Unique Homestays Avis 

Lovely house; well appointed. Good weather makes the property - lovely gardens and pool to enjoy. Cafe across the road is excellent for breakfast, lunch etc. Good location for access to Babbington, Newt, Bruton / Chapel etc

Excellent level of detail provided online on the property and personal, responsive service from the representative.

Wonderful experience. Very responsive and friendly. Chic and upmarket properties.

We have used Unique Homestays many times. Most of the properties have been fantastic, as have the Unique team.

However, on our last trip we encountered a safety issue that caused serious harm to our 5 year old. We are amazed and disappointed by UHS response, and their inability to drive at the truth, or take a stand while the homeowner seems to have eschewed all responsibility.

Our 5 year old boy was burned badly by the hot tap in a bath at Evania - second degree burns to the face that may scar for life. My wife spent much of the holiday at a specialist burns hospital 1hr15 away. The water temperature was well above recommended temperatures at the tap - (it is meant to be 50 degrees at the tap, 60-65 at how water tank). Property owners are responsible for the safety of their property - including putting measures in place to prevent these water temperatures from causing serious injury - ethically and under law.

Via Unique Homestays mediation we were offered another stay at the property when it is available (close to zero cost to owner). We explained we didn't want to return after such an ordeal, but were told the offer wouldn't change and were provided with a 48 hour ultimatum to agree. Offering ultimatums to parents of a child who has suffered serious burns when you run a property proven to be unsafe (in the week we stayed there) should not be supported or accepted by UHS.

Since then the property owner has refused to engage and started a personal injury claim via his insurance. Having called the insurers I realise this is a long drawn out process which will involve taking our boy to medical appointments and lots of third party reviews. What an additional ordeal for us and our 5 year old to go through. The unique team have told us this is what they have recommended to the owner! It is possibly worse than no resolution. We have also been clear that we would rather not pursue a burns claim, providing our disaster week is acknowledged with a full or partial refund.

We have repeatedly asked UHS to take a more active role and challenge the homeowner to provide a resolution - perhaps he could accept that in the week that a boy was badly burned at his property and a holiday was ruined due to a serious safety issue that he doesn't make his usual £10k minus costs, show some humanity and provide a gesture to us. Instead he is offering nothing and UHS's silence supports this.

When challenged on their approach the Unique team have said:

1. 'We have conflicting stories / evidence'. if this is true, given we have incontrovertible video and third party evidence they should be investigating dishonesty and potentially fraud.
2. 'It is a freak accident'. The accident was entirely preventable. This is a wholly incorrect description which seeks to lessen responsibility - which is a serious mischaracterisation when dealing with serious injury to a 5 year old.
3. 'This is between you and the homeowner contractually'. Fair enough but UHS should be taking a robust position if homeowners fall below certain standards when things go badly wrong. They can't not care about resolutions when disaster strikes and expect to retain that custom.
4. 'We have done all we can, our hands are tied'. This is not true - they could demand better resolutions from homeowners who avoid taking responsibility for safety issues.
5. 'It is a successful property, we haven't had problems before'. Wow. Just wow.
6. 'We should leave this to the experts'. As explained insurance is not a fair route to resolve for us and we would rather not take legal action. We just need acknowledgement of our holiday being ruined and a proper apology.

I am surprised (especially given we have probably spent six figures with UHS over the years) that UHS are not at least refunding their portion of the fee and pushing the owner to do the same. Had they done that they would be retaining our business. Instead, given we can’t be confident they support their customers when things go wrong - we cannot book any new trips with them in the future beyond those already paid for.

We booked our wedding venue via Unique Homestays and highly recommend to anyone thinking of doing the same.
The team were great from start to finish and helped us throughout planning, during our stay and beyond. The property itself was incredible and the planning was seamless with help from Charlotte and Reanne :)
Will absolutely use UH again!

Always great experience and one of a kind places to stay.

