HolidaycottagesReviews 32

This booking agent website hides the full price and adds on many charges. If you choose the Fully Refundable option over the cheaper non refundable option, they pocket the difference in price and won't refund it, claiming it is a separate payment you made to buy the fully refundable option without making it clear that "Fully Refundable" does not mean fully refundable.

I arrived at 1 Richardson Court, Whitehall Landing Whitby on 11 July 25 at 4.30pm. By the door were a number of key safes but none for Flat 1. I had noted the passwords but I had not printed off the instructions (I don't have a printer) and had not brought my computer with me. I tried to find a phone number on Holiday Cottages' website but to no avail. I needed to know where the key safe was and suspected some sort of scam. I found a 'chat' facility and sent a message. It was now about 5.20 pm. I waited and at about 5.45 got a message saying that my chat had been ended because I was 'unresponsive'. The operator had left the office. The 'unresponsiveness' was probably because I was in the deep valley of the River Esk and surrounded by high buildings, thus poor signal strength.
I admit that I should have read the instructions more carefully, and noted that the key safe was 'in the bin store' but I didn't. In short, when I really needed help, absolutely no help was available and I felt treated with disdain. The result was that I, in my seventy eighth year and disabled, had no option but to drive back to my home in Cottingham, a round trip of about 140 miles to read the instructions and note the words "in bin store".
My suggestion is that you start the instructions with the words "the pass code for the bin store is 'abc123' and you will need this to access the key safe" I returned to Whitby the next morning but needed the day to recover. The remainder of the holiday went well.

Just back from our break at Priesthaughburn. I've never been so disappointed in such a lovely looking cottage. I certainly didn't expect to have to hoover the whole ground floor to clean up previous occupants dirt half an hour after arrival. The cottage could have been cleaner. It needs a full deep clean. There was a large collection of dead flies up above a window in the conservatory. I understand it's in the middle of the countryside and you're going to get flies but that had been there for weeks. The bathrooms upstairs had them on the floors too and hadn't been swept up. I was struck that none of the bedding had been ironed and was very crinkled and the zip on the duvet cover in the master bedroom was broken so the quilt kept coming out the bottom. The fan in that bedroom was broken. There were dirty handprints on the windows of the downstairs bedroom and the soap dish and shower head the downstairs toilet fell off the wall. The Aga in the kitchen was visibly dirty on top and the surrounding tiles hadn't been cleaned in a while. The top oven also belched out thick smoke and we had to have all the windows open as we were trying to cook pizzas for 7 adults it was very difficult with only one small oven available. The other part of the Aga was out of service as was the wine cooler and fire. There were also dirty oven gloves in one of the drawers. The bbq was dirty from previous use which we had to clean. One of the legs on the couch in the living room was broken and was held up with a brick. The high chair was filthy inside and out and I had to scrub it hard with bleach and the mattress on the travel cot has mould on the side of it. I contacted Mandy who offered to come and replace the duvet on the Sunday but I told her not to bother as we'd be away on the Monday and I wasn't prepared to wrestle with a king size duvet after all the cleaning. I contacted her on Saturday night to explain about the problems with the Aga but all she could do was apologise and say she'd contact the owner. She never got back to me. I don't expect this kind of service or to have to clean someone else's house when I'm paying a fortune for 3 nights to stay in it. As I said it needs a full deep clean. I think they need to find new cleaners as it looks like whoever cleans it is just glossing over it. I even had to empty other people's filth out the hoover before I could use it. Also some of the cushions in the living room need replaced as they're are lots of catches and loose threads. I'm sorry for the large email but I'm just not used to this as in the many holiday cottages I've stayed in over the years I've never experienced anything like it!

On arrival, doormat was thick with muck, in kitchen, dishwasher was broken light fitting was hanging down showing live wires, all windows when opened revealed black all round the fittings, never been cleaned,,, oven had grease everywhere,, never cleaned,, tumble dryer had fluff infesting the door area,, cooker hood was so thick with dust we wrote "clean me" on it. Toothbrushholder beaker was full of gunge,, I had to clean it myself we contacted holiday cottages plus the cleaning company and the actual housekeeper,,... all promises but NOTHING DONE THE WHOLE WEEK WE WILL not BE BOOKING THROUGH. HOLIDAY COTTS. AGAIN

2 weeks before staying in The OldCoach house, Aberdovey, we were told it was withdrawn for health and safety reasons. We went to Llwyn Onn. Dirty.limited access to garden for those with mobility issues. One tea towel. Dirty oven, washing macine, dryer. Unsafe socket and insafe electric fire. I have vontactedthe owner, the cleaning company and Holiday Cottages. No replies yet. £350 deposit added for accidental breakages. Will I receive it?

We left Rascarrel Bay lodges in the 4th of July and now 18 days later I am still waiting for my £150 refund, I have sent numerous emails and had very little response from you. We have been coming to Rascarrel Bay for 8 years but I don't think we will be returning after this has left a bad taste

Good location and easy to find, it suited us as we have friends in the area. Unfortunately we got off to a bad start. We went shopping and when we returned we could not open the entrance door, the lock is faulty and when we eventually managed to contact Dan we told him we weren't happy with the faulty lock. He refused to accept that there was a problem with the lock. The fire door in the bedroom was broken and not able to open in case of an emergency.
The kitchen is poorly equipped with 5 forks and six knifes not many utensils and no Pyrex mixing dishes and limited saucepan's.
Great showers with plenty of hot water, pity they only had rain shower.
The pictures on the website clearly shows sun beds on the decking but when challenged about this the reasons given were that the pictures were 5 years old (no excuse), Dan did supply us with 2 but only for a limited time and they were removed the day before our departure.
All in all these Cottages could be a great asset but they are lacking good management, I would suggest they go to a self catering cottage elsewhere and see how it's done.

