South Lakeland Parks (SLP) Forum

Just come back from our April week's stay at Fallbarrow, and already looking forward to the May 2 week visit, in 2 weeks time - rain or shine!!! One of the joys of coming home is checking up on what the Forum members are discussing, and arguing, about - so here goes my update for the month. (Yes I look forward to seeing the family as well!)

During the 3 week gap between our March and April visits we had 2 sets of guests staying at our lodge, a 2-weeker and a 1-weeker. The latter of which we did the clean for because we were going in straight after anyway, and I don't ever see the point of paying for a clean when I can do it myself, therefore it gets a good clean inside and out at least once a month. I apologise for repeating that fact but going by our many visitor comments I have only ever had praise for how clean our lodge is, so I feel I should stress this point on behalf of Completely Clean at Fallbarrow Park. CC seem to be the cleaning company working across the Parks and having read, and of course sympathised with, the complaints other subletters on the forum have made of them from their own experiences I can only presume that Fallbarrow must have a very good team on their books, as I cannot find any obvious fault with them. I could of course say that they don't clean the windows, or dust the tops of units, sweep the decking or wash the outdoor furniture down, steam cleane the carpets and upholstery each time, but in just 30mins for the little they get paid (most of the fee is for linen don't forget), I wouldn't expect them to be that thorough. There was a mix up on one occasion where I had cancelled the clean prior to a visit with Reservations but the info had not reached the park so the clean went ahead, I didn't mind as it gave us the opportunity to check the standard of cleaning in our lodge and it was absolutely fine!! So overall, with our monthly efforts thrown in to top it up, our lodge always shines like a new pin! I must also add that the new(ish) Housekeeper at Fallbarrow is brilliant and has my full support, she runs a very tight ship and nothing would pass by her. In fact I wish she could read this as I would like to publically say a very big 'Thank You' to her for her efforts.

On that point I will be posting another message as a new topic, on how we can get SLP staff to view this Site, as unless they do they don't know what's being said by owners.

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The lack of a Housekeeper on Site does seem to be a common link between Limefitt and WXB, interesting. I wonder why not?
However, I don't know if there was a Housekeeper, or not, at FP prior to October last year when the person currently in Post started, but we have had no problems with cleans since Completely Clean took over, and only minor issues previous to that. I have noticed that the current team with our Housekeeper at the Helm is very good. My only niggle, if I were to be picky, is that I would prefer to use my own linen.

Complimentaries: This year at Fallbarrow, Tea Towel and Complimentary Soap is now provided for our guests, along with the standard stuff.
At Christmas, a selection of festive foods/wine and chocolate was put into each sublet/fleet unit that was receiving guests - at no extra charge to us.

Cleaning Charges: To pick up on a figure quoted earlier in this thread by 'Windermere' on 7 January 2007 - Cumbrian Cottages charge was stated at £39.00, SLP at £57.58 - inclusive of VAT. Where did the SLP charge come from? SLP charge £34.08 for a 2 Bed Exclusive Lodge, for clean and linen, and have done for the past year. Previous to that it was a few £s cheaper. Even a 3 Bed Lodge is less than £40.

Rentals Payment: The 2007 plan for payment of rentals to the sublet owners is now quarterly, I believe. It used to be November but has changed for 2008.

Bookings: For 2008 information regarding bookings into owners lodges are now printed and sent by post on a monthly basis from the Reservations office. If you require more frequent information than this then ring them for a diary session on a regular basis, or adhoc if a 'private booking' is requested to the owner direct and you need to know straight away. You then get an instant and up to date record of all your bookings through to the end of the season, which in turn will highlight any cancellations. You can keep an eye on 'gaps', which in our case we have either sold privately as 'late availability' or have used the lodge ourselves on a very last minute basis - usually the latter. This has worked for us. Maybe its the PA in me but I don't find any problem with administration/communication of bookings at all - anyone want a professional semi retired Executive Secretary??

I think that's all!!!

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Hi Windermere,

The SLP Charge they take from us is for clean and linen ALONE, nothing to do with key handling which would only come into play if we sublet privately as you do, but I now understand where the figures come from and agree that I probably didn't read your post correctly.

Diary sessions are not a problem via the telephone, though the need is less this year than it was for last due to the very comprehensible listing they now send out. The odd inconvenience however is always something one must expect if dealing with a very busy team as SLP Reservations are, not least my bookings show me that.

I also disagree strongly that we have different expectations on this subject, as I would argue to the hilt that mine are not as high and as professional as anyone's could possible be. Some have said of my work that I strive too much for perfection, I do not work any other way!!!

Regards - and no hard feelings!!

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You're forgiven - JUST - I would, however, agree completely with your latter assumption in that our view is what sells our lodge, not the lodge itself, which is why we chose that spot on that park (Fallbarrow) above pitch choices elsewhere.

As for the 25% saving, I also agree completely with you - BUT - we primarily bought the lodge for ourselves to enjoy, pure and simple, and not to sublet. We only sublet because the lodge has to pay for its own keep. To achieve both aims I don't want the potential hassle of private bookings, chasing monies, cleaners, possible complaints (hopefully none but you never know) etc etc; and although the 25% saving would be nice, I would only spend it on marketing or extra phone calls etc trying to sell her, or give it to the tax man so what's the point. As it is at the moment we relax and enjoy our lodge whilst others do the work for us. We just get involved from the 'outside', it's fun that way and again, it works well for us! There is enough stress in our daily lives at home so we want Stress Free Leisure - it boils down to this again - Enjoy Life, It's Not a Rehearsal - and we do!!

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I have to sympathise with you on that, usually it's a case of 'once bitten twice shy' but in your case looks like 'if we could back time' ! Hope things improve for you in the future.

It is blatently obvious that our subletting experiences with SLP are totally different. However, if things took a serious backward step for us we would certainly look elsewhere that's for sure.

Poor Customer Service is, however, a link between us all with SLP in some form or another. Ours was experienced during the initial purchase of our Lodge in 2005. " Promises, promises, promises - take their money and then take your time is fullfilling contractual and verbal obligations, or even better forget all about them and hope they (the owners) will go away and give up " seemed to be their motto. This was I must add pre SLP and I have already posted onto this Site about our grumbles on that so won't bore us all with it now. However, luckily for us that's all in the past now and since then I have had a small insight into some of the possible reasons and problems that the Park Management at Fallbarrow have to deal with on a daily basis, which puts some of the current issues slightly into perspective. I'll post that in due course onto the Fallbarrow Section but must stress that any presumption made on our part is through observation and purely speculative.