I am a cottage owner and I really feel for the guests who have put their feedback on here From an owners point of view we are having the same problems with Sykes We never get a proper reply from emails We get an automated one which says will come back to you within 72 hours They never do..Thats' why as guests you may feel you are getting ignored by the cottage owners Sykes simply aren't passing things back to you from us. We try ringing them through the owner line and have been left for over 30 minutes I have given up many times. We also get deducted automatically without any notification until we receive our statement for refunds they claim to have made back to customers, which from reading your feedback you don't get.I have to give them over 6 months notice if I want my home to be removed from them or they will charge me stupid fees They just rollover my cottage on their website without asking me They used to get in touch coming up to the annual review if we wanted to offer for another 12 months and if up to date photos were required.. Now they just tell me its in their terms and conditions they can do that. Not even a courtesy email. I do email them with updates but they don't bother updating the information on the cottage on their website I had to keep emailing them to get them to come out and take up to date photos They charge me an annual fee for them to undertake the basics such as this We then get charged a commission 20% then 20% vat When finally the local area 'manager'representative came out from Sykes and I explained I wasn't happy with the severe drop in customer service I got told 'you can leave if you want to after serving the correct notice'?! That comment was made to me from the Local area manager...? So this is the attitude they have towards us as cottage owners.. After she took photos she gave me her card and said these are my contact details If you need help Does she ring or email me back when I get in touch ? You've guessed it NO! The last 12 months has really gone downhill It used to be a family business but its been bought out and it is all about them earning as much money from cottage owners and guests. Looking back at these reviews on here it does represent that timeline from quite good comments 2 years ago to bad reviews in the last 12 months I've been researching other companies and if you look at booking through a more local company to where you want to go you will find they have someone who will come out if guests have a problem and rectify as soon as, acting as good mediators for all parties and they have a lot more local knowledge too..As soon as I can I will be leaving Sykes as a cottage owner and going to a Company which is a smaller friendlier and perhaps family business..Sykes has just got too big for its own boots and it will be its demise..I think we will see a lot of cottage owners leaving them over the next 12 months after they have given the long notice....