Wondered why a cottage was advertised at £650 for one week. But when I tried to book they wanted £670. Then I re read booking form- £20 none refundable breakages. What if I don't break anything who gets the £20? No reply on their poor online chat.
Thought it was very cheeky and scammy to screw another £20.
Anyhow didn't go ahead, so the owner of the cottage could well have lost a weeks booking fee. Not for me these scummy companies.

This company will grab your monies so fast and give no value in return.
As a customer if you complain about a property they do not help nor answer you. As a Lanlord, they will slap on so many hidden fees, you are guaranteed to make a loss.

Very unprofessional and poor company!
Please be warned that this company will take your money. No correspondence whatsoever up until I emailed them asking what do we do as regards the keys. Then two days before the holiday was due I receive a phone call saying I cannot go because it's been double booked. I own two companies and had to put a huge amount of planning in place to make this holiday happen. To make matters worse they say I will have to wait nearly a week to get a refund leaving me having to pay out once more to book somewhere else with another company. Before they claim this is a bogus review my booking reference is *******. The gentleman that telephoned me to break the bad news was both unprofessional and very uncaring and not at all concerned that I was going to warn others about this companies lack of care and poor performance. Holidaycottages.co.uk will never get another booking from myself again and everyone I come into contact with I will advise them also to stay clear also.

Booked with this company to stay in a cottage called "Heatherbrae cottage" in lochinver, on the company website it has 5 star reviews, we had to leave at 2.30am on our first night, the cottage was filthy, towels were stained, bedding stained, floors filthy, terrible smell throughout but the worst thing was inside the cottage was infested with ticks, it was horrific, they were in every room, on the walls, floors and furnishings, I had to pull 9 of them out of my skin within 2 hours, they were crawling on us and our belongings, do not book this cottage and do not use this company, the reviews are complete lies

Won't allow you to cancel, won't accept transfer of holiday dates and will hide this information in T&Cs so they are not made explicit before they take your money. Will use all sorts of excuses not to issue a refund. Horribl company, very dubious and completely unfair. You get better flexibility and value for money elsewhere.

No facilities for holiday rental
It's cold miserable stuck in middle of 2 main roads very noisy
Access to back through a broken gate
Access to place up steps and steep
Drive
Do.not book

We stayed at an expensive property in Instow, Devon which fell well below expectations and needed frequent maintenance call-outs. A critical but fair review was provided to holidaycottages.co.uk which included both positives and negatives.

As the owner did not agree with our feedback, holidaycottages.co.uk have only published the positive parts of the review. They confirmed that this was the case via email.

Feedback does not have to be agreed with. It is a matter of fairness and transparency that reviews are published in full.

Milan cottage is more of an Annexe to a main cottage than a cottage on it's own merits. Neglected and not clean. Property is not dog friendly. The gate to the courtyard is not suitable for small dogs. They could easily escape. No garden for dogs. No views as advertised. Stairs inside properly are extremely steep and unsafe. I fell down them on the first night's stay. Did not fell safe and left on the 2nd day. Complained to holidaycottages.co.uk and they were of little help. Offered me £150 out of their commission. Owner would not even consider a partial refund of the £1300 I paid for the week. In fact the owner did not even respond to my email. Very rude and arrogant. Will never use holidaycottages.co.uk to book future accommodation.

Darrach cottage totally misrepresented
We rented a property Darrach cottage Lochinver week beginning 17th June through holidaycottages.co.uk. When we got to the property it was totally misrepresented, neglected and not clean. We complained and were relocated over 100 miles away to Thurso.
We have asked for compensation, the West Coast was after all our destination of choice, rocky coastline and mountains not moorland and livestock farming in Thurso. The company have refused point blank. The cottage continues to be marketed with the the erroneous information, for example loch views when there are none, play equipment that is broken and dangerous, several acres of garden, quite possibly but totally overgrown and inaccessible.
We will not be using this company again and would recommend no one rents Darrach cottage until improvements have been made.
Tracee Rout

We booked a holiday on the 22 June paid in full had to cancel 2 days later due to a death in the family,to be told we would only receive £88 back from the 956 it cost us,no sympathy offerd just told should have read terms an conditions from customer service,we can't afford another family holiday and can't afford to loose that money they really don't care@!

Went home after only 3days of a 7day holiday cottage was poorly described it was on a busy road with no pavement you couldn't open the front windows due to the noise no view whatsoever out in the garden the beach was a 10 minute car journey away not within a short walk as stated I complained but have been ignored so far the review I left for the property has not been published I wonder why we are very disappointed with this company
Date of stay 27/5/2023

If I could give no stars, I would! Booked a holiday for Christmas, took out cancellation insurance from their site, as they don't give refunds on deposits...Cancelled with 7 months notice! No refund, insurance is pointless as it the customer service attitude of holidaycottages. Not their problem, apparently...£276 down, thanks! I will never book with them again. They've 'looked into it'...changed nothing! Wanted medical evidence that my Dad is likely to be dead by then or at the very least it would be his last Christmas and so I 'd rather stay with the family, not go on holiday. No empathy at all.

Holiday Cottages might just as well tell you from the outset that customer service means absolutely nothing once you've paid up.
Complain the shower does not work, I mean not a drop of water, at the start of your holiday and you are really up against some serious problems. I have been told, by them, they are not responsible for any fault in the property you pay to rent through them, it is another company who you know nothing of thus relinquishing Holiday Cottages of any responsibility leaving you completely helpless. My expensive week away has been a bitter disappointment and I have been left feeling, as far as Holiday Cottages is
Concerned, a customer they would prefer to just shut up and disappear.