We stayed at The Breakers in Carbis Bay…
We stayed at The Breakers in Carbis Bay in June this year. We had stayed at the same place in 2023 and although we could see some cleanliness issues then, overall it was ok. In a beautiful location. However when we went in June, the apartment’s cleanliness has gone down further. There was mould all over the bathroom ceiling, muck and grime in corners of bathroom, thick clumps of muck and dust behind furniture and drawers. I gave the worktops in kitchen a wipe and there was yellow all over the cloth. The rubber round fridge door was filthy obviously had never been cleaned.We paid a lot of money to stay here and it took an 11 hour drive to get there. I was so disappointed with the cleanliness of the place, I just wanted to come to my nice clean house. So we left after 4 days.I put a complaint in with Sykes the very next day and notified them the day we left.Carbis bay holidays wouldn’t give us any compensation, but Sykes gave us a 5% refund, which was £82. It makes me angry that they can charge what they charge and say there 5 star and the place is in that condition for guests.5 star location but this place is definitely not 5 star.They need to address the cleanliness and stop ripping people off.I would definitely NOT book this again.
Sandra Barnes
Just an awful company
There can't be many people that don't realise that towns and villages in Cornwall have been destroyed by second home owners.Despite this, carbis bay are still writing articles encouraging MORE people to buy second homesWhat a disgraceful attitude, totally disrespectful of the local population
Tim Sims
Very poor experience
Having used Carbis Holidays a few times now-I would never use again, especially as the same properties can be booked through many other agencies. Prices are hiked year on year but their customer service is extremely poor. Examples include: misleading property info particularly around parking-in one case they did not disclose that parking was shared with the neighbouring property and in our most recent booking told us they have no control of parking for a block of flats where we were blocked in numerous times throughout our holiday. They are quick to ask for your reviews but never happy when anything is raised and nothing is ever actually done about it. They appear to have a few standard responses such as “if you had let us know”-well how would we do that when you are not open every day of the week? Beware booking with them, and how they list their properties as you may well not get what you are expecting.
Lisa
Affiliated with Sykes who will con you
We recently booked a holiday cottage via Sykes Cottages for 17th AugustMy wife became ill and looked like she may take some time to get well. I contacted Sykes to postpone my holiday until November, Sykes tood me they will ask the owner which now looks like it is Carbis Bay Holidays, owned by Sykes. Sykes told us the ‘owner’ has turned down our request!Due to impending surgery, and lack of response and communication from Sykes which meant we just had to cancel and lose over £2100. It seems that our two weeks has now been sold and the dates in November are still available!They are very poor to deal with abd it appears they scammed me out of my moneyI would not recommend this company to anyone. Totally Abysmal Customer Service and no scruples about taking your money without trying to assist
Nigel Mulvana
Fraudulent company now having lost valuable customers
After years of using this company we recently stayed in “beach View” a property in St Ives. Having arrived the property wasn’t quite in the condition it was previously in. With odd mismatching cutlery, plates and glasses and filthy lampshades, cobwebs all over we thought “no problem we won’t complain” we don’t make a fuss and just wanted to enjoy our break away. On returning home we were sent an email - it seems this common theme now for carbis bay holidays claiming towels had been stained and “human waste” was left in the shower plugs. Now I can assure all here we are an immaculate family who come from far more impressive homes. In London. We have footage and images of how the property was left. Now the company are trying to charge for “deep cleans, new towels” and today have added a mysterious pillow protector that needed replacing now. Needless to say if they try to carry down this route we’ll be using the chargeback service for the entire amount due to the stress caused by all of this. But I can categorically say, after 10 years of being a highly valuable customer and across the family spending in excess of 30k per year. We won’t be using them anymore and have returned to the Carbis Bay Hotel. To top this off we’ve been photos of dirty shower plugs which clearly haven’t been cleaned in years. Photos of a cleaners bin bag 🤣. Photos of toothpaste stains on towels - which is expected and normal and cleans off in a cold short wash so not sure these towels are been being washed correctly either 🤢. This whole fiasco has opened up a lot of questions for us and we have felt physically sick after staying in this property (beach view, st eia) the images sent show that the house keepers clearly aren’t doing their job. We’ve also been sent a cleaning bill of £60 which carbis bay holidays can’t explain. Further exacerbating the situation is the fact they’ve tried to lie and add in extras in another email to us. It’s sad to see that this is a regular occurrence now with Carbis Bay Holidays, and unfortunately for them on this occasion they’ve met their match with customers who know how to use the law and the proof we have to kindly tell them to go forth and multipley. My recommendation is simply go elsewhere. Cornwall and especially the st Ives area is saturated with property’s and rentals. Sykes and carbis bay holidays are simply NOT fit for purpose anymore. Disgusted what the service, the rude insults and the false accusations all to make a few hundred extra pounds of their customers SHAME on you!
