Holiday Cottages Anmeldelser 

WELL HOUSE, SUDBOURNE
An absolute nightmare of a holiday (only stayed one night).
Filthy kitchen, cables across walkways, mattress in the garden - BEETLE IN THE FRIDGE!
I am trying, unsuccessfully to get a refund, minus the one day, booking and dog fee.
I am being ignored!
I have supplied, many many photo's as evidence, but nothing.
Please see my "Manky Mansion, the prequel" review under "Holidaycottages.co.uk".
The reviews here are for that company - I've checked.

We stayed at a holiday cottages.com accommodation in July 2025 called the Old pottery in Burton bradstock. The place was really unclean but because this company doesn't except negative reviews it's hard to communicate with them

We have realised that our review of a recent cottage stay had not been posted. Our review was honest and detailed, however unfortunately not 4 star due to various issues.
When looking at the reviews for the cottage (only 20 odd of them?), a cynic may come to the conclusion that less favourable reviews are simply not posted. This gives, as in our case, an untrue picture of the accommodation.
As a customer spending in the region of £1500-£2000, honest reviews are welcome, warts and all. I imagine most customers would rather make an informed decision.
Disappointing.

Just booked a property this was confirmed and 2 mins later I was sent an email saying that this property was not available for these dates!! My money was taken and was told that someone would phone me to discuss this, nothing to discuss. It 's an old trick to advertise some thing good but then told its not available so perhaps I would like a different property. I also find that the property which I booked instead is also under Holiday cottages, if I had known I would not have booked it. Dreadful company I hope they go out of business.

We arrived at Lea Brook Cottage, Lea Bridge in blazing sunshine. The cottage was advertised as dog-friendly, but there was absolutely no shade in the garden, the conservatory or the sitting room for our Labradors. The cottage and garden were vastly smaller than portrayed and the outside space was unkempt. We had no choice but to leave immediately. We have been pursuing a refund, but had little interest from the company. We will not give up and will be contacting a consumer organisation next. We posted a review of the cottage, but it has not been published, calling into question the validity of the reviews they post, if they are only the positive ones.

MOUNTAIN COTTAGE - Penrhyndeudraeth LL48 6BY.
***EDIT - I have finally received a full refund (19th Aug). Persistence and firm but polite correspondence between myself and claims manager, Katie (who was very helpful) paid off. The owner however was not so forthcoming with the communication, happy to take the money though.***
Booked dog friendly cottage with enclosed garden. Arrived to find the garden open into next doors garden with no gate, just an open entryway. They had dogs so we couldn’t safely allow our dog out so had no option but to leave. There was also a sunken garden advertised however this couldn’t be accessed due to the overgrown state with weeds blocking the steps down. Contacted owner and Holiday Cottages, neither were helpful. Put a formal complaint in with Holiday Cottages and am still waiting despite calling and emailing to chase for a refund. I have left a review on their site but they have chosen not to publish. Now in the hands of my credit card company. Will never use this company again.

Where do I begin?

I have booked a repeat trip back to the cottage we booked via Holiday Cottages. We love the area and ok so the cottage isn’t brilliant, it’s right bang in the middle of where we want to visit.
I don’t mind paying a bit of Commission but when it’s like 15% of the of the cottage rental it’s too much. I sent 2 emails asking various questions and both had no replies.
I then find, not only do they charge almost 15% but they take their fee BEFORE the cottage owners get their rental. But to top it off and this really narks me more than anything, I’m asked to submit a review of my stay. If you read my previous reviews, I am fair and honest but never rude and it’s suppose to help the owners of the company improve.
So I write this review and suggest a welcome pack for the new renters showing the nearest shops and places to eat and some places to visit and I also suggest a small welcoming basket because it’s just for the rental of the cottage. We had a horror trip by car. A 110 mile trip took nearly 6 hours and when we arrived, we found nothing. Not only did we not know where any local shops were but after 6 hours on the road, we had to go back out looking for a shop to buy milk, something light to eat like biscuits etc. So the review was fair & after our return home, we found out that journey is notoriously bad, but nothing at all on the website warning guests of long delays and this is year round.

So to top it off, I send the review off and I get the thank you message and we will review your feedback before publishing it on our site, standard practice I know. It was never published, it wasn’t bad as you have read, but nope, nothing.

So I felt others needed warning of Holiday Cottages. Once the overall fees had been taken out of the price of the cottage for a week it was nearly 20%. They add a £200 deposit for any breakages during your stay, that’s a first for us or you can pay a non refundable £25 fee for the same cover. There was nothing to break, again, another rip off which comes out of the rental price when you pay the deposit. It has me so mad and what a surprise when I came to write this review on Trust Pilot, Holiday Cottages has a lot of bad feedback. I didn’t know that before I came here to write this.

I do not know the answer, maybe try and find another agent to use other than this one. Unfortunately you do not know if another site is the same company using a different name.

We arrived at Francis Cottage Woolacombe to be greeted by a disgusting smell of piss and BO coming from the the bedroom. On investigation it came from the bed linen and smelt. We called the housekeeping who changed this. We noticed the duvet was stained in several places.
The washing machine liquid container was full of scum and mold and the floor and wall next to the washing machine was dirty with mold.
There where dog hairs and fluff on the legs of the occasional table in the living room. The patio door step had a ball of human or dog hair in the corner. The sun loungers where difficult to put up with rusty fittings pinching may fingers.
On a positive side the cooker and kitchen where very clean.
The beds where comfortable too.
Having driven 8 hours to a place we have rented before you do not expect to call the housekeeper to change the beds.

