Holiday cottage companies

OneYorkshireLass

I've stayed in many cottages with many different companies over the years and whenever there's a problem it's always the same ....

The holiday cottage company may have advertised the property, accepted your booking form, taken your money, but if there's a problem it's up to the owner of the property to decide if you are reimbursed. And, obviously, you're more than likely to not see a penny of your money.

In most cases the holidaymaker has no idea who the owner is, doesn't know anything about them, yet the holiday cottage company say your contract is with the owner. How can anyone have a contract with someone when they don't know who they are? How is that legal?

I once had a bed that had such an horrific mattress (must've had 20 years of use, at least) that I slept on the floor for four nights and it was much more comfortable than the bed, but of course it's not what I would expect when paying a few hundred pounds per night. My complaint went unheard. The company saying the owner believed there was nothing wrong. Well, he would say that, wouldn't he?

Why does the holiday cottage industry feel so unregulated? And so unfair?

Read "Lakelovers" on TripAdvisor, or visitor posts on "Sykes Cottages" on Facebook for a feel of what goes on ...

crmapley

I think part of the problem is that a lot of the big sites that you mention are just glorified classified ads built around a search engine. They take a cut of your booking to allow the actual cottage owners to be able to advertise on them.

Because many owners don't have the ability to create a webpage that will appear at the top of search results then they are forced to rely on these sites, kind of in the same way that if you are an independent seller you have to sell on Amazon or Ebay to get the most eyeballs as they have a stranglehold on all the common searches.

Lately, these portals have tried to obscure the relationship between the holidaymaker and the cottage owner in order to make more money and the small, independent owners are up in arms about it (I can say this as I work in the industry!), with the sites adopting a 'take it or leave it' approach.

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience, but my suggestion would be to look beyond the first few results when booking and look for the smaller operators. The chances are you'll find the same house on a less professional looking website, but without the additional 'finders fee' that gets added on to the cost of a house through the bigger sites.

You will also be able to build a proper customer relationship with the owner pre-booking and be able to suss out whether you having a great holiday experience matters to them or if you are just another body through the door!

I also just wanted to say that there are those of us out there that do care about providing a great holiday as well, so please don't think badly of us all!

OneYorkshireLass

I take your point, but Sykes are swallowing up the smaller companies & a number of other smaller companies I have known over the years are being bought out by larger ones.

When I choose a cottage I always Google it to see if it is listed elsewhere, and mostly it's not. I do masses of research on the property, looking at maps, reading reviews if I can find them, etc. If a property is listed as 5* by any company, then I expect it to be just that.
Hotels/B&Bs seem to be regulated better and have to keep to the standard they are listed as, yet holiday cottages are untouched.

My point, really, is that when there's a problem the company do nothing and say the contract is with the owner. How can you have a contract with someone whose identity you do not know?

P.S Welcome to MSE

p00hsticks

OneYorkshireLass wrote: »

My point, really, is that when there's a problem the company do nothing and say the contract is with the owner. How can you have a contract with someone whose identity you do not know?

Whenever I've booked a holiday cottage in the past, I've always been given the owners names and contact details as part of the booking contract details if booking through an agency - perhaps I've just been lucky.

seashore22

It's not holiday cottage companies that are the problem, it's the ones you are choosing to book with.

We've been booking holiday cottages for 30 plus years and rarely had a problem, and the ones we have had were dealt with quickly by contacting the owner. We've always had contact details for the owners before we arrived.

Helpful Holidays has always been our go to company and Cottages 4 You have been good too. We've used Owners Direct for properties abroad and never had a problem there either.

If you are having problem after problem with holiday lets then maybe look more carefully at what you are booking.

Ilona

I have never booked a cottage, but when I book a room, B & B or hotel, I get my information first from the agent, then google the establishment name to check out further, and book direct with the owners. I want to speak to them on the phone and arrange payment with them direct. I won't go through a middleman. Saves a lot of confusion.

Ilona

Mojisola

seashore22 wrote: »

It's not holiday cottage companies that are the problem, it's the ones you are choosing to book with.

We've been booking holiday cottages for 30 plus years and rarely had a problem, and the ones we have had were dealt with quickly by contacting the owner. We've always had contact details for the owners before we arrived.

This has been our experience too.

We've always been given the owner's details.

hollydays

What exactly was the problem with the mattress?

Money_maker

At the holiday cottage we stayed in this year, several comments in the comments bed mentioned the horribly uncomfortable mattress and some said they had no problems with it. Fortunately for us we found it utterly gorgeous and some of the best nights sleeps we've ever had on holiday. Think things like this can be subjective. Unlike the unknown critter who sat and crunched his way through the log basket each night - we never were quite brave enough to find out what it was!

jamesperrett

One tip - even if you find the cottage on one of these agency sites, see if you can contact the owners directly. These sites take a hefty commission and the owner is more likely to give you a good deal if you can book direct with them.

Tarry

Mojisola wrote: »

This has been our experience too.

We've always been given the owner's details.

Same. I tend to use Imagine Ireland for Ireland and I am trying out Cottages.com for the first time next year. Already booked for Scotland with the latter.

One tip - even if you find the cottage on one of these agency sites, see if you can contact the owners directly. These sites take a hefty commission and the owner is more likely to give you a good deal if you can book direct with them.

I done that for Scotland mini break in May this year. Found them on booking.com and contacted them directly and they gave a good deal :T Enjoyable break.