We stayed with Unique Homestays before and as always they truly do not disappoint. Every single property we visited has been unique in style and details soo beautifully arranged and prepared for guests to the smallest touches such as beautiful flowers in vases or pillow mist left by the beside table just stunning. We truly look forward to exploring more of their properties in the future.

We had a great week at “The Studio”. Lots of space in a converted barn, rooms and areas created with love and good ideas. A wonderful garden place with all you could miss on a nice warm or even coolish day/night like fire place, pizza oven, lounges, huge tables, shadowed areas, music, beautiful plants…
The hosts (living next door) were very friendly and helpful in advising good POI and restaurants but otherwise unobstrusive and invisible. So a must-be for returning to this place!
And as usual: professional booking, support and pre-information by UHS!

It practically left us speechless! The photos of this beautiful jewel "the fable" were already impressive, but the reality was breathtaking.
This century-old house had been renovated and furnished with so much attention to detail that we felt at home from the very first moment.
Not to mention the warm welcome with a prepared lunch table and lots of presents for a first drink

Lovely website, great staff at UHS and properties live up to expectations.

Hannah from the team was extremely helpful in helping us map out all the details of our stay at the wonderful Fjall. Beautiful location & stunning property with everything we could need for a much needed girls celebratory weekend away!

If you're looking for a very professional but friendly organisation to help you arrange a special break, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Unique Homestays.
Elin was our representative and was in contact with us from the moment of our initial enquiry, helping us arrange a surprise family birthday celebration for my mothers' 80th. Whatever the query, it was answered immediately and accurately.
Our visit to Castle Trinity was one of the most amazing experiences we have ever had and we created so many special memories that we will treasure forever. The quality of the accommodation was beyond our expectations!
Thank you Unique Homestays for a truly excellent experience.

Holanen is the most beautiful property. We had a wonderful time there. The views are incredible and the owners are so charming. So much thought and love has gone into this house. We will return! Thank you Unique Homestays for your exceptional service.

A feeling of personalised luxury from start to end - the whole booking process with staff dedicated to your booking and venue, only an email or a call away for whatever is needed. Every detail was taken care of. The venue was fabulous, each bedroom was top quality comfort, homely and welcoming. The owners gave it their personal touch, meeting us when we arrived and when we left, as well as a welcome hamper with home made treats. None of us wanted to leave!

We had a fantastic weekend in Scarlet Hall for a friends and family birthday gathering. Our group consisted of late teens/young adults, as well as us more mature folk, and there was plenty to do around the house, pool and barn to keep us all entertained. The house was stunning, you will not be disappointed. It’s designed beautifully, with an eye for detail and equipped with all you should need. The owners, whom were friendly and helpful, had set the house up with some lovely touches. The homemade brownies were a big hit.
The booking and deposit refund went very smoothly. We definitely want to go back.

We have only so far booked with Unique Homestays but Gemma Horton was a brilliant agent. The property we wanted was out of our price range and most agents would leave it at that. But Gemma followed up diligently and asked us what our budget was and over the weekend came up with some brilliant options, one of which we have now booked. She was an excellent agent who came up with great recommendations so thank you!

I love the properties offered by unique homestays. However, even after feeding back on several occasions about the need for accessibility information, the company has not responded and has not provided a filter to search for a downstairs bedroom and bathroom. In this day and age, it really is a need and is something they could do fairly easily. Lots of other holiday companies do! It’s such a shame as, apart from this, the customer service is excellent.

Fantastic stay in Cornwall! Stunning home, great service, expertly managed, all in the details.

Our family loved the stay at Elissa. We stayed at the property for a long weekend during the cold January winter days. It's been very cosy and comfortable with the fireplace and the warm hot tub. Our kids loved to ring the bell when entering the property. The communication with Unique Homestays as well as the local hosts was timely and helpful. We can truly recommend to stay at Elissa.

Beautiful house with everything you could need! Lovely location.