Holiday Cottages in Scotland

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Andrew - Verified booking

  I stayed at this property between the 8th of March and the 15th of March and I booked it because I had stayed at Otter Cottage approximately 200 yards along the road recently in January.

  On the face of it this is a modern property which certainly looks the part but I had a nightmare week there. On arrival no satellite signal so could not use the TV, the basement TV also had no signal but access to iPlayer etc, I could not use this as my wife is disabled and on a feeding pump and could not use the stairs, when I booked I made sure everything that I needed was on the one level, after much faffing about with the owner and the housekeeper the following day they arranged for a satellite repair guy to attend from Stornaway on the Monday to check the satellite position as they stated that there had been storms and had knocked out a lot of other satellites, two guys turned up in a private car without a ladder and new they couldn’t reach it , came into house and checked the connections and could find nothing amiss, and stated it was a subscription issue, by this time I’m none too pleased so they went away in the huff, spoke to housekeeper Elly who said that she would get onto Sky and get sorted, came back to me and said spent hours onto Sky and it would not be up and running now till the following Thursday ( now I’ve been a Sky customer for over 25 years and never been in situation where it would take more than a few hours to upgrade or install a package ). because the Tv in the lounge was Sky Glass then you could not use it even as an app , was offered a smaller tv by Elly on the Tuesday to get me at least BBC iPlayer but by this time I was not prepared to stay in and deal with it so told her to forget it, now guess what? by the Friday when I left there was still no picture ( took a photo as proof ), next door neighbour who was a nurse noticed my wife had a nasal tube and new she was on a feeding pump as this was now Wednesday she asked if we knew the power was going down in area the next day Thursday, I told her no I was not given any information about this, she said that everyone had three months notice of this as a few properties ( new builds ) up the coast were all being connected to the electricity grid and power could be out all day and possibly into the Friday. The house itself is cold, although you can allegedly up the thermostat to increase the temperature but the owner 600 miles away can override it, the ceiling is the height of a double decker bus so any heat goes straight up about 16 feet, the owner said to use the display fireplace to boost the heat but as I explained to him it is a fan heater which aims the heat into a glass fish tank type display and cuts itself out constantly, so my wife is sitting with a hot water bottle in a property that I had paid a premium price for. The lounge had no small tables to put a drink on so I had to go upstairs and take two bedside cabinets down to use as tables ( Elly came with two small tables on the Sunday or Monday ) the lounge has large windows but no blinds or curtains so you are sitting there at night and feel like a goldfish, god knows what it would be like in the summer. There is a distinct lack of places to hang things, no key hooks , no towel hooks in bathroom, you are encouraged to use the side door into the utility but the door is either warped or badly fitted , no trays to put wet boots or hangers for jackets, no shower caddy, no space/shelving at bathroom sink to hold toiletries, had to store at windowsill, no scissors no torches, had to buy scissors in Tarbert , supposed to be dog friendly but large glass coffee table by lounge window with sharp corners at dog eye height ( and the owner is a vet ) place is surrounded by sheep which is not ideal if you have a dog as the new fence down the right especially has spaces at the bottom where a dog can escape. Supposed to be instructions in a black box on how to use the hob but found none ,had to google it. On reading the house guide it gives the owners application to Harris council to use the property as a rental BUT it clearly states that due to the way water is supplied/stored for use at this property and is susceptible to legionella then the property is NOT to be rented to people who may be vulnerable and the owner has clearly ticked the box to say that he complies with this regulation. So maybe he ( a medical professional ) can explain how my wife who has a suppressed immune system managed to stay here and was potentially put at risk, and why this is not clearly advised on SYKES SITE. So to conclude would I recommend this property Would you like to phone a friend?

  Read more less >

• Carolyn - Verified booking

  We arrived at Cairnhill Cottage on the Friday in May.

  We were without central heating AND hot water from the Tuesday. Only enough logs to make a fire one night. Hand to boil the kettle to wash. Reported but they could not fix it. So by the time we left the following Friday, it still wasn’t repaired. The cottage was still without heating and hot water. The cleaners turned up, we explained the situation and they would either not clean or do so without hot water!! The greedy owner STILL. proceeded with the booking the week after us, knowing that the property wasn’t fully compliant. And guess what, it wasn’t working all week because the owner accidentally messaged us the following week apologising that they were without heating and hot water. And even worse LIED stating “don’t know what has happened as it’s never happened before!” Really, as it did the week before. After the holiday, we messaged Sykes for help. Explained the situation. Explained that one of the elderly members of the party who suffers from COPD had taken very poorly after the stay and both kids had a serious cold. They refused any help and hid behind GDPR. Tried to engage with the lady who was the point of contact (but allegedly not the owner) upon our return. Abrupt; un-cooperative and then blocked my number. Claimed the owners pay Sykes to deal with such issues. Sykes claim it’s the owner’s responsibility. Don’t normally leave such scathing reviews and had Sykes and/or the owner engaged then I may not have. However this is customer service at its very worst. Book at your peril.

  Read more less >

• Vanessa - Verified booking

  We were extremely disappointed in our cottage on arrival.

  The advertisement said that it sleeps 6. Which it has enough beds for 6 and 2 bathrooms, however the sitting area and table does not accommodate a family of 6. The dining area chairs are right in front of the doors to a bedroom and makes it too hard to move, the sitting area barely seats 4, and makes it tight to walk. The cottage had cob webs, the show screen had mold and the outside table was moldy. The cottage was overpriced. At the price advertised, we expected a clean and suitably sized cottage, this was not the case at all. There wasn't even paper towel and we needed to request an extra dish cloth and tea towel. The freezer made a beeping noise if you used it, and one of the stove burners didn't work. The cottage is located on a kennel / working farm and while we were there our room backed onto the area where they were working, you could here dogs barking, people working and machinery from all times during the early morning and day. The pool was nice, however we were not provided with any extra towels. I would not recommend this cottage to anyone.

  Read more less >

• Helen - Verified booking

  On first impressions we were pleased until we found a hole in the bed sheets and stain.

  There were many unclean items in the kitchen that we needed to wash before use and the teabags, kitchen roll & washing up liquid had not been replenished. When we contacted the cleaner she told us to go and buy some and did not want to address it and was very rude. We found the dryer unusable until it was cleaned by us due to lots of sand, fluff & overflowing water tank. The wooden floor leading into the lounge was raised due to damp and therefore we could not close the lounge door. There are no side tables to put a drink on in the lounge, we had to put our drinks on the floor. In all three bathrooms there were no hooks to hang a damp bath towel and no hand towel holder. There was a roll of wires hanging out from the main bedroom wall. Sparkling grape juice left as a welcome pack rather than a bottle of wine! We have stayed in much more luxurious properties at half the price - very disappointed. There is much to address before the property can be described as luxury. Overall a very expensive non luxury stay.

  Read more less >

• James - Verified booking

  We had an enjoyable holiday in a lovely area.

  The house was fine and almost everything was pretty much as described. The back rings on the cooker didn't light reliably, which was a nuisance since there was a toddler in the house and we'd rather have used the back rings. It was a surprise to find that the heating was operating on a fixed cycle. I understand the reason but if it had been any warmer outside, it would have become uncomfortably hot. The biggest complaint I would make is that the location shown on the map is very misleading. When I booked the house I believed it was in the settlement very close to the beaches. It is in fact much further away, just off the main road and about a 20 minute walk. While I accept that the verbal description makes no claim about being very close to the beach, and I recognise that Google Maps shows the postcode as being in the settlement, I think it is wrong to show a map location that is completely inaccurate. What Three Words location: refreshed.nickname.releasing is where the house actually is.

  Read more less >