“I really don't want to spend a lot of my time providing feedback for Sykes and for this owner.”
I don't feel that the owner showed hospitality, and I don't feel inclined to provide much free advice on your improvement. I need to say the property is in an idyllic setting and the quality of the build was excellent. However, once we arrived, it became clear that the owner's ideas of hospitality do not align with my ideas of what premium accommodation should provide (£3500 for two weeks). I could provide a long list, but the low-lights are: double beds not joined with incorrect sized and type of sheets/bedding, no bedding change in two weeks, no way to dry bedding if washed, bulbs missing from almost all light fittings, door handles so stiff that it was possible to get trapped in the bedroom, no towel change for two weeks and no way to dry them if washed, no comfortable chairs in the garden, mixed oddments of kitchen utensils, and cheap place mats / equipment. A note asks renters not to use the larger fridge, or the internet!!! We were told shortly before arrival that the exit time would be at 9am, so we felt it necessary to leave the day before, but no mention of a refund of some charges as a gesture of goodwill. We never met the owner, but I inferred a level of arrogance when we noticed that pages from the "complaints book" were ripped out. Remaining entries (no clothes line, door handle difficulties) had been reported five years earlier! One other complaint about the lack of a dryer was met with a snappy response saying there wasn't one with a complaint from the owner about the state they left the property (a comment which I course they would never read - but we did).
Please don't contact me, I don't want to think about this any more.
- Mr Whittington, July 2020