Sykes Holiday Cottages

Negative experience: I haven’t even attended a Sykes holiday yet but this is just a word of warning for those booking with them. Do not fall for their “£20 Deposit” gimmick. I booked a cottage for 12 people with 6 months notice and now 4 people have dropped out through work commitments, if I want to cancel, they’ll still want £790 as a cancellation fee. They say if you cancel you lose your deposit but your “real” deposit isn’t £20, it is of course a larger sum. We’re now forced into booking an oversized cottage with fewer people for over £2500 or face a fee of £790. Experience has been soured already. When I asked if we could change the cottage we booked they said “no as you’ve booked with that cottage specifically”. A very expensive lesson learnt, will never use them again. If I can find any defence for them, it is at the bottom of their “booking” email, but in tiny print right at the bottom of the email in their T&Cs. A well designed trap.

Negative experience: I am incredibly disappointed with Sykes Cottages. I booked what seemed like the perfect place for my family to celebrate New Year, and we were so excited. Their system took the payment, confirmed the booking, and everything seemed set. Then, out of nowhere, I was informed that they weren’t actually accepting bookings. This is appalling customer service and shows a complete lack of care for their customers. If properties aren’t available, they should be removed from the booking system, simple as that. Leaving unavailable properties online is misleading and causes unnecessary stress and inconvenience. What’s worse, is that now we’re left scrambling to find alternative accommodation at the last minute, which is going to cost us both time and money. People make plans around confirmed bookings, as we did, and this kind of careless oversight ruins those plans. If the issue lies with property owners not updating their availability, then Sykes should hold them accountable. It’s unacceptable to let customers down like this. I would not recommend Sykes Cottages to anyone and will certainly never be using them again.

Fantastic experience: Just booked another holiday with Sykes Cottages, Kate was very helpful on the Chat Line. Always had good experiences with Sykes Jinnie Edwards/Mike Cox

Negative experience: Shocking service from this company be you customer or owner! All they are interested in is your MONEY!! Nothing else matters. Dont answer emails, give confusing information very disorganised. My advice is to give them a very wide bearth!!!

Fantastic experience: Excellent booking experience. First time Ive booked with Sykes and found Debora, the member of staff I spoke to, very helpful, informative and most pleasant indeed. Am looking forward to my first holiday through Sykes reassured that my booking is in good hands.

Fantastic experience: We have used Sykes cottages several times . Easy to book properties, lots of choice of accommodation . Have found Sykes to be cheaper than other holiday cottages . Would definately recommend to others.

Fantastic experience: Please note that this property has already been booked by another member of my family using another site, so it has been double booked. Please refund my deposit. Thank you . Maureen McDonald

Fantastic experience: Booking online was very straight forward and it was good to see that there was plenty of support information on the website given as needed to answer those questions that invariably arise when making a booking of this kind. A very smooth and easy process indeed.

Negative experience: After numerous attempts to book via the Sykes app (as many emails have invited me to do) I gave up and booked via website - thus not getting the discount the emails were offering! But I did not want to miss out on a particular cottage. Please, if you are going to promote an app, make sure it actually WORKS!

Negative experience: Very poor I phoned you on the 29th November to tell you of a new payment card you took £1 on that card to set it up but you still took the second payment from the old card!! I'm not happy I can't say the word service because I haven't in my words had a service from you apparently I am the customer but have not received customer service you need to find out why my request was not auctioned. Yours unhappily. Dionne Douglas.

Negative experience: Unhelpful people, impossible to make contact after you’ve paid. Used a cottage which was poor, left a polite and honest review to help others, it never made the light of day. This means they filter the reviews, not good.

Fantastic experience: Very easy to book. We use Sykes Cottages every time because they are such a helpful and easy company.

Fantastic experience: Whispering willows is a lovely ‘home from home’ in a great location on the cayton bay site. Lovely and quiet and handy for all the local amenities. Great service and communication from Sykes and the owners Sam and Phil. Will definitely be back. Dave and Rachel and family x

Negative experience: Having used Sykes for several holidays we will never use them again. Every time there are issues with the advertised details not matching the reality and Sykes simply say - contact the owner. They are also very rude when speaking with us. Buyer beware….

Negative experience: Avoid if you can. Bad customer service.Money grabbers, don’t want to see customers happy. I used Sykes 20 times this year (2024) as I am a nômade and was lucky to not need any assistance but when I did my situation was ignored and not solved. I requested to transfer a booking that I paid low deposit to another property and they said I must pay the full deposit and then book another property and pay again! Customer cannot cancel and get refund but property can withdraw the booking any time as it happens to me with 3 weeks of the holiday time. Sykes seems to pick and choose what reviews show on their website as I ve placed two bad one there and they are not showing . Will do my best to use other companies from now

Negative experience: Not good I am disabled and booked on Friday, then thought I would check I could get in to the building on the Monday. Only to find I could not as my mobility scooter was not allowed inside the lift to get to the apartment so I had to cancel. Only to be told the owner would not return my deposit of over £400. And the insurance won’t pay me back either. Buyer beware.

