“I recently made a booking through these people for next year. The booking was confirmed and the first payment taken. The following day I received a call asking me to contact them, only to be told that the booking price was being increased retroactively by almost 50%. All protestations were met with a robotic "It's in our terms and conditions". Not the first time I've been disappointed with their service but the first I've bothered to make a complaint....and the last time I'll use them.”
“DON'T BOOK WITH THIS COMAPNY AS THEY…
DON'T BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY AS THEY TAKE YOUR MONEY AND IF PROBLEMS OCCURE THEY DONT GIVE A TOSS. ALSO DON'T BOOK WICKHAMS VIEW in KESWICK.
Very disappointing complaint handling – left feeling completely let down
We booked Wickhams View through Cottages.com and unfortunately experienced significant problems with the parking arrangements, including damage to our car.
The Keswick office had specifically told us to use the public pay-and-display car park and to keep our receipts so that the parking costs could be reimbursed. We followed those instructions exactly.
When we raised our concerns, however, the initial response from Cottages.com Customer Relations was extremely disappointing. We were initially refused reimbursement for the parking, despite having been specifically instructed to use that car park and retain the receipts for payment.
I was so frustrated that I had to contact the Keswick office directly myself to explain the situation and pursue the reimbursement that we had already been told we were entitled to.
To Cottages.com’s credit, the parking costs were eventually reimbursed. However, the way the complaint was handled left a great deal to be desired.
Our main concern was not simply the cost of the parking. Our car had been damaged, and we were extremely upset about what had happened. We had followed the instructions given to us and reasonably expected Cottages.com to take our concerns seriously and show some understanding of the situation.
Instead, the response from Customer Relations felt incredibly dismissive and lacking in empathy. We were left feeling that the focus was on closing the complaint rather than genuinely understanding what had happened and the impact it had on us.
What was particularly frustrating was the apparent disconnect between the advice given by the local Keswick office and the position initially taken by Customer Relations. We followed the instructions provided by Cottages.com, yet we were then made to feel as though even the parking reimbursement was something we had to fight for.
Eventually receiving the parking money back does not change the fact that we had to spend considerable time and effort chasing something we had been explicitly told would be reimbursed.
The issue of the damage to our car was also not resolved to our satisfaction, and we were left extremely disappointed by the lack of empathy shown throughout the process.
For a company dealing with people's holidays, I would expect much better complaint handling. When something goes wrong, customers need to feel listened to, believed and treated with understanding, rather than feeling as though they are simply being passed through a complaints process.
Our experience has unfortunately left us with very little confidence in Cottages.com.
The parking was eventually reimbursed, but the way our complaint was handled was stressful, frustrating and unnecessarily difficult. Most importantly, we did not feel that anyone genuinely understood or cared about the impact the incident had on us.
I would hope Cottages.com reviews how this complaint was handled, particularly the conflicting information given by its own teams and the initial refusal to reimburse costs that customers had specifically been instructed to incur and claim back.”
“Just returned home after a absolutely fab week at box tree cottage in pickering
Spotless clean , fabulous location,
Very well equipped, will definitely return in the future ,
18th 25th September 2026”
“1-Star Review
Extremely disappointing experience — think twice before booking
I am extremely disappointed with my experience with cottages.com and, in particular, their booking team.
I booked a holiday through cottages.com but unfortunately my financial circumstances have changed and I can no longer afford to go. I contacted them months before the holiday date to try to cancel the booking, expecting that there would at least be some reasonable consideration given the amount of notice.
Instead, I have been told that I am still expected to pay over £300 despite cancelling well in advance. I find this incredibly frustrating and feel that the way this situation has been handled has been completely lacking in understanding or flexibility.
What has made the experience even worse is dealing with the booking team. I contacted them hoping they would help resolve the situation, but I came away feeling that the focus was simply on enforcing the charge rather than actually helping a customer who is genuinely unable to afford the holiday anymore.
My advice to anyone considering booking through cottages.com is to read the cancellation terms extremely carefully and make sure you fully understand what you could be liable for before handing over your money. I certainly wish I had looked more closely at the cancellation policy before booking.
For me, this has been an extremely stressful and disappointing experience, and I would not want another customer to find themselves in the same position.
1 star — very unhappy with how this has been handled.”
“I would like to message and say I will not be booking with you again due to your decision to apply an arbitrary and blanket £30 per pet. I have made 7 bookings in the last two years. Sadly I have one for April next year but that will be my last. Shame on you guys”
“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 !!!”
