Aberfeldy Vacation manor house to let with jacuzzi/hot tub, internet access, balcony/terrace and walking

Many thanks for a lovely review and for being wonderful guests! I am glad you all finally managed to get together and enjoy Farleyer Lodge and beautiful Highland Perthshire.

I am sorry not to have replied to this review earlier but I have only just been made aware of it by a concerned potential guest ( understandably! ). To be honest I don't know where to start as your group didn't stay with us and you were refunded 100%. I am so sorry your planned trip didn't happen, I wish more than anyone that the Covid Restrictions were not in place and your planned Hen Do (and sadly Wedding I'm guessing ) did take place in 2020. Unfortunately this was not the case, it was an incredibly stressful time with mountains of uncertainty for everyone- it continues to be incredibly difficult and sadly Scotts Castle Holidays failed to survive being forced to close in December 2020. I will try to respond to the points you have raised as clearly as possible: 1. Your booking was with an Agent ( Scotts Castle ) not directly with me, all payments and booking Terms were agreed with them. They took a substantial ( 20% + vat ) commission from me the owner and it was their responsibility to deal with all the guests requirements both good & bad. You made all your payments to them and it was their responsibility to issue refunds and negotiate date changes. It is unfair to leave me a poor review when none of your experiences were directly between us but through a third party. I have checked my response time to their emails and I replied within 24hrs to every correspondence. 2. Your booking was for August 2020 not July 2020. Travel restrictions had been lifted by then and we did enjoy a short lived, halcyon period. 3. Your request to move dates was made in May 2020 ( 3 months prior to the arrival date ) at that point in time Scotts Castle would have been dealing with very many requests relating to bookings that were due to take place much earlier than yours. I believe they had a cut off date of July ( 8 weeks ) at that time. They were also working with very restricted staff numbers and were trying their best to deal with an avalanche of cancellations. You were advised to take out independent Travel Insurance at the time of booking ( I think it was a booking requirement with them ) but didn't do so, this would have alleviated everyone's added burden 4. I have personally never refused a date change, we moved many bookings that were scheduled to travel through the lockdown dates( and beyond) - and looking back through my replies to Scotts Castle I see I agreed to offer your group one too. 5. As I wasn't dealing directly with you the failure to correspond at the start of July was entirely that of the Agent and that promise was made by them. 6. My next correspondence from Scotts was on 13th July 2020, they forwarded your email requesting cancellation due to the change in guidelines regarding multiple households- no requests were made to reschedule. This was agreed immediately and without debate, I believe the refund process was then started ( I certainly don't recall there being a "tough Battle" in fact the request email came in at 11.14am and I replied "Yes, please proceed with a full refund" at 11.32am!) I fully agree it would have been more than unethical to expect 3 girls to attend a hen do and pay £1000 each, no-one suggested you did that and of course that never happened. 7. It's not unreasonable for a lead booker to be responsible for the rest of their group and to ensure they make the whole group aware of the booking terms & conditions. This is a normal policy inclusion in self catering properties and I'm not entirely sure what your complaint is regarding this. 8. At that particular time of our website update the Government guidelines were just advisory - not law, meaning I was unable to enforce numbers or have any powers to insist the guidelines were adhered too. It was the responsibility of the Lead booker and all we could do was request that they & their guests followed the Policy Guidelines. Thankfully most of these restrictions were subsequently made into Law making it much clearer and easier to follow for all parties ( albeit sadly forcing large properties like ours to close their doors to guests once again ) I hope this has helped your understanding of the situation as it unfolded during the extraordinary circumstances we all found ourselves in. I am sorry you felt aggrieved and were disappointed with the service you received. I am also sorry that a third party was talking for me and you have construed their words and made them mine . Whilst I don't deny it hasn't been difficult for Holiday Property Owners there has never been a moment when I'm not fully aware that every single person has been hit by this Pandemic, some much harder than others. I hope you have managed to rebook your hen-do & wedding and that it all goes as you have planned. Kind Regards Kate.

Thankyou Emma - so glad you had a lovely weekend and thankyou for leaving the house so clean & tidy. We would be delighted to welcome you all again, I will pass on your comments to Fiona :)

Thankyou for your lovely review -we are so pleased you all had a wonderful weekend. Only wish I could arrange the weather too- still Scotland wouldn't be so beautifully lush & green if it wasn't for the odd bit of rain!