Sykes Holiday Cottages - refusing refunds

[inmylifeIlovedthemall]

I am wondering if anyone else is caught up in the ‘no refunds’ policy that Sykes Holiday cottages are adopting in relation to Coronavirus.

Despite Boris imploring us to stay at home and numerous representitives of the Travel Industry asking us not to travel to tourist hotspots, Sykes are refusing to allow cancellations and refund holiday payments. They are offering rebooking options, but at massively increased prices for the same period in 2021.

They have sold Insurance alongside their holidays, but those policies do not cover the current situation.

So for me the choice seems to be ‘do the right thing’ and stay home, losing the total cost of the holiday.

I was travelling to meet a group of friends & family and all have been able to cancel at no loss to themselves. It just appears to be Sykes taking this stance.

Is anyone else caught up in this? Are there other holiday companies taking the same stance?

Yes, I have this : indeed in my Spam.
Still not inclined to snap at this : going on 6 April and waiting...

A credit note is not a refund. The owners are being asked if they will refund. So the money goes back to Sykes, and then we get a Credit Note??

The cottage owners never get any money until the end of the month that the guest has stayed.

Owners are being asked if we will 'release' guests from the contracts and allow them to cancel. Lots of owners are going to agree to this (I am with a different agency, but am on a forum with Sykes owners). Many owners wanted to do this before now (as they care about the communities their cottages are in and don't want to spread the virus, nor rip off guests) but if the owners cancelled bookings themself, Sykes were charging the owner the usual "re-accomodation" penalty fee! This has now gone so hopefully you may get an owner who is prepared to release you.

I hope so, too. But I really don't want a useless credit note.

As a teacher, I can only go at certain times and none of them will be in that price bracket by the time they have hiked prices....

It sounds like their treatment of the owners stinks, too.

Yes, Sykes arent well regarded within the industry either!

Providing the holiday cottage is on business rates and not council tax (per the rules), they will get a government grant of £10K to see them through this. It's possible not all cottage owners know this, so worth mentioning if you are dealing direct with owners.

People please remember their actions when this is all over.

I stopped using them before this when I discovered that a lot of their properties can now be rented out via Airbnb for FAR less money.

Airbnb have been brilliant throughout this and each individual "host" has had the ability to offer very fair and reasonable cancellation/ammendment options.

I will never use Sykes again

As a cottage owner I am about to close our cottage for any future bookings as I can't risk guests being relocated for next year, the whole situation flaring up again and then being personally responsible for 1,000's of pounds of fines.

Airbnb all the way in future.

It is good to hear your views stayathomegardener and Tarararara

Right from the start I have understood this issue was down to the profiteering practices of Sykes, but I have been shocked to hear how they treat Cottage owners and how much they charge you.

Can I ask why you use Agencies rather than advertising independently?

I believe that the actions of Sykes Cottages will change the Cottage industry, particularly if they maintain their stance and this Coronavirus situation contines through the Summer.

For every angry customer (and there are hundreds if not thousands) there will be 10 - 20 people who will hear the story of Sykes profiteering.

I book 2-3 cottages a year to go walking, but will never again book through an agency of this kind. In future it will be direct booking or nothing at all.

According to Sykes I am supposed to be in a contract with a cottage owner, but am not even allowed to know who that owner is (interesting in terms of Contract Law). I don’t want my owner to be penalised by Sykes and would have much preferred to be able to talk to them direct and negotiate a solution which is fair to both.

@inmylifeIlovedthemall I have 8 more active bookings this year that haven't already cancelled. Normally we would be booked back to back.

If I cancel them I will be fined over £2,000.

I guess I liked them because you get week long bookings rather than Airbnb who tend to be short stays and more last minute. Although the Airbnb guests are usually much more fun.

I confess although I read the terms and conditions originally they seemed reasonable. I felt for example if I had to cancel a guest due to say heating failure then that's on my head and I should bare to costs of rebooking.

I've never cancelled anyone before.

I didn't consider that they would be enforced under the current circumstances.

It feels like Sykes and other agents are just backing away from the mess whilst screwing owners and guests at the same time.

I almost suspect they are likely to penalise me and profit on the guests same booking. I would never know.

stayathomegardener have PM’d you

I am still sitting on my offer of a credit note, sulking basically.

Personally I wouldn’t accept it Piggywaspushed

How much have you paid, is it the full amount or just the deposit?

Do you have legal cover on your Home Insurance Policy. If you do you should try and get some legal advice from them.

Sykes are wriggling around on a hook trying to get everyone to stay with them one way or another, rather than face their responsibilities and refund those whose holidays have had to be cancelled.

