“Our arrival was a nightmare.”
It was very distressing and disappointing to be informed after 7 hours of travelling that our accommodation would not be available at 4 pm as promised, but only after 10 pm due to the late check-out of the previous guests. When we got the call from Sykes we were 30 mins away from our destination, with very poor cell phone reception and no internet in the area where we were travelling, so communication was a nightmare. A text message to the owner was equally disappointing, as he merely referred us to Sykes. Sykes Cottages offered us the choice of staying in alternative accommodation for the night, or resting in the alternative accommodation, but this added 90 minutes of travelling in the dark amongst the mountains to our day's journey, and the accommodation wasn't what we wanted, so we selected the return trip through the mountains. After a struggle to open the key safe we we finally entered the cottage at 10.30 that night. Not happy.
This review requires an explanation. For the first time in 10 years of letting the lodge the housekeeper found that the previous guests had not vacated on Friday morning when she went into the lodge. The guests appeared to be out for the day. The owner was in constant contact with Sykes all afternoon to resolve the problem. Despite numerous attempts to contact the vacating guests it wasn’t until after 4pm that it was established that they were under the misapprehension vacation was on Saturday . They cleared the lodge by 6pm. The housekeeper lives some distance away but very fortunately and to her credit was able to undertake the changeover in the evening by 10pm . In the meantime every effort was made during the course of the afternoon to secure the new guests alternative accommodation for the night - which the owner and housekeeper sorted .Very stressful for all concerned .
Property Owner