“There is no doubt that Lakeside at Louper Weir is a prestige rental.”
It is a beautifully built modern house with the most spectacular views of Lake Windermere. However it is not without faults - there were a number of things broken, not working or not up to the standard you would expect from a house of this quality and resulting price bracket.
To name a few - the barbecue ignition wasn’t working, the tv in the second bedroom had no signal, the toilet seats are quite old and discoloured and need replacing, there was regular interference to the main tv signal ...
It is a beautifully built modern house with the most spectacular views of Lake Windermere. However it is not without faults - there were a number of things broken, not working or not up to the standard you would expect from a house of this quality and resulting price bracket.
To name a few - the barbecue ignition wasn’t working, the tv in the second bedroom had no signal, the toilet seats are quite old and discoloured and need replacing, there was regular interference to the main tv signal. Also, the WiFi in the home is quite dated and is one of those systems that constantly kicks you out and you have to reconnect to.
The equipment in the kitchen is fairly hi-tech but the instructions left by the owner are not helpful or comprehensive enough. They assume you know that you have to lift the glass off of the Tepan Yaki grill in order to use it - I stumbled across this by accident. Also the microwave was within one of the ovens and completely frustrating to use because of the complex menu system. The hob is too small for a home meant to cater for 8 persons. You can barely fit 2 pans on it.
I was aware on booking that building work was taking place next door but was not aware how very intrusive it would be. The building project is vast and has been ongoing for 3 years. It involves the entire site to the right side of the building and the builders have a lovely view into all of the big glass windows on that side of the property. I feel the owners are not being open enough with customers about the privacy issues that this creates. The bedroom blinds are automated and if you want to enjoy the stunning views from the master bedroom, you have to have BOTH blinds open, which gives the builders a very clear view of the master bedroom and bed! This could be rectified by the owner but they have chosen not to do so. Also, our last day (Friday) we had 3 landscape gardeners at the property for the entire day when we wanted to enjoy the outside space and hot tub but felt awkward doing so.
Finally, a couple of days after leaving the property we were emailed and asked about a missing soap dish as if we had taken it. We hadn’t and had treated the house with care and respect and to receive this email was a surprise and a disappointment
In summary, we had a wonderful stay but the house needs some basic maintenance and the owners need to think more about their guest’s experience rather than their bottom line.
Dear guest, Thank you for your feedback and informing us about your stay. We are now in a position to respond.
Please can we assure you there has never been an allegation of theft. We investigated and were informed there was no communication to that effect. It is common practice that guests are contacted to kindly ascertain the whereabouts of missing items in the hope it jogs the guests' memories to help the cleaners locate it or explain its disappearance before they are charged. We had been informed by the customer relations team they had not heard from you and it is standard that we replace missing items as soon as possible for the next guests to be able to use.
We reviewed the maintenance issues which Lakelovers kindly forwarded to us.
The automatic ignition switch on the BBQ has been disconnected for health and safety purposes. We provide gas lighters, which you probably saw in the utensil drawer in the kitchen. Apologies, if this has been missed off in any communications to you.
The housekeeping team investigated the TV in the second bedroom and it had been knocked off the correct setting. This was rectified and all the TVs are checked on a regular basis. We are not sure what caused the interference to the signal during your stay as this has rectified itself and has not been reported since.
All the toilet seats in the house have been replaced. We had at the time been waiting for the delivery of new seats due to them becoming porous from cleaning products.
The guest WiFi is as standard and requires all guests to agree to the terms and conditions before using the service. The break in service has been further investigated and it appears if personal devices have not been set to use the network as is and the network not saved it will automatically log out. On the terms and conditions page, click on the three dots in the top right corner (phone dependent) and select the option to use as is.
The instruction manual found in the kitchen is a compilation of the manuals for all the equipment in the kitchen. We review this to see where we can make it more user friendly and update it when necessary.
The building site we are aware of and it has been made clear in the literature. We do not control what our neighbours do or the extent of their building works. All we can do is communicate to the foreman our dissatisfaction when we are informed by guests of their dissatisfaction. We have been informed the external works are moving away from the house towards the main road and are near completion so it will be a relief to all when they are completed.
Unfortunately, the blinds cannot work separately from each other. The majority of the blinds are connected to the mains on the same motherboard and there is only one remote to operate them, like a mains switch would operate all the lights on the same circuit. We have heard of the blinds you mean, but these are not that type. However, you are able to stop the blinds at a mid point of your choosing by pressing the open/close button again (depending on which direction the blinds are moving in). When the building works are complete the beauty of how they work to reveal the beauty of Windermere will once again be a wow factor.
We usually have two gardening operatives working at the development once a week. During your stay one was shadowing another in preperation for them going on annual leave. It was not their intention for you to feel you were unable to enjoy the garden or hot tub. All our staff aim to work discreetly and around the guests wishes.
We do hope the above has gone some way to explain the issues you experienced during your stay.
Kind regards,
The Louper Weir Team
Property Owner