Lewis
A sham of a company
Stayed in Carbis Bat/ St.Ives area with Carbis Bay holidays 7x in the past with no issues. Last year we went back to our usual holiday home in St.Ives centre and was appalled at how bad the customer service was from CBH aka Sykes holidays.We have stayed in the rental property 4 times so know it VERY well. When we checked out, they sent us 135 photos of ‘our mess’ which included blinds that have been broken for years (and tied back together), a dirty cushion which was ours that we had left, the mirror had fallen off the wall (we’d let them know on day 2 that it had done so and they said they would send a handy man out - who never arrived. You could clearly see that this has happened many times before as the hole where the screw went was huge and had paper towels stuffed in). Then they sent us many pictures of the ‘state of the house’, sand in the doorway (it’s on the beach front), one cornflake on a rug, one piece of Lego UNDER the couch - the things they sent were laughable, yet they refused to send the deposit back to us. I’m not entirely sure if the cleaners wanted us to do a full spring clean for them on departure, although I wouldn’t be surprised as the previous reviews state the cleaners don’t clean.Overall, exceptionally rude customer service. They said they were contacting the ‘owner’ to mediate between us as they wanted more than the damage deposit back, yet the ‘owner’ of the home is CBH/ Sykes themselves. They are scammers, who want the renters to pay for their cleaners and handymen instead of doing it themselves.Long & short, after 7 years of loyalty, we have booked air bnb this and next year. A shambles, a scam, rude service. Avoid!
RossRoxx
Great experience
The apartment was great and well cleaned, instructions all very clear. We had an issue with central heating, sorted within a couple of hours. We had an issue with a wonky front door access, repaired within 3 hours. 10/10 all round. Staff also super friendly and helpful
dfb
Stay Clear Dont Trust Carbis Bay Holidays aka Sykes Cottages
while staying at Fistral Apres Surf we reported that the heating wasn't working the guest's tv wasn't working the back garden had litter thrown around and a dripping tap. we were advised by the owner to use the electric heater well after 5mins it overheated and wouldn't reset for 30mins so we didn't have any heating for the duration.the owner refused to give any refund so I left negative feedback to warn others since then it has been removed by Carbis Bay Holidays so I left feedback again and once again it has been removed by Carbis Bay Holidays I will be reporting them to trading standardsI am a fully qualified heating engineer for over 20 years.while admitting the heating wasn't working while I was at the property later when I left said I was the only one who complained about the heating and it was working fine. he blatantly lied
gamedivisionuk
Unrecognisable since their takeover by…
Unrecognisable since their takeover by Sykes. Reduced welcome pack. No warm welcome and personal service like we had from the previous housekeeper; in fact impossible to contact the new housekeeper at all during our last stay, as the mobile number was consistently unavailable. Goodness knows what we would have done had we encountered any significant problems with the property. In light of our last experience, and Sykes’ appalling reputation for problem resolution, we are no longer confident booking our favourite apartment in CB and will be staying elsewhere.
