“Please note the 5 ticks do not accord to a 5 star property.”
The fixtures, fittings and soft furnishings at this property make it 2/3 stars at best. We arrived on a wet & windy Friday evening, so had decided to stay in & cook on our arrival night - what a mistake. The oven & grill pan were so filthy with layers of dirt we didn't use them at all during our stay. The two saucepans we took out to use were dirty, as were the first four plates, cups & bowls we took out of the cupboard. The fridge in the kitchen was dirty, liquids lying on the shelves such that we couldn't bring ourselves to clean that appliance so used the fridge in the utility room. The bathrooms were surface clean, but there was black mould in the corner of the shower tray. The soft furnishings were of poor quality and uncomfortable, not what you would expect in a 5 star holiday property. The bed linen was extremely rumpled (although I think clean) and some of the pillowcases had red ink stains on them. The tea towels in the kitchen were very thin cotton, one of them a free advertising gift. The dish cloths were well used as was the dishwashing sponge (in my experience most 5 star holiday retreats supply new J cloths & sponges for every rental, see Boutique Retreats, Coastal Hideaways etc). The bathroom towels were thin and off white they were so tired. I tried ringing Helpful Holidays but it was out of office hours by this time. If there had been anyone available I would have insisted on being moved to another property/hotel. We debated leaving in any event but decided the downsides of trying to move my 80 year old mother & her dog on a wet & windy Friday night in August outweighed staying in a property we were very unhappy with. I spent the first hours of my holiday washing in very hot water all the kitchen implements and table ware we were going to use to cook dinner. After dinner when we decided to use the dishwasher there was only one very cheap tablet supplied sat on it's own under the sink. Is that why the previous recipients had not cleaned the kitchen implements? The next day we bought cleaning supplies, dishwasher tablets & rinse aid, towels & then cleaned the kitchen & bathrooms. We couldn't do much to freshen the TV room unfortunately. As the trip was to celebrate my Mother's birthday the family made the most of the situation but we were extremely disappointed. The cottage is in a lovely location, but at the moment both the soft furnishings and the standard of cleanliness & linen supplied fall well below an average holiday rental, let alone a 5 star/tick one. Before it was sold Helpful Holidays was always a very reliable company, it appears standards have badly deteriorated.
We are very sorry to hear about your dissatisfaction with your stay at Cullaford Cottage. We pride ourselves on offering guests and well-behaved dogs a beautiful place to stay in Devon when we are not there ourselves, so we have taken your comments very seriously.
While it is unfortunate that there was evidently a problem with the changeover cleaning, it is also very unfortunate that you did not see the card left by the Housekeeper or the front page of the House Book that provides a number to call if there are any problems of the kind you mention. Had the Housekeeping company been told, they would have come to the cottage and dealt with the problem immediately.
Our Housekeeping is handled by a reliable, efficient and responsive company with whom we have dealt for 5 years without an issue of this kind. I am meeting the owner of the Housekeeping company this week to discuss your experience.
Sykes owner relations