrong when I told them too!
Well its simply not good enough and il be taking it further!!!!

Ease of booking

We had a lovely holiday in the main but sadly there was an issue in the house which meant we couldn’t use the shower because there was water coming through the kitchen ceiling! The owner was rather slow in responding and we were glad to come home for a proper bathroom. Such a shame as the house was good in other respects.

I have booked one of its client holiday house and got cancellation without getting any notice.
We arrived the holiday home and found it is already being occupied.

The booking is made on Airbnb.
Skyes Holiday is the agent for the host.
And the host own the holiday home.

On Airbnb side, the record is a valid booking.
On the host side, his record is the booking has been cancelled.

I can get contact with both the host and airbnb.
This agent, Skyes holiday, never reply anything.

I will avoid booking any house being managed by this company.

I am absolutely furious with how Sykes Holiday Cottages handled the cancellation of our family holiday less than 24 hours before we were due to leave.

We booked a property through Airbnb in Coalbrookdale, Telford. While packing the day before, Sykes called to inform me that the property had a bed-bug infestation. I was told previous guests had reported it, the owners were dealing with it and the property could no longer be let.

We have three children aged 6, 4 and 1, were travelling with our dog and had already arranged activities in Ironbridge. This was a planned family holiday and could not be rearranged.

Sykes said they would contact Airbnb. However, Airbnb had no knowledge of the cancellation. I called Sykes back while remaining on the phone with Airbnb so both companies could resolve the matter.

What followed was appalling.

The Sykes representative, based in Kosovo, repeatedly talked over me, raised his voice, made me repeat myself and constantly interrupted me.

There were two problems: communication and lack of ownership. If Sykes operates an international customer-service system, it is Sykes' responsibility to ensure customers can communicate effectively during an urgent complaint.

The second issue was failure to take ownership. Instead of resolving it, the representative appeared determined to pass responsibility elsewhere.

He repeatedly insisted Sykes had emailed Airbnb and me and that a dedicated email address had been generated for the booking. Airbnb were listening and explicitly stated they had no knowledge of this email address and had not received the communication Sykes claimed to have sent.

I repeatedly asked Sykes to email me directly confirming the cancellation. They refused, saying they could only use the email address supposedly provided by Airbnb, despite Airbnb saying they knew nothing about it.

Airbnb then asked Sykes to contact them through their dedicated company portal. Sykes refused this too. The situation became circular, and I eventually lost my temper.

Sykes made no attempt to find alternative accommodation. They provided no assistance, written confirmation, named contact or compensation, leaving me to deal with Airbnb.

I do not blame Sykes for the bed bugs. Properties can have problems. What I blame Sykes for is how they treated us once the problem occurred.

A refund is not compensation. It simply returns money for accommodation we could no longer use. It does nothing to address cancelling our holiday at less than 24 hours' notice, disrupted plans or the stress of travelling with three young children and a dog.

Sykes knew the property was unusable and knew we were travelling the following day. It could have taken ownership, apologised, helped find alternative accommodation and offered compensation. Instead, it did none of these things.

I expect Sykes to review its procedures for serious customer problems, particularly regarding ownership, compensation and arranging suitable alternative accommodation. This should include examining why there was no clear point of contact responsible for my case through to resolution.

Sykes should also review whether its approach is appropriate for UK customers booking UK properties, including whether customers should have access to a UK-based representative who can take ownership of serious problems and act as a consistent point of contact.

I expect Sykes to address any shortcomings, acknowledge where its handling of my complaint fell short and provide appropriate compensation entirely separate from any Airbnb refund.

This experience has destroyed my confidence in Sykes Holiday Cottages. I would now be very reluctant to book an Airbnb property managed by Sykes.

If this is how Sykes treats families when something goes wrong, customers should think carefully before booking a property managed by them.

After 4 days still waiting for agent to contact me,all I can say is do not book with SYKES as their customer contact is absolutely appalling. Cannot get them to contact me and as a result have lost full holiday amount that I have paid. What is going on with them .After reading my review Sykes have been in touch via whats app and i have asked for a phone call (still waiting) i have rang the number given but no reply. They wanted booking ref which is 3TS97-26-SA I am waiting for a reply

Great location in close proximity to beach, shops and pubs. Well equipped house.

Great communication from booking to the end of the holiday. Although we didn’t need any additional help from Sykes, it was good to have timely reminders of payment dates and access arrangements for the property as the holiday got closer.
Would recommend and use this company again.

Please do not book through this company, they have the worst customer service I have ever encountered. Last month I made a payment it left my bank and they said they never received it sent proof and they tried to cancel so I double paid and raised a disbute with bank as they threaded me with a £250 cancellation fee. Then they sent an email yesterday cancelling my holiday with no explanation no phone baring in mind we leave Monday in disgusted the child are so upset no refund of £587 received yet so can’t even take them anywhere else. Really horrible experience caused me so much stress and anxiety

We booked a cottage that was nothing like the description or photos. Complaints to Sykes fell on deaf ears and my negative review was never publishef