Negative experience: Booked a fair few cottages with Sykes over the years either myself or with friends On our last holiday we had an issue with the owner taking £100 from our "good housekeeping" bond for a lock/mechanism on a patio door which had failed. I was not provided with any evidence of misuse (because there wasn't any) only photos of the stripped down door I contacted sykes as soon as the money was taken from my account and was passed from pillar to post, very much a not our problem attitude, after a few emails, a phone call with Jershinal and a WhatsApp chat I stopped getting replies Seams they are fine to take your money and to allow owners to fraudulently take more if they so desire. Poor effort Sykes

Negative experience: I’m afraid the handling of a recent complaint has been shocking to say the least . Our young family (with children aged 2 and 4) needed somewhere to stay due to renovations at our own house. We stayed in this cottage for 3.5 weeks. The day before the end of the stay I noticed some green spots creeping up a wall behind 2 chest of drawers and on pulling out the furniture discovered horrendous mould behind (see photos). We had another upcoming stay booked in the same cottage and for obvious reasons cancelled this as it would be unsafe and unpleasant to stay there again. The company have refused to refund the cancellation fee despite the condition of the property. They had the nerve to state that the issue was caused by lack of ventilation of the property. We ventilated the property a normal amount given that it is autumn and we have 2 young children. The fact that they tried to blame this excessive damp/ mould issue on a family that had stayed for 3 weeks and just lived a normal family existence there is beyond shocking and they seem to have no understanding or compassion regarding the situation. This issue must have been pre-existing and it appears it was hidden by furniture. Having spent several thousands of pounds with this company a simple gesture of waiving a cancellation fee given horrendous and unsafe hidden mould seems like the least they could do. I would avoid as if any issues crop up they seem unable to assist sensibly and then close the case and advise taking it to small claims court.

Negative experience: When directed to the payments page of your website in order to pay the deposit, the default position was that the entire amount was due (deposit plus balance). I had to untick this and manually enter the deposit amount in a separate greyed out box. Nowhere on the page was the deposit amount mentioned. The unwary could end up paying the entire amount six months too early. This is sharp practice to say the least. I shall avoid using Sykes again.

Negative experience: Totally useless company. Lived in a cottage for 6 weeks and didn't realise it was riddled with damp until we noticed some behind a fake plant. Pulled the chest of drawers out and decided to cancel the next 2 weeks stay. They slapped on a cancellation fee even though it clearly states 'free to cancel'. Of course they are classic crooks and say it's in the small print to pay the £120 cancellation fee. Idiots. We will be taking them to a small claims court to get the money back as the property was no long inhabitable. Will also be reporting to trading standards for letting out a property with massive damp issues.

Positive experience: we should not have to download the app to learn how to get hold of a key to get into the cottage. it should be on the booking confrimation, not on the click into the app to find it!!! I do not download apps!!

Positive experience: easy to use but would be handy to be able to select ground floor bedroom /bathroom ect in the search as my partner is disabled. also wanted rural location and had to scroll through lots of unsuitable places. however not to much of a problem.

Negative experience: I found the whole process of booking a holiday cottage with Sykes very frustrating as for some reason I was unable to log into my account. After several failed attempts I contacted the company directly in order to help me. There appeared to be a great deal of confusion regarding my booking, which was eventually resolved, and I was able to make a full payment for my holiday directly with the company. I have now received all of the documentation for my holiday, but still feel uneasy as to whether the booking is actually valid. This has not been the best customer service experience for me, and I'm unlikely to use Sykes Cottages again and try as much as possible use my regular cottage booking options with other company's in the future.

Negative experience: We stayed in Sennen skies using Sykes cottages in Cornwall and were billed for £60 for make up on bed sheets The cleaners also sent fake photos of a different bed saying we had stained the sheets. The photo of the bed was not even in the property. We had stayed here twice this year costing £3000 minimum. Because they had to wash the sheets after our 7 day stay they decided to add in an extra £60. Sykes cottages took £60 from our card even though they knew that the photos were not from the property.we stayed in. Decide yourselves if you want to stay here and use this company Regards

Negative experience: YOUR SYSTEM LET US BOOK SUNDAY TO SUNDAY, YOU CANCELLED WITHOUT CALLING US, WHERE IS THE FULL REFUND AS IT'S NOW BEEN OVER A WEEK SINCE YOU CANCELLED ON US AND STILL NO MONEY BACK ON THE CARD AND NO WAY OF CONTACTING YOU SINCE YOU'VE NOT REPLIED TO LAST MESSAGE!

Fantastic experience: We have used Sykes holiday cottages for several years. The booking system is clear and easy to follow. We have always been impressed by the superb quality of the cottages, a key reason for our choice.

Fantastic experience: Straightforward and hassle free booking process, supported by comprehensive web-based information.

Fantastic experience: Deb in reservations was fabulous. Extremely helpful, explained everything clearly and concisely. Make sure I had understood everything before moving on. Fabulous service

Negative experience: Cannot get any help. Listing not quite as shown-mattress isn’t made for a proper stay. Currently afraid of power being shut off during stay-had to get Air BNB involved. Please help us, we have called every listed number. We are in Holyhead and need help. I feel sorry for employees at this company. They have to scam people for profit.

