Ty Chwarel

We were so saddened to read the review about your stay at Ty Chwarel and regret that you felt so unhappy about the house. We have put our heart and soul into designing and building this property as well as into preparing it thoughtfully for our guests so we were really disappointed by your comments. In 3 years’ of holiday rentals, this is our first negative review so we’d like to respond in full to reassure you and all of our valued visitors that we act swiftly on any feedback in order to improve the property. We do however hope that other prospective guests read a range of reviews to get a more rounded view of the house. The Positives1.Fantastic views of the Menai bridge - we agree! The full majesty of this incredible structure, as well as the surrounding natural landscape, can truly be appreciated from here and the outlook of the house was designed to take full advantage of this amazing view. 2.Good sized rooms with comfy beds and en-suite facilities - 3/4 of the rooms have en-suite bathrooms and the final room has a bathroom across the corridor. There is also a well-appointed boot room/utility. Facilities were important to us in the design as our guests are often groups of friends or multiple families who like the convenience and privacy of en-suite bathrooms in addition to a shared, separate toilet. The beds are all hotel quality and can be configured as singles or doubles in every room - just let us know your preference. We are pleased that the size of the rooms met expectations. 3.Large living dining area - this really is the heart of the home, where everyone gathers. We like the open plan design and are pleased you do too. 4.The hot tub is lovely - this is certainly a guest favourite! Great for a celebration holiday or for relaxing after a long walk - glad you enjoyed it. 5.Menai Bridge provides a great base for exploring Anglesey - yes, this little town has all the amenities you need right on the doorstep as well as being close to the fantastic nature and outdoor activities that Anglesey and North Wales have to offer. The house is located within easy walking distance of shops, pubs and restaurants whilst still being in a quiet and peaceful area. Areas for Improvement (TLC)1.Decoration of stairway - we agree that there is a crack in the paintwork where the wooden stair skirting string joins the plaster wall. This is due to natural settlement between materials and the newness of the building. Now that the building is a few years old and has hopefully settled, we’ll get onto this as part of our rolling redecoration program. 2.Garden needs a tidy and building materials are visible - there are some useful maintenance materials stored down a side of the building that is not accessible to guests but we don’t want this to be an eyesore from the hot tub so will look at either removing or screening these. Thank you for highlighting this. 3.Back gate locked so recycling boxes had to be brought round by guests - we do keep the back gate locked both for the added security of our guests and to ensure that the area near the hot tub is not mistakenly used as additional parking that would damage the garden (there is plenty of parking space at the front). We put the boxes and bins out for collection but do not wish to disturb our guests during their stay so don’t bring them back in if guests are in situ. The collection point is at the back of the property where bins are not visible to holidaying guests. We think that this is fairly usual in the self-catering arena and most guests expect to have to take bins a short distance on occasion. However, we will double check with Sykes and revise our procedures or literature about the house if required. Self-catering homes sit somewhere between a boutique hotel and a glamping experience. Many guests are seeking a ‘home from home’ feel and striking the right balance between guest convenience and guest privacy can be hard. 4.Bathrooms need more ventilation and fans didn’t seem to come on - 3 of the bathrooms have windows and all have an electric fan. Some of the bathrooms have heated towel rails. The property is always well aired between visitors. There is a tumble drier to dry the thick, fluffy towels if needed during your stay. We recognise that guests sometimes choose to switch fans off at the wall to stop noise at night but we will double check that they all work and will make sure they are always set to the ‘on’ position for the start of each stay. 5.Dirty towels left from previous visitors - we agree that this is an unacceptable mistake. It doesn’t meet our usual high standards - it has never happened before and we will ensure that it doesn’t happen again. Apologies.6.Not enough bin bags and abrupt response to enquiry - as is normal in self-catering properties, we provide a ‘starter pack’ to keep guests going for the first few days. This includes bin bags in every bin, a few dishwasher tablets and cleaning products, two toilet rolls in each of the four toilets as well as basics for tea and coffee. We also provide a few local treats for guests upon arrival and goodies for children if they are there at special times of year - Easter eggs in your case. We will check with Sykes to see what is provided in other properties and revise our offer if it is not the expected norm - getting it right whilst remaining financially competitive can be tricky as everyone ‘consumes’ at different rates and has different tastes, needs and expectations. The property is located a short walk away from a comprehensive supermarket (Waitrose) that is open 7 days a week so that guests can top up essentials easily whenever needed - we took this into account when planning our starter pack. We are truly sorry if you felt we were abrupt when you phoned on day 4 of your stay to tell us that the dishwasher tablets had run out and request that we deliver more - perhaps we were a little surprised by the enquiry but we agree that this should not come across to guests and genuinely apologise. Customer care is important to us and guests are therefore provided with our personal mobile numbers for any ‘out-of-Sykes-hours’ emergencies or urgent needs - the definitions of these are of course subjective. However, we will make sure that the pre-arrival welcome email is clearer for our guests so that expectations are properly managed. We do hope that you understand our decision to provide such a detailed public response to this published, public review (that is very much an outlier to the usual feedback we receive). The quality that we provide and the enjoyment guests get from stays in our property really does matter to us so we do read all reviews carefully and take constructive feedback very seriously indeed. It is important to us that our guests know that we listen, but also that we have the opportunity to provide clarity. We’re glad you had a great time exploring Anglesey and wish you well on future visits to the area. Yours Sincerely The Owners