Group Accommodation Villas In The North East

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Amanda - Verified booking

  For Mike - the owner and Skyes Cottages Last week we spoke about the house and when asked about the poor reviews regarding cleaning etc, you said 'you can't please everyone'.

  I'm sorry but for a house costing 3K to rent for a week this one isnt okay for anyone. It's very dirty and many things are actually broken. Some are even dangerous, i.e. stair gates. Stair gates - Neither stair gate is fit for purpose and if used, could actually cause harm to a child. One is using an allen key in the locking mechanism to keep it closed, which can easily be taken out while the other simply doesn't close and hold. One push and the door would be open, child down the stairs. Both should be thrown away. Replacment cost £20?? The house is beyond dirty. Having met the cleaning team of two on our last day I'm not surprised. How can two people clean a whole house in 5 hours. However that's not our problem and shouldnt be an issue for any renter. The staircase hasn't been cleaned in forever. We had to buy slippers to use inside the house as socks were filthy from this floor. The main areas were clean but shower cubicles, mirrors, round toilets, corners were grubby and some areas, just plain dirty. Plumbing system - The plumbing cant operate with more than one shower running. freezing people or burning them if other taps are running. We had to shower in rotation - not funny for 12 people! The bath in the main bathroom leaked water onto the floor. The edging to step up to the bath is hanging off. Shower in the same bathroom is actually broken - only hanging by one hinge. The door handle is also broken. The bath side is broken in the ensuite room above the smaller sitting room. Has sharp edges and the main shower head doesnt work at all and the water temperature gauge on the shower is broken off so it's hard to change the temperature. The shower hose has black mould/rust on it. The toilet roll holder is broken. Ovens - Next to useless. The temperature doesnt change no matter where you put the dial. The ignitor does not work consistently in the main kitchen oven causing gas to disperse while you try to light it. The seals on both ovens do not seal and heat is lost constantly. Making them very difficult to use and supper time stressful when you need to feed people. One oven even blew out while cooking leaving gas flowing but no flame. Luckily it was spotted. There doesnt appear to be any carbon monoxide monitors near either oven. Smoke detectors - the oven fiasco led us to look for smoke detectors and we found two - both very old. Thank goodness we didnt need to test them. Seems very few in such a big house. Hot tub - You said someone would be in every day to check the hot tub but we spent some full days at the house without a visit. By Thursday there was grey foam on the top of the water, which we looked up to find that it's caused by an imbalance of PH - which basically confirms no one has checked it. The shower plug in the hot tub room was blocked so couldn't be used. Bins - the bins were full when we arrived. We recycled what we could by taking it elsewhere. Kitchen equipment - has been mentioned in previous reviews - Blunt knives, toasters that don't work. The least of our concern ultimately but even so. I think a renter should expect working equipment. Cost of a toaster - £50? Beds - so many complaints about the state of the beds. Bedrooms above the main sitting room had the worst mattresses with springs clearly visible. Apart from the discomfort it caused, the noise from the twangy springs kept waking the occupants awake. Single beds were also a problem - twangy mattresses and even a bolt had fallen out from one of the beds. One of the bedroom doors didnt even close. We stripped the beds when we left and I'm surprised your housekeeper hasn't thrown the quilts out. Grim is how I would describe them. Pillows equally minging. Air hockey game / pool table Nice features but .. air hockey didnt work. It was balanced on two of the four broken legs to keep it standing up. We managed to fix the plug. The pool table pockets were broken. I think your photos of the house reflect the house but I would suggest you try viewing it. We took photos and videos should you wish to see the evidence of those things mentioned. I dont think any of these points are petty. In fact I could make many more. I did message you on Wednesday night and try to speak to Sykes but neither were successful. Not that I thought for one minute you would take any notice Mike. The reviews speak for themselves. Same things mentioned over and over again. Unfortunately the holiday home memories this year are negative, This is the worst house we have ever rented. How Sykes gives you 4 ticks is beyond me. I will be be posting reviews on this property. It may be too late for us but it might stop someone else having a stressful holiday.

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• Elle - Verified booking

  Had a wonderful stay here at The Power House for my 60th birthday celebrations.

  ........6 adults, 3 grandchildren and 3 dog's. Absolutely fantastic stay, plenty room with us all to spread around. I'll start with the positive stuff........lovely and warm (once we got the heating on). Beds comfortable, lovely powerful showers. Spacious bedrooms.Two very spacious kitchens with all the amenities you need. Absolutely fantastic, huge hot tub (or as my grandson called it "the pool") spent endless hours in there, absolutely loved it, and there's a nice sauna, all in a separate huge summer house kind of building. Two huge lounges (just incase you want to get away from any of your noisy family). Pool table came in handy to give each other a thrashing at pool, and there's also a game of air hockey too. We took our own board games, but from what I could see, there where games in the cupboards, can't comment further as I didn't get them out to look at. Lovely front, secure, spacious garden for the dogoes to run round in, can imagine it would be absolutely gorgeous in warmer weather. Gorgeous beach about 10 minutes drive away, flipping cold though (but it was 15th and 16th January). Couple of negative things to point out........ One of the radiator's in the lounge where black sofa's are didn't work, and with it being middle of January it made a big difference to the heating in that lounge, was quite cool, but after a few board games and a few drinks, we soon warmed up. The bath panel in the far bedroom down corridor had pieces missing from it at the top , some of the blinds looked a bit tired, like the en-suite one in the above bedroom mentioned. Some of the bed pillows could do with changing, they where rather flat. The air hockey table could do with a screen in one side of the legs. And I also noticed in the lounge where the grey sofas are, the left window as you walk in, some of the plaster on the right side of frame is all flaking off. Child gates could also do with updating, they where a bit naff, and not so child safe. It was just the smaller things like this that I marked the property down on with star rating. But can I just add, none of this had an impact on the wonderful time we all had, we truly did have a lovely time. And considering how big the house is, we did have it lovely and warm and cosy. So Mike (owner)..........sort these minor things out and the star ratings I'm sure will increase. Thank you for a wonderful stay x

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• Sonia - Verified booking

  This property is amazing!

