“Well where do I start?”
If you like your holiday to be a relaxing and pleasant experience then maybe Glanrhyd Uchaf is not the place for you! We arrived for what we hoped would be a relaxing 50th birthday weekend, to a freezing cold property where the heating only worked at certain times of the day and cut off overnight so that every night’s sleep was uncomfortable and freezing. The owner told me to go into the boiler room with a torch to press the heating controls when it tripped out, which was really irritating and I certainly didn’t want to get out of bed at 4am to put it back on! The property was dirty, the cleaning had either not been done before we arrived, or it was done badly! Tea spillages on the work surfaces, cobwebs everywhere, dirty sticky marks all over the inside of the windows, and the door handles looked like they had never been cleaned (not ideal when covid is still around). Lampshades were broken, the curtains were hanging off in the lounge, the blind in the sunroom was broken and permanently closed which ruined the view completely. Toilet brushes covered in poo next to the toilets, totally disgusting and an infection control hazard! There were leaks from the radiators onto the parquet floor and the owner asked me to put a dish under the leak to catch the water! If you like to shower daily then take your own towels as we were only given one bath sheet and one hand towel for 4 days, which is not substantial in my opinion. The owner of the property offered to send her cleaner in on the second day but we declined, as I had already cleaned up the mess and quite frankly the cleaning was already substandard so how was there going to be any improvement? After all of this and spending 3 days on the phone to Sykes both the company and the owner have refused to offer any form of refund, which is appalling! My advice, holiday elsewhere because all this messing around ruined my birthday weekend, a total waste of our hard-earned money!
Thank you for your feedback, which we always welcome, so that we can see what we are doing right and so that we can swiftly deal with any suggested improvements. We take our guest's comfort very seriously, and want our home, and it's beautiful location, to be enjoyed by all who stay there.
Firstly, to address the heating. When I spoke to you on your arrival, I explained and apologised sincerely that the heating timing clock had unfortunately been changed so that the heating had only just come on when you arrived. I talked you through how to press the button on the illuminated timer clock in the cupboard in the utility room so that you could chose whether to have the heating on 24 hours/all day/twice a day etc. At the end of the call, you confirmed that the heating was on and that you were able to use the controls, and I apologised again for the inconvenience caused. I would just like to point out that our guests have differing preferences as to how long and how hot to have the heating on for, and some do not like to have the heating on full whist they sleep, or even on all day when they are not in. We leave full instructions of how to use the timer clock in the information folder in the living room, and are very happy for our guests to change the settings to suit their own needs. We have never had a complaint before that the house is cold.
With regards to the broken blind in the sun room. This was actually broken by the guests from the previous week, and we only found out about this on the changeover day. As soon as we found out, Sykes called you to explain and apologise that it was not going to be possible to fix the blind before your imminent arrival. Whilst I appreciate that the broken blind did restrict your view, I think it is important to clarify that it was only 1 of the 12 window blinds in the sun room that was affected, and luckily it was on a side window facing the outbuildings. We are also very disappointed that the blind had been broken, but being a Friday afternoon when we found it, it really was impossible for us to do anything about it, other than apologise to you and let you know before you arrived. Just to confirm, this has now been repaired.
With regards to your other housekeeping comments, I will of course look into all of your concerns and discuss them at once with my housekeeper. I can only apologise if some of the cleaning was not up to the high standards that both I and our guests expect.
As far as I am aware, providing one bath sheet and a hand towel per guest is the norm for a three night stay. My housekeeper has confirmed that one of the hooks on the sitting room curtains had come out of one of the rings, so we will get that replaced at once.
At the end of our only conversation, just after your arrival, I encouraged you to call me at any time if there were any further problems with the heating or anything else, so you can imagine our disappointment to read your review. As you rightly pointed out, we did offer for our housekeeper to come over to the property, and you also asked for a late check out, which we agreed to. In the circumstances, both Sykes and I did not feel that a refund was appropriate. Property Owner
