“Avoid Cottages.com. I genuinely wouldn't risk booking with them again.
I honestly don't even know where to start. This has been one of the most stressful and upsetting experiences our family has ever been through.
We booked a property through Cottages.com for a family weekend away. There were 16 of us, across three generations, and it had taken months to find a weekend that everyone could do. Three members of our family had travelled from outside the UK, and we had spent thousands of pounds on the booking.
The reason this trip meant so much is because our mum has Stage 4 cancer. We don't know how many opportunities we'll have left to all be together like this, so we wanted to make memories while we still can. That's something you can't put a price on.
We arrived at check-in on Friday afternoon, excited to start our weekend, only to find a hen party already in the house. The property had been double booked.
I genuinely couldn't believe it.
Instead of starting our weekend, we spent the next three hours standing outside on the pavement, in the heat, with children and elderly relatives, desperately trying to get someone at Cottages.com to help us.
The customer service was shocking.
We were left on hold over and over again, passed between different people, and had to explain the whole situation every single time. The first person we spoke to promised they'd ring us back. They never did.
The only alternative we were offered wasn't even close to what we'd booked. We actually found another property ourselves on the Cottages.com website, only to be told it shouldn't even have been showing because it was already booked. If your own website can't tell you what's available, what confidence are customers supposed to have?
The thing that upset us the most was how little anyone seemed to care. There was no urgency, no ownership and very little sympathy. At one point we were even told to “move along." Sixteen people, with nowhere to stay because of a mistake your company had made, and that's how we were spoken to.
To make things even worse, we'd had emails from Cottages.com just days before saying things like “We're looking forward to your stay." Clearly nobody had checked whether the booking actually existed.
We were also promised that a senior manager would contact us on Monday.
That never happened either.
No phone call. No explanation. No apology worth mentioning.
Mistakes happen, but it's how a company deals with them that matters. Cottages.com failed us at every single stage. The double booking was bad enough, but the way we were treated afterwards was honestly just as upsetting.
This wasn't just a weekend away for us. It was precious time with our mum while she's living with Stage 4 cancer, and that time can't simply be replaced.
We'll never book through Cottages.com again, and I genuinely wouldn't recommend anyone else does either. If this can happen to us, it can happen to anyone.”
“Bell Cottage in Winton. NEAR KIRBY STEPHEN-
if you book this cottage please ensure that they have deep cleaned the carpets before you go. We stayed in June 2026. I had such a bad allergic reaction that I had to leave after one night. I do have an allergy to dust mites. Dust mites live and breed in extremely old and ingrained dust. pet hairs and in mold. I realise that this allergy does not affect everyone, my husband was fine. But this allergy is hardly ever set off these days, because I avoid the kind of dank dark places such as mold ridden garages that trigger it. I have stayed in old cottages many times and it hasn't happened, so it isn't 'inevitable' to have these kinds of reaction simply because of the ae of the property. The carpet in the little bedroom was rank. Also please be aware if you have asthma and/or a pet allergy. there was a lot of ingrained dog hair in the carpets and some of the furniture smelt and felt unclean. I was very ill. coughing, sneezing, wheezing.
I asked for a refund for the six days of holidays that I lost, but Cottages.com were useless. Appealing to ABTA was no help- thery just reffered me back to the owners. there is no actual contrac with Cottages.com apparently. Its with the owners. The owners are not ABTA members so ABTA'S hands were tied.
I've a video of the carpet but I'll not post it unless someone wishes to see it privately. The owners are really elderly and believe it or not I'm trying not to give them anxiety. The owner said that she cleaned the cottage herself and that is how she knew it was fine!, I think they may genuinly believe that the cottage was clean enough.
Due to my complaint they may now have deep cleaned it so it may be fine but please check! I don't want anyone else to feel that ill while on holiday. I had tears at 4 am when I realised i would have to leave the next morning and return home after one night!
cottages. com will not let me post a review of the cottage on their site. This cottage has no other reviews, which should have been a red flag.
some of the photos are old and also misleading.”
“I've been trying to contact cottages.com for the past day without success to book an extra day for our holiday. The chat service cannot help, cannot find an email address and kept hanging on the phone for nearly an hour. In desperation I contacted the owner who said she'd send an email to them, still nothing.