  It has a fabulous staircase which opens out onto two parts of the house. It may have been two separate holiday lets in the past as there are two of almost everything. Two kitchens, two lounges, two entrances (only one in use during our stay as one of the keys was absent for the first door.) 6 bedrooms plus a mezzanine room. Bed linen was clean and fresh. There is everything you need pots and pans wise to cook for a large gathering- there were 15 of us with 3 babies and 2 dogs. We cooked every night and with two ovens managed to cater well enough, my only big bug bearer was trying to find different utensils and having to go between two kitchens all the time! The main kitchen dining table converts to a pool table so the boys loved that. The hot tub house is a great addition to this property with its own shower room too. We couldn’t quite get the program right for the bubbles to stay on for more than 30 seconds at a time though, but it was clean and checked daily for the right chemical mix by the owners. We couldn’t get the sauna to work, but it wasn’t a big issue. Recycling of rubbish was not clear, and I think the owners need to specify somewhere in their literature about which bins are used for what purpose?! We certainly couldn’t work it out so did our best! The garden is smaller than expected, but there is space for at least 5-6 big cars on the driveway. It is about a 10 minutes walk to the most local beach at Skinningrove and 15 to the better bigger one with fine golden sands, and very clean. We loved the beaches in the area and Saltburn is only a few minutes drive too. There is also a shopping area with a big Asda, Aldi and Food outlets, B&M etc within a few minutes drive. I did a huge online shop beforehand from Sainsburies that was delivered on the day of our arrival and there was plenty of fridge and freezer space to stock everything. Whitby is a bit further along the coast, about a 1/2 hr drive so well worth a visit, and there are also some beautiful bays such as Staithes and Runswick bay that also have nice beaches along that journey. Long coastal walks are great along the beaches of Marske and Redcar - (about 15 mins) you can time it so tide is out!

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• Malcolm - Verified booking

  It's not easy to find something suitable for a large group that pleases everyone, but the Powerhouse certainly does this.

  It has to be experienced in order to believe! Surprise for wife's 70th. She had no idea what or where, On arrival met by birthday balloons and streamers all over hallway and stairs! 3 minutes later 5 faces appeared on balcony and she almost had a heart attack as it was our daughter's family! Choice of at least 6 bedrooms and assisted by grand daughter, she chose the "olde worlde" 4 poster with en- suite. Family unloaded our car and took cases up while she recovered with a glass or three. Meal time arrived and our daughter took her to local fish & chip shop (recommended). She returned to be met by "apparently stray" black dog who she did not recognise, still being in shock, This dog was soon followed by our son's family! It then dawned that she had all of our family together.(Just within lockdown rules, although she had thought that they were all otherwise engaged) After the meal we explored this fantastic place. 2 kitchens, 2 lounges with tv and entertainment system. Snooker/pool table and the icing on the cake - a separate building housing an 8 person hot tub and sauna, complete with mood lights and i pod compatible music system. At least 6 bedrooms (I lost count) 3 with en-suite bath/shower. 2 additional showers and a family bathroom with shower. This converted and modernised coal mine building provided absolutely everything. Our group was 11 humans aged from 10 to 71 years together with 1 well behaved dog, although can accommodate more comfortably. Local facilities include general store, pub, beach and disused harbour, hill walks, takeaways and much more. I cannot thank Mike and Lorraine enough for providing this fabulous experience (even essential supplies were available on arrival) and hope that their business prospers. Experienced from 30 April until 7 May 2021. Best wishes, Andy and Marion

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• Carl - Verified booking

  After paying £1600 for 6 nights I had expected the house to at least be clean ?

  I spent my first morning in the house going around every room sweeping cobwebs, dead spiders and dirty skirting boards clean. I was actually embarrassed to show family that were joining us the following morning around the house so I cleaned and swept dirty floors until I couldn’t see any visible dirt or cobwebs. Our guests commented that the house looks lovely until your inside! It’s very run down ! 2 Toilet seats were hanging off, the toilet in our en suite has a dodgy flush button and this would make the toilet cistern trickle all night loud enough to keep me awake. The main bathroom bath has a very bad leak, my daughter had to use over 20 towels to dry the floor, this is very noticeable from the main kitchen as the ceiling at the back of the kitchen has very bad water damage, I read a review on the house early this year complaining about the same thing so obviously nothing has been done all year to repair the bath!!! Overall I was very very disappointed in the cleanliness of the house, I didn’t book a holiday to come away to clean but I had too because I was embarrassed to show our guests around. The hot tub was checked every day not always filled up and after a few days I could see grime building up around the sides of the hot tub, whoever was checking it certainly did nothing to clean this either ! I think you need to advise the owners to carry out a deep clean on the house as it has put us off ever booking again. I’m very disappointed in total we spent over £2000 for 6 days including travel and shopping and I feel ripped off. I would not recommend that grimy dirty house to any of my friends or family! I’d be embarrassed too !!

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