“Our stay at Gweryl Lodge was a great base for exploring North Wales, with its spacious and modern design.”
The kitchen is well-equipped, the bathrooms are luxurious with amazing baths, and the beds were incredibly comfortable. The location is perfect, offering easy access to nearby attractions, making it ideal for families.
However, several issues affected our experience. The fireplace was not working, and despite contacting support via chat on the first day, we received no response. We tried replacing the receiver’s batteries, but it still didn’t function, possibly due to a faulty pipe or spark. There was no hairdryer, which was inconvenient for my wife. Some sinks, particularly in the room with the shower, were partially blocked, causing very slow drainage. Significant dust under the beds was noticeable when our kids, playing hide and seek, got covered in dirt. The property lacked basics like sugar, salt, and pepper, and there weren’t enough towels. A damp smell lingered, leaving our clothes with an odd odor by the end of the stay. The entrance is very narrow, making reversing difficult for our large SUV, requiring assistance, though smaller cars should be fine.
Gweryl Lodge has great potential, and with these issues addressed, it could be an outstanding holiday home. We hope to see improvements and would consider returning for another Sykes holiday.
Thank you for the very helpful and constructive feedback, this is a new venture for us, and your feedback really helps us to get things right.
a) Firstly, we have reported to Sykes the lack of response from them to your chat message regarding the fireplace and asked them to investigate the matter further and to issue you with an apology.
b) With respect to the fireplace not working I have asked our Gas Safe engineer to attend the property to investigate the issue and repair the fireplace.
c) Dust under the bed / blocked sinks – we have asked our housekeeping team to resolve these matters going forward.
d) Towels – our housekeeping team provide these and have allowed for one bath sheet and one hand towel per person (i.e., 8 of each in total), plus provision of an additional hand towel in each bathroom. They may not have left the correct number of towels for your stay and are investigating the matter further to ensure it is not repeated.
e) Basic cooking ingredients (salt/pepper/sugar) – our housekeeping provide sugar in the welcome pack and in future are going to include salt and pepper sachets.
f) Hairdryer – we will ask Sykes to provide one (after it has been PAT tested).
g) Musty/damp odour – the house is very old (parts of it including the cellar date back to the 17th century) and despite tanking all the walls and replastering them, there is still some moisture in the air emanating from the cellar. The cellar has a crude drainage system, which was installed when the house was built, and this is what is causing the smell. We have previously sought expert advice on how to resolve the matter, but our options are limited. We have spoken to Sykes and their expert has suggested installing a Humidistat fan which will come on and off when it detects moisture in the air. Sykes are currently obtaining a quote for this and once installed, we hope it will alleviate the musty smell.
h) Parking – we agree that parking on the driveway can be a bit challenging especially if you have a larger vehicle. We will in future be advising guests in advance regarding this and providing some more specific instructions. There is also the option to use the free public car park right next door to the house.
Property Owner
