Holiday cottage company reviews

Demand for UK holiday cottages and accommodation is high as thousands of us look closer to home for our next holiday.

But don't rush into booking with big-name providers like Sykes and Hoseasons. Most of them can't match smaller-scale providers for quality of the cottage or accommodation, customer service or most other things. That's according to recent guests. 

Sykes Holiday Cottages and Awaze (which owns Hoseasons and Cottages.com) are between them responsible for more than 70,000 UK holiday lets. But you won’t find a single Sykes or Awaze brand topping our survey of more than 3,000 Which? members.

Instead, smaller providers such as The Landmark Trust and family-run Classic Cottages were praised for their personal touch, great service and hand-picked properties.

We also asked holidaymakers to rate their experience if they had a booking cancelled or disrupted during the pandemic. Only 62% of Sykes customers told us they were satisfied with how their provider dealt with the problem. Many complained they were refused a refund and forced to rebook at a later date at ‘inflated prices’.

In 2020, Which? reported both Sykes and Hoeseasons to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for leaving thousands of customers out of pocket. That’s why it’s essential to book with a provider you can trust.

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Best and worst holiday cottage companies

Only book a UK cottage holiday after you've checked our table below. We've ranked 18 companies in a range of categories, including the quality and cleanliness of their accommodation, customer service and how well the description of their cottages matches reality.

The UK's top holiday cottage companies

As you can see from the table above, the highest-scoring holiday cottage companies in our survey were The Landmark Trust, Classic Cottages, Sally’s Cottages, the National Trust and Rural Retreats.

All provide exceptional UK cottage holidays and have been named Which? Recommended Providers (WRPs) for 2022. With budgets stretched this year we’ve made sure all our WRPs have a five-star rating for value for money.

The Landmark Trust review – Which? Recommended Provider

• Customer score: 92%
• Average cost: £58 per person per night

It’s rare that we see five-star ratings across the board, but The Landmark Trust has done it – and with an exceptional 92% customer score to boot. It might only have 200 properties on its books, but each one is a piece of history. Fancy staying in a water tower on the Sandringham estate? A lighthouse on Lundy island? A Martello tower in Suffolk? 

The charity saves and restores castles, forts, follies and towers across the UK that might otherwise fall into disrepair, then rents them out as unique holiday lets that you told us are well maintained and spotlessly clean. They might not be cheap – nearly £60 per person, per night – but, as one reader put it, ‘every stay is memorable’. 

This is the first time we’ve named The Landmark Trust a WRP. During Covid, we were concerned about its refund policies. But this year, when we asked its customers about their disrupted bookings, a very impressive 94% were satisfied with the outcome.

Which? verdict: Extraordinary stays in historic buildings.

Find your next Landmark Trust cottage.

Classic Cottages review – Which? Recommended Provider

• Customer score: 85%
• Average cost: £53 per person per night

What began as one couple’s renovation of two west Cornwall fishermen’s cottages in 1977, has gradually grown to encompass large swathes of England and Wales. Crucially, it’s still run by the same family, with the five-star customer service you’d expect from a smaller company. ‘Whenever I rang, a real person answered the phone very quickly,’ one reader told us. Cottages are picked for their idyllic locations and are exclusive to Classic. 

Which? verdict: Forget Hoseasons and Sykes: here you’ll find better cottages and customer service, for a good price.  

Find a Classic Cottages holiday.

Sally's Cottages review – Which? Recommended Provider

• Customer score: 85%

Back in 2003, Sally had just one single cottage. Almost two decades later it has 700 hand-picked properties across the Lake District and Cumbria.  It prides itself on its customer service - and you agreed, awarding it the full five stars. As one satisfied guest put it: 'Perfect property for our needs, in a great location, with good customer service in a difficult period.’

Which? verdict: A solid choice for Lake District stays, Sally’s will provide local knowledge and a personal touch.

 See what Sally’s Cottages has to offer.

