The Lemon Fool

We've been put in a position where we have to choose between our 2 holiday let agencies - Travel Chapter who have take over Original Cottages and Sykes who have taken over Northumbria Coast and Country Cottages. I will look at booking history, but interested to have a straw poll about which ones you have heard of or use. Thanks

Have you considered using AirBnB? It seems the go to site for all of my family and friends when booking self catering accomodation.

John

Not heard of either, but whenever I rent a holiday property (which is multiple times a year) then I always use AirBnb - although those do tend to be for overseas bookings.

redsturgeon wrote:Have you considered using AirBnB? It seems the go to site for all of my family and friends when booking self catering accomodation.

John

I've considered AirBnB on and off. With each agent having their own booking system, adding a third into the mix seemed a bit complicated. However, if we only have one agent then adding in AirBnB for us to directly manage is workable.

There are some pluses to only having one agent. The selling side works perfectly well with 2 agents, but the maintenance admin is more complicated. Simplifying it to one will make life easier for me.

I voted for other as we've used Rural Retreats in the past (expensive but worth it) and booking. com (with added research) for cheaper, last minute stays.

I've heard of Sykes but not in a good way. They were slated for their customer service during and after the pandemic, refusing refunds etc. And they came close to the bottom of the list in a recent 'Which' survey. The Landmark Trust came out top.

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/holiday ... uxM5N5Bhg4

Speak as you find, we've used Sykes for about 7 holidays throughout UK so far and have another 2 holidays booked through them for next year. We like to take our dog with us and so far we've received excellent service from Sykes and the cottages have been great. After reading the reviews on some of the cottages we've booked I've come to the conclusion that a lot of people expect the Ritz at Butlins prices. The last cottage we stayed in was in Little Stretton and the review from the person who stayed the week before us was awful. They complained about too few coat hangers, sheep on the road outside the place, the entrance to the driveway was awkward, too many pots and pans, too much furniture, the power shower wasn't powerful enough, the stairs had a bend in them. There's fussy and there's nit picking to the 'nth degree. We had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the cottage.

R6