Our trip is just over a month away and I do want to get this sorted as it is my birthday.
Lynn Bounden”
“The picture they use for a recent holiday. The pictures were from like 10 years ago. In the pictures the property looks brand new. In reality is very shabby!!!”
“We have just stayed at Dougies retreat in pevensey bay what a lovely holiday bungalow and so near all amenities we can thoroughly recomend this property and a lovely welcome pack on arrival we would love to come back
Trevor Spackman”
“Terrible, this company took full payment for an expensive cottage in Cornwall, I booked on weds , received written confirmation and full booking reference. Five days later they emailed me, asking me to phone them, when I did they said it was no longer available! Still awaiting refund.”
“The position of the flat gave good views of the bay. It was stated that the flat was on the 2nd floor but we found the four flights of stairs with thirty five
stepse etremely hard work and painful.
Specially struggling with the luggage at our age of eighty and my wife suffering badly with an inflamed sciatic nerve. I did, eventually manage to contact cottages.com but the compromise offer was costly and meant further carrying of luggage, so we declined.
BEWARE”
“Please be aware when booking with this Company. If you have an unexpected medical appointment, they have no compassion. Lauren in customer service was very short and cutting no consideration no compassion and simply said you have lost £1.300 nothing you can do about it because of this 3 sets of friends that have booked to travel with this Company have flexible cancellation and are now cancelling with them. If you are booking and paying in full do so with caution.”
“We stayed at The Ascot on Hornby Road in Blackpool. The property was as described. A fabulous large house for our party of 8 people and one dog. Well equipped and well located in the town centre. Colin was great with information before and during our stay. We definitely recommend a stay in this comfortable house.”
“Atrocious customer service. Lack of empathy, toxic work culture. They’ve clearly become very arrogant with an attitude of “my way or the highway” and have lost sight that without a customer, there would be no company. They directly discriminate against protected characteristics under the equality act. I would rather sleep rough than ever book again with cottages.com
I cannot recommend them, even to my worst enemy.”
“To let a cottage in a dirty state and no running water is not on and to say you gave me my money back as if you are doing me a favour and not willing to pay my fuel money for a 440 mile trip for nothing and no call back as requested so people don't book with Cottages.com”
“I had a confirmed booking cancelled by cottages.com with the explanation: “The reasons behind cancellation of your booking is due to the owners of the property have contacted our services to state the property has been temporarily withdrawn on your dates.”
Shockingly, they still took the final payment a day after telling me the booking was cancelled.
At the time I originally booked, there were plenty of similar properties available. Now, comparable accommodation is around £300 more expensive, leaving me significantly out of pocket.
The only alternatives suggested were caravan parks, completely unsuitable compared to the 5-bedroom townhouse I had booked. No meaningful support, price matching, or compensation was offered despite the inconvenience and additional cost.
Very disappointing experience and a complete lack of accountability. I will avoid booking with them in the future.”
“Where do I start...
I booked a property with scamotteges.com for 16 people. Booking paid for in full and confirmed. A couple of weeks after I rang to ask if check in and check out times could be adjusted. To my horror scamottages.com stated actually there seems to be an error and that the booking will have to be cancelled but they provided NO REASON. So, I had to tell all my guests, a party host, decor service that the property has to be cancelled.
It gets better..
I STUPIDLY agreed to an alternative property with scamottages.com thinking it was a complete one off and desperate to hold that date as agreeing a particular date with 16 people, booking entertainment, cake, decor etc is difficult. So, new property booked and you would have thought scamottages.com would have maybe provided a bit of compensation or a sweetener to this second property i booked with them but no they didn't.
A couple of weeks passed and I get an email on a Saturday morning stating that the second property I have booked is going to have to be CANCELLED AGAIN. UNBELIEVABLE!! Again, NO REASON provided, just sorry its cancelled. So, all guests, entertainment, cake guy, decor told its cancelled AGAIN.
After speaking to them on the phone you'd think they would now have to offer some sort of compensation.... guess what? The best they could offer was just to try and book another property with them!? DELUDED!!! ARE THEY FOR REAL!?Why the hell would I book for the third time when the last TWO occasions you cancelled my bookings at the drop of a hat!?