National Trust review - Which? Recommended Provider

• Customer score: 84%
• Average cost: £60

For more than 70 years, the National Trust has protected hundreds of the UK’s historic buildings, whether it’s a 12th-century Norman Hall in the Cotswolds to a 1930s Art Deco villa in Dorset. As a charity, the money it makes from renting the properties enables the National Trust to restore 10 more buildings each year.

Like The Landmark Trust, the National Trust has wonderful, historic stays. But it has a much wider range of properties, more than twice the number of The Landmark Trust. Its refund satisfaction score was almost as high too: more than nine in 10 National Trust customers were satisfied with the outcome of their cancelled booking during the pandemic.

Which? verdict: For a historic holiday home with a modern-day refund policy, look no further.

Browse National Trust holiday cottages.

Rural Retreats review - Which? Recommended Provider

• Customer score: 82%
• Average cost: £56

 If you want to guarantee something special, Rural Retreats has a nationwide portfolio of manor houses and stylish barn conversions that look like something straight from the pages of an interior design magazine. 

It says it specialises in ‘exceptionally fine’ properties, and you tended to agree, enthusing about luxury accommodation that was ‘way above expectations’. One guest told us: ‘The cottage was in a very rural setting and we received a welcome basket on arrival containing wine, local bread and eggs.’

As you might have guessed, it’s pricey, but the full five-star rating for value should reassure you it’s money well spent. 

 Which? verdict: Perfect if you want to splash out on a special stay.

Look for a Rural Retreats stay.

Other holiday cottage providers

Holidaycottages.co.uk review – 79%

Holidaycottages.co.uk is now one of the largest providers in the UK, offering a choice of more than 8,500 cottages in England, Wales and Scotland — and it's one of the best of the big providers. Finding and booking cottages on its website could be easier, but holidaycottages.co.uk provides better-quality cottages and better value for money than many big-name rivals. 

One customer told us: 'The apartment we stayed in was beautiful. The location was stunning and everything went smoothly.’

Which? verdict: Provides better cottages than its major nationwide rivals, so it’s your best bet if our Which? Recommended Providers don’t have what you’re after.

Browse self-catered accommodation on holidaycottages.co.uk

Cottages.com - 75%

Owned by holiday cottages giant Awaze, Cottages.com has 21,000 properties in the UK, Ireland, France and Italy. However, size isn’t everything with the brand sitting mid table in our survey. From coastal stays to country castles, the quality of its cottages was a hit - clinching the full five stars. One repeat customer arranged three short stays through the company and told us all three properties were ‘spotless and exactly as described on the website’. 

Its refund satisfaction score was less reassuring. Many of you told us you were left out of pocket when lockdowns or rules about household mixing meant your holiday was unable to go ahead.

 Which? verdict: Quality cottages - but you’ll find better customer service and refund policies elsewhere.

 Search for a cottages.com break.

Sykes Cottages review - 72%

We don't recommend booking with Sykes. Although it is among the cheapest and biggest UK cottage providers - claiming to take a million customers on holiday every year - it was also one of the companies that refused refunds during the pandemic until the government intervened. So perhaps not surprisingly, only 62% of customers whose holidays were cancelled due to Covid-19 were satisfied with how the situation was resolved – less than any other brand. One unhappy customer complained of having no choice but to rebook at a later date at ‘inflated’ prices.

On top of this Sykes only mustered a mediocre three stars for its customer service. However, those who did manage to take their holiday were largely satisfied - with the brand clinching four stars in most categories, including the quality of cottages. 

Which? verdict: Not recommended when there are so many other superior cottage companies offering better customer service.

Search for Sykes Holiday cottages.

Which cottage companies own which brands?

While there are dozens of cottage brands to choose from, many are owned by a handful of larger companies. That's one reason why you’ll often see the same property available with similar, if not identical, booking conditions on several sites.  It's worth being aware of, especially if you've had a negative experience with a brand and ant to avoid all association with that company.