Negative experience: I would never book with Sykes cottages again. The owner cancelled our holiday with 6 days to go knowing there were 11 year old children involved because I politely pointed out an inaccuracy in their accommodation details (which they immediately updated). Sykes and the owner agreed to compensation of 10% as they agreed this was unreasonable. I have the agreement in writing. It was 2 weeks before they refunded my original booking (leaving me to pay for the replacement in the meantime) and then they refused to honour the compensation. The customer service is shocking. I am constantly told to contact them through the app despite the fact this is impossible when you do not have a booking with them (as this had been cancelled by them!) Total waste of time trying to sort this out. Out of pocket and hours of my life on the phone that I won’t get back! AVOID!!!

Positive experience: this is my third booking this year all has been good until now ,i would have liked to speak to someone about suspicions about my latest booking not a phone system that does not cover my issue and then get cut off ,shocking customer service

Positive experience: We stayed in Lossiemouth Bay Cottage. Lovely accommodation right next to the Moray Firth. Donna in the office was fabulous, a really friendly, lovely lady. Cottage is great. All the bathrooms are fabulous. Big kitchen / diner and very handy utility room with a washing machine and separate tumble. Big bedrooms with lots of storage. Big lounge with views of the Moray Firth from the balcony. Only negatives are the mattresses, they really need changing as we ended up with backache. Snug next to dining room could do with more comfortable sofas and a bit of freshening up in general. Dining chairs need replacing as seats are stained. Would be better in our opinion if the dvd player was in the comfy lounge on the first floor, rather than in the snug on the ground floor. We will definitely stay again. Well done Sykes.

Negative experience: Please check website: reviews. io for true reviews of Sykes cottages. There are over 1.5 thousand reviews with an average score of 1.2. Trust pilot reviews are manipulated. Customer service non existent. Everything is online, raised a complaint over a week ago and not even had an acknowledgement.

Negative experience: Works fine when you want to book and spend some more money with them, you can even access live chat. But once you have made your booking, you have got no chance of communicating with them other than whatsapp or text, which takes them ages to get back to you.

Negative experience: Owners did not return £150 housekeeping deposit and tried to justify this by making false and incorrect claims regarding damage. Would not recommend. Highgate, 2 Tan Y Bryn Road, Llandudno. Sykes offered no help.

Negative experience: Have to being enticed to book one of your cottages having seen the advert secure your booking for £20 we were very disappointed to learn that when we needed to cancel the booking due to a family tragedy we were liable to pay the full deposit of over £600. Although I conceded we were partly to blame as we did not fully read the terms and conditions it is quite obvious that best of Suffolk use this ploy and advertisement of securing a property for £20 in the hope that people do fall into the trap we did of taking the offer at face value. After explaining to Best of Suffolk the mistake we had made and that sadly we weren’t able to fulfil the holiday booking due to a family tragedy. They were incredibly unsympathetic and refused to do anything to help. We did suggest that if the property were not booked again on the dates we were meant to go that we would pay the full deposit, but if it was booked again, perhaps they would be able to waive the deposit fee rather than being paid twice on the property. Sadly the owners of Tinkers End would not agree to this and insisted that we pay the full amount despite there being three full months before we were meant to travel. In the past we have booked many cottages through best of Suffolk when it was a family run company. Since being taken over by Sykes cottages it appears that corporate greed has got the better of them. The customer service is appalling and it is near impossible to speak to an actual person. After being disconnected pressing numerous options, the only way I could speak to somebody was to pretend I had a property to let. Sadly having visited Aldeburgh many times and always using Best of Suffolk we would never use them again. The false advertisement is clearly very naughty and is there to mislead people as there is no way to secure a property for just £20 you will always be asked to pay the full deposit. Please avoid this company at all costs!

Negative experience: Booked 3 Tinkers End at Aldeburgh as was enticed in by the huge banner headline advertising how you can secure your holiday for just £20. Very naughty and misleading. Foolishly, I didn’t read the hidden behind the headline small print and now have to pay £660 to cancel a holiday almost 3 months in advance, due to unforeseen and tragic family reasons. No empathy shown by the company or property owners, that’s most disappointing. Be warned and aware of both using this company and booking this particular property.

Fantastic experience: We found our booking experience excellent think he was called Anthony he was very patience and understanding this is the 3rd time with have booked with sykes cottages.

Fantastic experience: Have used Sykes three times before and have just booked our fourth. Their website is easy to use and the info they supply is straight forward and accurate. Used their online chat for the first time this week. I asked some awkward questions thatI thought they may not be able to answer without contacting the owners, but I was wrong. All the info I needed was supplied within minutes and in great detail. Im not a fan of on line chats but Sykes were first class.

Negative experience: I made a booking earlier today and had it cancelled almost immediately on the basis that I am pregnant and therefore “the property is not suitable” for me as it has stairs. Apparently pregnant ladies are not capable of climbing stairs, and Sykes do not care about their obligations under the Equality Act. It has been extremely difficult to find someone at Sykes to discuss this with, so hopefully they come back to me with an apology and an appropriate resolution.

Fantastic experience: Great web. I have used Sykes several times and the service is first class. Properties are always as advertised. Credit to Sykes for their careful selections of the properties and the various location. Looking forward to our Northumbria holiday next month and now South Yorkshire next Easter. Many thanks to the Sykes team and keep up the excellent work.

