South Lakeland Parks (SLP) Forum

Returned from our three-week stay at Fallbarrow Park a week ago and have since caught up with the latest on the Forum, so thought I would post our bit. On 1 March left Bristol around 5.30am as always and arrived at 10.00am. As this was the first time we had ‘wintered’ down ourselves we prepared for the worst as in burst pipes etc. We even arranged for English Lakes Gas and Plumbing to do our Boiler Service that day in case anything went wrong so we were covered for all eventualities. However, to our relief and delight we needn’t have worried as all went well. The Park didn’t fare so well however, as already reported, it looked more like a bomb site than a holiday park, absolutely dreadful. Anyone taking an early Spring break at Fallbarrow for the first time probably won’t want to return, I wouldn’t. The internal roads were cleaned eventually but for a good while there was mud wherever you walked, horrendous!!! Thankfully it didn’t affect us too much as we spent the first four days, solidly, gutting each room in turn to deep clean every nook and cranny, not a cobweb, dust mite or dirty mark was safe from the perils of the steam cleaner and antibacterial agent. When we finished ‘she’ shone like a new pin. Just wish I could say the same about the Park. I don’t understand why they have to take on so many major projects at the same time!!!! The weather was mixed but did manage to carry out some garden maintenance so that the daffodils could show-off to best effect (noticed there were no naff plastic daffs this year – guess because Easter was early) and started the first round of scrubbing the decking – lovely job. On the evening of what was supposed to be the worst storm for 300years sweeping the nation, we were looking out onto the calmest waters across Windermere you could imagine, it was quite surreal and very different from the reports of high winds back home which could be heard in the background of family telephone calls. It caught up with the North West soon enough though as high winds came straight down the lake from Ambleside and hit us face on, blowing the all leaves back onto the decking that we’d swept away the day before – and as we sit under a mini wood, there was a lot of them, that’ll teach us. We watched as the Jetties took a battering from the rising waters and surf like waves and wondered if they would survive, they did – just. Agree totally that there is an accident waiting to happen on those jetties if they don’t sort them out soon. As we sublet, the PAT man also came during the first week to test all our electricals (wasn’t as painful as it sounds) in time for the Reservations Manager and her Assistant to come and carry out the Annual Inspection – which we passed. I took the opportunity to discuss the issue of Power Cuts and gave her a copy of the relevant Posts from the Forum. As soon as I get any feedback I’ll post it into the relevant topic section. I’ll also post a bit about our experiences on subletting when I get the chance. All in all we enjoyed our first stay of the season, beats work any day, and after having come back to a busy refurbishment project at home, can’t wait to get back mid April to chill again, even though it’ll only be for a week this time.

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Must admit Windermere, would love to manage the domestics totally ourselves, use our own linen which would match the decor of the bedrooms, leave guest complimentaries and so on, but living in Bristol makes it a tad impossible. As for the Park Cleaners I find they do as good a job as possible for the very limited length of time they are given to clean it. So apart from enjoying the lodge ourselves, we make sure we visit at least once a month to give it a good clean inside and out, deadhead the planters etc, so for us it works quite well.

We did think of private cleaners but worried about them letting us down, what's the score with your people?

Hi ASH

How do SLP perform in terms of getting the rentals? It would be interesting to compare the relative performance of SLP to Cumbria Cottages etc.

I would think that if you can find somebody trustworthy they would do a better job of cleaning.

FB

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I will PM you as would be interested in discussing the subject with your cleaner, also is she a lone agent or work for a cleaning company? I ask this because by "letting me down", I didn't mean by poor standard of cleaning - I meant that by contracting a 'one man band' and they couldn't make it one time, for sickness, holiday or whatever other reason - what happens then?? By using the Park cleaners - who really don't do a bad-bad job at Fallbarrow for the time and money they earn (most of the charge is for linen hire), they have enough cleaners on board to make sure the lodge is always prepped for the next guests. Also no, it isn't "spoilt" as when we visit we cancel the clean and do it ourselves after the previous occupants have left, and in the process it is done thoroughly. Which, sad though it may sound, I really really enjoy - it's ours, we're proud of 'her' and I reach places where other beers and lagers, oh sorry other cleaners, cannot reach. When we stay at our lodge we are there for long stays, we are not weekenders, so there is plenty of time to both enjoy it and maintain it. Also the satisfaction of prepping it for our next guests, and like you of reading their comments in our visitors book, makes it worthwhile and very rewarding. I had one husband ring me post holiday to say that before they settle into a holiday his wife usually cleans everything when they go self catering, (I can relate to that statement) but this time in our lodge she didn't, he wasn't sure which was worse - watching and listening to her moan about how she has to clean everything before they can start using it, or, at our Lodge watching and listening to her spend the first hour or so hunting the place for something TO clean - which she didn't find. They have been back three times since. Not always straight after us!! So we're more than happy!!