My wife and I are currently waiting today Friday for a reply from Holiday Cottages regarding our booking of a cottage in Suffolk from Monday for our wedding anniversary. We received an email from Jo at Holiday Cottages after 9pm last night stating “We wanted to inform you that unfortunately, Wi-Fi will not be available at the property xxx (HGLENV) during your stay. This is due to an ongoing issue with the service provider, which has been impacted further by the property's rural location…” e.g. 3 days before arrival and Holiday Cottages knew about it. We immediately replied asking whether there is 3G or 4G at the property and what cancellation terms are since internet access was a prerequisite of our booking. So far no reply and it is Friday and it’s high season so booking elsewhere is unlikely.

Well, I take back my nice comments re Holiday Cottages Have been told one thing and now totally ignored when I send emails. I really cannot believe a company can tell you one thing and then do not respond. Was given comfort when staff listened initially to my problems on holiday, told me one thing and now are not responding to me at all.

Wee Spruce Aberlour Scotland Not dog friendly. Told by Steve the owner on arrival not to let the dogs on the gravel as it stains it!
Owners house right next to the cottage. This is not shown on any photos. No privacy and spoiled our big birthday break!

Please be aware that when you pay accidental damage, this is non-refundable, unless you pay the higher price of £500. I assumed that as long as there is no damage in the property I stayed in this would be paid back to me, but no I have lost the money. What a CON.

We were having a good holiday until the owner of the cottage came to us on the day before our leave to accuse us of breaking a drying rack outside that we hadn't even used. He had a security camera outside so knew full well we hadn't touched the rack. The pole of the rack looked old and completely rusty, yet he kept blaming us.
Seems like a clever scheme to get guests to pay for new things.
Aside from that they kept a little dog outside that kept yapping all day, starting at 6 am, waking us up. Completely disturbed the peace and quiet you'd expect to have at a cottage out in the country.
DAMSON ANNEX Burnham on sea, avoid at all cost!

Had to jump through hoops to get a confirmation which, I think, should be automatic. For some reason they had my husbands name and even though I used my email and my credit card they professed that they couldn't speak to me on the chat bot thing

Have used Holiday Cottages for many years, at least the last fifteen years.

Have always found customer service to be excellent... Until now!

Have called HC on several occasions in the last couple of weeks enquiring about houses and asking if possible to contact owners and see if they would consider an extra dog. Explained our dogs are every small and don't moult ... To be met with a curt NO WE DONT CONTACT OWNERS. I explained in the past that HC Owners have allowed us upon asking and they don't want to know.

In the current climate I would imagine that owners can ill afford to turn bookings away, hey ho. I guess I'll book with a more helpful company in future.

Laurel Cottage Grasmere
Shambles of a Company.
I would give '0' stars if I could.
Rubbish Customer Service
My review with Holiday Cottages has not been published as I gave them as above '1'.
And now:
The cottage on arrival was filthy, cold and uninviting.
No Christmas decorations (Owners choice apparently).
No Logs provided. (one bag should have been provided for arrival).
Hoover pipe greeted us onto top of the log burner.
Then it all appeared filth upon filth upon filth it continued in every room.
Kitchen : Coffee pot still full of dirty coffee pods/ bread bin full of crisps and tissues.
Cooker thick of grease/ kettle full of grease/ chopping boards full of bits of food.
TV and CD Player in the lounge cleaned in a half moon!
Lampshades had cobwebs on them.
Sofa in lounge had never been turned it was filthy under the cushions full of food.
Bedroom (1)TV you could right your name on the TV screen.
Cobwebs hanging from the loft vent over the bed.
Bathroom (1), Glass table you could right your name in the dust.
Toilet seat thick of dust/grease.
Low/high dusting on on door sills thick of dark dust (been there a very long time).
Same on staircase it just kept on going.
Garden had never been attended to in the summer plants all dead and needed cutting back.
Basically this cottage was a disgrace.
Holiday Cottages cleaning staff should be dismissed in my opinion, never mind getting a ticking off.
I paid £922.00 for the week in December 2024.
I have been offered a £100 refund not even the cost of one day's fee.
It took me two days to clean what I need to use and take pictures of the cottage.
I feel that my complaint has not been taken seriously and they have no comprehension of what it was like to live in that filth for a week.
I would not recommend Holiday Cottages to anyone.

Trying to book a holiday. My Norton anti-virus blocked access to the site as dodgy (i.e. not just a warning that I could override). No telephone number to call. Tried messaging through Facebook. Auto response along the lines of "unprececendented volumes of enquiries blah-de-blah-de-blah and some stuff about Covid. Booked successfully through Original Cottages instead.

Stay away from this company. The cottage we stayed in was great but the company is awful. They took over £400 on a miscommunication when I spoke to staff they told me what to do without letting me know the charges. Do not use they have no integrity. I’ve been fighting with them over this since October and been told nothing I can do. Shame on them

Ignore the positive reviews of cottages this company proudly shows off on its site - strange how the less favourable reviews are not shown eh? Rubbish customer service. Poor and couldn’t give a damn about resolving issues raised. Don’t waste your money!! You’ve been warned.

If I could I would give a Holiday Cottages NO stars! After booking, my husband became gravely ill and it would have been impossible for us to travel to the cottage. They would not refund our deposit and kept quoting their Ts and Cs. No compassion and no empathy whatsoever. I’m disgusted with their attitude and they should be utterly ashamed of themselves. DO NOT book a cottage with them. They are also part of other smaller companies so watch out!