Negative experience: Stayed with Northumbria Coast & Country Cottages who are now owned by Sykes a number of times, but recently the quality and cleanliness of the properties has gone down hill and the customer service has as well. Stayed at a property recently that was dirty and had a few maintenance issues, contacted them while staying but they did not resolve the issues. Sent a complaint and have not heard anything after 3 weeks, not even to acknowledge the complaint. Would not recommend anymore.

Negative experience: DO NOT BE CONNED by the "book for £20" offer - turns out this ties you into paying the full deposit. In our case this comes to over £1000. It may be legal, ( shown in the terms and conditions smallprint) but it is no better than a scam. It should have been made clear directly under the offer. We aren't allowed to transfer the deposit to a different property but were told we could use it for different dates in the same property. However when we tried to do this we discovered that we would be charged the original price ( for a week in peak summer season)- almost double the price the same week is advertised for to everyone else. This is completely unfair! Until now we have been loyal Sykes customers and have used them many times. We will not use them again. We will recommend all our freinds, family and anyone we know not to use them and we have contacted Watchdog and the Competion and Markets Authority to warn others.

Negative experience: Recently booked and paid £1440 via Booking.com for 2 weeks rest after an illness in what was described as a ‘Tranquil Holiday Cottage’ at 38 Clyffe Pypard managed by owner Emmanuel ( Sykes Holiday Cottages ) - I arrived at this awful place - run down & rough, no parking ( except if you wanted to damage your car up a high curb and thin level of gravel) . I looked through the windows the house looked dirty and unkempt and directly opposite was not the view that was advertised it was a high fence behind which was a travellers site and several vehicles . I texted Emmanuel the owner and described the rough state of the property inside and outside completely not as described and in fact it felt unsafe with an open unclosed back garden where access was open. I requested a full refund as the description of the cottage was not as described in fact it was an ex council semi on an unmade road. Booking.com upheld my request for a full refund but both Emmanuel and Sykes have not repaid me - instead they have been silent, with no apology . I am currently talking to WatchDog and will keep fighting to get my full refund . Beware don’t ever book cottages managed by Emmanuel and Sykes Holiday Cottages (via Booking.com) - they know they are selling an awful product and just after our money - these are criminals hiding behind Booking.com so don’t book anything to do with Sykes Holiday Cottages.

Fantastic experience: It was easy to book my holiday and pay the deposit, however I keep getting emails from Sykes inferring that I have not booked and I would like those to stop. Thank you

Negative experience: Don’t book accommodation through Sykes Holiday Cottages. They will not help you if you have a complaint about a property. I had the misfortune of booking four nights accommodation in Wales back in July. The property was ‘Little House’ in Llandecwyn. Upon entering the property my wife and I were overcome with the smell of mould. We couldn’t stay beyond one night due to the unhealthy condition of the property. Black mould was growing on the walls and there was rising damp throughout the property. The owner of the property hung up on me when I called with my complaint. I have attempted to contact Sykes Holiday Cottages multiple times and have so far sent three emails highlighting the condition of the property and requesting compensation (refund for the three nights we couldn’t stay at the property due to the unhealthy state of the property). Sykes haven’t had the courtesy or common decency to respond to my emails. Very poor customer service so don’t risk using them for your accommodation booking. If I could give zero stars I would.

Negative experience: Hopeless. I was quoted a price including a £25 discount on the app but the discount was not applied. The number given to ring to contact Sykes directly was unobtainable. Eventually I spoke to an assistant after holding on for over half an hour. He said the discount should have been applied and would send me an amended receipt. I tried to book another cottage on the app, again it quoted a price including the discount but the discount was not applied, so I did not go through with the booking. The app is not working properly..

Negative experience: SEASPRAY CARBIS BAY CORNWALL...Do Not Stay Here, apartment not as advertised. This is the first time we've used Sykes holidays. I have been on their website for the standards they set to warrant each tick rating. They gave this property 5 ticks. The photos on their website are not representative of the property. A large number of items displayed have since been replaced by inferior quality alternatives. The sofa was very uncomfortable, the master bed base looked dirty and was ripped, basic items were not provided such as hand-wash and a dishcloth. The property was not clean with cobwebs and dust and dirty wine glasses in the cupboard. The entrance way was horrible and paintwork outside and inside was dirty. The welcome hamper consisted of 4 tea bags, a small packet of chocolate buttons, a few sachets of coffee, a bit of sugar, 1poor quality toilet roll and a bag - definitely not what you would expect from a 5* property.

Negative experience: Booked Victoria Cottage Rhosneigr through Sykes cottages the location is fantastic but the cottage was dirty, broken crockery, dried food on cutlery, dangerous stairs, mould on walls and ceilings, needs new doors and windows in need of tlc. Had to wait in for plumber only booked for 2 nights £645. Sykes were terrible in negotiations with owner who had stated on previous negative reviews that she would rectify the same complaints. Would not use Sykes or this property again we were so disappointed. Only accepted £100 refund because this took over 3 hours of phone calls to achieve. Seen positive reviews of Sykes but this is only when the property owners are responsible they are useless when dealing with unscrupulous owners

Negative experience: I've booked a holiday with Sykes and I only put a deposit of 20 pound's but found out the owner had put his property up for sale which was bad enough and then found out that he's not renting it out next year to only a few of us that year and he's not renting out to anyone else and that sounds alarms bells to me and my husband,I asked could I cancel it so I could book something else but know they say that I'm contacted to the property I've booked, so I've got to pay just under 500 pounds,I really don't think that's fair it's really upsetting me.,I have used Sykes before and I found them really good.