We totally manage our Lodge holiday rentals through SLP, and have no complaints. Many of our guests are returners and ask specifically for our unit, we also market a bit on the side but always steer people to book through SLP. In the early days we did enquire about Cumbrian Cottages but their tarrifs were not as high as SLP's, and guests would have to fend for themselves with regard to ordering gas. Guests would also have to purchase their own WXB leisure passes on top of the tarrif (not that they would miss out on too much). Advantages though with Cumbrian Cottages are that you get your own personal entry into their brochure and that you are paid ALL monies owed you on a monthly basis. All in all, however, we opted to stay with SLP.

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Windermere/ASH

Did either of you consider using any of the big holiday rental sites (e.g. myvillarenters.com)?

FB

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The issues that stopped us going any further with Cumbrian Cottages, or any other holiday rentals company, were firstly being that our unit sits within an established holiday park and CC would not touch anything to do with the checking or changing of gas tanks, and the Park would not help in this regard unless they dealt with the rental management themselves - which would mean guests ordering and paying for gas themselves, not on really. Secondly, key handling - having stayed in one of CC's cottages ourselves I know that you have to collect the keys from their office in Windermere, not a show stopper but was inconvenient for us at the time so classed this as a disadvantage (also stayed with Heart of the Lakes and they send keys through the post which worked very well). Thirdly, looking at the tarrifs in the CC brochure we are financially better off with SLP. ... CC charge the same commission + VAT so no difference there. ... CC are not on hand for guests though only a phone call away, even if in one of their cottages they not on hand either, but being as I said above our unit sits within a holiday park guests are automatically going to go to Reception - and get turned away, it's the way it works with some people.

Haven't looked into Heart of the Lakes or any other company as I have had no need to.

We are happy with the SLP Reservations Office, they visit us annually for an inspection, which from my experience IS thorough, we get enough bookings to sustain us with many guests specifically requesting to book us again and again - our lakeside location does indeed help, and communication between us is good and getting better all the time.

ASHTHWAITE wrote:The issues that stopped us going any further with Cumbrian Cottages, or any other holiday rentals company, were firstly being that our unit sits within an established holiday park and CC would not touch anything to do with the checking or changing of gas tanks, and the Park would not help in this regard unless they dealt with the rental management themselves - which would mean guests ordering and paying for gas themselves, not on really. Secondly, key handling - having stayed in one of CC's cottages ourselves I know that you have to collect the keys from their office in Windermere, not a show stopper but was inconvenient for us at the time so classed this as a disadvantage (also stayed with Heart of the Lakes and they send keys through the post which worked very well). Thirdly, looking at the tarrifs in the CC brochure we are financially better off with SLP. ... CC charge the same commission + VAT so no difference there. ... CC are not on hand for guests though only a phone call away, even if in one of their cottages they not on hand either, but being as I said above our unit sits within a holiday park guests are automatically going to go to Reception - and get turned away, it's the way it works with some people.

Haven't looked into Heart of the Lakes or any other company as I have had no need to.

We are happy with the SLP Reservations Office, they visit us annually for an inspection, which from my experience IS thorough, we get enough bookings to sustain us with many guests specifically requesting to book us again and again - our lakeside location does indeed help, and communication between us is good and getting better all the time.

I can understand the reasons for going with SLP in terms of convenience for your guests, I think I would do the same if I was renting out. As long as SLP come up to scratch in terms of getting the bookings and looking after your guests then it would seem the best option.

FB

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I must stress that SLP are happy to offer a full service to private bookings for sublets ie key handling, gas checking and changing, maintenance, immediate help etc., for a charge of £20.00 per booking. From experience of one such private booking of ours in 2007, this worked very well - after their holiday I rang the guests concerned to check how they were treated by the Park and they were very happy with the service.