Sovereign Pier on the Waterways

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.

Excellent place to stay located on the waterways. Had a two bedroom two bathroom apartment and it had everything you need for a short or longer stay. Stayed two nights and it was wonderful sitting out on the deck at the end of a full day looking out at the waterways. Staff were really friendly and helpful and the apartment was spotlessly clean. We will definitely stay there again.