Negative experience: Disgusting at customers service we had rat droppings very mucky windows stained quilts mouldy shower contacted owner and he new about all.sykes cottages have been contacted by mail been told someone is contacting me and sent more emails and 4 weeks and still waiting

Negative experience: Atrocious web experience. I have a confirmation email but I can’t find my booking online or in the app and it is impossible to contact Sykes

Fantastic experience: The assistant was so very helpful. She called me back as soon as my booking dates became available.

Negative experience: Not happy at all. Clicked for insurance but appeared as not accepted on invoice after paid deposit no place to amend except cancel booking which had a £250 charge. Phoned but cut me off.

Positive experience: Booked with a lady called Sharon,, very pleasant and helpful would give her 5 stars but only gave 4 stars because the website for Sykes froze and wouldn't allow me to book online.

Negative experience: Shocking company, atrocious customer service (once you finally manage to get hold of someone), don't call you back or make any effort to resolve issues. Do not use!!! Arrived after a 4 hour journey with a hungry toddler to find cleaners just arriving at the property (2 hrs after availability time). They told us to "go away, there's a pub down the road, wait there" waited 2 hours for them to clean the property (now 6pm cue screaming toddler). They might aswell not bothered, still dirty, bins over flowing with previous occupants tuna cans and beer bottles. Grass so overgrown dog can't get on it, whole place stinks of damp. Very disappointed. Finally got hold of Sykes who advised you will just have to wait, you can stay an extra hour at the end of your holiday........how generous considering it was over £800. Do not use unless you want more hassle than holiday

Positive experience: Great and simple booking although slighlty confused over the insurance, which I though I had booked at the same time, yet showing now as I have not.

Negative experience: Sykes booking platform refuses to post negative reviews and completely misrepresents the quality of properties on its platform. I submitted a review mentioning our host being rude and aggressive. Sykes refused to post it because it is “defamatory”. If reporting anything negative is defamatory, the review system is broken. In short, don’t trust property ratings on Sykes because negatives reviews are removed.

Negative experience: My booking has dropped off the system now 3 times....after several phone calls where I'm on hold for an average of 30 mins there's still no improvement. There is no easy way to just contact someone to help. You can only sort things about bookings with a reference number but if your holiday doesn't show, that's impossible. After a further to holds for 40 mins this morning I'm still unsure wether my booking is still booked or if my holiday has become non existent. Incredibly stressful when it doesn't need to be

Negative experience: Absolutely disgusting service arrived at our holiday lodge 3 hours away to find it was double booked and unavailable I had a 2yr old and 7yr old who were distraught to find there holiday cancelled. Called skyes to be told they will find us somewhere else waited 2 hours on site where the lovely site manager grant gave us food and drinks while we tried to sort it. We never received a phone call back so had the tedious 3 hour drive back home. When we rang bavk today we had to argue to get our money back and it wasn't just us 5 other people had been double booked also all using skyes. This was for cleveland hills holiday park in north Yorkshire.

Negative experience: Let me start by saying that I review places A LOT, and if you check my profile you’ll see I rarely give a rating below 3*. I wish I had checked Sykes Cottages’ Google reviews before booking with them. Property (Shepherd's Retreat Hut in Cornwall) was falsely advertised by Sykes Cottages as having Wi-Fi. Additionally, when we got to the property, there was an eco-toilet, which was not mentioned in the advertisement – it’s standard to mention this feature, and we had ruled out other options because they had an eco-toilet. The property’s kitchen was not clean to an appropriate standard – there were crumbs across the surface, sticky rice in the chopping board and the utensils were not properly clean. I have coeliac disease, and any trace of gluten makes me violently ill, so this was a big concern for me. There were cobwebs across the property, demonstrating a lack of maintenance and cleanliness. On the day, we got contacted by the owner to let us know the previous guest had broken the blind in the bedroom. She stated her husband was not able to fix it, but her son would come by later on to fix it – when we got to the property, it had not been fixed, which meant we had no privacy inside the hut. The other side to the privacy issue was that the property advertisement was misleading in that it used language emphasizing the privacy of the garden and hot tub, including tactical angles on the pictures, when in reality, there’s another hut right across from it, so every time you’re outside at the same time there’s essentially no privacy. The blind in the bathroom was also not working properly. This trip was meant to be a relaxing experience to enjoy my birthday, and it just turned into a nightmare. I refused to spend my birthday in such a place, and we contacted Sykes Cottages exposing all the issues encountered. They took responsibility for the false advertisement of the Wi-Fi and refunded us the booking fee - £42. They did not take responsibility for anything else and suggested we went back to the hut so the owners could attempt to make things right. We refused to go back and in hindsight my instinct was correct. I looked at reviews of their campsite Pattacott Farm Glamping and Camping (where the hut was located), and there were multiple 1 star reviews alluding to police presence, knives, and domestic abuse between the owners. I wish I had checked these reviews beforehand. Sykes Cottages then said they would speak to the owner to see if they were willing to offer compensation. Surprise, surprise, they weren’t. And Sykes seem to find this acceptable. Sykes Cottages and the owner of the property broke their own terms and conditions and yet refuse to refund me for the two remaining nights. We lost £311.

