Recently stayed a week in a cottage booked through Sykes and, having arrived late at night due to traffic hold-ups, found the bedroom wasn't clean. There were used tissues & general dirt & dog hair behind the bed which obviously hadn't been pulled out and cleaned for quite some time and black marks on the wall at the bed head that looked like mould. When we contacted Sykes, including photos, all they did was relay our complaint to the owner who was unwilling to provide any sort of compensation (or apology). After contacting them again we were told there was nothing they could do about the situation as they were just the booking agent and if we wanted to take it further we would need to take legal action against the owner of the cottage. Sykes are clearly quite happy to take customers money and then do absolutely nothing to support them when there are issues with the holiday - why would you bother booking through an agent if it gives you no protection whatsoever? You might as well book direct with the owner and take your chances. I wouldn't use Sykes again - the initial issue was upsetting at the time but subsequently dealing with Sykes and their attitude has been far worse and ruined memories of our holiday