Lala
Used to be Great - but terrible since sykes takeover
Have booked with Carbis Bay Holidays many times but will NEVER USE THEM AGAIN since they were taken over by Sykes Cottages. Whenever we booked, the process was seamless, the staff very helpful and information given was always 100% accurate. However, now that Sykes Cottages have taken over, they have zero knowledge of any of the properties. They give wrong information, if pushed they will call the old carbis bay team and try and find out but still give inaccurate answers. With Carbis Bay Holidays previously all apartments we stayed at were excellent and always spotlessly clean. There have never been problems and the staff were always on hand with any minor issues or info needed. Since Sykes Cottages have taken over, cleaning is appalling and the info given inaccurate and problems getting deposit returned. DO NOT BOOK WITH SYKES COTTAGES . You can no longer even write a review on Carbis Bay site which says it all really. I feel for the owners who probably don’t realise that Sykes Cottages are doing such a bad job.We stayed at an apartment at the Sands and there is a big construction site going on right next door. Noise, dusk, nightmare. This affects ALL apartments at the Sands block including “Bright Wings” “Beach Haven” “White Sails” “Carbis Sands” “Silver Sands” “Ocean View” “Under the Moon” “Mid air” “Mermaids Secrets” “Horizon” “Far Cliffs”. We stayed Summer 2021, we didn’t realise at the time that Carbis Bay Holidays had been sold to Sykes Cottages, we found out after booking but decided it probably wouldn’t make any difference. How wrong could we have been.A real shame as the old company Carbis Bay Holidays were great.
Steve Rawsthorne
We booked out family holiday with…
We booked out family holiday with carbis bay holidays, now taken over by sykes and I will never use them again. The service has been shocking, the house we booked was situated over 3 floors which we thought would be ok, however when we arrived it was over 6 floors and 5 flights of stairs. There was no welcome pack as stated, the Nespreso coffee machine was green with mildew, the bathroom mirrors had children's writing all over them and the ground floor had a humidifier on to try to remove the smell if damp. This property had not been cleaned to they high standard you would have expected with covid around and given a 8hr turn around. My father has parkinsons disease and has difficulty with to many stair and this was a ridiculous amount, not suitable all or for any disabled people.When I tried to call the office on 4 different telephone numbers I had on previous emails sent by carbis bay holidays none of them would connect, after saying they were experiencing a fault it then went dead. I called into the office on the Tuesday and explained the disappointment and shown pictures of the dirty coffee machine, mirrors and humidifiers. After 3 days I received a call to say my phone wasn't connecting as there system had my mobil number stored and would only except calls from new numbers to hopefully make new booking. They were not interested it doing anything to try to put things right. 3 days later I was offered £100 refund which 2 weeks later I still haven't received. I've called the office a further 3 times and been told I'll get a call back but haven't and I have still not received a refund, I've told them this is the 6th holiday I've booked with them and I'm not looking to use them again, there manor is shocking, they don't care about you at all once they've got your money it's basically tuff luck. I was told "no worries" if I didn't book with them again, and then a "goodbye laughing".Crap crap crap. Please use a different company there are loads of amazing ones to choose. Take no notice of the reviews on the property are there tailored, there NOT real any negative feed back is removed from there site and replaced by there own staff making it up. There crook and deserve no business!
Rebecca
Carbis Bay Holidays don't take responsibility!
We booked with Carbis Bay Holidays to stay at the Sands apartments in Carbis Bay during August 2021. The Carbis Sands ground floor apartment itself was very nice and the location ideal for Carbis Bay beach and easy access to St Ives. However, we did suffer from the noise levels of the active construction site next door and, unfortunately, the listing did not make that clear and we had not been told about the site prior to our arrival. We complained to Carbis Bay Holidays immediately the noise started and each day from then on but at no point would they take responsibility, as agent, for not having informed us, preferring to blame others including the developer and owner for not having informed them about the building works. They had no sense at all that, as the experts in Carbis Bay, they should be aware of the status of their own listed properties from which they are earning their fees. I’m pleased to see that the same apartment listing does now make holidaymakers aware of the adjacent building works which proves the point that they believe holiday makers should be informed. The site boundary is just a few meters from the Carbis Sands patio, noise starts about 8am and goes on throughout the day, a mixture of JCB, concrete lorries and general mechanical tools is currently affecting the enjoyment of the outside areas of the apartment. Needless to say CBH offered no compensation on the peak season rental we had paid for our loss of enjoyment whilst we were there, only offering a future discount should we decide to return at another date after the construction work is completed. A very poor service.