Negative experience: Absolutely disgusting company. Booked a holiday for April 2025, lost a loved one who would have been going with us and wanted to cancel but couldn't without losing a large amount of money. They've made it impossible to get in touch with an actual person to talk about things and their website takes you in circles when you try to get help on there. Please, please do not book with them.

Negative experience: If I could give zero stars I would. I booked through this company, and my booking was cancelled one week before my stay. Sykes helped me find another cottage and then made me pay a SECOND BOOKING FEE, despite the cancellation being their fault and their problem to fix. They were also difficult to deal with and turned what should a happy family holiday into a stressful affair. Rude staff. Bad policies. No common sense. Stay away!!

Negative experience: I am appalled at the complete disregard for safety in a recent booking though Sykes. I was staying 4 nights at Ploony Cottage Bleddfa, costing £950. It transpired that there was a known leak in the worktop next the sink which dropped onto a live coiled extension lead. Needless to say this was a dangerous situation which resulted in the electrics tripping out. Risk aside, I wasted an evening and half day waiting for the owners to deal with it. Their response was inadequate and dangerous (a hairdryer being the solution).Despite evidence in photos and text messages from the owner no one took responsibility. Sykes closed my case saying there would be no more correspondence. They have a duty of care and should provide electrical safety certificates, which this cottage would not have due to them using a could extension lead as permanent solution. I can not believe they refused to take electrical safety seriously. Do not use.

Negative experience: We booked 4 the Old Smithy on the Isle of Wight for our family holiday. (Through Sykes) The standard of cleaning was not good at all. For a property costing £1200 per week we would not expect it to look like it hadn't been cleaned in months. The state of repair in places wasn't good with curtain fittings hanging off the wall a defective shower screen and kitchen chairs that were chewed presumably by a dog. The window in number 2 bedroom was broken and could only be opened at the bottom,not good for children! The house it's self is layed out nicely,it's in a nice quiet location,close to shops. My impression is that the owner has just given up with no attention to detail it's like they have just got used to taking the money ,with no consequence for providing a poor product. Many of these issues could be sorted very easily with some fresh paint ,new chairs a bath panel and a really good deep clean . Now here is the problem Sykes don't answer the phone . They did message back eventually but just hide behind the (we are only the agent line) In short book with Sykes at your peril. If anything goes wrong with your property it's not likely to get resolved. You will just get fobbed off. Wake up Sykes look at all the other reviews if you care at all about your customers and repeat business you need a rethink. Chances of us rebooking with you currently are nil

Positive experience: Once you have chosen your property the booking process is easy, however, when choosing my property it would have been easier if I could have stipulated the amount of bedrooms and bathroom I needed exactly otherwise faultless.

Positive experience: Booked using the low deposit method. Paid the first £20 no problem. Woke up to an email today saying rest of deposit failed . Ended up paying the £196 with another card thinking that was the problem. Email later saying I had paid the deposit twice ! One for each card ! Sykes were quick to send emails and texts saying I hadn’t payed , all before 7 am. The payments went out at 10 am. Not impressed. I am requesting a refund of the extra payment. Luckily I can afford to be down for a while . I’m sure some people can’t .

Negative experience: We booked a 3 night stay at Aster cottage in Wales following a bereavement in the family so needed a much needed break. Paid over £600. Upon arrival, I was heartbroken at the state of the property outside and once inside things went from bad to worse. The place was dark and filthy. The patio doors could not be used and I was claustrophobic immediately. There were cobwebs everywhere, the furniture was dirty and flaking and the door to the back of the property which led outside was filthy. The steps outside were disgusting with months of dirt, grime and leaves. We contacted the owner who said they would come and clean but the place needed a deep clean and thorough revamp. There was a dog barking constantly next door for the short time we were there. The small bedroom resembled a dark prison cell and the whole place in our opinion was a hovel. I cried and just told the owner I was leaving. This place should never be let and I am disgusted with the owner and sykes that neither will offer any sort of refund or compensation. I will never use sykes again and I urge anyone reading this to not book this property.

Negative experience: The ordeal we had to go through to change dates was totally unacceptable. Someone in the tech dept needs to overhaul the website so that changes like the one we had to make are simple and easy to execute. I have no doubt our cottage will be great once we eventually get there next year.

Negative experience: Urgently needed to speak to someone this morning. Round in circles, not able to get a response. An hour andd a half so far. Disgraceful.

Fantastic experience: I rang to check on parking fir our chosen property and the young lady was very helpful ringing the owners to check for me and I went ahead with the booking

Negative experience: Do not book with them! We had been looking forward to a beautiful week in Rye with our small kids for months. But when we got there, Sykes had quietly cancelled on us four days before while we were already travelling and could not see the message. Foreign country, two crying kids, no place to stay, a nightmare. After much discussion on their service line, they offered us a place at double the price, one fifth the quality and not even an apology. But never again Sykes, they destroyed our holidays.

Fantastic experience: I have just booked another holiday with Sykes Holiday Cottages for 2025 so something to look forward to. I have used Sykes for 30 plus years and had lots of lovely holidays with gorgeous accommodations, I can state that in all that time I have never had any problems, at all either with the cottages or Sykes, in fact I have recommended Sykes to lots of friends/family. A huge thank you.

