Sovereign Pier on the Waterways

Won’t be going back (twice now) Management not doing a great job, dishwasher full of stinky dishes, hospitality lacking, having to remove rubbish & recycling is not a guests responsibility and to be threatened with fines for not doing so is mean spirited and not hospitable , tired apartments, beds need an upgrade esp for the $$ great location but that’s about the only positive Lady was lovely to take photo of our group😉

We have stayed here on holiday from Australia several times in recent years and have always enjoyed the facilities and the warm welcome. This time was VERY different. We arrived at a quarter to two on a Saturday afternoon after a long drive and were pleased to see the “we are open” sign on the office, so went straight in ( the door was open). No-one was at the desk, so I called out “hello?” and after a minute an aggressive older man came from out the back, saying rudely “It’s not 2 pm yet! We are not open! We have just finished cleaning and we are trying to have our lunch”. I said I would go back and sit in my car for 15 minutes, and left. I was quite nonplussed at this treatment. I returned at 2pm. The man was clearly still hostile. I told him that we had been coming to SPOTW for years and had never experienced such rudeness. I suggested that he should have welcomed me politely, explained that they would be ready in 15 minutes, and asked me if I’d mind waiting. I also recommended that he undertake some customer service training. He then questioned my booking and suggested I wasn’t booked in and that he would turn me away!? He then magically found our booking and processed my payment. I indicated that I would be describing his behaviour in a TripAdvisor review. He boasted that he’d been “threatened” with TripAdvisor reviews before. I asked if he was new. He said yes, they were from Australia (how embarrassing to me as an Aussie!) and they made a successful business by purchasing and doing up properties and selling them for a profit. I found the whole experience distressing, and wonder how such a lovely property could be fronted by such an unpleasant manager. As a result of this experience, this will regrettably be our last visit to SPOTW.

We were astonished to find the apartment garage is huge. Through the garage to a small courtyard then into the beautiful apartment. Fabulous open plan kitchen/ dining/ living space. The double sliding doors opening onto our terrace furnished with table & chairs plus loungers. The pool was at the bottom of our garden & just the shortest walk around to the gate. We had booked a one bed apartment so a second bedroom & bathroom were closed off. After travelling around for a couple of weeks we made full use of the laundry facilities in the apartment. We thoroughly enjoyed our all too short stay at Sovereign Pier.