Please please please if you are reading this you may think that "oh yeh that wont happen to me" but you are risking taking such a big chance with scamottages.com. STAY AWAY.
There terms and conditions state they can cancel your booking AT ANY TIME WITHOUT ANY WARNING, COMPENSATION ETC...
AGAIN, I advise you to stay clear!!!
A disorganised, untrustworthy and right down amateurish company.”
“Totally disgusting service !!! Had to cancel our booking due to personal reasons. Couldn’t cancel in the App as just kept going back to start again after numerous attempts ! Contacted them direct bia app but, again, they never replied !! Resorted to messaging them via messenger and now they want £196 to cancel the booking ! I’ve given them 8 months notice of cancellation, so more than enough time to fill that time slot ! Totally disgusting service and will never use these again. We book cottages regularly through the year and these are the worst I’ve ever come across !!!”
“Disgusting company do not book with them, made a mistake booked Friday accidentally instead of Saturday paid £99.00 deposit, I cancelled same day then they charged me a further £174.00 for nothing. DO NOT BOOK on this website. I am ill with a life limiting illness, and made a mistake, couldn't rebook as I needed a relative to drive me there.☹️☹️”
“WE PAID almost £900 for the property and REVIEWS ARE MISLEADING AND BY INVITATION ONLY: We used cottages.com and found it to be fraud with misleading adverts and following is what we thought of their property.
The listing is misleading regarding the water/view. While described as being on the estuary, there is no visible water for most of the day. Water only appears with high tide, typically after around 4:30 pm, leaving mudflats during daytime hours. This material information was not clearly disclosed and significantly influenced our booking decision.
Our confirmed zip-and-link king bed request was not honoured. The bed was set up as two singles, and the owner refused any assistance to correct this. We had to join the beds ourselves, leaving a noticeable gap that caused back pain.
The heating system is impractical. Radiators are individually controlled with low, hard-to-access controls, requiring sitting on the floor to programme them. It took a long time to get working, and there was no heating in the kitchen and very poor heating in parts of the property. This is not acceptable for a winter stay.
Cleanliness and basic facilities were below expectations, including dirty carpets, missing essentials (e.g. toilet brush), lack of shower privacy, and bedding/blankets that were not in good condition.
Most concerning was the owner’s conduct. On first contact there was a heated call; the owner stated she would not come to the property under any circumstances and rejected help with the bedding outright. Communication was argumentative and unhelpful, making it impossible to resolve issues on site.
Overall, the property did not match the listing, problems were not addressed, and the stay was stressful rather than relaxing. We would not return or recommend.”
“Before we started our holiday at Weavers Snug in Haworth we were reassured that Cottages.com were the ones that managed the property and we were to contact them if there was a problem. On arrival at the property it was clear that it had not been serviced as it should have been. The rug on entering and the stair carpet had not been cleaned. The property was freezing not just cold. There was no welcome pack as advertised. The heating was set on a timer so it had to be checked all the time and switched back on. The oven was dirty and the bin outside was still full from previous visitors. The toilet brush was dirty. The bed sheets did not fit the bed and the towels were still hung up as if they were not fresh. I tried contacting Cottages.com but couldn't get hold of them. I raised my concerns with the owner on our arrival back home as I could not get hold of them when we were away. The break was a special celebration but it did not feel that way even though we told both the owner of the property and cottages.com. It seems that they were only interested in taking our money and not making sure the property was to a high standard. But what is so annoying is when you read the reviews for the property the ones that they show are all positive. I am certain they only put on the ones that show the property in a good way.”
“Stayed at Ty coch-chatham cottages
In Llandwrog Wales. What a dump.
Cottage was not clean and had mice running round.
Linen horrendous
TV not working
Heating poor
Couldn’t wait to leave a day early
Complained to customer services who were not interested. Cottage owner denied all complaints”
“We needed a house that would accommodate 13 of us for a family celebration and Maesbangor Farmhouse was ideal, it had everything we required to make our stay perfect. We all had a fantstic weekend & will definetly book again. Big thank you to our host.”