Negative experience: Having attempted to read and understand the 26 plus pages of terms and conditions I do not have a clue what I have agreed to. My confirmation advises me that I agreed to making future payments on set dates from my credit card. This came as a surprise. A very brief summary would help. This legal jargon may be a clever way of avoiding your responsibilities but to me it is an impenetrable Forest of meaningless words.

Negative experience: The booking process is fraught. Having set the dates, there is no opportunity to review the details prior to payment. I unintentionally made an error, no chance to check it and therefore a penalty resulted. Very angry - it was unnecessary.

Negative experience: Nil starts needed. DO NOT use Sykes Cottages or visit The Cove at Anglesey. Property disgusting, stepped in and out immediately, wouldn’t leave my dog in it.Nothing like advertised, certainly wouldn’t accommodate 6, only 2 of us and a small dog and claustrophobic. From pictures looks like a lovely bungalow on a cul de sac when in fact it’s an annexe tucked in a corner behind another property. Partial refund received from owner and still awaiting remainder from Sykes since 8th July and emails via useless portal. Last 3 phone calls told receive refund in 3-5 working days and nothing. Rang again today to chase and said problems with my case involving finance team and will review again. Asked to speak to a manager and was told one wouldn’t speak to me!!. DO NOT waste your money.

Fantastic experience: Very easy booking with Sykes, my first time booking with them, I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

Positive experience: A bit like Ryan Air, offered one price and then the extras come like booking fee, insurance, I’m expecting a charge for collecting the keys next.

Fantastic experience: So many places to choose from and so many different properties but all very easy to access and the prices well within budget. Brilliant site.

Negative experience: Booking system unacceptable if you need to get in touch,Company impossible to get hold of: no email, no (valid) telephone no. , autochat system never in operation, yet Website states to get in touch if there's a problem!

Negative experience: After booking with Sykes cottages for several years and always being pleased with the service I am now sadly disillusioned. For the first time I have had to change my holiday plans due to family illness. Although the holiday isn't until December I was told that I couldn't change my dates and would have to cancel the booking, thus loosing over £200 deposit. The young lady I spoke to was quite rude and unhelpful saying if I wanted to change the dates I should have done it within 24 hours of making the booking, she clearly didn't understand what family illness means. I agree with other people's comments, it is extremely difficult to talk to someone as they push the use of the online service .

Negative experience: DO NOT USE - SCAM COMPANY. I booked through AirBnb for a weekend away 270 days away. The next day, I requested to change the weekend of the booking to the weekend prior to the booking, through the AirBnB platform. The new dates are completely free, I am the only booking for the property in that month. They ignored all my communications and requests. I rung them up and they said "we aren't able to deal with any requests through AirBnb." I emailed them and the email address reply was "unattended." Eventually AirBnB support chased them enough to get a response. They responded saying "their systems were not able to process change of date requests." So despite them being on the AirBnb platform, they aren't actually compatible with the platform. So I asked them, if you cannot alter the booking, cancel it and I will rebook for the correct weekend. They ignored me. AirBnb once again chased and forced them to reply. AirBnb said that they offered to sort out the change of booking in the system, nullifying Syke's reason that they couldn't process the change due to 'technical reasons.' All AirBnb needed was a simple consent for the change to be made, and they would handle the rest. And Sykes simply said 'no'...offered no explanation. They are still ignoring me. If I have to cancel the booking on my terms, I have to hand over half the total amount to them, which is £1100. I then noticed that since I booked, they have cut all the prices at the property by almost half. So they clearly are trying to duck and dodge to prevent me being able to change the dates so that they force me into cancelled the booking so that they can take £1100 for no outlay at all. It's a con. They have literally no good reason to justify this other than a money grab. They are a shady, shadowy deceitful company with no standards or customer service. AVOID. And just book through a host directly through another platform.

Negative experience: Put £20 low deposit down until I got a confirmation of dates. Neednt of bothered, as usual the devils hidden in the small print telling me "the balance of your deposit plus administration fees, being £176.40, is payable even if you cancel your booking". What was the point of advertising a low deposit option !!!

Negative experience: I made a booking with Sykes Holiday Cottages and received a confirmation email with all the usual reference numbers (I've booked with them several times before) Next day I received another email warning that I should complete my booking as dates were going quickly. I replied to the email saying that I thought I had already booked. Three days later, more emails encouraging me to book, I phoned. After 40 minutes of going from queue to queue I gave up. Found an email address and I emailed another customer department and told my story. Their reply said - sorry wrong department, try our hub or the App. Downloaded the App and of course there is no way to contact them. Went on line and found that in my account I have no new bookings. Sykes Holiday Cottages, as far as I can tell, looks after the booking and payments for cottage owners. If they are unable to support customers, and their bookings, what are they being paid for.

Fantastic experience: The Heart of Russell Apartment Fantastic apartment, had everything and more. Very central. Very clean, plenty of everything required. Will certainly book again if going to Russell.

Negative experience: As always, Sykes policies give virtually no benefit to reliable returning customers who book well in advance. This year, 33% of the booking fee will sit in their bank account (rather than ours) for 10months.

Negative experience: Customer service is non-existent. I can't get a response about a future booking after 17 days of trying. Guess I've wasted £1000s.

