Luxury Abalina Cottages

Our stay at Abalina Cottages was disappointing. While the cottage appears stylish and premium online, it was tired, basic, and lacked the attention to detail you’d expect at this price point…especially when things don’t work. We encountered several issues: • The internet modem wasn’t working and had to be replaced later the next day. Once your data allocation is up, that’s it… poor given its 2025. • The underfloor heating in the main bathroom didn’t work – the host blamed previous guests. • There were no firelighters or matches provided to light the fireplace - we were directed to the next door cottage to get some matches. One nights worth of kindling. • The laundry detergent bottle was empty. • The soundbar wouldn’t connect, which was again blamed on previous guests. • One day we returned to find the kitchen sink full of ants…no idea how they got there as we didn’t cook…a heads up would have been nice. To make matters worse, the third bedroom was locked off, despite us booking a three-bedroom cottage. When we raised this, the response was: “Our cottage rates are based on one couple and then you choose extra guests and extra bedrooms. The rate advertised is not for an entire cottage. This is clear on our website.” This was not made clear during booking or online and felt misleading. If you advertise a three-bedroom cottage and a guest books it, locking off a room without clear warning is unacceptable…they assume everyone is a couple. When we raised the other issues, the host’s response was that we should have contacted them during the stay — we did at the start but as there were numerous continuing issues that would’ve meant “endlessly being on my phone complaining,” which is exactly what we were trying to avoid on a short break and we chose to discuss these on our return to avoid a stressful break. Overall, this property did not live up to expectations, and the dismissive response from the host made the experience even more frustrating. We wouldn’t return and cannot recommend it.

Great spacious property. Close to mountain bike paths and Mystic mountain. Only negative was cleanliness of kitchen utensils and plates.

Stayed 3 nights with friends in Abalina on Cobden. House is well located a short well to Bright village. It is well equipped, well laid out and comfortable. The beds were very comfortable. It was, unfortunately, not very clean. Bedroom carpets had stains and need a steam clean, the cook top had grease on it, the oven had baked on burnt food, some pots needed to be scrubbed before use and the tile floors had a film of something on them. We have stayed at Abalina a number of times in the past and rated those experiences very good to excellent. This staff did not match those earlier stays.

We were booked to stay here in September and we looked forward to it. In the week before our trip my husband was hospitalized for 4 days with severe food poisoning resulting in septic shock and severe dehydration. During his admission he had delirium and fell fracturing his ankle and requiring a cast. He also required heart monitoring due to the sepsis. We thought we might be able to to go to Bright but the severity of my husbands condition, his inability to eat, reduced capacity to mobilise and the need for him to be monitored by his GP following discharge resulted in the decision to return home. We rang the owner of Abalina to cancel with the possibility of a part refund or a credit note. We were told this was not possible because if they did that ‘they would miss out on the money’. She said they would advertise on the booking sites they use and refund any nights they could rebook. When I checked the sites the adds were confusing specifying people still needed to book for 3 days even though we had paid in full. We have not heard anything. While we understand that cancelling a booking due to a change of mind is not acceptable this was a situation where we could not possibly get there due to a critical illness. The other places we had booked accommodation cancelled our bookings without penalty which we very much appreciated. You live and learn and in this instance we learnt that we won’t book here again.