If the company fails your Credit Note will be useless.

Full amount.

Not sure about the Home Insurance. I suspect not.

There was something in The Guardian about credit notes today but it was all kinds of vague.

To be fair, we haven't even got it yet .. they have to 'ask the homeowner'.

I just looked up their CEO (Graham Donoghue) on the Companies House website. He's been a director of 33 different companies - including (you couldn't make it up) one called "Making Millionaires Ltd" and another called "Helpful Holidays Ltd". Is he taking the p*?

The latest accounts filed at Companies House for Sykes show an operating profit of just under £7 million, on a turnover of £46.5 million.
It's also interesting to see from their accounts that they have been buying up many of their smaller competitors (I counted eight), in order to increase their market share.
In short, I don't think it's lack of funds that is causing them to refuse to refund customers - it looks more like avarice.

I've rebooted mine for next year but it was only an extra £16 for the same week. I'd expect prices to rise anyway.

But the point is I can't go in the exact same week (teacher) and don't necessarily want another cottage holiday : the cost of my same cottage in the equivalent week around Easter next year is 25% more. It's not a regular thing we do. We decided to do it this year for a little mini break before DS2's GCSEs, ironically. I can see the credit note works if you are flexible on dates and want another cottage holiday. But it's still daylight robbery not to refund.

Same piggy, we booked it to mark a one-off special occasion with family and it was our last opportunity to go on holiday during term time, no way can we afford tripple the cost to go during the holidays next year. And even if i contemplated taking DC out of school and went on the same dates they have hiked the price by over £200 (for 3 midweek nights!).

We have the same situation with Hoseasons. Not sure if it's correct but have heard Cottages.com, Sykes and Hoseasons have the same owner. They do seem to be taking a similar stance on it. Offering that we can rebook within 12 months (but often it will cost more, need to pay the extra, and only at same location.) Refusing to fully cancel and refund. Hard to get hold of by phone or messages!

I feel the situation is far too uncertain and don't think I can make plans. Not sure things would be OK/safe to travel by summer or October half term or what would happen if it was booked and they were not. School terms might even change depending on when there's a period where it's considered safe for kids to return before possibly having to lock down again.

I realise far worse things are happening but the companies are holding onto our money and adding to the stress and worry we already feel from CV. :(

It is worth putting in a case with Resolver.co.uk if you can (they will forward the complaint to ABTA - Association of British travel agencies* - and to the one you've booked with. Or you can complain directly to ABTA. There's a petition for Hoseasons which might help draw attention to the unhappy customers. People on Twitter have been tweeting Martin Lewis etc and the newspapers.

• ABTA's advice page (mentions UK bookings in FAQ). www.abta.com/news/coronavirus-outbreak

I found Hoseasons' cottage terms and conditions confusing. It mentions government advice against travel in case of severe disease outbreak but in one section it looked as if they had the right to cancel without refunds and in another that we would qualify for full refund! (Minus small admin fee).

If we can try to join together against all of these companies perhaps they will be forced to change their position.

www.change.org/p/hoseasons-get-hoseasons-to-give-refunds-to-customers-affected-by-the-coronavirus-situation?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_21004227_en-GB%3Av1&recruiter=621987863&recruited_by_id=fbb46680-a148-11e6-9efd-33f8ea6f71ab&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=6096ae695fd246089960384f96a126cf

Hoseasons petition if OK to post it here. Sorry PP was long.

I agree HelloMist

Have you looked to see if there is a Hoseasons complaint page on FB ?

A lot of people are individually complaing, to their MP’s leaving reviews on Trustpilot, writing to various consumer programmes, complaining to their Credit Card suppliers etc, but it does need a more concerted joint effort.

OP It is so shit the way that travel companies are treating people at the moment. I paid £6.6k to Kenwood Travel for a holiday to Abu Dhabi (was due to depart on 31 March). They are refusing to give me a full refund even though they are legally obliged to. I have elevated to director level and they have promised a response “ASAP”. That was three days ago. I am going to complain to ABTA today.

I've reported them to the CMA CMA

I doubt it'll do any good but it's worth a try

@HelloMist

I booked with Hoburne. Earlier on. I'm sure hoeseasons own some of Hoburne?!?

I was able to get a full refund. It was a fight! Took me 2 weeks. But I got it in the end. Pm me if you'd like.

Has anyone tried claiming of travel insurance or their credit card if Sykes won't refund? I've emailed them but I know what their answer will be (if the even bother replying) so I'm wondering if there are any other ways around this.