Sean
We have used Carbis Bay holidays many…
We have used Carbis Bay holidays many times in the past but since they have been bought out by Sykes Cottages they are now appalling. You simply can't get hold of them. No answer on the phone, web chat, secret email. Very poor service.
Mark Longley
Dirty apartment, appalling service …
We recently had a holiday at Mermaids Secret, booked with Carbis Bay holidays. The apartment is in a fantastic location, but that’s all it’s based on. As a 5 star rated property it was tired and NOT clean. I contacted CB Holidays on return but they dismissed my complaints with no comment! When we arrived we had expected to sit and relax on the patio and start to enjoy our holiday. However, the apartment had not been cleaned at all. We were really disappointed, given its 5 star rating and the current Covid-19 concerns, we had expected the apartment to be spotless. What we found made us uncomfortable and very concerned as to the overall cleanliness of the apartment. It had certainly not been sanitised as promised. We had to clean ourselves. 1. The whole apartment was extremely dusty, you could run your fingers through the dust on the surfaces. 2. Toilets - urine stains on rim, dirt & hair along the back, faeces trace & marks in the pan.3. Plugs blocked & full of hair4. Shower edge dusty/dirty, glass marked, not cleaned5. Kitchen worktops not cleaned - stain marks, crumbs around & under toaster, wine splashes up wall.6. Splashback behind hob splashed with grease.7. Splashback behind sink, smeared & dirty8. Cup rings on bedside table, also very dusty9. Skirtings all very dusty10. Floors not cleaned behind bins/brushes in bathrooms. Kitchen floor dirty in corners.11. Carpets - lots of fluff bits everywhere. I got the hoover out, the bag was missing and the filter was thick with dirt. Whatever it could pick up was not being collected.12. Bedding to main bedroom did not smell fresh. When I pulled back the cover there was a clump of red hair and long dark hair on the pillows and duvet cover. I had to change the linen on the bed before we could sleep. I cannot express how disappointing this all was, as you can appreciate we have not had a holiday for sometime. In these Covid times I would expect the cleaning to be extra thorough.Carbis Bay holidays boast how they value customer satisfaction & feedback, however they were not interested in the slightest!
G’girl
Fabulous Property, Shame about Carbis Bay Holidays
We stayed at Ultramarine, Carbis Bay in June 2021. A fabulous apartment with lovely sea views, a credit to the owners. I would gladly give it a 5 star rating.I paid by credit card, with £100 refund due if no breakages. After we got back I had an email saying they had accidently lost my credit card details, and would I put my bank account details online for the refund. At first I thought this was a scam, but another email said it wasn't. The golden rule of online booking is never give your bank account details. Why would I trust a company with my bank account details when they lost my credit card details.I said I'd give them my credit card details again, they refused. I asked if they would send me a cheque, even said I'd pay the postage, they refused. I asked for the owners name and address, so I could write to them, they refused to give it. The customer service at Carbis Bay Holidays is abysmal. I'm not sure if the owners of the properties are aware of how badly their properties are being handled, as you cannot add a review on the Carbis Bay Holidays Website. Which is why I'm leaving this review on Trustpilot. Bookers Beware. They still owe me £100. I'll never use this company again.
Roy Butler
The worst experience ever
The worst experience ever. I will never book with this company again. The property needs better management . We stayed at The Breakers and there were cob webs and spiders everywhere. My kids were uncomfortable!. The hot water was not enough for occupancy of 5 people, as after 3 uses it was cold! The WiFi was never guaranteed but there was no chance of it working if you have a vodaphone router and log in details for a BT router. Not sure when this was last updated. Lost an evening of movies with my kiddies. The view for where we stayed was amazing but this company has no idea what customer service is. Clearly they are not concerned with returning clients. An apology just isn't enough sometimes. I paid alot of money to get a break after working front line during covid. With no sympathy or understanding they just said we are sorry and we will be speaking to the owners and house keeper. I didnt book through them I booked through Carbis Bay Holidays company who want to take no ownership at all!!
Navi Mudhar