Negative experience: Avoid at all cost. We arrived at the accommodation, it was not ready - not cleaned after previous guests. All phone calls to Sykes Holiday Cottages numbers (including the emergency contact) did not get answered. Edited to add: this place is called Sea La Vie (15 Langford Drive, Kinmel Bay, Rhyl, Conwy, United Kingdom, LL18 5NP). The owner can see you arriving on his ring camera. If you ring the camera bell, in hope to get some assistance, the owner will simply ignore you and if you ring several times he will switch the camera/bell off. I had an unfortunate experience to speak to him following day, that person simply doesn't understand what is customer service.

Negative experience: We tried for 6 weeks to get responses to a couple of major issues we had during our stay (such as NO HOT WATER). We had many occasions where we were promised callbacks to discuss but these never materialised. I’ve now discovered that my booking has been deleted from my account. The attitude seems to be that if they ignore my complaints for long enough - then I’ll get bored and stop complaining

Negative experience: Absolutely appalling customer service never resolved the issues with the cottage we booked, we marked them down as zero after our stay. They emailed to ask if I could contact them to resolve the issue, which I did still waiting for a response doubt I'll ever get one. Took the money gladly. "One dissatisfied customer is another 10 lost"

Fantastic experience: We stayed at Esmes cottage and it was just as described ,wonderful, cosy clean and totally enjoyed our stay and nice welcome pack for us and our dog and hope to return. Only downside is the pub is not dog friendly so unable to try the food but found many little pubs and cafes within a short drive.

Negative experience: Sykes have been absolutely terrible with customer service. I booked two properties next to each other in order for our big group including infants to be next to each other, but sykes decided to cancel one of the bookings without notifying us. When I enquired, they said that one of the properties can't take 8 adults, which is what they allowed me to book. They said that it should have been for 8 people if 2 are not adults - this was not specified at the time of booking. I kindly asked if I could at least have the right to cancel the other booking (the one I am giving feedback for now) so that we could all find somewhere else where we could all stay together. They repeatedly refused without giving any credible reason. They ruined our gathering of several families including infants and did not show any willingness to help our situation. Everyone in our big group will not consider booking with sykes again, a truly terrible customer service experience. Would not recommend to anyone. Should have just gone airbnb. I don't usually write reviews but this one was extraordinarily bad. They need to learn to provide a service to their customers and be flexible.

Negative experience: Absolutely terrible accommodation… we paid £500 for 2 nights, when we arrived after a long drive the property was disgusting. The smell hit you when you opened the door, of air freshener covering something else…very unpleasant. Chewing gum on wall, black mould on ceilings, big stains on the carpets… I could go on…. but the shower was something else! Like it was out of an abandoned old infirmary! Not a place where we would like to spend our much awaited holiday. Sykes have been most unhelpful and their attitude seems to be that this is an acceptable standard for their properties. Definitely would steer well clear of this company .

Negative experience: I made booking (ref) P23EX-24-EN on 29th June and yet 9 days later Sykes have still failed to add it to my account on the App under 'Upcoming' bookings. This despite including a later booking ref 5Q83R-24-EN (made just yesterday, the 7th July)! C'mon Sykes, wake up and sort this!!!....your service, or lack of, hardly fills me with confidence!!

Negative experience: I left my ipad when staying in a lovely little place in Holyhead, yes my own silly fault, but try and get in touch to get it returned, automated system every time. Frustrating to say the least. Hopefully it'll be returned as I'm in the same place again !!!

Negative experience: Waited more than 3 hours for live chat. Tried to phone. Eventually got through to Nicky who was wonderful Very poor telephone contact options

Negative experience: My booking ref 63E28-23-EN I WROTE ON TRUST PILOT A REVIEW SYKES REPLY WAS IF THE OWNER OF THE PROPERTY DOESN'T AGREE TO CHANGE OF TRAVEL DATES. IN MY CASE THE OWNER DID AGREE. BUT SYKES DID NOT SO THEY KEPT MY MONEY BECAUSE I DIDNT PAY AMMENDMENT FEE I WILL BE TAKING ACTION KATIE@ SYKESCOTTAGES

Fantastic experience: Nanthir House - Llandrindod Wells. 28/06/2024-05/07/2024 We have just returned home and wanted to provide feedback for the above accommodation. The house was perfectly suitable for a party of 10 and a little dog. Beautiful layout and very clean. The location is situated amongst the welsh hills with breathtaking views. Its surroundings are perfect for those seeking peace and tranquillity surrounded by nature. We watched newly hatched Swallow chicks being regularly fed by their parents to witness the chick leave the nest within the grounds. The hot tub was spacious and can enjoy the surrounding views while you relax. I would rate this accommodation 10 out of 10. For people wanting to escape to the countryside or celebrate a special occassion. James, the farmer who owns the property was friendly and available for advice on the local area or to address any concerns.... a beautiful house i would definitely book again.

Fantastic experience: We do not arrive until September but so far the booking process has worked well. We've been in touch with the owner and easily resolved one sleeping arrangement issue. Will give a full review later.

Fantastic experience: Had a wonderful stay, The host caroline was very accommadating and helpful, the cottage was perfect and very comfortable, we are be looking forward to our next visit.