Three of the biggest groups of cottage companies in the UK are Awaze, Sykes Holiday Cottages and The Travel Chapter:

• Awaze owns the following brands: Blue Chip Holidays; Cottages.com; Cumbrian Cottages; Dartmouth Holiday Homes; Derbyshire Cottages; English Country Cottages; French Country Cottages; Hoseasons; Italian Country Cottages; Landal; Mulberry Cottages; Northumbrian Cottages; Salcombe Holiday Homes; Scottish Cottages;  Scottish Country Cottages; The Arran Team; Wales Cottages; Welcome Cottages.
• Sykes Holiday Cottages owns the following brands: Abersoch Quality Homes; Bachcare; Best of Suffolk; Carbis Bay; Character Cottages; Coast & Country Cottages; Coast & Country Holidays; Cornish Cottage Holidays; Dream Cottages; Heart of the Lakes; Helpful Holidays; Hideaways; Hogan's Irish Cottages; John Bray Cornish Holidays; Lakes Cottage Holidays; Lake District Lodge Holidays; Manor Cottages; Menai Holidays; Northumbria Coast & Country Cottages; Sykes; Yorkshire Coastal Cottages.
• The Travel Chapter owns the following brands: Big Domain; Bramley & Teal Holiday Cottages; Brecon Beacons Holiday Cottages; Brixham Cottages; Canine Cottages; Cottages & Castles; Cottages in Northumberland; Cottages in Seahouses; Dorset Coastal Cottages; Eastbourne Holiday Cottages; Farm Holidays; FBM Holidays; Gorgeous Cottages; Hide & Sleep; Holidaycottages.co.uk; Harrogate Holidays; Holidays in the Cotswolds; Island Cottage Holidays; Kett Country Cottages; Lakeland Hideaways; Little Domain; New Forest Living; Peak Cottages; Polruan & Fowey Cottages Cornwall; Sheepskin; Stayin; Stayin Cornwall; Stayin Devon; Sugar & Loaf; The Lakeland Cottage Company; The Norfolk Cottage Company; The Whitstable Cottage Company.

Cottages with hot tubs

Renting a holiday home with a hot tub lets you unwind outside while enjoying the rural surroundings of your cottage or lodge. 

But if you want to stay in the very best holiday cottages, you may have to sacrifice the jacuzzi. That's because two of the top-scoring four companies in our survey, Landmark Trust and National Trust, don't have any properties with hot tubs. Both specialise in preserving historical properties, from water towers to medieval manor houses, so it's no wonder there isn't a hot tub in sight.

Every other cottage company in our 2022 survey does have some cottages with hot tubs. You may need to book quickly if you want to use a smaller local provider, though.

Dog-friendly cottages

UK cottage holidays are made for countryside walks, so it's no surprise that each of the 18 cottage companies in our table above cater for dog owners. 

Even the smallest provider in our survey, Landmark Trust, has 113 dog-friendly cottages to choose from — more than half its total number. The likes of Sykes and cottages.com, meanwhile, each have several thousand cottages that are suitable for dogs.

Thankfully, if you're allergic to dogs, many holiday cottage companies also let you filter out dog-friendly properties from your search results, so you can be sure previous guests didn't bring their pet with them.

Holiday cottage refunds and coronavirus

No matter how far in advance you're booking a holiday cottage, you need to consider the possibility Covid-19 might disrupt your booking. A new variant might emerge, for example, or you might catch Covid and be unable to travel.

We are confident that all our Which? Recommended Providers have been looking after their customers during the pandemic, but the same can't be said for every cottage provider. If you're thinking of booking with another company, read its cancellation terms and conditions carefully. Companies are approaching refunds for cancelled bookings in many different ways, as reflected by the wide range of refund satisfaction scores in the table below.

As well as carefully considering the terms and conditions of any cottage company you're thinking of booking with, you may also want to check what cleaning measures the cottage owner or company has introduced to help prevent the spread of Covid-19. This could include cleaning properties with disinfectants that have been proven to kill Covid-19 (EN14675 or EN14476). Don’t be surprised if you’re asked to arrive an hour later and check out an hour earlier. This gives cleaners enough time to follow the additional guidelines.